Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On September 26, 1983, the Cold War between the Soviet Union and their allies versus the United States and their allies nearly erupted into full blown nuclear Armageddon when the early warning system employed by the Soviet military falsely reported the launch of United States Air Force Minuteman ICBM’s.  The only thing standing between mutual nuclear annihilation and continuing the strained peace was the critical thinking and decisions made by a single officer of the Soviet Air Defense Forces who correctly gambled the alarm was a false alarm and that initiating automatic massive nuclear counter-strikes was not…

A Brief History On September 20, 1187, the Islamic forces of the famous Kurdish Muslim leader Saladin laid siege to the capital of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, the holiest city in the Christian world and likewise in the Jewish world, and the third holiest city in Islam.  By October 2, 1187, the siege came to an unusually quick conclusion when the Christians surrendered the city, never to regain the main object of the Crusades again.  Saladin, an historical character praised for his humanity during a time of terrible excesses allowed generous terms for the Christians, including continued access to…

A Brief History On September 4, 1941, US Navy destroyer USS Greer was attacked by German submarine (U-boat) U-652, and returned the compliment by depth charging the German sub.  Although the battle did not result in either ship being damaged, and no sailors were killed, the “Greer Incident” assumed enormous political proportions as the German and American governments scrambled to gain political advantage from the confrontation at sea.  The incident could have easily resulted in outright hostilities and a declaration of war between the US and Germany, but as each country was not quite ready to take that final plunge,…

A Brief History On September 2, 1885, the Wyoming Territory was the scene of a terrible racially motivated riot that resulted in the deaths of a minimum of 28 Chinese immigrants, and possibly as many as 50.  The aggressors in this case were also recent immigrants to the United States, coming from White, European countries.  The rioting and killing was over the Union Pacific Coal Company paying Chinese miners less than White miners, undercutting the availability of jobs for White immigrants. Digging Deeper Not only did a couple to a few dozen Chinese immigrants lose their lives, additional people of…

A Brief History On August 28, 489, the king of the Ostrogoths, Theodoric, defeated the forces under Odoacer, King of Italy, at the Battle of Isonzo, thus opening the route into the heart of Italy.  Odoacer had become the first King of Italy in 476, but his downfall was preordained by his feud with the Eastern Roman Emperor, Zeno, who had promised Theodoric the Great (alternately spelled Theoderic) Italy in order to undermine Odoacer.  After losing the battle at the Isonzo River, Theodoric defeated Odoacer again only 3 days later at Verona, causing Odoacer to flee to Ravenna.  With much…