The Gulf War (the first one fought back in 1991) can probably be summarized in just a few sentences. The U.S.-led Coalition forces won big. The Iraqi forces lost big. A bunch of oil wells got set on fire. General Norman Schwarzkopf emerged a hero. President George Bush’s approval rating topped 70%. But I suppose there’s [...]
Archive for February, 2010
(Gulf) War and Peace
Posted in Later twentieth century (1961-2000), United States, tagged 1991, Baghdad, General Norman Schwarzkopf, Gulf War, Iraq, Kuwait, President George Bush, Scud Missile on February 28 | Leave a Comment »
Corregidor: The Homecoming – Pt. 2
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1945, Corregidor, Malinta Tunnel, Monkey Point on February 26 | 1 Comment »
One time Brian Brincks, a good childhood friend of mine, came to our house with a can of wasp killer. He told me how awesome this stuff was and that it would freeze a wasp’s wings almost instantaneously. Well, that sounded pretty cool to a 9-year old kid, so we decided to conduct an experiment [...]
The Navy’s Lone Ranger
Posted in Period between World Wars (1919-1939), tagged 1933, Aircraft Carrier, USS Lexington, USS Ranger on February 25 | Leave a Comment »
“‘Where are the carriers?’ This has been the likely first question asked by every President of the United States since World War II when faced with a developing international crisis that involves U.S. interests.” So begins best-selling author Tom Clancy’s Carrier. Clancy goes on to write that “Aircraft carriers stretch perceptions. First of all, they’re big – [...]
Hamilton and Burr Together for the Last Time
Posted in Constitutional period (1789-1809), United States, tagged 1799, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Common Council, Manhattan Company, New Jersey, New York, Weehawken, Yellow Fever on February 22 | Leave a Comment »
The other day, we looked at the close shave that was the 1800 Presidential election. Both Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr received an equal number of Electoral College votes. This cast the election into the House, where it took 36 ballots (and a week) to determine a winner. In the midst of that, we saw some [...]
Germans Have No Answer to Argument
Posted in Europe, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1944, Big Week, North American P-51 Mustang, Operation Argument, Operation Gomorrah, Ploesti on February 20 | Leave a Comment »
As the Allied air forces began take the fight to Germany in 1943, they very quickly learned a double-edged lesson. Operation Gomorrah and individual attacks on the ball-bearing factories at Schwienfurt and the oil fields of Ploesti (ok, Ploesti’s in Romania, not in Germany, but it still works for our example) taught U.S. military planners [...]
The Sook Ching Massacre
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1942, Singapore, Sook Ching Massacre on February 18 | 1 Comment »
In the Chinese language, “sook ching” roughly means “a purge through cleansing”. It has been applied to the activities that took place in Singapore following the British defeat in 1942. This loss not only left Britain bereft of its most powerful presence in southeast Asia, it also left the hundreds of thousands of Singapore’s residents [...]
A 3rd President After Just 36 Ballots
Posted in Constitutional period (1789-1809), United States, tagged 1801, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Delaware, Electoral College, James Bayard, President John Adams, President Thomas Jefferson on February 17 | 3 Comments »
America’s first two elections were basically uncontested. Everyone knew George Washington would be elected to the top post, and his 100% tally in both Electoral College votes bore that out. The election of 1796, won by John Adams, was the first election that showed just how divided a country, recently united by Revolution and victory, [...]
Corregidor: The Homecoming – Pt. 1
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1945, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, Corregidor, Kembu Group, Philippine Islands on February 16 | Leave a Comment »
“On Friday, 16 February 1945, at 0825 Lt. Col. ‘Big John’ Erickson, commanding officer of 3d Battalion, 503d RCT, crouched in the open jump door of a C-47 flying at 1,150 feet above the waters of Manila Bay. The pilot held the plane at 110 knots on a northeasterly course. Erickson, loaded with his combat [...]
British Lose Fortress Singapore
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1942, Bataan, General Arthur Percival, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Malay Peninsula, Singapore on February 15 | Leave a Comment »
For Americans, the mere mention of the word Bataan conjures up dark images. Brutal violence, incredible suffering, desperation, disease, and starvation. The four-month battle fought in that Philippine province had all of those things in abundance. And when it ended in May of 1942, along with it came the largest surrender of American forces in [...]
Wingate’s Chindits Step into Burma
Posted in China/Burma/India, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1943, Burma, Chindits, Colonel Orde Wingate, Gideon Force, Operation Longcloth on February 13 | Leave a Comment »
General Orde Wingate was a rather mysterious man. In his book The Burma Road, Donovan Webster describes him as “brilliant and blazingly eccentric“, simultaneously “the British army’s most respected – and most distrusted – officer“. He was a fourth-generation military man and, having been born to devoutly Christian parents, he himself was also deeply religious, [...]
Red Army Achieves Winter War Breakthrough
Posted in Scandanavia, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1940, General Semyon Timoshenko, Gulf of Finland, Lake Ladoga, Mannerheim Line, Winter on February 11 | Leave a Comment »
On February 1, 1940, a Finnish reconnaissance plane made its way through stiff enemy air cover to photograph Russian positions. The war being fought between these two countries since late November had, for the last few weeks, been at something of a standstill. But when the film was quickly developed and analyzed by the Finnish [...]
The Streets Run Red in Manila
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1945, Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Manila, Manila Massacre, Philippines, Red Cross on February 10 | Leave a Comment »
Like bookends on the shelf, the atrocities in Nanking in 1937 (back then, the capital of China) and Manila in 1945 (the capital of the Philippines) speak to a level of barbaric behavior that came not only at the beginning and end of the Second World War, but one which permeated much of the conflict. [...]
Adams Election Celebrated with Two Parties
Posted in Early nineteenth century (1810-1850), United States, tagged 1825, Andrew Jackson, Electoral College, Henry Clay, President John Quincy Adams, Twelfth Amendment on February 9 | 1 Comment »
Wow! I can’t believe it’s been a week. There have been a lot of things happening and Today’s History Lesson, unfortunately, hasn’t been one of them. Hopefully, I won’t go a week between postings again. Let’s see if we can’t get back into the swing of things. On February 9, 1825, John Quincy Adams was [...]
Winter War: Timoshenko Preps for All-Out Assault
Posted in Scandanavia, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1940, General Semyon Timoshenko, Joseph Stalin, Karelian Isthmus, Mannerheim Line, Winter War on February 1 | Leave a Comment »
The war that was being fought between the Soviet and Finnish armies in the brutal Scandanavian cold had accomplished several things. First, it had elevated the vastly outnumbered, out-gunned, and out-manned Finnish army to exalted status. That had happened because of the second accomplishment…the total embarrassment of the Soviet army. Beginning in early December of 1939, [...]
