This Day in History

[besilarius]

44 BC.    Marc Antony thrice offered a crown to Caesar, who refused it.

1503. The last and greatest representative of the Age of Chivalry, Pierre Terrail, the Seigneur de Bayard (c. 1473-1524), was the most notable man-at-arms of his age. The chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, Bayard served heroically in the long Italian wars, gaining a remarkable reputation for courage, daring, and skill with sword, lance, and horse, in battle, skirmish, and siege.
On December 28, 1503, during the general disaster that resulted for the French in the aftermath of Gonzalo de Cordoba’s brilliant mid-winter offensive at the Battle of the Garigliano, Bayard personally held a bridge over the river against the vanguard of the Spanish-Neapolitan army, aided by just fifteen knights supported by a few pikemen and archers, an action recounted in lively fashion by his biographer Samuel Shellabarger,
. . . in charge after charge, a plyìng of lance, ax, and sword, they checked the Spanish advance. Bayard's horse went down. He swung himself clear, and landed on foot surrounded by enemies, but refused surrender, continuing the fight. The Bâtard de Sandricourt charged, cut him free, and gave him another mount. The battle went on. Behind them the hurrying columns struggled forward encumbered with baggage and artillery, and reached at length the bridge of Mola di Gaeta, a choked torrent of men striving to pass and in utter rout. Here the mélée rose to its fiercest, the tenuous rear-guard alone standing between this disorganized mass and the driving pressure of the enemy. Once more Bayard's horse was killed, and once more he swung to another saddle. Others of the fifteen were taken or slain. Bellabre, at his side, hurled a Spanish knight from the bridge into the river. Around the artillery bedded in mud and blocked by the swarm of fugitives, the royal Swiss guard fought to the last, but vainly. Threatened by a detachment of Spaniards, who had crossed below and strove to cut off retreat, the guns had to be abandoned and the bridge-head surrendered. Another wave of attack swept against what remained of the fifteen defenders, but they still held firm. Bayard's third horse, mortally wounded, managed to stagger with him to the doors of Gaeta before collapsing.
Bayard went on to fight again, and again, and again. Henry VIII of England, an enemy, accorded him honors almost as great as those the King of France sovereign conferred. And Francois I was lavish with honors, even refusing to accept the accolade of knighthood from anyone save Bayard.
The perfect knight, chivalrous, generous, courageous, loyal, honorable, in late April 1524, Bayard assumed command of a defeated French army as it retreated across the River Sesia in Northern Italy. While standing under a tree directing the operation a Spanish arquebus ball struck him in the spine. In a sense this was but poetic justice, for the gallant Bayard had been in the habit of mutilating and even executing arquebusiers whenever he captured them, considering them violators of the knightly code; commoners had no right to deal death to their betters.
Seriously wounded, Bayard was captured by the Spanish, who treated him remarkably well, considering the treatment that he had regularly meted to their arquebusiers. After days of agony he died in Spanish hands on April 30, so mourned by his captors that they called a truce to return his body to his people for a decent burial. Francois I gave the fallen hero an elaborate funeral. Though his contemporaries knew it not, Bayard's funeral was also the funeral of the Feudal Age, for the cause of his death, gunpowder, was, in large measure, the cause of the death of chivalry.

1856. The stores-ship, Supply, commanded by Lt. David Dixon Porter, sails from Smyrna, Syria, bound for Indianola, Texas, with a load of 21 camels intended for experimental use in the American desert west of the Rockies.

1936. Hitler orders production of the Volkswagen

1989. Gen. Boris Gromov leaves Afghanistan, ending Soviet intervention

[besilarius]

1220         The Mongols capture Bokhara

1622 Don Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba was a descendent of El Gran Capitan, who had led the armies of Ferdinand and Isabel to numerous victories against the Moors and French, helping to secure Granada and Naples for the Spanish crown. Born late in the sixteenth century, like his great ancestor, the younger Gonzalo also served in the Spanish Army for many years, with great energy and some success, though little distinction, particularly during the early part of the Thirty Years’ War. Perhaps the most interesting moment in the younger Gonzalo’s military career occurred at the Battle of Wimpfen (May 6, 1622), against the Duke of Baden.
In the course of the battle, Cordoba observed that two enemy cavalry squadrons were dangerously exposed. He concluded that a cuirassier charge might be just the thing to rout these troops and carry the day. Putting himself at the head of 22 squadrons, Gonzalo ordered the charge, and put spurs to horse with his troopers thundering behind.
Unfortunately, just as they were about to plunge into the enemy lines, Gonzalo’s gallant troopers decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and drew off. As he was out in front of his brave cuirassiers , Gonzalo failed to notice their pusillanimity, and so plunged on single-handedly into the enemy ranks.
Seeing the lone horsemen approaching, the German troopers gallantly opened their ranks to let him pass (well, actually they were “advancing to the rear” as well). So none of the enemy chose to engage Gonzalo as he rode through their ranks. One did, however, approach close enough to reach out and snatch a gold chain from Gonzalo’s uniform.
Despite this dual humiliation, Cordoba did go on to win the battle, one of several to his credit, though never enough to compensate for his failures.

1792 required all adult, white men in the U.S. to enroll in their state militia. Despite tradition, the heirs of the “embattled farmers” proved very reluctant to serve. So by 1800 most states had imposed fines for such offenses as failure to enroll, missing periodic musters, or lacking certain articles of equipment, particularly muskets, which the men were supposed to supply themselves (however common muskets may have been among frontiersmen, they were by no means as common among folks in more settled regions).
The size of the fine varied depending upon the state and the nature of the offense. Missing company training might cost a man $0.75, while failing to show up with a musket might run $2.00. Refusing to serves as a non-commissioned officer could cost a man $10.00. In general, fines levied against officers were a great deal higher than those levied against enlisted men, an interesting example of anti-aristocratic tendencies in American society.
These were very heavy fines. A common workman might earn $150 in the course of a year. In Virginia at the time a pound of beef could be had for $0.05, of mutton or pork, $0.07, of butter, $0.20-$0.25, while a dozen eggs ran $0.08, the same price as a whole chicken.
If a man was particularly recalcitrant, and not only refused to serve, but refused to pay his fines, the state could seize his goods and sell them to the highest bidder to satisfy the debt.
Despite these seemingly draconian penalties, evasion of militia duty was extremely common, so that of perhaps 500,000 active militiamen on the rolls in 1800, fewer than ten percent seem to have even owned a firearm.

1804. Lt. Stephen Decatur, with volunteers from frigate Constitution and schooner Enterprise, enters Tripoli harbor by night in the ketch Intrepid to burn the captured frigate Philadelphia.

1923         Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon open King Tut's tomb

1940         'Altmark' Incident: HMS 'Cossack' violates Norwegian territoriality to free British prisoners held aboard a German tanker

1944,  Cdr. Quentin R. Walsh, U.S.C.G., was leading a party of armed Coastguardsmen on a reconnaissance to determine the extent to which the Germans had damaged the port facilities at Cherbourg before surrendering the city. They came across a German sailor, whom they promptly captured. The man informed them that about 50 American soldiers were being held prisoner in one of the harbor forts, guarded by some German troops who had refused to surrender.
Accompanied by another officer, Walsh approached the fort and called for a parley. A German officer escorted the pair into the fort, where they confronted the German commander. They reminded him that his direct superiors had already surrendered Cherbourg, and that he had an obligation to obey their orders. The German officer flatly refused to surrender, informing Walsh that he and his men would fight to the death. Walsh quietly told him that there were 800 American troops men outside, ready to take the fort by storm if necessary. Hearing this the German commander suddenly lost interest in a glorious death for Führer and fatherland, and agreed to surrender.
The German officer must have felt pretty stupid when he discovered that Commander Walsh actually had only seven armed men waiting outside.

[besilarius]

364         Roman Emperor Flavius Jovianus Binda - Jovian (Jun 26, 363-Feb 17, 364), at c. 32, probably accidental carbon monoxide suffocation.

1197 Richard the Lionhearted decided to block a potential French invasion route into Normandy down the Seine by constructing an enormous castle which has come to be known as Chateau Gaillard. Since Richard was having a lot of trouble with his “dear cousin” Philip Augustus II of France, he decided that the castle had to be built in a hurry. Naturally, this upped the cost considerably.

Cost to Construct Chateau Gaillard, 1197-1198
                                   Purchase     Transport   Labor   Total
Cartage                         -               £1,010   £2,442   £3,442
Stone                         £2,030            425   650             3,105
Timber.                           1,005            251   838      2,094
Masonry Supplies *      395                 -        1,002             1,397
Metalwork & Cordage       160.                  -     113.              273
Manpower**                       -                 -    10,892            10,892
Total                            3,590         1,676.   15,927     21,203

Note: “Masonry Supplies” refers to sand, mortar, and plaster. “Manpower” refers to construction workers, miners, porters, guards, and so forth, to the exclusion of personnel involved in the manufacture or transportation of supplies
As can be seen, then as now, the principal expense in a construction project was manpower rather than materials.
Considering that Richard’s normal “annual income” was probably no more than £50,000-75,000, his enormous investment in Chateau Gaillard was not well repaid. Just as he could raise a great castle in quick time by ponying up lots of cash, so too could his enemies. Although virtually impregnable to a traditional siege, Chateau Gaillard could be blockaded and forced to surrender if someone could afford to pay enough troops long enough to starve the garrison.
In September, 1203, an army in the pay of King Philip Augustus II of France sat down outside Chateau Gaillard. They erected siege works, prevented the entry of supplies, and even stormed the outer walls. As a result, at the time of the final French assault on March 6, 1204, the combined effects of combat, hunger, and disease had reduced the defenders to no more than 140 able-bodied men.
Taking Chateau-Gaillard cost Philip Augustus a pretty penny, precisely how much no one knows, but it was probably as much as the place had cost Richard to build. Despite this tremendous outlay, it money well spent, for not only did the castle control traffic on the Seine, it also covered Rouen, the capital of Normandy, then in English hands. Three months after Chateau-Gaillard fell, Rouen was French again, and the rest of Normandy soon followed.

1782. British fleet of 9 ships of the line, under Sir Edward Hughes, engaged a French fleet of 11 ships of the line, under Bailli de Suffren, off the East coast of India.

1909. Goyaalé ("Yawner") - Geronimo, warrior, card sharp,  dies c. 79.The great Apache war chief Geronimo led his people’s resistance to the U.S. for many years before surrendering, after which he fairly quickly became a rather model citizen. Like many Indians an ardent gambler – a generation earlier the great Kiowa warchief Setanta had also been a notable sportsman – Geronimo was particularly fond of poker, at which he often won considerable sums, as can be seen in this excerpt from The Army-Navy Journal of August 29, June 9, 1900.

A Wichita press correspondent states that Geronimo, the famous Apache war chief, deposited in the bank at Chicasha $1,425 some days ago, the result of his winnings at poker. Recently he became a great poker player. He shuffles the cards cautiously, never cheats, and expects his opponents to play fair. He ìs a greater bluffer, and is not afraid to call a bluff. In the spirit of the old deacon's advice to the young men not to bet but if they did to bet on Jones's mare, the chief's conduct ín banking his winnings may be held up as a worthy example to those who seem to lighten a monotonous existence by dalliance with the deceiving jackpot."
Clearly, Geronimo played poker the way he played war, seriuosly. This is demonstrated.both by his penchant for bluffing, and the amounts involved; in 1900 $1,425 was almost as much as a first lieutenant earned in a year, and more than twice the annual wage of the average public school teacher in the nation.

[bayonetbrant]

1909. Goyaalé ("Yawner") - Geronimo, warrior, card sharp,  dies c. 79.The great Apache war chief Geronimo led his people’s resistance to the U.S. for many years before surrendering, after which he fairly quickly became a rather model citizen. Like many Indians an ardent gambler – a generation earlier the great Kiowa warchief Setanta had also been a notable sportsman – Geronimo was particularly fond of poker, at which he often won considerable sums, as can be seen in this excerpt from The Army-Navy Journal of August 29, June 9, 1900.

Been to his grave and used to live across the Quad from his jail.

[bbmike]

And I used to live where he was imprisoned for a while.

[besilarius]

3102. BC   Krishna, the incarnation of Vishnu [Trad]

The Athenian general and author Xenophon (427-355 BC), was so particular about the quality of his equipment that his shield came from Argos, his breastplate from Attica, his helmet from Boeotia, and his horse from Epidaurus.

185 BC. After many years of public service,  having come out on the losing side in the convoluted familial politics of the Roman Republic, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236–183 B.C.), victor over Hannibal, retired to a villa at Liternum, on the coast of Campania, about 20 miles north of Naples.
It was a pleasant spot, well watered and fruitful, and the great general could invest his energies in managing the estate.
Then, one day, several pirate ships were seen approaching off the coast. Assuming the pirates intended no good, Scipio promptly made preparations to deal with them. He put his household into a state of defense, fortifying the villa and arming his retainers, among whom were a number of old soldiers who had attached themselves to his service, as well as some of the local citizens and even his slaves.
What happened next was quite unexpected.
When the pirate captains landed on the nearby beach, they immediately sent their boats and men back to their ships. They then ostentatiously deposited their arms on the shore and approached Scipio’s villa in a dignified, even suppliant manner. At the front gate a spokesman for the pirates declared that they had come to pay their respects to the great commander, considering it an honor to met someone so favored by the gods.
Seeing them disarmed, and outnumbered, Scipio ordered the pirates admitted. The men paid homage to the household deities, greeted Scipio with great emotion, some even kissing his hand, and presented expensive gifts.
After a brief visit, during which they exchanged pleasantries with Scipio, the pirates returned to their ships, declaring how fortunate they had been to meet so great a man.

1478. George Plantagenet, 28, Duke of Clarence, conspirator against his brother Edward IV, executed in the Tower, traditionally by being drowned in a barrel of Malmsey

1653  Start of 3 day Battle of Portland. English fleet, under Robert Blake, was attacked by a Dutch fleet escorting a large convoy, under Lt.-Admiral Maarten Tromp. Figures are unclear but each fleet had 70-80 warships and whilst the British lost 1-3 warships the Dutch lost 8-12 and 40- 50 merchantmen.

1774, on the eve of the War for Independence, merchant ships registered in the Thirteen Colonies totaled about 450,000 tons.

Between 1814 and 1868, there were apparently 34 coups, pronunciamientos, or other military interventions in political life by the Spanish Army, most of which failed.

1898. Spain did badly in its war with the United States in 1898. She could have done better. Much better. In fact, it is difficult to disagree with the belief of many Spanish officers, including Vice-Admiral Pascual Cervera, who commanded the squadron sunk off Santiago, that their government had given little thought to strategic planning beyond the notion of losing the war quickly.
The shattering defeats inflicted upon the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and at Santiago were both avoidable.
Had the squadron in the Philippines been dispersed, rather than concentrated at Cavite, Commodore George Dewey would not have secured so signal a victory at the very outbreak of the war. With the Spanish ships dispersed among the archipelago's seven thousand islands scattered over 100,000 square miles of ocean, they would have posed a threat - a "fleet in being" - to the safety of an American expedition to seize Manila. Dewey would have found the task of searching all those potential hiding places tedious, time consuming, and potentially dangerous, yet necessary despite the relative worthlessness of the Spanish vessels in question. It would certainly have taken months to winkle out the last of the Spanish fleet. Of course, the Philippines were a side-show. The critical theater was the Atlantic.
In the Atlantic Admiral Cervera offered a much better strategy than merely sending his squadron to the Caribbean to be sunk. The U.S. could not safely invade Cuba until the Spanish fleet had been neutralized. Cervera proposed keeping the fleet concentrated in the Canary Islands. There it would continue to pose a threat to American maritime movements and at the same time be available to intercept possible American raids on the Spanish mainland. Spain's resources were adequate for this strategy. At the start of the war Spain had four major warships in commission, three Maria Teresa class armored cruisers plus the new armored cruiser Cristobal Colon, the ships that formed the core of the squadron that Cervera took to Santiago. Had Spain adopted this strategy, these vessels would have shortly been joined by two other major warships that were soon available, the battleship Pelayo, completing a refit, and the armored cruiser Carlos V, a very powerful vessel just entering service.
Even had they remained relatively inactive, these six heavy ships concentrated in the Canary Islands and supported by the available smaller cruisers and various lighter warships could easily have proven extremely worrisome to the United States Navy, constituting a relatively powerful fleet in being. From the Canaries, one or two of the armored cruisers and some of the half dozen or so smaller cruisers could have been sent to raid U.S. maritime commerce and threaten the East Coast, already experiencing something of a panic even before Cervera's squadron actually sailed. Such a strategy would have prolonged the war in several ways.
Had Spain adopted this course of action, the U.S. Navy would have been forced to divert resources from the Caribbean to chase the Spanish commerce raiders, and guard the Atlantic coastline. An American descent on Cuba or Puerto Rico would have been delayed, due to the shortage of escorts. Given that the U.S. Army was extremely concerned about the danger of operating in the Caribbean during the fever season, a landing in Puerto Rico or Cuba might easily have been delayed until the fall, assuming a decision was made to undertake one at all, given the potential danger from the Spanish fleet in the Canaries. Indeed, precisely what the U.S. would have done in such circumstance is difficult to determine. An expedition against the Canaries was actually considered by the U.S., but only after Cervera's defeat, and primarily as a means of preventing Spain from attempting to reinforce the Philippines. Moreover, it seems unlikely that the U.S. Navy could have done much more than undertaken a massive raid, lacking the logistical train to support a more serious expedition at such distance from North America
Spain did badly in its war with the United States in 1898. She could have done better. Much better. In fact, it is difficult to disagree with the belief of many Spanish officers, including Vice-Admiral Pascual Cervera, who commanded the squadron sunk off Santiago, that their government had given little thought to strategic planning beyond the notion of losing the war quickly.
The shattering defeats inflicted upon the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay and at Santiago were both avoidable.
Had the squadron in the Philippines been dispersed, rather than concentrated at Cavite, Commodore George Dewey would not have secured so signal a victory at the very outbreak of the war. With the Spanish ships dispersed among the archipelago's seven thousand islands scattered over 100,000 square miles of ocean, they would have posed a threat - a "fleet in being" - to the safety of an American expedition to seize Manila. Dewey would have found the task of searching all those potential hiding places tedious, time consuming, and potentially dangerous, yet necessary despite the relative worthlessness of the Spanish vessels in question. It would certainly have taken months to winkle out the last of the Spanish fleet. Of course, the Philippines were a side-show. The critical theater was the Atlantic.
In the Atlantic Admiral Cervera offered a much better strategy than merely sending his squadron to the Caribbean to be sunk. The U.S. could not safely invade Cuba until the Spanish fleet had been neutralized. Cervera proposed keeping the fleet concentrated in the Canary Islands. There it would continue to pose a threat to American maritime movements and at the same time be available to intercept possible American raids on the Spanish mainland. Spain's resources were adequate for this strategy. At the start of the war Spain had four major warships in commission, three Maria Teresa class armored cruisers plus the new armored cruiser Cristobal Colon, the ships that formed the core of the squadron that Cervera took to Santiago. Had Spain adopted this strategy, these vessels would have shortly been joined by two other major warships that were soon available, the battleship Pelayo, completing a refit, and the armored cruiser Carlos V, a very powerful vessel just entering service.
Even had they remained relatively inactive, these six heavy ships concentrated in the Canary Islands and supported by the available smaller cruisers and various lighter warships could easily have proven extremely worrisome to the United States Navy, constituting a relatively powerful fleet in being. From the Canaries, one or two of the armored cruisers and some of the half dozen or so smaller cruisers could have been sent to raid U.S. maritime commerce and threaten the East Coast, already experiencing something of a panic even before Cervera's squadron actually sailed. Such a strategy would have prolonged the war in several ways.
Had Spain adopted this course of action, the U.S. Navy would have been forced to divert resources from the Caribbean to chase the Spanish commerce raiders, and guard the Atlantic coastline. An American descent on Cuba or Puerto Rico would have been delayed, due to the shortage of escorts. Given that the U.S. Army was extremely concerned about the danger of operating in the Caribbean during the fever season, a landing in Puerto Rico or Cuba might easily have been delayed until the fall, assuming a decision was made to undertake one at all, given the potential danger from the Spanish fleet in the Canaries. Indeed, precisely what the U.S. would have done in such circumstance is difficult to determine. An expedition against the Canaries was actually considered by the U.S., but only after Cervera's defeat, and primarily as a means of preventing Spain from attempting to reinforce the Philippines. Moreover, it seems unlikely that the U.S. Navy could have done much more than undertaken a massive raid, lacking the logistical train to support a more serious expedition at such distance from North America

1942. USS Truxtun (DD 229) and USS Pollux (AKS-2) sink during a heavy storm in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, with the loss of 204 lives.  At that time, the greatest loss of US sailors in the war.

1943         Gestapo arrest "White Rose" resistance cell in Munich

[besilarius]

281 BC. One of the most unique duels between commanders occurred., at the Battle of Corupedion, during the Wars of Alexander the Great’s Successors, when Seleucus of Syria and Mesoptomia defeated and slew Lysimachus of Bithynia, both men being, at the time, over 80 years old.

1649. Second Battle of Guararapes: The Porgtuese end Dutch attempts to colonize northeastern Brazil

1748. During a siege Afghan King Ahmed Shah’s prize cannon fired a ball in excess of 500 pounds with such devastating effect that the Persian city of Nishapur surrendered after only one round, despite the fact that the gun itself blew up.

1807. A British squadron under Adm Duckworth forces the Dardanelles

1861. Tsar Alexander II abolishes serfdom

1915. First British attempt to force the Dardanelles: A feeble probe alets the Turks to the weakness of their defenses

1940  When France collapsed in June, the Polish 2nd Infantry Division, raised from refugees and expatriates, retreated into Switzerland, where it was interned, though the wily Swiss left it largely intact, in case they needed some extra support should Hitler decide to invade their country as well.

1942. Feeling their mannhood insulted when higher authorities tried to limit their exposure to venereal disease by issuing prophylactics, one day on the Eastern Front during World War II the troops of the Spanish “Blue Division” afixed inflated condoms to their bayonets as they marched in review for a contingent of very senior German officers.

[besilarius]

Q. Fabius Labeo (c. 226 B.C.- 180 BC) was a member of an obscure branch of the patrician gens Fabia. He followed the normal “course of honor” for a Roman of his class, alternating military service with stints in public office. In late 190 B.C., Labeo was elected a praetor for 189 B.C., and was assigned command of the combined Roman-Rhodian fleet that was serving in the Eastern Mediterranean in support of operations by Gnaeus Manlius against King Antiochus III of Syria.
Manlius had completed his peace making (or perhaps “peace dictation”) with Antiochus, and the final terms included a clause whereby the latter agreed to surrender half of his fleet to Rome.
Labeo was charged with implementing this clause. Antiochus’ fleet lay at several different ports. A large number of the king’s ships were lying at Patara, then a fine harbor, but today, due to silting, a pleasant beach near Kalkan in southern Turkey. Since the treaty prescribed that half the fleet be given to Rome, Fabius ordered the Syrian warships to be cut across the beam, and took away half of each vessel.

1258  Caliph al-Musta'sim Billah of Baghdad (1242-1258), c. 45, the last Abbasid, executed by Hulagu Khan

During the War of 1812 the U.S. Navy, which never had more than about two dozen ships at sea at any time, captured 165 enemy vessels, while 526 privateers wearing the American flag took 1,334 more.

1833  Russian Black Sea fleet anchors off Constantinople, to defend it from the Egyptians

1913 Britain laid down a new class of battleship, the "R" Class, so-designated because all of the units had names beginning with the letter R. They began entering service in 1916, but proved somewhat of a disappointment in service due to major design flaws. Apparently having expended all its inventiveness on the preceding Queen Elizabeth Class, splendid oil fueled, high-speed vessels, the Royal Navy seriously bungled the design of the new class. The smaller Rs - sometimes known as the Revenge or Royal Sovereign Class - were originally intended to burn coal, with auxiliary oil-fuelling. Although converted to oil while still under construction, the Rs were much slower than their predecessors - 21.5 knots vs. 25 - and never quite measured up. Though they served in both World Wars, the Rs found little glory, being largely confined to support roles, such as convoy escort and gunfire support missions, being relegated as training ships before the end of World War II, after which they were turned into scrapped.
Well, mostly turned into scrap. But no completely. In 1950 some miscellaneous parts of HMS Royal Sovereign and HMS Revenge, specifically the rack and pinion (the large toothed steel ring and the gear that drives it) of one 15-inch gun turret from each ship was saved from the scrap heap for a "higher" purpose. The two assemblages were shortly incorporated into the elevation drive of the 76-meter radio telescope at Jodrell Bank.
Now known as the Lovell Telescope, after Sir Bernard Lovell, founder of the observatory, the telescope remains in service, helping to explore the universe, and HM Ships Royal Sovereign and Revenge can arguably claim to be the first battleships in history taking part in the exploration of space.

during the British Army maneuvers of 1913, Maj. Gen. Henry Rawlinson (who later commanded an army in France) sent his wife on a reconnaissance mission in their chauffer-driven car, as a result of which he supposedly initiated a night attack on a concentration of “enemy” troops who turned out to be some of the umpires

1919 this Anarchist bombing ofthe American Woolen Co. mill, near Franklin, Mass., went amiss, killing all four terrorists

1944  Big Week: Allied bombers begin five days of intensive air attacks on German aircraft production facilities and air bases, while their fighter escorts devastate defending Luftwaffe squadrons

[besilarius]

500 BC. Roman festival of the Feralia, honoring the Manes -- spirits of the dead

1431         The English try Joan of Arc for witchcraft, at Rouen

1513.   Pope Julius II (1503-13) was one of the most aggressive men ever to hold the See of Peter. A determined reformer, Julius set out to set to assert the rights and power of the Church in Italy, where much of the vast lands of the Papal States were actually held by various princely families. Among these families were the Bentivoglio, who had held Bologna for more than a century. In 1506 Julius captured Bologna.
Having captured the city, Julius decided that it needed an heroic statue of himself to remind the Bolognese who was boss. And he decided that Michelangelo was the just the man to make it. At the time, Michelangelo was working in Florence. Now Julius and Michelangelo had quarreled bitterly over a previous commission, the papal tomb. So Michelangelo was not inclined to respond to the Pope’s call, nor were the Florentines willing to let him go, fearing for his safety. But the Pope pressed the issue, saying all was forgiven, and Michelangelo relented, while the Florentines tried to insure his safety by making him their ambassador to the Holy See.
Arriving in Bologna, Michelangelo was startled to discover that the proposed commission was to create an heroic bronze statue of Julius. Now bronze wasn’t Michelangelo’s medium, it was marble. But the Pope insisted, and Michelangelo acceded. In addition to paying the artist a princely sum, the Pope thoughtfully donated the town’s church bells to Michelangelo for use as raw materials.
Michelangelo made a clay model showing the Julius sitting on a throne. In the words of the near contemporary art historian Giorgio Vasari,
When the clay model was almost finished, the Pope went to see it before he left Bologna. The Pope said he could not tell whether the figure was blessing or anathematizing the people of Bologna. Michelangelo replied that the figure was warning the people to behave themselves.
“Should I put a book in the left hand?” Michelangelo asked.
“Put a sword,” said the Pope. “I don’t know much about books.”

1794 Born,   Antonio López de Santa Anna, perennial president/dictator of Mexico, inept commander, who did much to insure Texas independence, d. 1876

1803   English radical revolutionaries Edward Despard, John Wood, John Francis, Thomas Broughton, James Sedgwick Wratton, Arthur Graham, & John Macnamara, the last men sentenced to be drawn & quartered in Britain, are merely hanged and beheaded

1824 death of Eugène de Beauharnais, 42, Josephine's son, Napoleon's protege (b. 1781). In trying to educate Eugene in the Art of War, Napoleon wrote him many examples and tenets.  "When I have a task that requires intelligence and good sense, and I have two equally intelligent generals, I pick the one with the biggest nose."

1848. Publication of "The Communist Manifesto" by Marx & Engels, inspiring extraordinary slaughter

1914. White Wolf rebels attack Shanghai, China

1945  Born  John E. Hill, American wargame designer, d. 2015

2016. Capt. Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, RN, who flew 487 different types of aircraft, made 2,407 deck landings at sea and 2,721 take offs, at 97

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1358  Rising of the Guilds of Paris against the Crown of France

1493  , although only 24, Charles VIII had been on the throne of France for 10 years. That year, he decided to assert a dubious claim to the throne of Naples. Naples had been in dispute between the house of Aragon and the house of Anjou for some two centuries. In 1442 King Alfonso V of Aragon had deposed Charles’ uncle, Rene “the Good,” and set himself up as Alfonso I of Naples. This passed to his illegitimate son Ferrante I in 1458. By 1493 Ferrante was ill, and the Neapolitan barons, long unhappy with Aragonese efforts to curb their power in the interests of national unity, were encouraging Charles to step in. By the time Ferrante died, in January of 1494, leaving the throne to his son, Alfonso II, Charles was already preparing an invasion of Italy.
Now at the time, France had the best army in the world, essentially the first professional standing army in Western Europe since the fall of Rome. So when Charles invaded Italy in a surprise late-season campaign in September of 1494 with 18,000 troops, including French men-at-arms, Swiss pikemen, and a train of 40 cannon, his army proved remarkably effective. With the finest artillery train in the west, great fortified cities fell so easily into his power, that in short order places began surrendering as soon as Charles’ gunners set up their pieces. By December, the French had occupied Rome, forcing Pope Alexander VI, hardly the finest occupant of the See of Peter, to concede his claim to Naples, which was technically a papal fief.
From Rome, Charles launched an unprecedented winter campaign, invading Naples on two fronts with an army swollen to 40,000 by alliances with various Italian princes.
At this point, Alfonso, an artistically-inclined prince of no great intelligence, abdicated and passed the throne to his son, Ferrante II. Ferrante, although already a proven campaigner despite his age, only 25, could put up little resistance, faced with an empty treasury, an invading army, and unreliable barons, and so fled to Sicily, where his cousin Ferdinand II (as in “Ferdinand and Isabella”), reigned. While Ferrante and Ferdinand concentrated an army in Sicily, Charles captured Naples itself on February 20, 1495, and soon was in control of most of the kingdom.
Believing his work done, within weeks Charles marched back to France. Italian efforts to interfere in his retirement led to a spectacular French victory at the Taro, in Tuscany, on July 6, 1495. Oddly, this victory came just a few days before Charles received word that an Aragonese-Neapolitan army landed from Sicily had liberated Naples on July 7th. Despite news of this reverse, Charles continued on his way, returning to France.
So in the end, Charles gained nothing from his campaign.
Well, not quite.
He did manage to keep one “conquest.” While fleeing Naples, Ferrante had neglected to take along his mistress, Caterina Gonzaga. Applying the ancient maxim, “To the victor belong the spoils, Charles promptly made the young woman his misters.
But Charles didn’t get to enjoy even that little bit of his victory for very long. Early in April of 1498, Charles accidentally bunked his head against a stone door lintel, and died of a concussion on the 7th.
The only lasting legacy of Charles’ invasion of Italy was to initiate over a generational conflict between France and Spain for control of the peninsula that would last more than 60 years (1494-1559), and end in complete Spanish dominance

1797  the Last Invasion of Britain took place, as 1,500- Franco-Irish trops landed near Fishguard, Wales, to be defeated in the 24th

1797  Karl Friedrich Hieronymus Freiherr von Münchhausen - "Baron Münchhausen", 86, German soldier, adventurer, and fabulist

1940  A Stuka of Kampfgeschwader 30 sinks two destroyers in a single attack in the North Sea off Borkum, both German, the 'Lebrecht Maas' and 'Max Schultz'

1943  Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels gives Japanese violinist Nejiko Suwa a 1722 Stradivarius, probably looted from a Jewish family, which postwar she uses to entertain imprisoned Japanese war criminals
1943   Hans Scholl (24), his sister Sophie (21), and their friend Christoph Probst (23), German "White Rose" Resistance fighters, guillotined by the Nazis

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1440         Giles de Raiz, c. 36, Marshal of France, comrade to Joan of Arc, child molester, serial killer, executed

1524. the course of a military career that lasted about 30 years, Pierre Terrail de Bayard (1476-1524), the Chevalier san peur et sans reproche, earned 100,000 livres – today perhaps as much as $250 million in purchasing power – from the ransoms of prisoners-of-war.

1714. Following their victory in the Battle of Oudenarde (Jul 11, 1708), in the eighth year of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy, commanding a combined British, Dutch, and Holy Roman Empire army, advanced on Lille, capital of northern France, to lay it under siege.
Approaching from the north, a few miles above the city they came upon the Marquette River, which, although small, presented a rather serious obstacle to their advance, as the crossing was over a drawbridge that was defended by a stout fortification.
Looking across the stream at the drawn-up bridge, the commander of the English advanced guard, Col. Francis Godfrey of the 16th Foot (later the Bedfordshire Regiment), noted that the chains suspending it were exposed, and might be cut.  But to cut it would require a soldier to swim the river under enemy fire.  The good colonel appealed to his troops, offering a fat purse to any man who would do the deed.  Several men took up the offer, but one after another, each was shot down before he succeeded in getting across.  Then Sergeant William Littler stepped forward.  An educated man of sober habits, Littler had several times turned down a commission, preferring to remain a simple soldier.  Approaching Col. Godfrey, Littler said, "Sir, I don't want the money, only let me make the attempt, for the honour of the regiment."  The colonel assented.
Littler grabbed an axe, jumped into the river, and made his way across despite a hail of bullets.  Attaining the other bank, and thus sheltered from enemy fire, Littler, though lightly wounded, climbed up the drawbridge to a point where he could chop away at the chains.  Soon the bridge fell.  Seeing that the loss of the bridgehead was inevitable, the greatly outnumbered French abandoned the position.
As a reward for his gallantry, and over his protests, Littler was commissioned an ensign in the 3rd Foot (later The Buffs).   Over the next few decades he rose through the ranks, serving in several regiments, including the 1st Foot Guards (the Grenadier Guards).  In 1740 Littler was promoted to lieutenant colonel in the 47th Foot (later the Lancashire Regiment).  He died in 1742.
 The French commander during this campaign was James FitzJames, the Duke of Berwick, who was the illegitimate son of the late King James II of England and Arabella Churchill.  Ms. Churchill later married Col. Charles Godfrey, and bore him Francis Godfrey who was thus the half-brother of the French commander.  And, since Ms. Churchill's brother was John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, Francis was also the nephew of his own commander, which may help explain why he eventually rose to brigadier general

1760 The unreliability of the old smooth bore musket is notorious. As one British observer once observed, " . . . a soldier must be very unfortunate indeed who shall be wounded by a common musket at 150 yards, provided his antagonist aimed at him."
An excellent demonstration of this fact occurred during one battle in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). It seems that, having routed the enemy, some French troops were pursuing them off the field, which was rather shrouded in gunsmoke, a commonplace of battles using traditional black powder.
One of the French soldiers, Mercoyrol de Beaulieu, imprudently donned the headdress of a fallen Hessian grenadier. At that, about 50 of de Beauliue’s comrades, mistaking him for the enemy in the smoke, opened fire, some of them at perhaps not more than 30 paces. Amazingly, de Beaulieu emerged completely unijured, despite a ball that had passed through his coat and another that had clipped his bayonet.

1898. the eve of the Spanish-American War, the U.S. Army found that its new Krag-Jorgenson rifles had to have their sights re-adjusted for tropical service; because they originally had been calibrated at the Springfield Arsenal during the Winter of 1894, and when used in a warmer climate fired high and to the left.

1914 the Bay of Kotor, or Cattaro, as it was known then, sheltered Austria-Hungary's southernmost naval base, home to a strong force of pre-dreadnought battleships, cruisers, and lighter warships, as well as a submarine squadron. Naturally, the approaches to the base were well fortified, particularly Punta d’Ostro, on the Prevlaka Peninsula, southernmost point on the Austro-Hungarian coast, where there was a powerful coast artillery installation, high up on a sheer cliff.
When World War I broke out, Allied naval strategists realized that if they could reduce the coast defenses, they might be able to blockade Cattaro or perhaps even bottle up the Imperial-and-Royal fleet by sinking ships in the channel. Several attempts were made to reduce the batteries, beginning on August 20, 1914, just three weeks into the war, aided by Montenegrin artillery firing from the eastern side of the entrance to the channel, which they partially controlled, and there were frequent naval skirmishes around the entrance to the bay, with occasional heavy losses on both side.
Nevertheless, although they bombarded Punta d'Ostro numerous times (well, at least a dozen), regularly claiming great success, and once even asserting that they had "destroyed" the place, the Allies never managed to knock out the coast defense installation.
It seems that after the first attacks, in August of 1914, the defenders managed a very clever deception. They regularly positioned explosive charges at the base of the cliff and then about halfway up. If, during a bombardment Allied shells came to close to the battery, the defenders would detonated some of the charges electrically. From the attacking warships the explosions suggested that they were firing too low, so they would elevate their guns. As a result, their rounds would pass safely over the battery to fall harmlessly into the mountains beyond, some of which were in Montenegro.

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509   BC   Expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome & establishment of the Republic.
  Roman Festival of the Refugium, celebrating the expulsion of the Tarquins and the foundation of the Republic

1208   sometime soldier and prisoner-of-war Giovanni Francesco di Pietro di Bernardone, 22, had a vision -- St. Francis of Assisi

1582. Pope Gregory XIII introduced the reformed "Gregorian" calendar, which Catholics adopted, but Protestants took much longer, & the Orthodox even longer, messing up chronology

1690, the 15,000 strong Spanish Army of Lombardy, supporting Piedmont against the French, was suffering a disease rate of about 10 percent, so that medical costs were running about 2,000 Milanese lire a day, equal to the per diem pay for 8,000 infantrymen

1785. Carlo Maria Buonaparte, Corsican patriot and statesman, who had a famous son, died at 38.

1788  Austria concentrated 140,000 troops for a campaign against the Turks in the Balkans, of whom, by the following May, 120,000 had fallen ill, of whom 33,000 had died.

1789  From the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 to the end of 1791, some 6,000 French officers fled abroad.

1813. USS 'Hornet', under Captain James Lawrence, takes HMS 'Peacock'

1917. Britain gives the "Zimmermann Note" to the United States, revealing German efforts to get Mexico and Japan to go to war with the US

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1601. Robert Devereaux, the Earl of Essex, 35, executed for treason by his lover, Elizabeth

1634. Albrecht von Wallenstein, German military entrepreneur, murdered at 50 by imperial order

1752. Though today largely forgotten, Little Turtle was the greatest of all Native American war leaders, who inflicted more casualties on the United States Army than any other Indian.
Born in 1752, he was raised in the Ohio country. With clashes between Indians and white settlers becoming increasingly common after the Revolutionary War, in the late summer of 1790 Revolutionary War veteran Brig. Gen. Josiah Harmer was sent into the Ohio country with 320 Regulars – virtually the entire active army at the time – plus more than 1,100 militia and hundreds of camp followers.
As the American troops approached, Little Turtle, using careful diplomacy, cobbled together a coalition among the Miami, the Wabash, and the Shawnee and secured covert support from the British, still illegally occupying some frontier posts. By late September, Harmer's force was approaching the site of the principal Miami village, near modern Fort Wayne. Harmer sent out three small columns on "search and destroy" missions. In response, Little Turtle dispatched men to ambush and harass each column. No decisive clash took place, but Indian hit-and-run tactics soon forced Harmer to retreat, having lost 183 men killed (nearly 13 percent of his force) and many wounded.
Setting out in late September, by the time they camped on the evening of November 3, St. Clair's troops were about 100 miles north of Cincinnati, at Kekionga, near the headwaters of the Wabash River.
Little Turtle, who had been gathering his warriors – among them the young Tecumseh – attacked St. Clair’s ill-guarded camp at dawn the next day, achieving complete surprise. St. Clair's troops quickly fell into confusion. The result was a stunning Indian victory, with 637 of St. Clair's soldiers dead and 263 wounded, casualties of nearly 65 percent, not counting heavy losses among the many camp followers. It was one of the most crushing defeats in American military history.
Confronted with two successive devastating defeats of what was virtually the entire disposable military force of the United States, Congress authorized a major expansion of the Regular Army and passed the Militia Act of 1792, to systematize the organization, equipment, and training of the militia of the several states.  President Washington named Maj. Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne as commanding general. Wayne, a tough Revolutionary War veteran, had won fresh laurels defending Fort Recovery against Little Turtle in the aftermath of St. Clair’s defeat. Rather than immediately undertake a campaign against the Indians, Wayne put his new army – some 4,500 strong – through nearly two years of vigorous training.
His failure to take Fort Recovery caused him to be displaced by Turkey Foot as tribal leader. Turkey Foot was perhaps more ambitious than Little Turtle, but was far less capable as a commander. Thus, when Wayne finally undertook an offensive against the Ohio Indians, Turkey Foot attempted to confront him in a pitched battle. The resulting fight, at Fallen Timbers on August 20, 1794 , was a crushing defeats for the Indians. The Ohio Indian coalition fell apart.
In the aftermath of this disaster, Little Turtle was restored to authority among his people. Little Turtle inflicted more casualties on the United States Army than any other Indian war chief. In just two battles, traditionally known as “Harmer’s Defeat” and “St. Clair’s Defeat,” he slew some 820 American soldiers. In contrast, the best that all the great warrior peoples – the Apache, the Sioux, the Cheyenne, the Nez Perce, and all the rest – west of the Mississippi could do in some 940 fights with the army between 1866 and 1892 was to kill about 920 boys in blue, only about 12-perent more than Little Turtle had accounted for.
Yet today Little Turtle is hardly remembered, and certainly never numbered among the great Native American warriors.

1945 During World War II the average officer slot in the German Army had to be refilled 9.2 times.

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1775. As is well known, the Battle of Lexington, on April 19, 1775, that began the American Revolution, occurred because a British column had marched out of Boston to seize arms Massachusetts had stashed at Concord. Now, the British had actually been running little expeditions like this for some weeks, and not just in Massachusetts, but the colonists had either been unable to muster or rallied too late to stop them, or managed to get the goodies away before the Redcoats arrived. Just seven weeks before Lexington, the colonists had confronted a similar British expedition, and but for the discretion of an officer the Revolution might have begun right then.
In late February, British headquarters in Boston learned that Massachusetts had some cannon at Salem, about a dozen miles up the coast. Colonel Alexander Leslie was ordered to take a column there and confiscate the guns. On Sunday, February 26th, Leslie loaded 240 men from the 64th Foot on boats, and they rowed over to Marblehead, just three miles east of Salem, which they reached in mid-afternoon. They then took the road to Salem, with the troops marching to the tune of “Yankee Doodle” no less! Meanwhile, of course, word of the expedition had leaked, and militiamen had started to turn out, how many no one knows, though figures as high as an improbable 40,000 have sometimes been claimed. The militiamen concentrated on the North Bridge, at Salem, a draw bridge over the Merrimack River, which Leslie would have to cross to reach his objective. By the time Leslie’s column reached the bridge, ill-armed companies of militiamen from Salem and Danvers, perhaps 80 or 100 troops in all, were ensconced on the opposite bank, and had taken up the draw. For a moment things looked ugly. Profane comments were exchanged, and a couple of Redcoats fell into a physical confrontation with a colonist on their side of the river, one Joseph Whicher, who was scratched by a bayonet. Although Leslie’s force outnumbered the militiamen, and were both better trained and better armed, the good colonel could not bring himself to precipitate a fight, and so offered to negotiate. Pastor Thomas Barnard, of the First Church of Salem, a militia captain, agreed to discuss matters.
Leslie observed that his specific orders were that to march to Salem and conduct a search for hidden cannon. So he proposed that, if the colonists permitted him to cross the bridge and make a token search, he would thereby have fulfilled his orders, and could return to Boston. This seemed like a reasonable proposal, and so the colonists agreed to it. Leslie and his troops were allowed to cross the bridge, march 50 rods (825 feet) into Salem, turn about, and return from whence they came.

As a result, the beginning of the American Revolution was postponed by 52 days.

1548. Lorenzino de' Medici, 33, author, murderer of his kinsman Duke Alessandro "il Moro" de' Medici of Florence (1530-1537), murdered by his kinsman Duke Cosimo I de' Medici of Florence

1909. Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1861-1948) was a rather able, if unpleasant character who became Prince of Bulgaria in 1887 through the machinations of European power politics. In 1908 Ferdinand declared Bulgaria independent of the Ottoman Empire and himself "Tsar", or emperor. Ferdinand had many peculiarities. He once procured the purported regalia of a Byzantine Emperor from a theatrical supplier, which he kept in a trunk towards the day when he would "liberate" Constantinople and restore the empire. His assumption of the imperial dignity antagonized a number of people, most notably Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, his ally and protector, and King George I of Greece, who also had his eye on the Byzantine dignity.
Needless to say, Kaiser Wilhem II of Germany had his opinion about Ferdinand as well, as he did about virtually everything in the universe. As far as he was concerned Ferdinand was a fat upstart and a buffoon to boot. As it turned out, the Kaiser's opinion got him trouble, not for the first time.
In 1909 Ferdinand paid a visit to Berlin with the intention of signing an agreement to re-equip the Bulgarian artillery exclusively with Krupp guns. The Kaiser was, of course, obliged to pay him the courtesies due a reigning monarch and thus invited him to a banquet at Potsdam. During the festivities Ferdinand --who was an amateur gardener and ornithologist-- leaned out an open window to admire the garden, with its many beautiful flowers and birds, thus exposing a rather ample bottom. The Kaiser, who generally behaved more like an adolescent than a Hohenzollern, couldn't resist the opportunity, and delivered a sharp smack to Ferdinand's fundament. Ferdinand spun around in a rage and demanded an apology. The Kaiser replied that none was in order for a good joke. At that, Ferdinand left the palace and was soon heading for home. Soon after, the French firm of Schneider-Creuzot concluded a deal to supply artillery to the Bulgarian Army.

1936  Viscount Saitô Makoto, 77, Retired Admiral & Prime Minister of Japan, murdered by ultra-nationalists, most prominent victim of the "February 26th Incident

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1531         German Protestant towns form the "Schmalkaldibund"

1831. The Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, governor general of Poland, is reputed to have expressed his opposition to war becaue "it soils the uniforms of the soldiers and loosens their discipline."

1852         HMS 'Birkenhead' was wrecked off South Africa, troops stood fast as women & children were rescued -- "to stand an' be still to the Birken'ead drill is a damn tough bullet to chew," Kipling

1884  Desertion among American troops on the frontier during the late nineteenth century was so common that one Secretary of War suggested it might be the best way to populate the

1933         Nazis torch the Reichstag, blame the Communists, and grab more power

1944  Aside from enemy shot and shell, the troops engaged in the Normandy Campaign during World War II also had to contend with a plague of mosquitos, unusually large and aggressive ones at that.
One night, after a particularly fierce bout with the mosquitos, one soldier remarked to an MP, "Are they shooting those things at us, or are they self-proppelled?"
To which the MP replied, "One touched down on the fighter strip here today, and they put 200 gallons of gas into him by mistake before he took off."

1945  During the Pacific War, the backbone of American fast carrier task forces consisted of 21 aircraft carriers, classified as "CV", and nine light carriers, classified as "CVL."

Of these, four of the CV's were lost to enemy action, Lexington (CV-2), Yorktown (CV-5), Wasp (CV-7), and Hornet (CV-8), all in 1942, as was one CVL, Princeton (CVL-23), in 1944.  On 37 other occasions during the war, a CV or a CVL was struck by enemy bombs, torpedoes, or suicide planes but did not sink.  A look at the consequences of the enemy hits on the ships that did not sink reveals differing patterns of damage.

Results of Damage to Aircraft Carriers

Agent   Hits requiringrepair & overhaul   Weeks in yard per hit*      Weeks out of operation per hit
Submarine Torpedo

                   100 %.                                                10   **                               12.4

Aerial Torpedo   100 %.                                      10    **                                17.5

Aerial Bomb.         40 %.                                      0.3.                                        0.7

Kamikaze.              70 %.                                      1.8.                                      4.3

Note: Includes only the 37 instances on which an aircraft carrier (CV) or light carrier (CVL) was damaged by enemy action but did not sink.
*Time is that for repair of battle damage only, though in cases marked
** the figure is an estimate, because information available on the cases involved is insufficient to distinguish between time for repair of battle damage and time consumed by overhaul, since ships were often subject to modifications, upgrading of equipment, and routine maintenance while in a yard repairing battle damage.


2015. Leonard Nimoy, 83, sometime soldier, actor.