One of the most consequential battles of the Revolutionary War occurred on August 16, 1777. The Battle of Bennington was part of the Saratoga Campaign. British Gen. John Burgoyne was marching south from Canada to try to cut off New York from New England. The advance did not go Read more…
In 1942, the Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment was created in Great Britain. It was a special forces unit that was trained to conduct secret missions using small boats. It was headed by the dashing Maj. Herbert “Blondie” Hasler. He came up with a plan to hit the Germans Read more…
During the Blitz of London in 1940, many people were killed by German bombs. Sometimes they left pets behind. After a bombing raid, a mixed breed terrier was found amongst the ruins. An Air Raid Warden named King fed the dog some scraps and the little dog followed him Read more…
Elizabeth Bathory was born on August 7, 1560. She went on to become the “female dracula”. Here is the legend. How much is true cannot be determined. Elizabeth Bathory was a Hungarian countess. Her husband was a general and she lived in a castle in the Carpathian Mountains. She surrounded Read more…
The American Emergency Rescue Committee was formed in New York after the fall of France in 1940. It was supported by Eleanor Roosevelt. It was created by intellectuals to help refugee anti-Nazi writers and artists and Jews. Varian Fry (pictured below) was one of the founders. He graduated from Read more…
In the summer of 1964, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was helping register African-Americans to vote in Mississippi (Freedom Summer). On April 24, the Ku Klux Klan (which had more than 10,000 members in Mississippi) had burned 61 churches as a warning to blacks and white civil rights Read more…
Anaximander was the first philosophy who wrote down his ideas. Unfortunately, most of his writings have been lost. We do know some of them from Plato and Aristotle. He questioned mythology and substituted natural explanations for phenomena. He is credited with founding astronomy. He created the first gnomen which Read more…
In 249, the Romans sent a fleet to recapture Drepana on Sicily during the First Punic War. It was being used as a base for raids on the Italian coast. Consul Publius Claudius Pulcher tried to arrive at dawn to catch the Carthaginian fleet sleeping. Unfortunately, the enemy admiral was Read more…
One of the most famous Civil War spies was Maria Isabella Boyd. Better known as Belle Boyd. Belle was born in Virginia in 1844. When the Civil War broke out, her 45-year-old father enlisted in Stonewall Jackson’s brigade. A loyal and patriotic Southerner, she wanted to serve her country. Read more…
There are some who look at Hitler as a military genius. There is little evidence to support this and a ton of evidence that proves he was in fact an idiot. He doomed Nazi Germany because of terrible decisions like fighting on two fronts, invading the Soviet Union, and Read more…