A Brief History On June 25, 1950, over 75,000 North Korean soldiers flooded into the Republic of Korea, on the southern end of the Korean peninsula. This invasion was the beginning of the Korean War, which raged from 1950 until 1953. Digging Deeper The Outbreak of the Korean War Within a week, the United Nations called for military aid for South Korea. The United States and Turkey were the first to answer the call. By July, U.S. and Turkish forces were fighting on the side of South Korea. The Turkish Army Infantry Brigade that was sent to fight in South…
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A Brief History In 1642, Bilsener Gilde was established in Germany as the first insurance company in Europe. At first thought, the world of insurance might not seem like the most exciting subject to dig into; yet a quick glance through history throws up some interesting insights into human evolution. We can trace the development of the insurance industry way back to early human society, before money-based economies even existed! In these early civilizations, insurance usually took the form of mutual aid among people living in the same community. If somebody’s house was destroyed in a fire, for instance, the…
A Brief History On April 29, 1483, the Kingdom of Castile captured the main island of the Canary Islands, Gran Canaria, leading to Spanish ownership of the islands to this day. Consisting of many smaller islands as well as the 7 “main” islands, the largest island is Tenerife, and Gran Canaria is the third largest island with an area of 600 square miles. (For comparison, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, home to Cleveland, has an land area of 457 square miles, and Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago, has a land area of 945 square miles. With 596.7 square miles of land,…
A Brief History On April 28, 1881, the notorious outlaw and gunman known as Billy the Kid escaped from his jail cell where he was being held after he was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. In a previous article, 5 Dashing, Daring, and Dynamic Escapes we discussed some famous/infamous escapes, and today we again explore the topic of people escaping from custody against all odds of success. Digging Deeper 1. Billy the Kid Cheats the Hangman by Escaping Jail, 1881. Often referred to as being named “William H. Bonney,” the Kid’s real name was probably Henry McCarty. And…
A Brief History On April 27, 1987, the United States declared Austrian President Kurt Waldheim to be persona non grata, meaning that although Waldheim was the head of state of a free nation he would not be allowed entry to the United States. Even more shocking, this same Kurt Waldheim had served as Secretary General of the United Nations from January of 1972 to December of 1981, in spite of having a past as an intelligence officer for the German Army during World War II in which he and his wife, Elisabeth, both were members of the Nazi party. Digging…