On this day in 1931, President Herbert Hoover officially dedicates New York City’s Empire State Building, pressing a button from the White House that turns on the building’s lights. Hoover’s gesture, of course, was symbolic; while the president remained in Washington, D.C., someone else flicked the switches in New York.
The idea for the Empire State Building is said to have been born of a competition between Walter Chrysler of the Chrysler Corporation...
Sabtu, 30 April 2016
Daily Quiz for April 30, 2016
A prolific inventor, Garrett Morgan was originally employed to repair these items.
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July 2016 Table of Contents
The July 2016 issue features a cover story about the World War II German sub U-853
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Showdown on the Rio Grande
On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress declared war on Mexico, unaware American troops had already fought and won two battles
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Letter From Military History – July 2016
Motivations both sacred and profane drive the human tendency toward warfare
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Type IX U-boat
During the 1939–45 Battle of the Atlantic the German Type IX U-boat proved very effective against Allied shipping
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July 2016 Readers’ Letters
Readers sound off about Ottoman/Mamluk swords, the Romanovs, the BAR, Rommel and Japan
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Jumat, 29 April 2016
April 30, 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide
On this day in 1945, holed up in a bunker under his headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Hitler commits suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule and shooting himself in the head. Soon after, Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allied forces, ending Hitler’s dreams of a “1,000-year” Reich.
Since at least 1943, it was becoming increasingly clear that Germany would fold under the pressure of the Allied forces. In February of that year, the German 6th...
Daily Quiz for April 29, 2016
The word academy honors Academus, a hero of this war.
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War Cartoon Collector Warren Bernard
Bernard discusses the history of the editorial-political cartoon, from its 16th century origins to today's digital drawing board
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Book Review: The Democratic Soldier
William Phalen recounts the adventures, and misadventures, of French-born mercenary Gustave Cluseret
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Book Review: Eisenhower’s Armies
Niall Barr takes a candid look at the unique British-American alliance during World War II
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Book Review: Fall of the Double Eagle
John Schindler examines the World War I destruction of the Austro-Hungarian army in Galicia
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Book Review: The Mathews Men
William Geroux recounts the unsung sacrifice of merchant mariners from Mathews County, Virginia
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Book Review: First Over There
Matthew Davenport relates the U.S. 1st Infantry Division's opening battle of World War I at Cantigny, France
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Book Review: 1916
British historian Keith Jeffery highlights key events during the second year of World War I
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Kamis, 28 April 2016
April 29, 2004: World War II monument opens in Washington, D.C.
On April 29, 2004, the National World War II Memorial opens in Washington, D.C., to thousands of visitors, providing overdue recognition for the 16 million U.S. men and women who served in the war. The memorial is located on 7.4 acres on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The Capitol dome is seen to the east, and Arlington Cemetery is just across the Potomac River to...
Daily Quiz for April 28, 2016
Siddhartha Gautama is the real name of this noted figure.
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Japanese American Nisei Soldier Combat Gear
The soldier depicted here is a Nisei (second-generation Japanese American) of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After Pearl Harbor, worried about sabotage and espionage, the U.S. government ordered more than 120,000 American citizens and residents of Japanese descent moved out of the West Coast to internment camps in the interior. Nonetheless, overruling the recommendation of …
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Rabu, 27 April 2016
April 28, 1945: Benito Mussolini executed
On this day in 1945, “Il Duce,” Benito Mussolini, and his mistress, Clara Petacci, are shot by Italian partisans who had captured the couple as they attempted to flee to Switzerland.
The 61-year-old deposed former dictator of Italy was established by his German allies as the figurehead of a puppet government in northern Italy during the German occupation toward the close of the war. As the Allies fought their way up the Italian peninsula, defeat...
Selasa, 26 April 2016
Audio: Women Pilots In The U.S. Air Force- How The W.A.S.P. Program Took Off
During World War II, women were employed by the U.S. Army Air Force to pilot planes outside of combat situations and act as instructors.
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Daily Quiz for April 27, 2016
God’s Trombones by James Weldon Johnson is a collection of this type of writing.
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April 27, 4977: Universe is created, according to Kepler
On this day in 4977 B.C., the universe is created, according to German mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler, considered a founder of modern science. Kepler is best known for his theories explaining the motion of planets.
Kepler was born on December 27, 1571, in Weil der Stadt, Germany. As a university student, he studied the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’ theories of planetary ordering. Copernicus (1473-1543) believed that the sun,...
Daily Quiz for April 26, 2016
Dark Companion by Bradley Robinson is the biography of Matthew Henson known for this accomplishment.
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Who is Susan Laurson Wilig?
Who is Susan Laurson Wilig?
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Senin, 25 April 2016
April 26, 1954: Polio vaccine trials begin
On this day in 1954, the Salk polio vaccine field trials, involving 1.8 million children, begin at the Franklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. Children in the United States, Canada and Finland participated in the trials, which used for the first time the now-standard double-blind method, whereby neither the patient nor attending doctor knew if the inoculation was the vaccine or a placebo. On April 12, 1955, researchers announced the...
Audio: Thalidomide And How It’s Connected To The Zika Epidemic
The drug Thalidomide was responsible for pressuring the government to legalize abortions and is now believed to be connected to the Zika epidemic.
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Daily Quiz for April 25, 2016
Serving as the first and honorary president for life of the National Association of Colored Women, this lady became the first member of color of the American Association University Women.
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Minggu, 24 April 2016
April 25, 1983: Andropov writes to U.S. student
On this day in 1983, the Soviet Union releases a letter that Russian leader Yuri Andropov wrote to Samantha Smith, an American fifth-grader from Manchester, Maine, inviting her to visit his country. Andropov’s letter came in response to a note Smith had sent him in December 1982, asking if the Soviets were planning to start a nuclear war. At the time, the United States and Soviet Union were Cold War enemies.
President Ronald Reagan, a passionate...
Daily Quiz for April 24, 2016
This country’s flag is the longest in continuous use.
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Sabtu, 23 April 2016
April 24, 1916: Easter Rebellion begins
On this day in 1916, on Easter Monday in Dublin, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organization of Irish nationalists led by Patrick Pearse, launches the so-called Easter Rebellion, an armed uprising against British rule. Assisted by militant Irish socialists under James Connolly, Pearse and his fellow Republicans rioted and attacked British provincial government headquarters across Dublin and seized the Irish capital’s General Post Office....
Daily Quiz for April 23, 2016
Inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes, Alfred Nobel dabbled in this creative art with little success.
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Jumat, 22 April 2016
April 23, 1564: William Shakespeare born
According to tradition, the great English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare is born in Stratford-on-Avon on April 23, 1564. It is impossible to be certain the exact day on which he was born, but church records show that he was baptized on April 26, and three days was a customary amount of time to wait before baptizing a newborn. Shakespeare’s date of death is conclusively known, however: it was April 23, 1616. He was 52 years old and had retired...
Daily Quiz for April 22 2016
The father of this famous scientist designed one of the most important optical microscopes in history.
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Kamis, 21 April 2016
April 22 1970: The first Earth Day
Earth Day, an event to increase public awareness of the world’s environmental problems, is celebrated in the United States for the first time. Millions of Americans, including students from thousands of colleges and universities, participated in rallies, marches, and educational programs.
Earth Day was the brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, a staunch environmentalist who hoped to provide unity to the grassroots environmental movement...
Daily Quiz for April 21 2016
This president ordered the U.S. flag to fly over the White House and other government buildings and urged the same over all American schools, a custom still followed.
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Rabu, 20 April 2016
April 21 753: Rome founded
According to tradition, on April 21, 753 B.C., Romulus and his twin brother, Remus, found Rome on the site where they were suckled by a she-wolf as orphaned infants. Actually, the Romulus and Remus myth originated sometime in the fourth century B.C., and the exact date of Rome’s founding was set by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the first century B.C.
According to the legend, Romulus and Remus were the sons of Rhea Silvia, the daughter...
Selasa, 19 April 2016
Daily Quiz for April 20 2016
Although never officially a state, a portion of Eastern Tennessee functioned as one from 1784-1788 and was named after this early American.
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Audio: The Psychology Behind The JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theory
Due to proportionality bias, we often believe that momentous events are caused by momentous efforts, such as the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
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Gunboats in Hell: Battle at Iwo Jima
A pre-invasion recon mission at Iwo Jima exploded into a vicious firefight....
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Which Countries Failed to Compete with Great Britain in the Industrial Revolution?
Which Countries Failed to Compete with Great Britain in the Industrial Revolution?
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Daily Quiz for April 19 2016
Pompeys Pillar National Monument in Montana was named for the infant son of this 19th century explorer.
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April 20 1980: Castro announces Mariel Boatlift
On April 20, 1980, the Castro regime announces that all Cubans wishing to emigrate to the U.S. are free to board boats at the port of Mariel west of Havana, launching the Mariel Boatlift. The first of 125,000 Cuban refugees from Mariel reached Florida the next day.
The boatlift was precipitated by housing and job shortagescaused bythe ailing Cuban economy, leading to simmering internal tensions on the island. On April 1, Hector Sanyustiz and four...
Senin, 18 April 2016
April 19 1897: First Boston Marathon held
On April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York won the firstBoston Marathonwith a time of2:55:10.
The Boston Marathon was the brainchild of Boston Athletic Association member and inaugural U.S. Olympic team manager John Graham, who was inspired by the marathon at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. With the assistance of Boston businessman Herbert H. Holton, various routes were considered, before a measured distance of 24.5 miles...
Minggu, 17 April 2016
April 18, 1906: The Great San Francisco Earthquake
At 5:13 a.m., an earthquake estimated at close to 8.0 on the Richter scale strikes San Francisco, California, killing hundreds of people as it topples numerous buildings. The quake was caused by a slip of the San Andreas Fault over a segment about 275 miles long, and shock waves could be felt from southern Oregon down to Los Angeles.
San Francisco’s brick buildings and wooden Victorian structures were especially devastated. Fires immediately broke...
Audio: Why Didn’t Germany Win The Race To Build The Atomic Bomb?
A discussion on how different scientific approaches resulted in the failure of Nazi Germany to build the atomic bomb.
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Daily Quiz for April 18, 2016
Dr. Charles Drew who discovered how to preserve human blood for transfusion directed American and British blood-plasma programs at the beginning of this war.
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Daily Quiz for April 17, 2016
A musical genius, this man died at age 38 shortly after the death of his sister Fanny.
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Sabtu, 16 April 2016
April 17, 1970: Apollo 13 returns to Earth
With the world anxiously watching, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returns to Earth.
On April 11, the third manned lunar landing mission was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The mission was headed for a landing on the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon. However, two days into the mission, disaster struck...
Daily Quiz for April 16, 2016
Emma Lazarus, best known for her poem The New Colossus which is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, was active in this cause.
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Off The Rails: The Forgotten Bastards of Iran
In a dusty Middle Eastern corner of the war, transport was the weapon...
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Jumat, 15 April 2016
April 16, 1943: Hallucinogenic effects of LSD discovered
In Basel, Switzerland, Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist working at the Sandoz pharmaceutical research laboratory, accidentally consumes LSD-25, a synthetic drug he had created in 1938 as part of his research into the medicinal value of lysergic acid compounds. After taking the drug, formally known as lysergic acid diethylamide, Dr. Hoffman was disturbed by unusual sensations and hallucinations. In his notes, he related the experience:
“Last Friday,...
Kamis, 14 April 2016
Daily Quiz for April 15, 2016
Although known for his other published works, this Yale alumnus, journalist, lawyer, and six-year member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, published his modern translation of the Bible in 1833.
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Japan’s Type 97 Chi-Ha Medium Tank
It's name reflects the 15-ton vehicle’s creation in imperial year 2597—or 1937. Its category, “Chi-sensha,” means “medium tank.” And “Ha,” or 3, indicates the line’s third iteration. An upgrade arising from a bruising loss to Soviet tankers at Khalkin Gol in August 1939, the punchier 97 flourished in soggy settings, slithering through Malayan jungle to topple the British bastion at Singapore.
The...
Battle Films: Gung Ho! Battle Cry of the Marine Raiders
The Story of Carlson’s Makin Island Raiders, Gung Ho! tells the story of a raid on Japanese-held Makin Island in the Gilbert Islands chain on August 17-18, 1942, by two companies of Marines from the 2nd Raider Battalion, an outfit nicknamed “Carlson’s Raiders” after its commander, Lieutenant Colonel Evans Carlson. Two submarines ferried the Raiders to Makin on a hit-and-run operation meant to destroy...
Book Review: Fighting the Shadow War-A Divided America in a World at War
It is likely that anyone reading this account of the maneuvering to get the United States into—or keep the United States out of—World War II knows the outcome. However, 1941 author Marc Wortman still makes his story a genuine page-turner. America’s declarations of war against Japan, Germany, and Italy may have been a geopolitical inevitability, but in Wortman’s hands the push and pull of the forces...
April 15, 1947: Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier
On this day in 1947, Jackie Robinson, age 28, becomes the first African-American player in Major League Baseball when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years. Exactly 50 years later, on April 15, 1997, Robinson’s groundbreaking career was honored and his uniform number, 42, was retired from Major League Baseball by Commissioner...
Rabu, 13 April 2016
April 14, 1865: Lincoln is shot
On this day in 1865, John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shoots President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
Booth, a Maryland native born in 1838, who remained in the North during the war despite his Confederate...
Daily Quiz for April 14, 2016
Considered the greatest child star of all-time, as an adult, Shirley Temple Black served as U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and what was then Czechoslovakia and was asked by this president to oversee the arrangements for his inauguration and inaugural ball.
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Daily Quiz for April 13, 2016
A member of the Cherokee Nation, Stand Watie is the only Native American to achieve this.
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Audio: Why Hasn’t The USS Iowa’s Bell And Silverware Been Returned?
An argument for the return of the ship's bell and silverware to the USS Iowa.
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Video: Salute to Sacrifice on American Heroes Channel, Memorial Day 2016
SALUTE TO SACRIFICE, presented by American Heroes Channel, is a collaborative effort between AHC and veterans and military support organizations with the purpose of celebrating veterans and the brave men and women of the armed forces. Through a Sunday morning programming block and online resources, AHC’s SALUTE TO SACRIFICE will honor the heroes who defend …
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What Is Bitcoin – History, How It Works, Pros & Cons
Bitcoin is a virtual currency, or cryptocurrency, that’s controlled by a decentralized network of users and isn’t directly subject to the whims of central banking authorities or national governments. Although there are hundreds of cryptocurrencies in active use today, Bitcoin is by far the most popular and widely used – the closest cryptocurrency equivalent to traditional, …
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In Pennsylvania, They Love General Meade (and His Steed)
MY WIFE AND I ARE DRIVING in northeast Philadelphia, trying to find our way through a warren of narrow streets and alleys on a route that a Mapquest printout promises is the best way to reach our goal. I don’t know this part of Philadelphia at all and the neighborhood is starting to look a …
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Selasa, 12 April 2016
Mystery of the Ghost Blimp
Early on the morning of Sunday, August 16, 1942, a U.S. Navy blimp prepared to take off from Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay to search for enemy submarines. World War II was only nine months old, but Japanese subs had sunk at least half a dozen Allied ships off the American West Coast. Japan’s …
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April 13, 1997: Tiger Woods wins first major
On this day in 1997, 21-year-old Tiger Woods wins the prestigious Masters Tournament by a record 12 strokes in Augusta, Georgia. It was Woods’ first victory in one of golf’s four major championships–the U.S. Open, the British Open, the PGA Championship, and the Masters–and the greatest performance by a professional golfer in more than a century.
Eldrick “Tiger” Woods was born in a suburb of Los Angeles, California, on December 30, 1975. The only...
When Did the Military Salute Change?
When Did the Military Salute Change?
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Daily Quiz for April 12, 2016
Rockford College in Illinois periodically awards a medal “to extraordinary women who have taken stands in their lives that required critical thinking and courageous action” in honor of this distinguished graduate.
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100 Greatest Generals
A list of history’s 100 best military commanders, from ancient to modern times. We combed through 3,000 years of history to identify “standout” military commanders whose battlefield prowess, impact on the conduct of war in their respective eras, or significant contributions to the development of warfare helped create the world we live in today. Some …
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Saving the Seven Days’ Battlefields Around Richmond
As the first day of June dawned in 1862, a mighty Northern army shouldered its muskets within sight of the spires of Richmond. A few weeks later the invaders had been driven back to the outskirts of Washington. The Seven Days’ campaign had stood the war in Virginia squarely on its ear and launched the …
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The Generals Speak, Should We Listen?: 10 Confederate Memoirs
Walk into the Library of Congress in Washington, with its mammoth collection of more than 34 million items, and you’re sure to be astonished at the great variety of books. In terms of American history, however, the Civil War holds a special place. More than 70,000 Civil War titles have been published since the first …
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The Truth About Rotaries
Fallacies have long obscured facts in the history of rotary engines. As in subsequent conflicts, airplane technology progressed at a rapid pace during World War I. In 1914 production aircraft speeds topped out around 80 mph, and most pilots still relied on wing-warping to change direction. By war’s end, top speeds approached 150 mph, and …
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War of the Dragons: The Sino-Vietnamese War, 1979
China determined that Vietnam, heady with its victory in the American War, must be taught a lesson. Deng Xiaoping, China’s diminutive leader, had good reason by late 1978 to view Vietnam’s victory in the American War (1959-75) as a threat to China’s security. Vietnam had clearly chosen the Soviet Union – China’s main enemy – …
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There Goes the South: The Days Before Lincoln’s Inauguration
President-elect Abraham Lincoln remained strangely silent as threats of secession became a reality during the long winter before his inauguration. ON THE EVE OF HIS VICTORY in the 1860 presidential election, Abraham Lincoln surprised a well-wisher by declaring, “For personal considerations, I would rather have a full term in the Senate—a place in which I …
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The Union at Risk: How Lincoln and Grant Nearly Lost the War in 1864
February 12, 2009, marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, hailed by both historians and the general public as America’s greatest wartime president. Yet despite the adulation that enwraps Lincoln in martyrdom, his military leadership was far from flawless. Eminent Civil War historian James McPherson, while praising the president as commander in …
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The Revolution of 1800: The Presidential Election that Tested the United States
The fourth U.S. presidential contest ended in a tie that tested the limits of the Constitution, threatened the breakup of the country and solidified our two-party political system. Less than 20 years after the last guns of the War of Independence fell silent and 12 years since the adoption of the Constitution, the young American …
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Senin, 11 April 2016
April 12, 1861: The Civil War begins
The bloodiest four years in American history begin when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Bay. During the next 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort. On April 13, U.S. Major Robert Anderson surrendered the fort. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for...
Minggu, 10 April 2016
Daily Quiz for April 11, 2016
With a gift for learning languages, William Carey had taught himself Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Dutch, and French before founding the Baptist Missionary Society and serving as a missionary in this country.
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Audio: WWII Ambulance Driver Shares What Kept Him Going
Tom Grasser, a veteran World War II ambulance driver, discusses his views of the war and what kept him going.
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April 11, 1814: Napoleon exiled to Elba
On this day in 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France and one of the greatest military leaders in history, abdicates the throne, and, in the Treaty of Fontainebleau, is banished to the Mediterranean island of Elba.
The future emperor was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769. After attending military school, he fought during the French Revolution of 1789 and rapidly rose through the military ranks, leading French troops in a number of...
Daily Quiz for April 10, 2016
At this battle, fought on October 7, 1571 the Holy League destroyed a larger Ottoman fleet.
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Sabtu, 09 April 2016
April 10, 1866: ASPCA is founded
On April 10, 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by philanthropist and diplomat Henry Bergh, 54.
In 1863, Bergh had been appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to a diplomatic post at the Russian court of Czar Alexander II. It was there that he was horrified to witness work horses beaten by their peasant drivers. En route back to America, a June 1865 visit to the Royal Society for...
Daily Quiz for April 9, 2016
After hanging up his guns in 1871, Wild Bill Hickok pursued a career as this.
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Book Review: Admiral Bill Halsey
uring World War II, Americans showered adulation on Douglas MacArthur, George S. Patton—and upon William F. Halsey Jr. Afterward, biographers flocked to chronicle the generals’ lives; less so the admiral’s. Now this stellar work, which seamlessly blends deep eesearch and shrewd analysis, emerges as the most complete and sophisticated Halsey portrait. Hughes impresses immediately by …
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A Fine Spring Day in Hell
Birdsong greeted me as I arrived on a crisp spring morning. A pale sun hung in a blue sky. It was one of those days when you can feel nature emerging from winter recess. The birds seemed to sense the shift, tweeting from the beech trees that gave the place its name—Buchenwald.
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Build a Hawaiian Air Depot B-17E
The B-17E was the first of the “combat-ready” versions of Boeing’s four-engine heavy bomber. But even though it was bristling with defensive firepower, the Flying Fortress was already vulnerable to enemy fighters when the U.S. entered the war. In Aviation History’s May 2016 issue, author Steve Birdsall chronicles the service records of eight of those …
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Fire For Effect: Who’s the Boss?
Most alternate scenarios are operational. What if, in May 1940, Hitler doesn’t halt his Panzers short of Dunkirk? What if, in August 1941, the Wehrmacht, instead of wheeling south into Ukraine, keeps driving to Moscow?
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Conversation: Leading the Way
A conversation with John C. Raaen, Jr.: Raaen retired in 1979 as a U.S. Army Major General. Thirty-five years earlier, as a 22-year-old captain 17 months out of the U.S. Military Academy, he made his first amphibious landing under fire at Omaha Beach. He received a Silver Star for gallantry that day in actions for which the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion was awarded a unit citation
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Jumat, 08 April 2016
April 09, 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders
At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option.
In retreating from the Union army’s Appomattox Campaign, the Army of Northern Virginia had...
Kamis, 07 April 2016
April 08, 1974: Aaron sets new home run record
On this day in 1974, Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hits his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth’s legendary record of 714 homers. A crowd of 53,775 people, the largest in the history of Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, was with Aaron that night to cheer when he hit a 4th inning pitch off the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Al Downing. However, as Aaron was an African American who had received death threats and racist hate mail during his pursuit of one...
Daily Quiz for April 8, 2016
Shakespeare wrote most of his plays for this company of actors.
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Battle Films: Saving Private Ryan
Getting Past Hell AVING PRIVATE RYAN begins with the battle for Omaha Beach. To achieve his horrific recreation of the events there on June 6, 1944, director Steven Spielberg spent $12 million and used 1,500 extras, including 20-plus actual amputees portraying men whose limbs are blown off. The result, critic Roger Ebert said upon the …
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Review: Paratroopers vs. Panzers
BLOCKING KAMPFGRUPPE PEIPER The 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the Battle of the Bulge By Frank van Lunteren. 368 pp. Casemate, 2015. $32.95 his engaging volume reflects a deep love affair between the people of Nijmegen and troopers of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment that began in September 1944. The 504th’s exploits at the Dutch …
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Review: Coventry-The Bombing of Saint Michael’s Cathedral
A chilling account of the booming of Dresden's sister city
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Daily Quiz for April 7, 2016
Groundhog Day was first celebrated in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania in this year.
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‘The Last to Emerge From Obscurity’: Joseph Wheeler Jr.
In striking contrast to robust Nathan Bedford Forrest and athletic John Hunt Morgan, Joseph Wheeler Jr. stood 5 feet 2 inches in his stocking feet and weighed no more than 120 pounds. He was 15 years younger than Forrest and 11 years younger than Morgan. But the difference between them encompassed more than age and …
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‘The Earth Seemed to Tremble’: The Batter of the Crater
Confederates saw the Battle of the Crater as proof of Yankee immorality and eventual Southern victory. In December 2003, moviegoers were treated to a vivid recreation of the Battle of the Crater in the film Cold Mountain. The engagement, fought just outside Petersburg, Virginia, on July 30, 1864, which was used as a dramatic opening …
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The Celebrity Soldier: Ulysses S. Grant
It took both military and political strategy to make Grant the darling of the Union. In November 1863, Ulysses S. Grant stood as the most successful Union general of the Civil War. “General Grant, out of a maze of tactics more wondrous than ever before puzzled the brains of observers afar off, has evolved a …
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Susan B. Anthony: ‘It Was We, the People; Not We, the White Males’
On November 1, 1872, Susan B. Anthony entered a barbershop in Rochester, N.Y., that doubled as a voter registration office and insisted she had as much right to vote as any man. Startled officials allowed her to register after she threatened to sue them. Four days later she cast a ballot for Ulysses S. Grant …
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Review: The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America
The Supreme Court Produced by Thirteen/WNET New York, by Jeffrey Rosen, Times Books, 2007 Any television documentary that features Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts Jr. as one of its many “talking heads” is certainly a rare opportunity for viewers to get a personal sense of the man who now leads the …
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Soldiers Who Would Be President
George Washington was first in war as commander of the Continental Army and reluctantly agreed to become first in peace as president of the new nation. Many other military heroes, including John McCain, right, have been less coy about seeking the highest office in the land. But only a few have proven to be first …
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Book Review: Price’s Lost Campaign: The 1864 Invasion of Missouri
Price’s Lost Campaign: The 1864 Invasion of Missouri (University of Missouri Press) by Mark A . Lause, 2011, $29.95 In September 1864, Maj. Gen. Sterling Price marched more than12,000 Confederate soldiers into Missouri, intending to re-occupy the state that had voted against secession three years earlier. By seizing St. Louis and the state capital Jefferson …
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Praise God and Liberty: Religion and the Founding of the United States
Devout believers and deistic doubters formed an unlikely alliance that helped win the Revolution and forge the new American nation. On New Year’s Day, 1802, the Baptist evangelist John Leland showed up at the White House with a gift for President Thomas Jefferson: a block of cheese, 4 feet wide and 15 inches thick, that …
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William Rufus King: The Vice President Who Never Served
Many people know about William Henry Harrison, the president who died after serving just 31 days. His less well-known equivalent in the ranks of vice presidents is William Rufus King, who lived just 45 days into his term as the No. 2 man in President Franklin Pierce’s administration. Well-bred and handsome, King was among the …
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Rabu, 06 April 2016
April 07, 1994: Civil war erupts in Rwanda
On this day in 1994, Rwandan armed forces kill 10 Belgian peacekeeping officers in a successful effort to discourage international intervention in the genocide that had begun only hours earlier. In approximately three months, the Hutu extremists who controlled Rwanda brutally murdered an estimated 500,000 to 1 million innocent civilian Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the worst episode of ethnic genocide since World War II.
The immediate roots of the...