A Brief History On July 10, 1985, the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned and operated by Greenpeace, an environmental activist organization, was sunk by bombs placed by French government operatives while in Auckland, New Zealand harbor, resulting in a single death. Digging Deeper The French intelligence agency Directorate-General for External Security, or DGSE, was responsible for state sanctioned attack, code named Opération Satanique.  Obviously, France initially denied any government involvement with the terroristic act, but captured French operatives proved the involvement of the French government. Rainbow Warrior, was a small ship of 418 tons and a length of just over…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on July 9th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On July 9, 1540, the marriage between Henry VIII and his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was annulled. On July 9, 1850, US President Zachary Taylor died after consuming mass quantities of fresh fruit and iced milk at a July 4th fund raising and holiday celebration. On July 9, 1903, the future leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, was exiled to…

A Brief History On July 9, 2011, South Sudan seceded from Sudan and became the latest new African country.  While Africa has been a center of creating new countries, a dizzying number of new sovereign nations have been formed since 1960. Digging Deeper In 1960 alone, Africa went from having 9 independent nations to 26 countries, an incredible increase.  In 1991 and 1992, when the Soviet Union dissolved, the single nation became 12 separate nations.  Other Soviet era nations that split up into smaller countries include Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. Besides the erosion of imperialism with nations gaining independence, other factors…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on July 8th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On July 8, 1775, the Continental Congress, forerunner of what would become the government of the United States, signed the so called “Olive Branch Petition,” a last ditch effort to prevent a war of independence against Britain by the American Colonies. On July 8, 1874, about 300 newly recruited troopers of the North-West Mounted Police began the trek Westward to the vast…

A Brief History On July 8, 1874, about 300 newly recruited troopers of the North-West Mounted Police began the trek Westward to the vast prairie areas of Canada, what is now Manitoba and Alberta to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  The Canadian government created this force to patrol and protect this area in the wake of violence that culminated in the Cypress Hills Massacre, a battle between White, Native, and mixed-race hunters, trappers, and traders. Digging Deeper An intriguing fact about the deployment of this new force was that each of the six divisions was given a particular color…