Browsing: Society

A Brief History On October 15, 1815, Emperor of the French, Napoleon I (Bonaparte) began his second and final exile on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic. Booted out of Europe by the victorious allied nations (aka, the Seventh Coalition) led by the English, Napoleon was sent far enough away that he would never return to upset the traditional order in Europe. Although many people have been exiled, Napoleon is famous for having twice been exiled, the first time to the Island of Elba, tantalizingly close to France. That mistake would not be repeated. Here we list…

A Brief History On October 14, 1586, Mary Queen of Scots went on trial for conspiracy against her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. Apparently Mary and her supporters saw Mary as the legitimate heir to the English throne, but of course, Liz saw differently! (No surprise there.) Mary ended up being executed for her machinations against Elizabeth, just as many other traitors have before and since. Here we list 7 of the most notorious traitors to end up executed or otherwise forced to die. (Note: There is no significance to the order as listed.) Digging Deeper 7.  Mary Queen…

A Brief History On October 13, 1775, an order of the Continental Congress established the Continental Navy, later better known as the United States Navy, the greatest maritime fighting force the world has ever seen. Digging Deeper During the American Revolution there was little time to build a world class navy that could go toe to toe with the British Royal Navy, then the grandest fleet in the world.  Still, merchant ships were pressed into duty as fighting ships armed with cannon, and despite some remarkably able and courageous engagements, the effect on the Revolution was minimal, with the French…

A Brief History On October 10, 2015, we ran an article called “9 Sensational, Sorry, Stupid and Sordid Political Scandals” in which we told you about some of the worst such scandals in history. Although many countries have experienced ridiculous political scandals, including murders, thefts, and Bunga-Bunga parties, we only listed one scandal that was not from the US. Well, today we again concentrate on the sorry state of American politics and discuss the scandal driven 2016 US Presidential election. Digging Deeper Turns out due to hackers leaking information, we have learned that the Democratic National Committee conspired against Bernie…

A Brief History On October 9, 1740, Dutch colonial overlords on the Island of Java (now a main island in Indonesia) in the port city of Batavia (now Jakarta, capital of Indonesia) went on a mad killing spree of ethnic cleansing and murdered about 10,000 ethnic Chinese. The Dutch word, “Chinezenmoord,” literally means “Chinese Murder.” Digging Deeper At the time of this horrible crime, what is now Indonesia was called the Dutch East Indies and was a colony of the Netherlands until “liberated” by the Japanese in World War II. The mass murder pogrom started on October 9 and continued…