Browsing: Society

A Brief History On October 1, 1942, the United States was a bit behind Germany and Britain in the development of jet engines and jet powered aircraft, but still managed to conduct the first ever flight of an American prototype jet fighter, the Bell P-59 Airacomet.  Only 5 years later, the US North American F-86 Sabre  made its first flight, and the tale of these 2 fighter airplanes could not have been much more different. Digging Deeper The P-59 was a disappointing flop, and only 50 production models were built.  One was exchanged with the British for one of their…

A Brief History On this date, September 29, 1825, American soldier, revolutionary, and farmer Daniel Shays (c.1747–1825) died at age 78 in Sparta, New York.  In those storied 78 years, Shays became most famous for being one of the leaders of Shays’ Rebellion, a populist uprising against controversial debt collection and tax policies in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787.  The seeds of that rebellion were planted nearly a decade earlier amidst a revolution… Digging Deeper In a bitter struggle against the most powerful industrializing nation on earth, the thirteen colonies that would later be called the United States of America (U.S.)…

A Brief History On this date, September 28, 48 BC, Pompey the Great was assassinated on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt after landing in Egypt.  Although we know of this incident, many open problems concern Ancient Egypt, and some of them may never be solved.  Egyptian archaeology is in a state of constant transition, with much of the terminology and chronology in dispute.  The archaeological record is incomplete, with countless relics and artifacts missing or destroyed.  New archaeological discoveries can call into question previous conclusions about Ancient Egypt.  Furthermore, there are internal problems of overall cohesion of various…

A Brief History On September 26, 1944, Operation Market Garden came to an end, failing to take all the objectives and suffering greater losses than the Germans, a fairly unusual occurrence at that point in the war.  Normally maddeningly conservative, Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery placed his faith in a rapid advance to and across the Rhine by seizing a series of bridges including parachute drops on a large scale. Digging Deeper Particularly unsuccessful was the assault on the bridge at Arnhem over the Rhine, the most important of all the bridges targeted.  British paratroopers briefly held one end of…

A Brief History On September 25, 1066, the Battle of Stamford Bridge signaled the end of the Viking invasions of England.  This significant English victory was soon superseded by the Battle of Hastings only 3 weeks later, in which the Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the British.  Bridges have often been focal points of battles, often pivotal ones of great importance.  Here we list 10 Battles at Bridges that are either famous or significant.  (The order of listing does not signify importance.)  (Note:  See tomorrow’s article about the ill fated attack on bridges during World War II called Operation…