Back in the Day Nov 11-17
Thursday, November 12, 2009
This week in history…
Nov. 11, 1918: The war to end all wars ends…
At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, World War I officially ends with Germany signing an armistice. The treaty is signed in a railroad car outside of Compiegne, France. On an amusing side note, during World War II, the Germans used the same railroad car to hold the meeting where France surrendered to Germany.
Nov. 12, 1970: Whale of a tale…
The Oregon Highway Division blows up a beached sperm whale carcass with dynamite at Florence, Oregon. The nearby news reporters are surprised when chunks of blubber begin raining on them, splattering buildings, houses, parking lots, and damaging a parked car. As if all that weren’t bad enough, it didn’t even work, and OHD workers had to manually remove the remains of the whale.
Nov. 13, 1002: Should’ve thought that one through…
King Ethelred “the Unready” of England orders the massacre of every Danish person living in England. He believes the almost constant raids by Vikings are being aided by the Danes in England. Thousands of Danes are murdered, including the sister of King Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark. In an act of revenge, Forkbeard invaded England and was aided by the surviving Danish residents. Ethelred the Unready was forced to flee, and died in exile.
Nov. 14, 1969: That’s one second step for man…
NASA launches the Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the moon. Pete Conrad and Alan L. Bean have the privilege of walking on the surface, while pilot Richard F. Gordon remains in lunar orbit.
Nov. 15, 1864: Not making any friends… Union General William Tecumseh Sherman burns down the pro-Confederate city of Atlanta, Ga., in preparation for his infamous March to the Sea. If you are from the South, you already knew this and hated Sherman. If you didn’t know this, I wouldn’t recommend talking about the guy south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Nov. 16, 1632: Great man most of you haven’t heard
of…
During the battle of Lutzen, King Gustavus Adolphus the Great of Sweden is killed. King Gustavus is known for having almost single-handedly created the Golden Age of Sweden. Likewise, he was an excellent general, and is known in military circles as “the father of modern warfare.”
Nov. 17, 1969: A step in the right direction…
Ambassadors from the United States and the Soviet Union meet in Helsinki, Finland, to begin discussions on the Strategic Arms Limitations Talks, also known as SALT I. This is an attempt to reduce the number of nuclear weapons the U.S. and U.S.S.R. possessed. At the time of SALT I, the U.S. had approximately 4,500 nuclear warheads, a combined load of over 5,100 megatons.
Thought for the week:
“History doesn’t always repeat itself. Sometimes it just screams, ‘Why don’t you listen to me?’ and lets fly with a big stick.”
-John W. Campbell Jr.
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