The word titanic has been around for a long time, but it’s difficult to even say the word without thinking of the ship that carried that name. I’ve probably used the word a handful of times in Today’s History Lesson, and I can safely say that every time I have, my mind’s eye has conjured up something [...]
Archive for March, 2010
A Titanic Task Completed – A Voyage Awaits
Posted in Twentieth century (1901-1960), United States, tagged 1912, RMS Titanic, Southampton, Steamship on March 31 | Leave a Comment »
“For God’s Sake Look After our People”
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1912, Lawrence Oates, Roald Amundsen, Robert Scott, South Pole on March 29 | 2 Comments »
Those are likely the last words written by Robert Scott, on March 29, 1912, as his expedition to the South Pole reached its sad conclusion. His journey, begun with such promise in November of 1911, had seen excitement turn to bitter disappointment and then disaster. When his small group of five arrived at the South Pole in [...]
Alaska’s Bad Good Friday
Posted in Later twentieth century (1961-2000), United States, tagged 1964, Alaska, Anchorage, California, Crescent City, Earthquake, New Madrid Seismic Zone, Tsunami on March 27 | 2 Comments »
The earthquake that rocked Alaska on March 27, 1964 needs no special introduction. It is the most powerful earthquake recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. Only two others, the great Chilean earthquake of 1960 and the 2004 quake off Sumatra (which caused that terrible tsunami), have approached or surpassed the Alaskan quake’s strength, which struck in the Prince William [...]
Chindits Lose Their Spiritual Leader
Posted in China/Burma/India, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1944, Chindits, General Orde Wingate, Imphal, India, North American B-25 Mitchell on March 24 | Leave a Comment »
The 77th Indian Brigade’s first mission into Burma met with limited success. In case you don’t recall, this group of fighters, better known as the Chindits, had stepped into Burma to take on the Japanese forces in February of 1943. Their long-range penetration mission was something of a tactical experiment, and it was organized by the more-than-a-little-eccentric Orde [...]
Stamp Collections: 1765′s Least Popular Hobby
Posted in Colonial history (1607-1775), United States, tagged 1765, Parliament, Stamp Act, Taxation, Thirteen Colonies on March 22 | Leave a Comment »
As the last week of 1765′s month of May passed into June, the citizens of the Thirteen Colonies were angry…really angry. And it probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that their feelings were caused by taxes. For all of us today, taxes are part of life…and death. We are taxed for using [...]
Vinko Bogataj’s Accidental Fame
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 1970, ABC's Wide World of Sports, Ski Jumping, Vinko Bogataj on March 21 | Leave a Comment »
Vinko Bogataj is retired now. He spends a good deal of time painting in his home in Slovenia and, from the examples I’ve seen, he’s quite accomplished at his craft. But painting certainly isn’t how he’s best known. Before retirement, Bogataj worked a forklift for extra income, though that isn’t the reason for his fame, [...]
1780: When Forty Dollars was Like a Dollar
Posted in The Revolution (1775-1783), United States, tagged 1780, Alexander Hamilton, General George Washington, James Madison, Robert Morris, Second Continental Congress on March 18 | 1 Comment »
The winter of 1779-1780 was a pretty bad one for thirteen Colonies struggling to free themselves from cross-Atlantic control. First off, the weather was miserable. “Washington’s army, encamped at Morristown, New Jersey, suffered more than it had at Valley Forge from severe frosts and six-foot banks of snow.” Those words, from Ralph Ketcham’s extensive biography [...]
Deep-Sea Diving Determined to be “The Bomb”
Posted in Later twentieth century (1961-2000), United States, tagged 1966, Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, DSV Alvin, Mediterranean Sea, Mk28 Hydrogen Bomb, Palomares, Spain on March 17 | Leave a Comment »
Well, this might be one of the shortest history lessons we’ve ever done. But it’s supposed to be nice outside today (at least where I am), so I’m figuring you’ll have one eye on the window anyways. Back in January, we learned about a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress that collided with a tanker during mid-air refueling [...]
Combat Lancer Sees F-111 Enter Action
Posted in United States, Vietnam War (1954-1975), tagged 1968, General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark, Operation Combat Lancer, Tahkli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, Vietnam on March 15 | Leave a Comment »
The General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark was one of the more controversial aircraft to enter the U.S. inventory. The Secretary of Defense, desirous of buying a single airframe for both the Air Force and the Navy, told both services to work together toward a common platform. They gave it a go, but couldn’t make it work. [...]
Hamilton Adds Sword to his Pen Collection
Posted in The Revolution (1775-1783), United States, tagged 1776, Alexander Hamilton, General George Washington, King's College, New York, New-York Tribune, Royal Danish-American Gazette, The Monitor on March 14 | Leave a Comment »
On February 18, 1776, a young Alexander Hamilton sent a letter to the Royal Danish-American Gazette that he was joining the military. Big news? I’m not sure it was at the time and, in the subsequent 235 years, millions of men and women have made the same honorable decision. Hamilton, having arrived in the Colonies [...]
Western-esque Blizzard, Eastern Locale
Posted in Late nineteenth century (1865-1900), United States, tagged 1888, Children's Blizzard, Great Blizzard of 1888, Great White Hurricane on March 12 | Leave a Comment »
In the wake of the Children’s Blizzard that ravaged the upper Midwest in Janauary of 1888, something of a war of words broke out in the newspapers. First, there were arguments among the midwestern papers over how many fatalities the massive storm had actually caused, along with accusations of a coverup to purposely reduce the number [...]
The Collapse of the St. Francis Dam
Posted in Twentieth century (1901-1960), United States, tagged 1928, California, San Franciscquito Canyon, St. Francis Dam on March 12 | Leave a Comment »
When one thinks of historical disasters in California, usually one of two events comes to mind…both involving earthquakes. The first, and most obvious, is the earthquake and fire that struck San Francisco in 1906. The second is the quake that again rocked the city in the fall of 1989. But our topic of discussion this [...]
Kamikaze Pilots get a TAN at Ulithi
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1945, Caroline Islands, Operation TAN No. 2, Ulithi, USS Randolph, Yokosuka P1Y Ginga on March 11 | 2 Comments »
When the Japanese military first implemented its kamikaze plan in October of 1944, the stated goal was “one man, one ship“. And while it was certainly possible for one pilot, flying a plane loaded with one (or more) bombs, to sink a ship, reality showed that such a ratio was pretty difficult to maintain. In [...]
Alaskan Quake Packs Hawaiian Punch
Posted in Twentieth century (1901-1960), United States, tagged 1957, Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Andreanof Islands, Earthquake, Hawaii, Tsunami on March 9 | 1 Comment »
It was only a couple of weeks ago that a massive earthquake struck just off the coast of Chile. The early morning quake lasted an astounding 4 minutes and weighed in at an astonishing 8.8 on the Richter Scale. Within a very short time, tsunami warnings were being posted all over the Pacific Ocean. Around [...]
Finns Talk Peace, Stalin Talks Pieces of Finland
Posted in Scandanavia, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1940, General Semyon Timoshenko, Joseph Stalin, Winter War on March 8 | Leave a Comment »
For a couple of months, the horribly outnumbered Finnish troops had held their Soviet counterparts at bay. Their only real allies in this fight against a vastly superior force had been Red Army arrogance, solid tactics, a brutally cold winter, and sisu (a word coined at this time that, roughly translated, means “guts”). But they used all [...]
Challenger Disaster Followed by Grim Cabin Search
Posted in Later twentieth century (1961-2000), United States, tagged 1986, Challenger, NASA, Space Shuttle, USS Preserver on March 7 | 2 Comments »
As I wrote a year ago, I remember vividly what I was doing when I heard that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded. I imagine that a good number of you can probably say the same. The explosion, which took place 73 seconds into shuttle’s mission on January 28, 1986, was followed up by a [...]
A Date Which Will Not Live in Infamy
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1942, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, French Frigate Shoals, Kawanishi H8K, Midway, Operation K, Pearl Harbor on March 4 | 1 Comment »
Two Kawanishi H8K Emily flying boats may not seem like a lot of firepower in our day of jet power, stealth, and super-cruise capability. But back in 1942…well…it wasn’t much firepower then, either. But that’s what the Japanese could spare, and it’s what they used to carry out “Operation K”, their second attack on Pearl [...]
French Frigate Shoals: Cheap Gas and a Beach
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1942, French Frigate Shoals, I-15, I-19, Kawanishi H8K on March 3 | 1 Comment »
Just a blurb tonight…I think. Sometimes when I say I’m going to be brief, I end up writing for a long time. But this time, I guess we’ll see… Long, long ago, we mentioned the French Frigate Shoals. Sitting less than 500 miles to the northwest of Pearl Harbor, they’re actually part of the Hawaiian [...]
The First Defeat of Peleliu
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1944, Admiral Chester Nimitz, General Douglas MacArthur, Peleliu, Truk on March 2 | 2 Comments »
The two-and-a-half month battle fought on Peleliu in the fall of 1944 was one of the most vicious engagements of the entire war. Thirteen hundred Marines and more than five hundred Army soldiers were killed in the process of subduing nearly 11,000 Japanese soldiers that were incredibly well-entrenched. But regular readers of Today’s History Lesson [...]
Too Much Java for the Dutch East Indies
Posted in Pacific, World War II (1939-1945), tagged 1942, Admiral Takeo Takagi, Dutch East Indies, HMS Encounter, HMS Exeter, Second Battle of the Java Sea, Sunda Strait, USS Pope on March 1 | Leave a Comment »
The Sunda Strait is not a place we talk about very much. In fact, I think I’ve only mentioned it once before…when discussing the eruption of Mt. Krakatoa. Today, let’s head back there for an eruption of another sort. Just as a reminder, Sunda Strait is located between the islands of Sumatra and Java. It [...]
