A Brief History On April 9, 1388, at the Battle of Näfels, a military force of the Old Swiss Confederation fought a much larger force representing the Austrian royal family, the Habsburgs.  In a stunning example of David beating Goliath, the Swiss soldiers won a rousing victory, an indication of why other powerful European countries have been leaving Switzerland alone for many years now. Digging Deeper At the Battle of Näfels, the Swiss fielded a modest troop of only about 400 or so fighting men against a superior Austrian force numbering around 6500 soldiers.  The attacking Austrians at first forced…

A Brief History On April 8, 2006, the bodies of 8 people murdered by gunshot wounds were found in a field a couple of miles (5 kilometers for the metric oriented) North of Shedden, Ontario, Canada, an event labeled as the “Shedden Massacre.”  The bodies were found inside 4 cars by the local farmer.  (If you were a fan of Sons of Anarchy on television, perhaps you have a bit of a clue as to the nature of motorcycle clubs.) Digging Deeper Canada, a particularly friendly nation (as this author can attest, having gone there probably close 100 times over…

A Brief History On April 7, 1827, John Walker of Stockton-on-Tees, England (Dunham County), first sold the item he had invented the year before, the now taken for granted friction match.  Today, with smoking on the decline, and the need for starting fires greatly diminished by modern technology, it is hard to remember just how important the invention of the friction match was.  Just try lighting a stogie with flint and steel! Digging Deeper Walker was original apprenticed to a surgeon, but quickly realized he was not of the proper mind set for surgery, so he switched his studies to…

A Brief History On April 6, 2018, a bus carrying a junior hockey team, the Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, crashed into a semi-tractor trailer near Armley, Saskatchewan, leaving 10 members of the team dead and also killing an additional 6 persons.  Another 13 people were injured, but the driver of the semi survived.  In spite of the horrific cost in lives, this particular tragedy was not among the absolute worst in the history of Canada.  Today we remember some of those terrible traffic accidents that rank among the worst in Canadian history.  Among the worst Canadian…

A Brief History On May 30, 727 or 728, we mourn the passing of one of the great characters in history, one of our favorite Saints, Saint Hubert, also known as Hubertus, the first bishop of Liège in what is now Belgium. While a number of Merovingian Kings and Queens actually became saints, such as Balthild, Clotilde and Dagobert II, some of the subjects of the Merovingian dynasty also became saints as well and arguably the most famous of such people is St. Hubert, the patron Saint of Hunting and so much more.  In fact, the true greatness of St.…