Today in History

1960 State of Ivory Coast gains independence from France.

1964 The Tonkin resolution of the US Congress in response to the Tonkin incident on August 4th initiates official US participation in the Vietnam War.

On this day in 1942 the First Marine Division landed on Guadalcanal. It was the first counter offensive in the Pacific theater after Pearl Harbor.

On this day, 500 years ago (Aug 13, 1521), Cortes conquered the Aztecs. Here is a very interesting article with details I didn’t know. The article also notes how, in current times, Cortes is generally viewed as the bad guy. In tHe version of the story that I learned in school several decades ago, the Aztec practice of Human sacrifice figured prominently (too prominently?). In this article it is hardly mentioned at all. Times change and so does human perspective. Anyway, by any standard, it is an important anniversary of an event that greatly impacted the world.

https://apnews.com/article/business...rus-pandemic-21d75936dc02a995797612be69133eb6

1961 On August 13 after midnight, the GDR hermetically sealed off East Berlin and the entire border between West Berlin and the GDR, erected a wall, pulled barbed wire barriers and interrupted all traffic connections.

Turnip said:

1961 On August 13 after midnight, the GDR hermetically sealed off East Berlin and the entire border between West Berlin and the GDR, erected a wall, pulled barbed wire barriers and interrupted all traffic connections.

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Back in 1987, I walked through checkpoint Charlie. Very creepy experience. Now when I tell the tale of my day in East Berlin, it sounds more exotic than it was …mainly because —-to an American audience—- the passage of years has put a certain romanticized Cold War sheen on those days. It’s all George Smiley. Young people might talk to me about it in the same way that I used to quiz WWII vets… as if they were talking to a witness to ancient history. Frankly, I suspect that many young adults that I speak with aren’t really aware that Germany was divided for several decades.

Tiki Tom said:

On this day, 500 years ago (Aug 13, 1521), Cortes conquered the Aztecs. Here is a very interesting article with details I didn’t know. The article also notes how, in current times, Cortes is generally viewed as the bad guy. In tHe version of the story that I learned in school several decades ago, the Aztec practice of Human sacrifice figured prominently (too prominently?). In this article it is hardly mentioned at all. Times change and so does human perspective. Anyway, by any standard, it is an important anniversary of an event that greatly impacted the world.

https://apnews.com/article/business...rus-pandemic-21d75936dc02a995797612be69133eb6

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Cortes ordered the burning of his fleet. Cold. Ice cold.

1842 The Second Seminole War, waged by the US Army in Florida, ends with the almost complete extermination of the Seminole Indians.

1900 An international expeditionary force made up of British-Indian, Russian, Japanese and American troops conquered Beijing and sacked the city during the Boxer Uprising.

1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill sign the Atlantic Charter on the HMS Prince of Wales, with which they specify their ideas of a new world order after the Second World War. After the war, the Charter becomes the central basis for the United Nations.

1945 Philippe Pétain, the head of the Vichy regime, is sentenced to death by a French court martial.

1945 Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender.

Turnip said:

1842 The Second Seminole War, waged by the US Army in Florida, ends with the almost complete extermination of the Seminole Indians.

1900 An international expeditionary force made up of British-Indian, Russian, Japanese and American troops conquered Beijing and sacked the city during the Boxer Uprising.

1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill sign the Atlantic Charter on the HMS Prince of Wales, with which they specify their ideas of a new world order after the Second World War. After the war, the Charter becomes the central basis for the United Nations.

1945 Philippe Pétain, the head of the Vichy regime, is sentenced to death by a French court martial.

1945 Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender.

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DeGaulle commuted Petain to life imprisonment. St Cyr old boy school tie slip.

The Japanese were brought to their senses by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And the Japanese people never
quite accepted responsibility for the Second World War; particularly academics who decry MacArthur.

1807: In the second naval battle of Copenhagen, the British fleet stops shelling the already heavily damaged Danish capital.

1914: During the First World War, the Battle of the Marne begins, in the course of which 550,000 soldiers die.

1918: The Council of People's Commissars in Russia issues the Decree On Red Terror, which provides, among other things, for a strengthening of the Cheka, concentration camps for class enemies and the immediate shooting of anyone belonging to White Guard organizations or involved in conspiracies, uprisings or uprisings.

1944: The Royal Air Force begins heavy air raids on Le Havre, which is held by a German division. Around 5,000 French civilians are killed in the process.

Turnip said:

1914: During the First World War, the Battle of the Marne begins, in the course of which 550,000 soldiers die.

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Will we ever learn?

The American Civil War has been dubbed the "First Modern War" in our time: balloons; iron-warships;
a submarine; Morse Code telegraphy; rifled cannon and musketry, all foretold Mars' future wrath.
If Europe had listened and read the horrible lessons offered by her daughter America, perhaps
the horror of the trenches of 1914-18 and the Second World War might have been avoided.

No we won’t, mankind has proven being unable to learn from history over and over again in my opinion. Otherwise there wouldn’t have followed all those carnages in Asia, Europe, Americas and Africa until today.

From Middle West to Middle East and all over the entire planet.

Turnip said:

No we won’t, mankind has proven being unable to learn from history over and over again in my opinion.

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Agreed.

September 7, 1907 - Maiden voyage of RMS Lusitania from Liverpool to New York. My grandfather sailed on the Lusitania as a second class passenger leaving Liverpool on August 27, 1911 and arriving in New York on September 2, 1911

It was the beginning of my days off. The end of my work rotation. I was off at 3 AM. Then I crawled into a bottle. I passed out as the sun came up. Then my Nextel began to beep. The voice coming over the speaker mic jerked me back to reality. "All units acknowledge. By executive command, all units report immediately to your command. All units acknowledge. Report immediately to your command.".

The last time I heard that, peaceful protest of 4 cops acquitted at trial for beating Rodney King, turned into out-of-control rioting.

I called in. The desk agent who answered said that everyone had to come in, and to suit up in tactical equipment. Period. No excuses. I told her that I was drunk. She instructed me to come in, no excuses.

At that moment, I didn't think of turning on a television or radio. I jumped in the shower to rinse off the stench of partying all night. Then quickly climbed into a jumpsuit and windbreaker with big yellow letters that proclaim "good guy". Loaded myself into a tact harness with special equipment and a handgun holstered on my thigh. Then slung a 12 gauge across my back, and climbed on my bike.

When I got there, the shift supervisor said. "you are still drunk, the rest of your team is already in the conference room".

I was quickly debriefed. Since we were ancillary, we were told to just be out, roll around randomly, and just keep a high visibility presence. Since there really wasn't anything that we could do, just make sure that people saw us, and honestly tell whomever asked, that we don't have a lot of information and it's still developing.

Luckily, 1 of the members of the squad was reborn religious. He wasn't drunk. So he drove.

I can vividly recall what it felt like as we left the company and started driving around. People were crying in the streets. We stopped to get burgers and coffee, to dull the edge of drinking all night. Some old guy with a little dog told us, "I hope you get 'em". The waitress, who I never met before, put her hand on my arm, looked me in the eyes, and said. "don't get hurt out there".

Then we went to one of those open patio cafes, which had a satellite for international sports. Like everyone else, we watched the TV behind the bar.

A real dose of reality. Even the hookers on the corner, and guys selling dope in front of the liquor store were in a somber mood.

I was on a team of 8, driving around in a big van. Everyone was nervous, and scared. We were armed to the teeth. But we were scared. Nobody knew what to do. We were all looking around, but didn't know what to look for. Our only orders were to make sure that people saw a uniformed presence, so that they felt safe. We didn't feel safe.

11 September 2001 - Never Forget.

My squad spent the next 72 hours on the clock. Our 3 days off were canceled, and replaced with 3 consecutive 24 hour shifts. It probably wasn't even legal, by labor law. But these were exigent circumstances. America was under attack.

There were 8 of us, in an Econoline van. Jumpsuits, windbreakers, balaclava hoods. We only had orders to be alert and ready. Ready for what? Nobody knew. So we drove around aimlessly, and took turns sleeping in the back of the van. 8 of us were all in our 20's. The youngest was a 20 year old recruit who was still more or less a trainee. A bunch of young boys and girls, with guns and badges, trying not to show our fear.

We were part of a ragtag unit of undesirables. None of us did anything wrong which warranted dismissal. But we were removed from regular service, and dumped into a special unit of our own. Several of the team were known to act against supervisor instructions. I was known as being unorthodox. For a few members, being assigned to this unit was part of their administrative disciplinary action. The "trainee" was sent to us, because of some incident which caught newspaper headlines involving a local politician. This was the squad of troublemakers, who the brass was ashamed of.

Since I actually lived in The City, we used my bathroom for showers. Which more or less kept us in my neighborhood. We learned most of what we knew to be validated fact, within the first 12 hours. After that, it was pure fear and adrenaline. Were there more attacks coming? What might they target next? We knew it was a terrorist attack. Enemy yet to be identified. Americans being involuntarily ignorant, vented on innocent people of Middle East descent. Palestinians, Yemeni, Jordanian, Afghani, Persians. The Muslim women with hijab and Sikh men with beards and turbans suffered verbal attacks, had stuff thrown at them on the street, and their shops were vandalized. They were the innocent victims. Immigrants trying to raise their families who had no more to do with the hijackings, than I had any part in bombing Pearl Harbor.

1942: The German submarine U 156 sinks the British troop transport Laconia with 1,800 Italian prisoners of war on board in the Atlantic. The associated events are the reason for the so-called Laconia order by Admiral Karl Dönitz, which forbids the rescue of shipwrecked people for the future.

1916: First World War: Great Britain uses nine armored tracked vehicles for the first time in the Battle of the Somme on the northern French front.

1935: At the seventh Reich Party Congress, the Reichstag adopts and proclaims the Nuremberg Race Laws. These deprive Germany's Jews of the right to hold public office. In addition, marriages between Jews and non-Jews are prohibited. The swastika flag becomes the national flag of the German Empire in place of the black, red and gold flag.

1950: The US begins landing at Incheon during the Korean War under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.

1717: Compulsory schooling is introduced in Prussia.

1864: The First (Socialistic) International is founded in London.

1939: The German Reich and the Soviet Union conclude a border and friendship treaty, with which the border agreements of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact are changed.

1961: The United Arab Republic between Egypt and Syria dissolves after Syria leaves.

1941: Beginning of the double battle near Vyazma and Brjansk, in the course of which the mass of five Soviet armies is encircled by the Wehrmacht and wiped out by October 20. The Soviet losses are so severe that only 90,000 soldiers are left to protect Moscow.

1949: In East Berlin, the Provisional People's Chamber puts the constitution of the German Democratic Republic into force, thereby establishing the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Until 1989 this day was celebrated as the GDR's national holiday under the name “Day of the Republic”.

1950: UN troops cross the 38th parallel in the Korean War - one week after the South Koreans.