[Amnorix]

February 10.

An event of limited historical impact, but interesting. On this date, 1355, the St. Scholastica Day Riots occurred. Beginning as an argument between townspeople and two students of Oxford, the riots eventually left 60 scholars (mostly students, presumably) and 30 townspeople dead. The dispute was ultimately ended in favor of the school, and for the next 470 years, the town mayor and councilors marched bareheaded through the streets and paid the university one penny for each student who was killed. In 1825 the then-mayor refused to play the part, thus ending the tradition.

1763. The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the French and Indian War between England and France. That war, generally ignored or forgotten, has had as much or more impact on the United States than nearly any other, as we might all be speaking French instead of English had the result gone the other way.

1906. England launches a new ship, the HMS Dreadnought. The ship gave its name to an entirely new class of warships. The decision to develop and launch the Dreadnought was not lightly undertaken by England, as it was so revolutionary that it essentially rendered every other ship in the world obsolete. Since England enjoyed effective naval supremacy, it resulted (as England knew it would) in a whole new round of a naval armaments race. The technologies introduced were all steam turbine engines, giving her a constant speed of 21 knots, and all big guns, which in combination meant she could move faster than any ship of her approximate size, and outgun every ship in the world. Her 10 12 inch turrets outgunned any other ship then afloat. All other battleships in the world were thereafter referred to as “dreadnought” or “pre-dreadnought” in class. The armaments race would continue until the Battle of Jutland.