Yes. A Russian general told the world about this in the 90s -- AFTER the fall of the old USSR. Presumably before then to mention it would've resulted in a one-way ticket to a gulag.

Found the relevant scene from Wargames.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqogv...eature=related

September 28

48 BC. Pompey the Great is assassinated in Egypt by order of King Ptolemy. His assassination, coming after his split with Caesar after teh end of the First Triumvirate, is a blow to Republican Roman and helps pave the path to its conversion to an empire.

935. Saint Wencelas is murdered by his brother.

1066. William the Bastard, due to his illegitimate birth, Duke of Normandy, leads his Normans and some allies to England, whence he will gain victory and become known by the much more flattering title of William the Conqueror.

1928. Sir Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what will become known as penicillin.

1939. Warsaw surrenders to Nazi Germany.

September 29.

480 BC. In the follow up to the Battle of Thermopylae (which it should be remembered was, though heroic, a defeat for Greece), the great naval Battle of Salamis is fought between the Greek city-states and the Persian Empire of Xerxes. This time the Greeks win a decisive victory, sinking or capturing over 200 ships. The Persian's great advantage in numbers was offset by the tight conditions in the straits in which the battle was fought.

1829. Founding of the Metropolitan Police of London, generally regarded as the world's first professional police force.

1916. John D. Rockefeller becomes the world's first billionaire.

1966. The Chevy Camaro, originally called the Panther, is introduced for the first time.

1979. Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit Ireland.

2008. Following the bankruptcies of Washington Mutual and Lehman Brothers, the Dow Jones falls 777.68 points -- the largest one day point drop in history (though not the largest by percentage).

LMAO

September 30

1882. The world's first commercial hydroelectric plant begins operations. Raise your hand if you knew that it was Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin.

1888. Jack the Ripper claims his third and fourth victims in the Whitechapel district of London. The first, Elizabeth ("Long Liz") Stride, was found just after 1:00 a.m. with blood still flowing from her neck, indicating that she had been murdered just moments before being found by a man driving a pony and two-wheeled cart, whose horse had shied away after being driven into the Yard where the body was located. In the pitch darkness of that night, the man was unable to see much of anything, including the body, until he had lit a match. Other than her slit throat, Stride had no other wounds, and the discovery of yet another victim who had been murdered within the hour suggested that Jack the Ripper had been interrupted before he could fully slake his thirst for gore.

One witness reported that the murderer may have shouted "Lipski", to another man, which was thought to be an anti-semitic taunt derived from the name of an infamous poisoner.

At 1:45 the body of Catherine Eddowes was found within walking distance of Stride's body. Police surgeon Dr. Frederick Brown arrived shortly thereafter and described the scene.

AFter the post mortem he had the following observations.

Other doctors and police officers, however, witnessing the gross mutiliations, opined that the murderer did not appear to have any skill whatsoever.

The double murders, the first time Jack the Ripper had struck twice in one night, and the gruesomeness of Eddowes death threw London into a panic.

1927. Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season.

1947. The World Series is televised for the first time.

1954. The USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear reactor powered vessel, is commissioned.

1955. Movie icon James Dean dies, at age 24.

1965. General Suharto rises to power in Indonesia, murdered approximately one million Indonesians believed to be Communists.

1968. The 747 is shown to the public for the first time when it is rolled out of the largest building in the world (by volume), the Everett Factory. The building is 472 million cubic feet and covers 98.3 acres.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rett_Plant.jpg

http://www.ericewe.com/wp-content/up...everett-wa.jpg

http://www.ce.washington.edu/sm03/im...oeinglarge.jpg

There are about 1,300 bicycles/tricycles in the factory to help employees get around.

1982. Six people die in the Chicago area. They had consumed extra-strength Tylenol which had been laced by cyanide. Seven people would die in total. Dramatic reforms were made in the packaging of over-the-counter substances as a result. No one was ever arrested in the crime and Johnson & Johnson's $100,000 reward for the capture and conviction of the killer has never been claimed.

Talk about a game changer. Truly an amazing technological leap. I count myself lucky that I've actually been aboard her.

Yeah. Amazing how fast we went from "hope this blows up as planned" to "we can stick a modified version of this thing on board this tiny underwater sardine can where taking in fresh oxygen is a problem and make it go around the world eleventy billion times no problem".

You got to see her? When/where/how?

Did you say "Hi" to Captain Nemo?

Not just see her. I've been aboard her, below decks. Of course, I'm nothing special: she's a museum now in Groton, CT. Considering her proximity to you...

On a side note, Admiral Rickover apparently really was as big an asshole as people say he was. Ruthless and vicious, but he got the nuke boats built.

October 1. JFC busy day.

331 BC. The Battle of Gaugamela results in the overwhelming victory of the forces of Alexander the Great over Darius III of the Persian Empire, resulting in their complete collapse. The exact location of the battle has never been precisely identified, but the most commonly accepted opinion is that it took place east of Mosul in modern day northeastern Iraq.

1800. Spain cedes Louisiana to France by treaty, which becomes key when France then transfers it to the United States pursuant to the Louisiana Purchase. This treaty will take on added importance when the United States, aggressively, somewhat absurdly, and rather comically, but successfully, argues that the treaty in fact was for much more territory than Spain had ever imagined, and that therefore the land purchased by the United States from France was also larger than either France or Spain had contemplated. The dispute was settled by the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1821.

1814. The Congress of Vienna opens, soon to redraw the maps of Europe in the wake of the defeat of Napoleon. Note, in the map below -- no Poland, no integrated Germany, Italy still splintered,

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Europa1814.jpg

1847. Siemens is founded.

1869. Austria issues the world's first postcards.

1880. Thomas Edison opens the world's first electric lamp factory.

1888. The Central News Agency receives a postcard signed "Jack the Ripper". While generally rejected by police at the time, and modern enthusiasts, as a hoax, the letter contained enough information that the police published it in the hopes that it would lead to some actionable evidence.

1890. Congress establishes Yosemite and Yellowstone National Parks.

1903 First game of the modern World Series, between the Boston Americans (later Red Sox) and Pittsburgh Pirates.

1928. The Soviet Union introduces its first Five Year Plan. They, umm, don't work out too well in the long run.

1931. George Washington Bridge opens.

1908. The Model T goes on the market for $825.

1938. Nazi Germany annexes the Sudetenland, a western portion of then-Czechoslovakia that was largely inhabited by German speaking people. The name of this area was related to a very key feature of this land grab by Germany -- it was named after the Sudeten Mountains, but also extended beyond that. Having given up the best natural defenses to Germany without a shot, the country would be powerless to stop the Germans from taking the rest of the country, which later happened.

The ceded areas are in black.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ebiete.svg.png

1940. The Pennsylvania Turnpike, usually considered the first US superhighway, opens.

1946. The Nazi leaders are sentenced at the Nuremburg trials.

1949. Mao Zedong declares the People's Republic of China.

1957. First appearance of "In God We Trust" on US paper currency.

1962. First appearance of Johnny CArson as host of the Tonight Show.

1971. Walt Disney World opens.

1982. Sony launches the first commercial compact disc player.

1989. Denmark launches the world's first civil union of same-sex partners.

Haven't studied anything about post-WWII navy, so know nothing about Rickover except the name.

I can visit Groton. My boys and I went to Battleship Cove in Fall River this past summer -- saw the four ships anchored there -- a WWII era battleship, submarine, destroyer and a newer Russian ship. Alot of fun.

I don't know if it's worth the long drive across three states to get there, but....

Oh, wait.

October 2

1187. After 88 years of Crusader rule, Saladin recaptures Jerusalem.

1919. After his monumental effort at the conference resulting in the Versailles Treaty and his efforts (including his battle with the Senate to ratify joining) the League of Nations, Woodrow Wilson suffers a massive stroke which leaves him partially paralyzed. His wife will screen all visitors and work for the rest of his Presidency, and his debility is hidden from the public until after his death in 1924.

1928. Opus Dei is founded. Conspiracy theorists and authors everywhere rejoice.

1950. Peanuts is first published.

Based on handwriting analysis, I think one of our chiefsplanet members is Jack the Ripper.

October 3

52 BC. On approximately this date, Vercingetorix, leader of the Gauls by proclamation, surrenders to Julius Caesar, ending the Battle of Alesia and bringing Gaul thoroughly to heel as a Roman province. The Senate, however, refuses to grant Caesar a triumph procession in Rome, in part setting of a chain of events that will eventually lead to the Roman Civil War of 49-45 BC.

42 BC. At the First Battle of Philippi, Mark Antony and Octavian fight a decisive battle against the forces of Caesar's assassins, Brutus and Cassius. A second battle, on October 23rd, results in the virtual annihilation of Brutus' forces, resulting in his suicide and the victory of the Second Triumvirate.

1795. A young general Napoleon Bonaparte first rises to national prominence when appointed to defend the national convention of the three year old Republic against counter-revolutionaries.

1849. Edgar Allan Poe is found by a passer-by to be delirius in a gutter in Baltimore, Maryland. He will fail to regain coherency before his death a week later. The circumstances give rise to tremendous conjecture regarding what happened. A week earlier, he had left Richmond, Virginia to travel to New York. He failed to arrive, however, and was missing until found in Baltimore. Accounts of certain contemporaries, who labeled him drunk or overdosed on drugs, are confusing and unreliable, in part because some of them were either rivals of Poe's, or were active abolitionists who saw Poe's death as a possible means to advance their causes. The records relating to his death, including his death certificate, are now missing, if they in fact ever existed. The range of potential causes for his death are spectacular -- ranging from murder to "cooping", which was a then-somewhat common practice of kidnapping and drugging a person in order to drag them around and have them vote in multiple locations. The latest theory that has gained prominence is that he may have been bitten and died from rabies.

More, if you want it, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe

1908. Pravda (ironically, "Truth") is founded in Vienna by Russian exiles including Leon Trotsky.

1932. Iraq gains independence from the United Kingdom. It's unlikely many in the US realized what a colossal headache this would turn out to be for us in the long run.

1951. The Shot Heard 'round the World. Bobby Thompson hits a game winning home run in the bottom of the 9th inning to give the New York Giants the pennant after being down 14 games. He leaves the 20 year old Rookie of the Year waiting on deck......some kid named Willie Mays. Sadly, however, the Yankees take the World Series in 6.

1964. Buffalo Wings are invented at the Anchor Bar, in Buffalo, New York. Sadly, this marks the apogee of the city, which is rarely heard from again.

1990. Germany reunites.

1993. The Battle of Mogadishu, memorialized in the great book and movie, Blackhawk Down. Btw, if you've seen and loved the movie, then I strongly recommend you read the book.

1995. OJ Simpson is acquitted of murdering his former wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. He will go on a prolonged quest to find their murderers at whichever golf course they may be hiding, and then to lose a civil case brought by the Goldman family with an award of $33 million. California law, however, protects pensions, so Simpson goes on living his usual lifestyle under his NFL pension. Many of his personal possessions, however, including his Heisman Trophy, are auctioned with the proceeds going to the Goldman family. Simpson is now serving time in the Nevada state prison system as a result of his bizarre kidnapping/robbery of sports memorabilia. He was sentenced to 33 years, and is up for parole after nine.

2003. During a show at the Mirage, Roy Horn of Siegfried and Roy is "attacked" by one of his tigers, Montecore, suffering serious injuries that ultimately led to the removal of 1/4th of his skull to relieve pressure. According to Roy and the owner of the Mirage, however, the tiger attack was really an effort by a confused tiger to grab Roy and drag him off to safety, just as a tiger would with a cub. (not sure I'm buying this, but figured I'd mention it). The two performers return for one last performance in 2009 -- a performance that included Montecore.

2008. President Bush signs the Emergency Economic Stabliization Act of 2008, perhaps better known as the Great Bailout.

October 4

610. Heraclius and his father, Exarch of Africa, arrive by ship at Constantinople and overthrow the unpopular usurper Emperor of Byzantium, Phocas. He would rule for 31 years, win a number of important military battles, and be responsible for changing the language used in official documents from Latin to Ancient Greek, further Hellenizing the Empire.

1511. Formation of the Holy League, comprised of the Papal States and Venice, principally, but also Aragon for a considerable stretch of time. The Holy League is only the latest and a truly dizzying array of alliances, allegiances, secret protocols, etc. for control over the Italian peninsula and the power of the Papacy. Indeed, the irony in this particular league is tremendous, since it arose as a result of the prior efforts of the Pope to limit Venetian influence in "mainland" Italy. Those efforts had been tremendously successful, and Venice had been pushed to the brink. As a result, however, the Pope now feared the French - whom he had invited into the peninsula - and so switched sides, forming a new, Anti-French league. The Pope in question was Julius II, one of the most famous Popes of the late Middle Ages, also nicknamed the Warrior Pope and the Fearsome Pope. During his ten years, he caused a tremendous impact on the peninsula and Western European politics.

1582. Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. In the countries following his edict, October 4 is followed directly by October 15.

1853. The Ottoman Empire declares war on Russia, beginning the Crimean War. The war is notable on many fronts. First, it introduced the world to Florence Nightingale, who pioneered modern nursing standards while treating injured British troops. Second, it involved the famous but ill-advised Charge of the Light Brigade. Third, it introduced a number of new military technologies to the world, shortly before the American Civil War, including tactical use of railways and the telegraph.

1883. First run of the Orient Express, between Paris and Istanbul.

1927. Mount Rushmore first starts getting carved. Raise your hand if you could have told me that the artist was Gutzon Borglum, better known as John Borglum but officially and fully as Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum.

The project was originally contemplated by historian Doane Robinson to promote tourism to South Dakota, and was initially planned to only be a carving of George Washington. President Coolidge, however, in authorizing funds for the project, insisted that two Republicans (Coolidge was a Republican) and one Democrat be included in addition to Washington, resulting in the additions of Jefferson (Democrat) and Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt (Republicans).

The project would last until 1941 and he would die shortly before its completion, by his son.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rglum_1919.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ntrushmore.jpg

Due to lack of funding, the more grandiose originally contemplated design was curtailed. The original design:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_memorial.jpg

1958. The fifty-eighth, errr...., Fifth Republic of France is declared.

1965. Pope Paul VI visits New York, becoming the first Pope to visit North America, or the Western Hemisphere for that matter.

That's pretty amazing. I guess it's reasonable that prior to air travel the Pope didn't do too much globetrotting, but 1965 is surprising.

I sure as heck thought so. I mean, I can see not doing any globetrotting in the 1800s with sailing ships etc. for most of the century. But by 1900 you had steamships and travel was pretty darn safe by and large.

But then, I'm not sure how frequent travel was for ANY world leaders back then.

I'm trying ot think of the first time a sitting President left the country. The oldest would be Teddy Roosevelt visiting the digging of the Panama Canal, but I can't remember off-hand if that was during or after his Presidency.

Absent that, it's Woodrow Wilson going to Versailles I think.

October 5

1550. Founding of Concepcion, Chile.

1864. A cyclone wipes out Calcutta, India, killing an estimated 60,000.

1914. First aerial combat resulting in a kill (during WWI).

1921. Baseball's World Series is first broadcast on radio.

1947. Harry S. Truman gives the first televised Presidential address.

1962. Dr. No, the first James Bond film, is released.

October 6

1683. William Penn brings 13 German immigrant families to the colony of Pennsylvania -- the first German immigrants to America.

1928. Chaing Kai-shek becomes Chairman of the Republic of China.

1973. Egypt launches an attack on Israel, beginning the Yom Kippur War.

1976. After the death of Mao Zedong, his wife and three others, collectively known as the Gang of Four, are arrested, bringing a formal end to the Cultural Revolution which had uprooted the lives of tens of millions and caused the death, due to starvation and other causes of millions.

1981. The President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat, is assassinated.

October 7

1571. The Battle of Lepanto is fought between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and the combined forces of Spain, Venice and Genoa. The "Holy League", which had been allied under the auspices of the Holy See, crush the Ottoman fleet, dealing a serious setback to Ottoman expansion.

1763. King George III issues the Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing Native American lands north and west of the Allegheny Mountains to colonial settlement. This goes over really well, as you can imagine...

1777. The Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights, results in a dramatic victory for Revolutionary Troops over the British, including (on October 17) the surrender of remaining British forces and their commander, General Burgoyne. As a result of the victory, the French decide to enter into negotiations with the Americans, which results in an alliance critical to the eventual American victory in the war.

1916. Go sportsmanship! Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222-0 in the most lopsided game in American college football history.

1944. Executing a long coordinated plan, Jewish sonderkommandos -- the inmates kept separate from the rest of the Jewish population and forced to run the gas chambers and crematoria -- rise up in revolt against their SS overlords. They succeed, and also destroy, with explosives smuggled by women from the armaments factory at which they worked as slave labor, in destroying Crematorium IV. Hundreds of prisoners escape, but nearly all are recaptured and executed.

October 8

451. The Council of Chalcedon, on the Asian side of the Bosporus, begins. The Fourth Ecumenical Council, it's decisions regarding the nature of Jesus Christ (full humanity and full divinity, and as second person of the Holy Trinity) are considered infallible as to their dogmatic determinations by both the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Many, however, refused to accept its determinations, resulting in a major schism, especially in the eastern portion of what was then a (theoretically, at least) united Christian church.

1480. The Great Standoff on the Urga River begins -- a series of small clashes along the Urga River which results in Muscovy thwarting an attempt by the Great Horde (an offshoot/descendant of the Golden Horde, which was itself a part of the greater Mongol empire) to penalize it for failing to pay tribute as it had for something like 150 years. It is the first in a series of steps that leads to the end of Turko/Tartar/Mongol rule in that region.

1871. Four major fires break out along the shores of Lake Michigan, including the Great Chicago Fire.

1956. Don Larsen pitches the only perfect game in a World Series. A career journeyman pitcher, he went 3-21 with the Baltimore Orioles in 1954, which accounts for his overall losing record of 81-91. He had only two ten win seasons in his 14 year career. His start on this date was a surprise, since he had been yanked after only two innings a few days prior, during Game 2 of the World Series, when he allowed four runs and four walks.

1956. This same date, Vivien Larsen, wife of Don Larsen -- who was busy pitching a perfect game -- filed for divorce.

October 9 (sorry, need to get ahead, busy weekend coming up)

768. Charlesmagne and his considerably less famous brother, Carloman I, are crowned Kings of the Franks.

1635. Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, is banished by the religious nutjobs running the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1701. The Collegiate School of Connecticut is chartered. It's name is too damn long, so some bright fellow later renames it Yale.

1760. Russian forces occupy Berlin as part of the Seven Years War.

1888. The Washington Monument opens.

1970. The Khmer Rouge are proclaimed in Cambodia. This turns out to be a stunningly bad idea overall.

October 10

680. The Battle of Karbala. Hussain bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, is defeated by the Umayyad Caliph and beheaded.

732. The Battle of Tours. Charles Martel and his troops, Franks, defeat a large force of Moors near Poitiers, France, stopping the tide of Islam in Western Europe.

1973. Spiro Agnew, Vice President of the United States, resigns as part of an agreement after being charged with federal income tax evasion in connection with accepting bribes while Governor of Maryland. His resignation, and plea of nolo contendre to one count of income tax evasion, ends the Department of Justice's case against him.

Didn't they get started on George's Obeldick before the Civil War, had to stop and then started up again after? And that's the reason there's a distinct color variation half way up?

Going from memory, but the quarry that was used for the first half was destroyed during the war, or something.

That's some darn good trivia right there.

After Super Bowl IV, that might be the biggest win ever.

Not a clue, but I'll look it up and let you know. ;)

I remember reading that the ropes rotted on the scaffolding, so when construction restarted they couldn't initially figure out how to get back up to the construction area. they ended up tying a rope to a bird and then shooting it when it flew out of the inside work area.
Posted via Mobile Device

More on the Washington Monument.

At 555 feet and 5/8th inches, it is the world's tallest obelisk, and is made from marble, granite and sandstone. It is also the world's tallest stone structure. My initial reaction was to wonder about the pyramids, but the Great Pyramid of Giza is only about 480 feet tall. The Great Pyramid held the title of world's tallest structure for 3,800 years, however, and while the Monument took this tile from the Cologne Cathedral upon its completion, it only held its title for only a few years, being topped by the Eiffel Tower in 1889.

The construction of the Monument began in 1848, but took nearly 40 years to complete due to political strife, lack of funds, and the Civil War. The difference in shading of the structure about 150 feet up reflects the work stoppage.

October 11

Pretty slow day. I'll ignore some middling possibilities and just go with this.

1975. Saturday Night Live premiers, with George Carlin as host, and Andy Kaufman among the guests.

Yea, I think I got my first blowjob about then too.

October 12

1492. Christopher Columbus' expedition makes landfall in the Bahamas, though the explorer believes he is in Southern Asia.

1692. Governor Phips of Massachusetts issues orders to stop the increasingly controversial and unpopular Salem Witch Trials, and will eventually order the special court convened to try the accused disbanded. After 19 hangings and one person being crushed to death, the madness is stopped. Something like 200 individuals accused of witchcraft are pardoned.

1892. Partly in celebration of Columbus' voyage, school children first recite the PLedge of Allegiance. In 1942 Congress will recognize it as the official pledge of the United States. Originally, the pledge did not include the words "under God". In 1954, President Eisenhower, originally raised as a Jehovah's Witness but having previously converted to Presbyterianism a few years before his election, signs legislation including the religious phrasing to the pledge.

1901. Theodore Roosevelt officially renames the "Executive Mansion" the "White House".

1933. The Department of Justice obtains the Army Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island.

1960. Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev embarrasses himself and his country by removing his shoe and pounding it on his desk while attending a United Nations meeting. He was protesting allegations by the Phillipines that the Soviet Union was embarking on colonialism in Eastern Europe.

1972. A racial brawl breaks out on the USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier en route to the Gulf of Tonkin. More than 200 sailors are involved and 50 are injured. A Congressional inquiry follows.

1979. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is published.

October 13

54. Nero ascends to the throne of Rome.

1307. Agents of Philip the Fair, better known as King Philip IV of France, who was heavily indebted to the Knights Templar, orders hundreds arrested and put to the test, torturing confessions of heresy etc. from them. Under heavy pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbands the order by 1312. The quick dissolution of what had been for two centuries a powerful sect leads to legends that live on to this day.

This sad state of affairs is only a variation of actions performed by sovereigns (especially French sovereigns) throughout history to avoid their debts, with the Jews especially being a repeated victim. Ironically, if the Knights Templar had only stuck to their names, and avoided amassing any wealth, none of this may have come to pass. The Knights' formal name: The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon.

1792. The cornerstone of the White House is laid.

1884. Greenwich, in London, England, is established as the Universal Time meridian of longitude.

Wow, I can't recall this happening; I was even in the Navy at the time. But then again I was stationed in sunny California experimenting with some Panama Red etc. Maybe its like the 60's? Can't seem to remember them too well either. :D

October 14

1066. The Battle of Hastings. The forces of William II of Normandy defeat the forces of Harold II of England. Henceforth, William is known as William I, King of England, or William the Conqueror. Before all is said and done, the influence of the Normans will be felt far and wide across Europe and even in the Middle East as part of the Crusades. Closer to home, however, the rulership over both England and a part of France will drive English/French politics, and Western European politics, for hundreds of years.

1322. Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing England to (for now) accept Scottish independence.

1586. Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for her efforts to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Her own letters condemned her, though she put up a spirited defense. Found guilty, she was sentenced to execution by beheading. Queen Elizabeth was reluctant to order the sentence carried out, however, mostly out of concern that her son, James of Scotland, might form an alliance with the Catholic powers of Europe. By early the next year, however, she ordered her death, and on February 8, 1587 her head was separate from her shoulders by two or three (there is some dispute) blows from an axe.

1656. The hypocritcal Puritans of Massachusetts, who had fled England to avoid religious persecution, enact punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers. The close relationship between church and state in Massachusetts results in the Quakers being, effectively, politically subversive and religiously apostate.

1834. An election battle in Philadelphia turns violent, with a block of the city burning down in the wake of the brick, stone and firearms battle between Whigs and Democrats to control the results in one township.

1867. The last Shogun, of the Tokugawa Shogunate, of Japan resigns as a critical part of the Meiji Restoration and the revival in power of the Emperor.

1912. While campaigning, former President Theodore Roosevelt is shot and slightly wounded by a wanna-be assassin. Carrying the bullet in his chest, Roosevelt gives the planned speech.

1926. Winnie-the-Pooh is first published.

1939. A German U-Boat sinks the British battleship Royal Oak at her mooring at Scapa Flow, Scotland, a main British navy base. While their political leaders are, for lack of a better term, complete s**theads, there's no denying that this is a truly amazing act of bravery and resourcefulness by the Kriegsmarine.

1943. Black Thursday. One of the most dramatic air battles in history takes place in the skies over Germany as the US Army Air Force returns for a second daylight attack on the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt. Over 60 bombers are shot down by the German fighter swarms and deadly 88mm cannons. Out of 350 bombers, only 17 return undamaged. American bomber command suspends daylight activities due to the losses, only resuming them in February when longer range fighters are available to provide more air support to the bombers.

1944. Athens, Greece, is liberated by British troops. Rumors that the population celebrated by putting nearly everyone on the public dole and avoiding taxes are unfounded.

1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when an American U-2 reconnaissance plane flies over Cuba and takes pictures of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed.

1964. Partly as a result of the events that will unfold around the Cuban Missile Crisis, on this date Leonid Brezhnev ascends to power in the Soviet Union, sending his predecessor, Nikita Khrushchev, into forced retirement. Khrushchev's name will be systematically erased from nearly all Soviet histories, including his achievements during WWII.

1982. President Reagan declares a war on drugs.

Should we see the Puritans as more hypocritical for their actions, or tyrannical? I think the latter. I see the entire English Puritan/Anglican/Catholic back-and-forth as much more of a battle for religious supremacy, not a battle for political/religious freedoms. Certainly the Puritans never saw Roger Williams' ideas of religious freedom as worth a grain of salt. I don't think it's til Locke that it's an idea that is taken seriously, politically.

You're probably right on that.

The Sigil of Baphomet was born and metal gets its banner.

Just get to the 21st already. Give us a good write up on nelson final great battle.

Big fan, huh? :p

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It's kind of quaint that Greenwich is still used.

You've come to the right man. I've got the upcoming weekend to prepare, and a book on Trafalgar to use as a resource for some detail. And I'm glad to take requests since I've suddenly got all this unwanted competition from Fax....


:D

what book? Finished off a monster book about ships of the line last month.

Pretty sure it's this one, though the cover isn't what I remember.

http://www.amazon.com/Nelsons-Trafal...7075379&sr=1-1


Two very interesting books that I have read on the warships of that era are Six Frigates, and If by Sea. They both deal with some of the political stuff around the building of the US navy's first ships, etc. If by Sea covers alot of stuff, and has generally fewer battles, etc. Six Frigates is a easier reading and goes into some fascinating detail about the construction methods employed by Joshua Humphreys.

What book did you recently complete?

Nelson was sort of a prima donna.

I've seen the bullet that killed Nelson. I can't remember exactly where, though. It might have been in Windsor Castle.

Not compared to Napoleon. ;)

ive seen the jacket,tomb, and victory.

Great, my Trafalgar book is, apparently, out on loan. :-( Oh well, I'll do what I can off internet sources.

It's the one year anniversary of balloon boy.

October 15

533. Byzantine General Belisarius enters Carthage after conquering it from the Vandals, essentially ending their time as a distinct ethnic/political unit.

1764. Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing hymns in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, inspiring him to begin writing the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire.

1793. Marie Antoinette is tried, and condemned to death the next day.

1815. Napoleon begins his exile in Saint Helena.

1917. Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari is executed by the French for (allegedly, at least) spying for the Germans.

1946. Condemned to die by hanging the next day pursuant to the judgment handed down at the Nuremberg trials, Hermann Goring commits suicide by swallowing poison, potassium cyanide, specifically. To avoid making them matyrs, the bodies of Goring and other high Nazi leaders were cremated. Goring's ashes were disposed of in the Isar river, near Munich. Goring, once he had sobered up and shaken off his addiction to the many medications he had previously taken, was reported an extremely intelligent and pleasant individual with a terrific sense of humor. He was unable to avoid, however, the massive documentary evidence that he was thoroughly involved in the Holocaust and various other war crimes.

Goering befriended a US soldier while in prison (from Texas, I think) and he unwittingly helped Goering get his poison smuggled into jail.

Dont remember the name. Picked it up at the library when i took the kids. If i see it again ill take a mental note and pass it on. Good book, maybe alittle lowbrow for you but i enjoyed it.

Eh, I'm not much of a book snob. I read Harry Potter and The Wheel of Time. I admit I don't do romance or anything, but I don't read Shakespeare or Voltaire either...

Most people don't know this, but Goering was actually the one who invented the whole "In Soviet Russia, party find you" schtick.

i mostly like books about football, & animal husbandry esp canine science or naval warfare type history stuff.

Dont read any fiction anymore.

October 16

1384. Jadwiga of Poland is crowned King, though she is a woman. She will later be canonized as Saint Hedwig, patron saint of queens. As queens regnant were rare in Europe in that time (as opposed to queens who were merely consorts), she was crowned as king to establish that she was ruler in her own right.

1793. Marie Antoinette is beheaded.

1859. John Brown, an ardent abolitionist, leads a raid on Harper's Ferry in Maryland. He and his men attack an armory with 100,000 rifles, in the hopes of using them to arm a slave revolt that will sweep through the slave states. The attack at first went extremely well -- they easily swept through the town, cut the telegraph lines and captured the armory. Then a Baltimore & Ohio train came through and everything started to fall apart. Brown's men ordered the train to stop, but after warning its passengers, the train barreled through. Brown's men fired, and the first casualty of the action was, ironically, a freed black man named Hayward Shepherd, the train's baggage master. The train eventually sent a telegraph message:



Local men soon rallied, and then the US Army arrived, under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee. Army Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart went under white flag to ask the men to surrender. Brown refused, and the army then assaulted the building Brown's men were defending. Many of his men, including two of his sons, were killed, and Brown was eventually hanged for his crimes. Perhaps most insightful, however, was Victor Hugo, who remarked in trying to obtain a pardon for Brown:

1869. The "Cardiff Giant", one of the most famous hoaxes in American history, is "discovered". In Cardiff, New York, George Hull, an atheist annoyed with local Methodists about the truth of a passage in Genesis about giants walking the earth, carefully orchestrates a fraud. He orders the construction of a 10 foot tall "man" carved out of gypsum, and has it buried. He then hires some men to dig a well, and they "discover" the giant. Hull charges .25 for viewings, then later raises it to .50 after people come by the wagonload to see it. Hull sold his interest for $23,000 to a group of investors, including one David Hannum, who brought it to Syracuse, New York, for exhibition. PT Barnum tried to buy it from these men for $50,000, but was refused, so he of course hired some men to make a replica of the giant and put it on display in New York and declared his to be the real giant, and the other (original) one a fake. Hannum, in referring to the brouhaha and the people who paid to see Barnum's giant said "there's a sucker born every minute." Over time, the quote was attributed to Barnum himself, but that is incorrect.

Not everyone had been fooled, of course. A number of scientists and anthropologists immediately declared the giant to be a fake, but their words went unheeded.

By February 2, 1870, both giants had been declared fakes by a New York court.

1875. Brigham Young University is founded.

1923. Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy.

1934. Chinese Communists begin the Long March. It will end a year and four days later with Mao Zedong returned to party chairman.

1939. First attack on British territory by the Luftwaffe.

1940. Benjamin O. Davis is the first African American in Army history to hold the title of Brigadier General.

1946. The Nazi leaders condemned to death in the Main Trial at Nuremberg are executed. As he had avoided execution by committing suicide the day before, Hermann Goring's body is openly displayed before the witnesses.

1968. US athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos are kicked off the US Olympic Team for participating in the black power salute at the Olympics.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...rlos-Smith.jpg

1978. Pope John Paul II is elected to the papacy.

October 17

539 BC. Cyrus the Great, of Persia, in the midst of building one of the greatest empires of the ancient world, captures Babylon.

1346. Battle of Neville's Cross. Yet another in the seemingly endless battles between Scotland and England, King David II of Scotland (the son of Robert the Bruce) is captured, and will reside in the Tower of London, as a prisoner, for the next 11 years. Upon his death, the House of Bruce will end, as he died without issue.

1660. Upon the restoration of the English Monarchy, nine of the "Regicides" the men who participated in the trial and ordered the execution of King Charles I, are themselves hanged, drawn and quartered.

1781. General Lord Charles Cornwallis offers to surrender his troops at Yorktown, Virginia. This effectively ends the Revolutionary War.

1931. Al Capone is convicted of income tax evasion.

1973. OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of countries, including the United States, deemed to have helped Israel in the Yom Kippur War. It would last until March 1974 and succeed in some of its goals of splintering Europe from the United States in terms of their policies in the Middle East, and trying to bring about an accord.

October 18

1009. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, one of the most famous churches in Christendom, believed by many to be the site of Golgotha, where Christ was crucified, and the destination of numerous pilgrims every year, is destroyed to its foundations by the Fatamid Caliph. Following negotiations between the Caliph's son and the Byzantine Empire, the church is rebuilt (at vast cost to Byzantium) in 1048.

1081. The Battle of Dyrrhachium, in Albania, results in a decisive Norman victory over the forces o fthe Byzantine Empire. I mention this not because this battle was particularly important, but rather because it is a fine example of the vast extent of the Norman "Empire" in the western European world. Normally thought of as being limited to Normandy, France (from which they of course originated and got their name) and their conquest of England, which was sudden and decisive, the Normans in fact exerted a strong influence over events throughout Europe and in particular int he Mediterranean during this time period, mostly through independent "adventurers" who at first worked as mercenaries and then became princes and dukes in their own right, often turning against their former employers in the process. This was especially true in the formation of the Kingdom fo Sicily, an entirely Norman kingdom, founded in Sicily and then spreading up the boot of Italy, over the course of several decades and involving numerous battles against a variety of opponents.

The Kingdom of Sicily at its height:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...y_1154.svg.png

1767. The Mason-Dixon line, establishing the border between Pennsylvania and Delaware (to the north of the line) and Maryland and then-Virginia (later West Virginia) on the south, is completed.

1851. Moby Dick, originally called The Whale, is published.

1867. Alaska Day. The US takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it for $7.2 million.

October 19

202 BC. The Battle of Zama. One of the greatest military leaders in history, Scipio Africanus, defeats another of the greatest military leaders in history, Hannibal, on his home ground near Carthage. This forces CArthage to sue for peace, and effective ends the Second Punic War.

1453. The French take Bordeaux, mercifully bringing the Hundred Years' War to a close, and leaving the English with only Calais in their possession.

1469. Ferdidand of Aragorn marries Isabella of Castille, paving the way for their unification into Spain.

1781. Representatives of Lord Cornwallis, who pled sickness, turn over Cornwallis's sword and formally surrender to George Washington and the French Comte de Rochambeau. And, of course, we celebrate this seminal event by playing rock-paper-scissors. (yes, not really, but...)

1813. The Battle of Leipzig. In a battle involving an estimated 600,000 men, making it the largest in European history prior to WWI, the forces of the Sixth Coalition decisively defeat Napoleon. Combined with his losses in the failed invasion of Russia the prior year, Napoleon, he is flung back into France, and within a year will be forced to abdicate and exiled to the island of Elba.

1864. The Battle of Cedar Creek. An impressive Union victory by General Philip Sheridan over the forces of Confederate Jubal Early ends for the rest of the war any threat by the South to Washington DC or the Shenendoah Valley, and brings some measure of revenge for the North in the Shenendoah, where the Confederacy had repeatedly inflicted humiliating defeats upon them.

1873. Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers draft the first rules for American football.

1944. MacArthur returns. American forces land in the Philippines.

1987. Black Monday. The Dow Jones falls 22% in one day, the largest one day percentage decline in history.

2005. Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

October 20

1740. Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria, setting off the war of Austrian succession as Prussia and France, on the pretext that Salic Law forbade her from ascending to the Hapsburg throne. The war will drag in all of Europe, and also be known as King George's War in the colonies.

1803. The US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase, by a vote of 24-7. I cannot confirm that the 7 nay votes were cast by drunken morons, but it does seem likely.

1818. The Convention of 1818 settles the border between the US and Canada at the 49th parallel for much of the length of the border.

1947. The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation of Hollywood, which will eventually result in the blacklisting of some 300 individuals, barring them from work for years. After the fall of the Committee's spiritual leader of sorts in the Senate, Joseph McCarthy, it will lose favor. By 1959 former President Truman will refer to the committee as "the most Un-American thing in the country today."

1967. Patterson and Gimlin film their purported bigfoot.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...25/Smalfut.jpg

1973. The Saturday Night Massacre -- President Nixon fires US Attorney General Elliot Richardson, and Deputy Attorney General William Rickelshaus after they refuse to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is doing far too good a job of digging into the Watergate situation. Next in line, who is willing to do the dirty deed, is Solicitor General Robert Bork. Bork remains with the DOJ post-firing, not leaving until the change in administrations in 1977. His Supreme Court nomination fight in 1987 would lead to high drama, and his eventual rejection by the Senate.

1977. A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing the lead singer, guitarist, a backup singer, and road manager, as well as the pilot and copilot.

That's such an odd number. I'm going to start a movement to change the border to the 50th parallel. Welcome to America Winnipeg and Vancouver!

FYP

ok acouple things. That could be a picture of me. Lynyrd Skynyrd rules.

love checkin this thread every couple days.

One really must wonder why those 7 voted no. It's easy to laugh at them, but I wonder if some if them figured we'd just take it for free at some point. Taking stuff had worked pretty well up to that point in the Ohio Territory.

Or did they think the money was better used for socialized medicine, maybe? Or they were just anti-tax?

Actually, it could easily be that they (some of them at least) thought it wasn't even within the powers of the federal government under the Constitution. That was certainly Jefferson's belief, but he went ahead anyway on the theory that it was too good to turn down, even if unconstitutional.

October 21. Getting a bit ahead here to save myself some time.

1520. Ferdinand Magellan discovers the critical strait that will bear his name and change European and world politics dramatically.

1797. The USS Constitution is launched.

1879. Thomas Edison tests the first practical incandescent light bulb. It lasted 13-1/2 hours.

1944. As the Battle of Leyte Gulf begins, the first kamikaze attack occurs.

1975. Perhaps the greatest World Series game ever ends when Carlton Fisk waves his arms to help a home run stay fair. That wins Game 6, and ties the series, which the Reds will win with a victory in Game 7.

Absolutely nothing else of any consequence whatsoever happens on this date....












....just kidding. The Battle of Trafalgar will be posted tonight or, more likely, tomorrow.

1805. Just for you big guy. All original work.


Europe was aflame. At war, again, as it ever seemed to be. But this time, instead of the usual power politics between emperors and kings, the whole continent struggled against the efforts of one man to subjugate them all. The monarchy of France had fallen, the result of forces that it had unleashed in assisting the Americans in their colonial uprising against their mother country. After years of turmoil and the "efficient" slaughter of thousands to the guillotine, Napoleon had arisen and seized control. Brought order and repeated military victories for France, sweeping all opponents before him. And only a year ago he had seized for himself the title of Emperor. Not King, as Louis XIV had been before losing his head. Emperor! And indeed, it was an empire that he controlled. Spain and Northern Italy were in thrall, as were the Dutch Netherlands. The Treaty of Amiens, less than three years old, was no longer worth the paper it was written on, as Napoleon seemed bent on expanding his power base, and his first target was the ancient French enemy, Britain.

So the situation might have seemed to Admiral Horatio Nelson, pacing the deck of his flagship, HMS Victory, in full dress blue uniform in the pre-dawn hours of this date, 1805. Had he known he would die this day, he may also have thought about his long and glorious career in the British Royal Navy, which stretched back to 1771 when he had joined the Navy as an Ordinary Seaman, at the age of 12. He certainly did not need to look far to see the scars of his many years of service. With his left eye, the one good eye he had, he could see the empty sleeve of his right arm. At least the seasickness that had plagued him throughout his career was not a problem on this day, as his fleet rode the seas of the North Atlantic outside Cadiz, Spain, near Cape Trafalgar, northwest of the Straits of Magellan. For too many days had his fleet lay well out of sight of the harbor, with only a few picket ships to inform the main fleet of anything worth reporting. Now, however, the enemy was sighted, and battle would soon be joined.

Vice Admiral of the White, he commanded a fleet of 27 ships of the line. HMS Victory was as good as the British had, 104 cannons mounted on three decks. Not as big as some of the Spanish leviathans, especially the thrice-cursed Santissima Trinidad, which carried between 120 and 136 guns. The Santa Anna was good for 112 guns, and he was outnumbered by the fleet that he sought to engage, 33 French and Spanish ships riding at anchor in Cadiz these many weeks. But he had the advantages that the British always had -- better seamanship, higher morale and, especially, better gunnery including the all-important superior rate of fire. Relentlessly drilled, the British could often fire three, if not four, broadsides for every two fired by other nations and in battle, it was all about throwing weight of shot and accuracy. Hence Nelson's simple but famous dictum -- always close with the enemy.

Meanwhile, French Admiral Villeneuve had determined to leave the harbor after receiving a stinging rebuke from his Emperor, alleging cowardice. Preemptorily ordered to make sail, he had left the harbor in line of battle a day or two earlier. By dawn on October 21, 1805, Nelson had caught his quarry and signalled his fleet to begin the attack. His captains knew the plan, Nelson had instructed them carefully for weeks. It was not, however, an elaborate plan -- fleet battles rarely were. The vagaries of wind and tides and currents and the smoke and fog of battle made precise coordination difficult if not impossible. The plan was this -- the fleet would split into two squadrons -- one to windward, one to leeward. The one to windward would consist of HMS Victory in the lead, with half the fleet behind her and attempt to cut the Franco-Spanish fleet into roughly 1/3rd and 2/3rds. The leeward, with the other half of the British fleet, the same with the back half of the enemy fleet. The forward ships of the Franco-Spanish fleet would be out of position, and need to turn to engage in the action. Meanwhile, the British, as always under Nelson, would be in close quarters and with superior firepower crush the enemy. Nelson was confident of victory, stating that he expected to capture 20 ships. He had left his captains with this dictum, in the scrum of battle when signals and flags would be impossible -- "No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy."

At 11:45 a.m., as the fleets closed, Nelson informed his signalman that he wanted to hoist a message to the fleet: "England confides that every man will do his duty." Informed that the word "confides" would have to be spelled letter by letter, however, he consented to change the word to "expects". As soon as possible he raised a new, and his last, signal -- close for action.

And that they did. As they charged forward, the ship behind Victory, HMS Temeriare, attempted to overtake the Victory to spare the Admiral the relentless pounding Victory was sure to take from her position in the van. Nelson peremptorily ordered him back into line. Vice Admiral Collingswood, leading the leeward squadron in HMS Royal Sovereign, reached the enemy first. After taking a fearful pounding, she broke through, directly behind Santa Anna, a 112 gun behemoth, and loosed double shot point blank into the Santa Anna's aft. Double shot, which has grape shot on top of round shot, is particularly fearsome if used effectively, and this first broadside reportedly removed 14 guns and 400 sailors from action.

The battle devolved, as Nelson planned, into a melee of isolated ship battles. At point blank range, the gunners fired as rapidly as possible. Cannon balls flew through the bulkheads and hulls of the ships, spraying huge wooden splinters and beams everywhere in their path. The men below decks choked and blinded by the smoke of battle, with barely enough room to stand up straight, loaded, fired and reloaded their guns as fast as possible. The decks had been prepared before battle with sand, to help traction and, inevitably, absorb the blood of their comrades. High in the rigging of the ships marine sharpshooters held onto their precarious perches while firing onto the decks of the enemy with, as always, the primary target being the captains and officers.

The French ship Achille was being raked so thoroughly at such close range that she caught fire from the guns of the enemy, and was soon aflame. The second ship in the British lee column, Belleisle, had become entangled with at least three enemy ships and was soon completely dismasted, her batteries blinded by her own rigging which was down, a floating, helpless hulk awaiting rescue or capture, as the fates might decree. Victory had been so pounded that she lost her wheel, and had to be steered from belowdecks.

Walking on the deck of Victory with the ship's captain, Thomas Hardy, Nelson had no reason to feel anything but satisfaction as the battle progressed. Then Hardy looked next to him and saw Nelson down on the deck. A musket ball shot from the mizzentop of the French ship Redoubtable had struck Nelson in the left shoulder, passed through his sixth and seventh vertebrae and lodged in the muscles of his back two inches below his scapula. As Hardy bent down to see what had happened, Nelson told him, "they finally succeded, I am dead." He was carried below decks, and would live for hours yet.

The battle continued to rage, but as more and more British ships entered the line, the rear of the allied ships were overwhelmed, while the van of the Franco-Spanish fleet tried and took far too long to turn back and join the fray. Eventually, the British took 22 ships, losing none. As he lay dying, Nelson was informed that the battle was won (though not quite yet over), and ordered that the fleet ride at anchor, as a storm was expected. The British surgeon heard Nelson murmur "thank God I have done my duty." Soon thereafter, at about 4:30, three hours after being hit, Nelson died.

The storm did break upon the fleet as expected, and many of the heavily damaged ships were sunk, or thrown onto the shoals. Some were even recaptured by their original crews in the disarray. Only 11 ships reached the safety of Cadiz, of which only five were deemed seaworthy.

Vice Admiral Villeneuve was taken prisoner back to England. Upon his release in 1806, he was en route to Paris when he was found in his inn room stabbed in the chest six times. His death was recorded as a suicide. Nelson's body was placed in a barrel of rum (or brandy, accounts differ) for preservation prior to burial. The Victory put in at Gibraltar for repairs, and his body was transferred to a lead-lined coffin filled with wine spirits aboard HMS Pickle for return to England. And so, sadly but accurately, Nelson's pickled body returned to England aboard HMS Pickle and he was buried with full honors at St. Paul's Cathedral. His funeral procession included 32 admirals, over 100 captains, and 10,000 troops.

HMS Victory herself still remains on display, and is the oldest commissioned ship in the world (though it is drydocked; USS Constitution is therefore the oldest commissioned ship afloat. Reputedly, after many years of service, Victory was scheduled for the scrapyard, and her old captain, Thomas Hardy, now First Sea Lord, had signed the order to scrap her. He went home and told his wife that he had given the order. She burst into tears told him to return to his offices at once and cancel the order. While the story may be apocryphal, the duty log containing the orders for the day in question has a page torn out of it.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...tioNelson1.jpg


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...oster_1805.jpg


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...stern_view.JPG

One more, which is helpful to understanding the tactics. You'd think the British ships would be murdered by the broadsides of the French/Spanish ships by charging headlong, almost as if their T had been crossed.

http://www.heritage-history.com/maps...er/gard084.jpg

October 22

1707. A fleet of 21 ships under the direct command of Admiral of the Fleet (the highest ranking officer in the British Navy) Sir Cloudesley Shovell is returning to England, and heads into the Channel, or so it thinks. Relentless bad weather had put the ships badly off course, and left the navigators in error as to their position. They are in fact heading for the Isles of Scilly, upon the shoals of which four ships will sink, and Shovell and thousands of sailors will meet their demise.

1746. The College of New Jersey (not yet Princeton University) receives its charter.

1836. Sam Houston, formerly governor of Tennessee, is inaugurated as first President of the Republic of Texas. He will later go on to win election as Governor of Texas, as a Unionist, becoming the first and only man in US history to serve as governor of two different states. (how's that for a great trivia question?) Upon Texas's secession from the Union, however, he will be cast out of office, and break from his state in spectacular fashion writing, after refusing to swear an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, as follows:

To avoid additional bloodshed in his state, however, he declined Lincoln's offer of 50,000 troops to help Texas stay in the Union. His failure to swear the oath, however, was not popular, and as he traveled back to his home, he was repeatedly harried by those demanding an explanation. Upon one occassion, from a hotel window, he told the crowd assembled below:

He died of pneumonia in 1863 and is buried in Huntsville, Texas where there is now a 67 foot tall statue of the man that helped lead Texas into the Union, and didn't want to see it leave.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ton_Statue.jpg


1907. The Panic of 1907 begins, the last major panic/depression prior to the advent of the Federal Reserve system, and a major impetus for the creation of that system. The panic and depression were very severe, but would have been far worse had J.P. Morgan not stepped in to try to calm the markets, and convincing other bankers to do the same.

1944. After three weeks of heavy fighting, the city of Aachen falls to the Allies, the first German city to be lost by the Nazis.

1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis ramps up. After internal consultations, including with former president Dwight Eisenhower, President Kennedy announces that the United States has observed Soviet nuclear weapons in Cuba, and that a naval quarantine on Cuba is in effect.


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I had the privilege of speaking at length with a survivor of the kamikaze attack on the USS Franklin. He only survived because his CO made him take some report to the other end of the ship. He told me that he walked right past where the Japanese plane impacted a minute before impact.

When I first read this, I thought it said, "Isles of Sicily". I was thinking they must've either been the worst navigators ever or the 'badly off course' was a big understatement.

And thousands of sailors died? How many crew were on these ships? If only four ships went down I wouldn't have guessed the casualty count to be in the thousands.

The Admiral's ship, a 90 gun ship of the line, was 800 crewmembers by itself, and went down with all hands. Estimates of deaths were 1,400 to 2,000.

EDIT: Further to this, the HMS Victory, obviously launched much later than the timeframe of the incident at Scilly Isles, was a 104 gun ship of the line with a normal complement of 850 sailors.

The admiral's ship, presumably being in the van, was the first to go down, as it hit the rocks before any other, and reportedly sank in 3-4 minutes, leaving very little time for the men to react, and thus most/all hands were lost. Three other ships were unable to react swiftly enough to avoid the same fate.

Dang, I had no idea they were that big. I figured 200 to 300 crew tops.

Yep, SotL were big suckers. Can you even begin to imagine what they smelled like?

No. Or bucketing out the bilge?

Can you imagine being belowdecks during a gun battle? Between the sweat, smoke, heat, not being able to stand up straight, flying wood if your ship is hit, screams of shipmates who are hit, blood, etc. etc. Brutal.

And, of course, that's just the respite from the months at sea, with little to no pay, no women, little/no ability to leave ship because you'd be pressed into service, and losing your teeth to the scurvy.

Though compared to trenchfoot and "going over the top" at the Somme.....

BTW, how am I doing with the British historical events? Half the time I do more thorough than average review to make sure I didn't screw something up because I'm convinced you know all this stuff thoroughly and will instantly catch any mistakes.

I won't even go on a cruise ship.