A Brief History On September 25, 1555, the peace treaty known as the Peace of Augsburg or alternately as the Augsburg Settlement was signed by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his opponents, known as the Schmalkaldic League. Digging Deeper The signing took place in the German city of Augsburg, giving the treaty its name. The Holy Roman Empire of the time consisted of a Catholic consortium of countries, including Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, and Burgundy, as well as portions of Italy. Opposing the Emperor was the Schmalkaldic League, an alliance of Lutheran princes within the empire that…
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A Brief History On September 23, 2000, journalist, author, government official, and gun control advocate, Carl Rowan, died at the age of 75. Despite his great accomplishments, Rowan arguably died a hypocrite. Digging Deeper Of African American descent, Rowan valued education, was the Valedictorian of his high school class and went to college, graduating from Oberlin College in 1947. He became one of the first African American commissioned officers in the US Navy and went on to a career in journalism and government service, including serving as the first African American to on the National Security Council. As a prominent…
A Brief History On September 22, 1948, USAF pilot Lt. Gail Halvorsen began dropping candy via parachute to the children of Berlin. In 1948, the USSR tried to cut off West Berlin from supplies from the West, starving the population. Digging Deeper The US and its allies began an operation dubbed “The Berlin Airlift,” flying supplies of food, fuel, medicine, and other essentials to West Berlin surrounded by the Soviets and their East German lackeys. Halvorsen was one of those pilots of cargo planes, and when he noticed hungry faces of children lined up by the West Berlin airport, he…
A Brief History On September 21, 1170, invading Normans, Vikings that had settled in France, captured the Kingdom of Dublin and established their own Irish kingdom replacing a previous Viking kingdom in Ireland from the 9th Century called Dyflin. Digging Deeper Vikings, the premier seafarers of the 8th through the 11th Centuries, spread their DNA far and wide in their travels, both in trade and in conquest. Many Europeans today have genes passed down from the Vikings, people from modern Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, countries that today have a combined population of only around 22 million. Places that have Viking…
A Brief History On September 20, 2001, US President George W. Bush addressed congress and the American people and declared a “War on Terror.” Initial attacks against terrorist bases went well, but the war soon bogged down in Iraq, diverting the effort, and the US ended up in a 20 year occupation of Afghanistan, only for the Taliban to take over when the Americans left. Digging Deeper Some other declared wars that did not go well for the initiator include The War on Poverty, declared by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, which saw massive federal spending and creation of programs…