A Brief History On August 5, 1620, the Mayflower set out from England with another ship, the Speedwell, on its first attempt to take Pilgrims to the New World. When the Speedwell started leaking, the ships turned back for repair. Setting off again, the Speedwell again leaked and the ships returned, this time to for the Mayflower to take on Speedwell passengers and continue the Trans-Atlantic voyage alone. Digging Deeper Mayflower finally set sail for America on September 6 with 102 Pilgrims aboard (instead of the intended 65), and a crew of perhaps 25 to 30 men. Not a big…
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A Brief History Turns out Khzir Khan, the irate grieving father of a slain American hero (his son was an Army captain that died heroically in the line of duty in Iraq) may have more motivation to attack Donald Trump than merely sticking up for Muslims. Digging Deeper Mr. Khan, a Muslim immigrant from Pakistan, spoke at the Democratic National Convention and spoke emotionally about his son, an Army captain awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart while being killed in combat while saving the lives of other soldiers, and severely chastised Trump for his call to ban Muslim immigrants…
A Brief History On August 3, 1946, post-war Americans were ready for a good time and were able to find it at the country’s first “theme-park” type of amusement park at Santa Claus Land in southern Indiana. Digging Deeper Surprisingly, today, the park, which is now known as Holiday World, is not only dedicated to Christmas, as it was originally, but also to the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving and Halloween! The name change occurred in 1984 to better reflect the park’s diversity. Holiday World is constantly being upgraded and just keeps getting better and better. If you like dogs, the Fourth of July section even has a…
A Brief History On August 2, 216 BC, the Carthaginian army of Hannibal defeated the larger Roman Army at Cannae, a major battle during the Second Punic War. This battle was one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of Rome and is considered one of the great strokes of tactical military genius of all time. Digging Deeper After losing 2 major battles to the Carthaginians at Trebia and Lake Trasimene (218 and 217 BC respectively), the Romans had regrouped and sought a decisive battle against the invaders. Able to field an army of 86,000 men against only 50,000…
A Brief History On August 2, 1916, the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci was sunk in its own harbor at Taranto courtesy of Austrian sabotage. The mighty battleship was only 2 years old and was sunk by a magazine explosion, a sorry end to a capital ship. The Italian military and its Roman predecessors have had plenty of notable military triumphs over the years, but seem to have a reputation for disaster despite that. Here we list 10 Italian Military Disasters or Catastrophes. (Note: We are tempted to count World War I and World War II as 2 complete disasters…