A Brief History On September 11, 1919, the US Marine Corps invaded Honduras, a country that is probably the inspiration for the term, “Banana Republic.” Invading Honduras to protect the interest of American plantation-oriented fruit corporations, the US sent military troops there many times, including 1903, 1907, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1924, and 1925! Digging Deeper Other than the famous invasions of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and other more publicized wars, the US has conducted many military invasions, incursions and raids on foreign shores often overlooked by schools teaching American history. Some other American invasions not counting “peacekeeping…
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A Brief History On September 9, 337, almost four months after the death of Emperor Constantine the Great, his three sons inherited the throne as co-emperors, a situation that seems unworkable. Digging Deeper Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans inherited a Roman Empire in which Constantine had ended the persecution of Christians and made Christianity a lawful Roman religion. Constantine also unified the Church and State as a single entity and disestablished the old pagan religion. Constantine made the city of Byzantium the “New Rome,” and renamed it Constantinople after himself. Despite his intent to divide the Empire among his…
A Brief History On September 7, 1978, a Bulgarian secret agent assassinated Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, as the unfortunate man was strolling across the Waterloo Bridge in London. The novel means of committing this murder was firing or jabbing a poison Ricin pellet from a specially adapted umbrella. Markov thought little of the minor sting at the time but died four days later. Digging Deeper Some other unusual methods or weapons used in assassinations include: Edward II, King of England, had a red hot fireplace poker shoved up his butt in 1327. Alexander Litvinenko was the first ever murder victim…
A Brief History On September 1, 1939, J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man famous as the “father of the atomic bomb,” along with his student, Hartland Snyder, using the physics of the day, published a definitive proof of how black holes could develop. Digging Deeper The scientific paper known as the Oppenheimer–Snyder model relied on earlier work by Albert Einstein, especially vis a vis the Schwarzschild metric concerning gravitational forces involved in the collapse of stars leading to black holes. Educated at Harvard, Christ’s College and Cambridge, Oppenheimer became a professor at Berkely in 1936. His contributions to the field of…
A Brief History On August 23, 1954, a pleasure cruise around the Mediterranean Sea carrying many of the crowned heads of Europe set sail from Marseille, France, a royalty only trip known as “The Cruise of Kings.” Digging Deeper The cruise was planned by the Greek monarchs, King Paul and Queen Frederica, with the idea that bringing many royals together could result in possible marital matchmaking. Royalty representing 25 current and former royal families were gathered for the 11-day cruise, but only a single match was generated, that between Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Parma. A…