Back in the day 11/04
Thursday, November 5, 2009
This week in history…
Nov. 4, 1918: Angry sailors = trouble
Germany’s Imperial Naval Command orders its navy to engage in a suicidal, final assault against the British Royal Navy at the close of WWI. Not being mindless robots, 40,000 sailors revolt and take over the port of Kiel instead. Within a few days, revolution had swept all of Germany.
Nov. 5, 1605: Remember, remember, the 5th
of November…
Rural British Catholics attempt to assassinate the bulk of the Protestant aristocracy by blowing up the Houses of Parliament. However, Sir Thomas Knyvet discovered Guy Fawkes while planting the explosives and thwarted the plot. Now I want to watch “V For Vendetta.”
Nov. 6, 1865: I’m on a boat!
The CSS Shenandoah becomes the last Confederate unit to surrender. The Shenandoah was bought in Britain and sailed around the globe (the only Confederate ship to do so) before learning of the Confederacy’s defeat.
The Shenandoah then sailed back to Britain to surrender because the captain knew that he and his crew would be tried as pirates if they surrendered to the United States.
Nov. 7, 1665: Good business model…
The London Gazette is first published. It remains the oldest journal still in print.
Nov. 8, 1923: Drunk soldiers = trouble
Adolf Hitler leads the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed attempt to overthrow the German Weimar Republic. Hitler is wounded during a gun battle between the Nazis and the Munich Police. If only that officer had been a little more accurate…
Nov. 9, 1938: “What have we done?”
Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Jew, assassinates Nazi diplomat Ernst vom Rath. The Nazis used this as an excuse to launch Kristallnacht, the first major anti-semitic pogrom.
Nov. 10, 1775: Semper Fi
The U.S. Marine Corps is founded as the Continental Marines in Tun Tavern in Pennsylvania. Is it just me, or have a lot of military actions spawned from places where people have lots of booze?
Thought for the week:
“If you don’t know history, it’s as if you were born yesterday. If you were born yesterday, then any leader can tell you anything.”
-Howard Zinn
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