This Day in History

[Sir Slash]

 

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Boo!
Booo!
Too easy.

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17. BC   The Emperor Augustus celebrates the Ludi Saeculares, commemorating Rome's 700th anniversary, belatedly by 36-years
Secular or Saecular Games[1] (Ludi Saeculares) was an ancient Roman religious celebration involving sacrifices, theatrical performances, and public games (ludi). It was held irregularly in Rome for three days and nights to mark the ends of various eras (saecula) and to celebrate the beginning of the next.[2] In particular, the Romans reckoned a saeculum as the longest possible length of human life, either 100 or 110 years in length;[3][4] as such, it was used to mark various centennials, particularly anniversaries from the computed founding of Rome.
47.      The Emperor Claudius celebrates the Ludi Saeculares, commemorating Rome's 800th anniversary, reverting to the original chronology
88         The Emperor Domitian celebrates the Ludi Saeculares, commemorating Rome's 900th annivesary (out of sync with any other calculation)
148         Emperor Antoninus Pius celebrates the Ludi Saeculares, commemorating Rome's 900th anniversary, using the original chronology
204         The Emperor Septimius Severus celebrates the Ludi Saeculares, commemorating Rome's 900th anniversary (out of sync with any other calculation)
248         The Emperor Philip the Arabian celebrates the Ludi Saeculares, commemorating Rome's 1000th anniversary, using the original chronology - last observance of the festival

1582  Laurence Richardson (c. 30-35), Luke Kirby (c. 33), Thomas Cottam (c. 33), & William Filby (30-35), executed at Tyburg in various creative ways, for being Catholic priests

1588. The Spanish Armada sails from Lisbon for the Netherlands

1672         Tsarevich Peter Alekseyevich, later Tsar Peter I "the Great" (1682-1725)
During Tsar Peter the Great's famous tour of western Europe in the late 1690s, King William III graciously sent a squadron of warships to escort the Russian emperor to England. On January 9, 1698, the Tsar boarded HMS Yorke at Helvoetsluis, in the Netherlands, bound for England. Yorke was the flagship of Adm. Sir David Mitchell. Sir David was an old sea dog who had made a considerable reputation for himself during the Nine Years' War. He took pains to make the Tsar and his party comfortable.
The Tsar, of course, was an intensely curious man, and asked an enormous number of questions. Sir David patiently answered every one, at times having his officers, petty officers, and even common seamen supply technical explanations of the ship's construction and equipment, while providing a running commentary on the organization, policies, technology, and tactics of the Royal Navy.
At one point, the Tsar inquired as to what methods were used in the event that a sailor required corporal punishment. Sir David patiently explained the various degrees of physical penalties that could be inflicted, describing them in order of severity until he reached keel hauling, the most severe possible punishment short of hanging (the infamous "bird cage" having been abolished a generation earlier).
Keel hauling piqued the Tsar's interest. He asked a number of detailed questions. Sir David endeavored to answer them as best he could. But the Tsar was not satisfied. He asked if a demonstration could be arranged. The Admiral demurred, observing that there was no one in the fleet at the time who merited so severe a penalty.
The Tsar thought about this for a moment and then said, "Well in that case, take one of my men."
It took a great deal of persuasion on Sir David's part to convince the Tsar that the laws of England would not permit such a demonstration.

1916  Battle of Jutland: Grand Fleet sails, 37 battleships & 120 other ships

1931. Madison Grant, sometime well-regarded American racist, author of "The Passing of the Great Race", which helped convince Hitler America was a 'degenerate' nation, at 71

1958. Unknown soldiers of WWII & Korean War are entombed in Arlington National Cemetery

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1488         Lord Galeotto Manfredi of Faenza, Condottiero & Captain of Florence, murdered at 48 by his wife Francesca Bentivoglio because of his many affairs

1683. Count Luigi Fernando Marsigli, who later became a marshal in Hapsburg service and went on to found the Institute of Science at the University of Bologna, managed to survive the general massacre of prisoners by the Turks after the Battle of the Raab in 1683 because of his skill with an espresso machine.

1812. Having abandoned his army at Smorgoni on December 4, 1812, to rush back to France, Napoleon took a boat across the River Nieman Napoleon, and as they rowed across asked the ferryman if he had seen any deserters, prompting the man to reply, “No, you are the first.”

1862  Battle of Seven Pines/Fair Oaks, Va

1870 Prussian gun founder Alfred Krup refused to divert an order of artillery for use in the national war effort against to France until he recevied permission from his original customer, the Tsar.

1937. During the Spanish Civil War volunteers for the Republic from the barbers' union organized the Batallon de los Figaros

[bayonetbrant]

1862  Battle of Seven Pines/Fair Oaks, Va

That spawned how many games at this point?

[bbmike]

Not enough.

[bob48]

 

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      International Sex Workers Day

1624. King Jan II Sobieski of Poland (1674-96), savior of Vienna, 1683

1635.   John Milton joins The Honourable Artillery Company of London.

1666. First day of The Four Days Battle, off the North Foreland between the English fleet of 56 ships, under George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, and the Dutch fleet of 84 ships, under Lt.-Admiral Michiel de Ruyter.

1676. Danish-Dutch fleet of 25 ships-of-the-line, 10 frigates and some minor ships, under Dutch General Admiral Tromp and Admiral Niels Juel, defeats a Swedish force of 27 ships-of-the-line, 11 frigates and some minor ships, under Admiral Lorentz Creutz,.off Oland, Sweden

1677. The Danish Baltic Squadron of 10 ships-of-the-line and 3 frigates, under Admiral Niels Juel, defeated a Swedish squadron of 7 ships-of-the-line, 2 frigates and 2 armed cutters, under Admiral Sjöblad, off Moen

1794. Glorious First of June. British fleet under Lord Howe defeat French fleet under Louis Thomas Villaret  de Joyeuse.

1865. The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department surrenders to Union forces

1908. General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, VC, GCB, GCMG, inept commander, at 68 --
The line, “It was a very trying day” appears in the report written British Major General Sir Redvers Buller about the Battle of Colenso against the Boers on December 15, 1899, in which his 17,000 British troops with 44 guns had been badly beaten, with heavy casualties and the humiliating loss of ten cannon, by about 4,200 Boer militiamen.
Colenso was the last of three serious defeats suffered by Buller’s troops during “Black Week”, coming after the Battles of Stormberg on the 10th and that of Magersfontein on the 11th ; in the three fights British forces totaling about 33,750 had lost 2,776 men killed, wounded, or missing (8 percent) against Boer forces of about 15,300, who lost only about 300 in killed, wounded, or missing (2 percent).
The British defeat resulted from several factors. One was a lack of respect for the long-range repeating rifle. Despite their experience shooting down ill-armed “natives” in the thousands using the rifle during various colonial wars, British troops had not grasped the importance of cover, since their opponents were not shooting back with modern weapons. A second problem was a failure to realize that the Boers were so ignorant of “real soldiering” that their very lack of knowledge enabled them to come up with some very innovative tactics, such as using available cover, relying on aimed fire, and defending high ground from its base (rather than its military crest), which rendered British preparatory artillery fire ineffective.
Born in 1839, Redvers Buller (his given name was pronounced “Reevers”) had attended Eton and in 1858 was commissioned into the 60th Rifles (King's Royal Rifle Corps). He almost immediately saw active service in the Second Anglo-Chinese “Opium” War (1856-1860), then the Canadian Red River Expedition (1870), and served as an intelligence officer in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War (1873-1874), during which he was wounded. Service in South Africa followed, in the Ninth Kafir/Cape Frontier War (1878), the Great Anglo-Zulu War (1879), in which he earned a Victoria Cross, and the disastrous First Anglo-Boer War (1881). Buller then fought the Mahdi in the Sudan (1882-1885), earning a promotion to major-general. Over the next few years he had several administrative or special assignments. In 1898 Buller was assigned to command at Aldershot, on the Salisbury Plain, the British Army’s principal maneuvering grounds.
During the autumn maneuvers of 1898, Buller commanded an army corps acting as the spearhead for an invasion of Britain from its southern coast. The results were disappointing. As historian David M. Leeson put it “Buller was defeated in almost every battle on Salisbury Plain in the autumn of 1898, just as he was later, in the South African summer of 1899-1900.”
Despite his dismal performance at Aldershot, unlike the U.S. Army’s reaction to ineptitude during maneuvers on the eve of World War II, the British Army didn’t hold losing against him. So when war with the Boers broke out, just a few months later, Buller was dispatched to South Africa to command a corps. Leeson went on the noted it was “clear that General Buller had fallen victim to the Peter Principle, and risen to his level of incompetence”, a demonstration of institutional failure that earned the man the nickname “Reverse Buller”.

1941.          'Long Island' (CVE-1), the first escort carrier, is completed, 88 days after conversion began

1969         South China Sea: Australian CV 'Melbourne' rams USS 'Frank E Evans' (DD-754), 74 die

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1677. The Danish Baltic Squadron of 10 ships-of-the-line and 3 frigates, under Admiral Niels Juel, defeated a Swedish squadron of 7 ships-of-the-line, 2 frigates and 2 armed cutters, under Admiral Sjöblad, off Moen

And thus began the rise of the great Danish war fleet of the 17th century!

      International Sex Workers Day

So, the continual sacking of Paris?

[Sir Slash]

I always try to support local workers whenever possible. 

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500      BC   the Roman Festival of Bellona, Goddess of War

1665. Battle of Lowestoft. English fleet of 109 ships, under James Stuart, Duke of York, badly defeat Dutch fleet of 103 ships, under Jacob van Wassenaer Obdam (Killed in Action). The Dutch lost 17 ships and the English lost 1 ship.

1769. Transit of Venus observed by Capt. James Cook at Tahiti.

1898  Lt., j.g., Richmond Pearson Hobson led a gallant attempt to block Santiago harbor by scuttling the steamer 'Merrimac  After the U.S. Navy blockaded the Spanish fleet in Santiago Harbor in May of 1898, some thought was given to permanently sealing the channel by sinking a block ship.
Richmond Pearson Hobson, a 27-year old Assistant Naval Constructor, ranking as a lieutenant, j.g., was entrusted with the task, using the collier Merrimac. Hobson rigged the ship for demolition. Anchors were set at her bow and stern so that they could be dropped in an instant with one or two blows from an axe, while explosive charges were affixed at intervals along her port side, below the waterline. Hobson planned to take the ship into the channel by moonlight with a running tide. At the narrowest point, about 350 feet, he would cut loose the bow anchor and stop the engines. This would cause the ship's stern to swing around until her 322¾ foot hull was athwart the channel, whereupon the stern anchor would be dropped and the charges exploded electrically, ripping opening the ship's side. Then, as the ship settled to the bottom the crew would make its getaway in small boats or by swimming to shore.
Some 200 sailors worked for nearly two days to prepare the ship. But Hobson now had to address the delicate question of who could go along. Everyone in the U.S. Navy wanted to go. All 690 officers and men aboard the battleship Iowa volunteered; one was chosen, ultimately by a coin toss, and he refused an offer of $50.00 – an enormous sum at the time – to let someone take his place. Six men were chosen to go with Hobson: Daniel Montague and George Charette, petty officers off the armored cruiser New York; Osborn Deignan, coxswain, John F. Philips, machinist, and Francis Kelly, water tender, all off the Merrimac, and J.C. Murphy, coxswain, from the Iowa, to whom was added a seventh, Coxswain Rudolph Clausen of the New York, who stowed away in order to join the party.
On June 3rd, at just about 3:00 am, Merrimac began her run into the channel, from about 2000 yards off the entrance, at her maximum speed, nine knots. At about 500 yards from the entrance a Spanish picket boat opened fire, trying to hit the ship's rudder. Closing on the channel entrance, Hobson ordered the engines stopped. Gliding on, Merrimac was subject to increasing light artillery and machine gun fire. With shells and bullets hitting the ship, she glided past the cliffs, passng beneath the Morro Castle by just 30 feet. Hobson ordered the bow anchor dropped. As Coxswain Murphy chopped through the line to drop the bow anchor, Hobson ordered the first charge detonated, then the second, and ordered the wheel put hard over to port. But the wheel failed to respond, the rudder having been shot away. Then the stern anchor was shot away, and the bow anchor line parted. Hobson ordered the other charges detonated, but they failed to go off, Spanish fire apparently having cut the wires. The ship was sinking, but too slowly and at too poor an angle to block the channel.
Merrimac drifted on, the target of numerous bullets and shells. Then, quite suddenly, she fell off to port, and her bow angled downwards as she took her final plunge. Hobson and his men abandoned ship, jumping overboard and swimming to floating debris. Within minutes Merrimac had settled on the bottom, her upper works just above water. Although in the center of the channel, she offered only a minor hazard to navigation. From the start to finish, Hobson's mission had taken little more than half an hour.
The Spanish began searching for the crew. Hobson gathered his men around a raft. They drifted quietly for more than an hour, until dawn. Then he hailed a passing Spanish launch. In a coincidence so remarkable a novelist would be embarrassed to use it, the launch was that of Admiral Pascual Cervera y Topete, the Spanish commander, and the old man himself helped Hobson and his men out of the water, all the while complimenting them on their courage. Cervera promptly informed the American ships offshore that Hobson and his men were all safe and uninjured, and announced that he would return them after they had rested.
True to his word, the following day Cervera dispatched Hobson and his men in a small boat. But as they were being transferred, some of the American sailors present noticed that Daniel Montague wore a bandage on his head and was bruised about the face. Knowing that Cervera had said all the men were uninjured, the Americans immediately assumed that the Spanish had beaten the prisoners. But all was soon cleared up; Montague had imbibed so much at a party the Spanish had thrown for the men that he had gotten drunk, lost his footing, and given himself a nasty cut to the head.
Each of the enlisted men who took part in the operation was awarded the Medal of Honor. Since at the time naval regulations barred officers from receiving that decoration, Hobson was advanced ten numbers in grade, and promoted to Naval Constructor, ranking as a full lieutenant. In 1933, by which time award regulations had been changed, Hobson – long retired – was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the following year advanced to the rank of rear admiral on the retired list by special Act of Congress.
Hobson was the only naval officer to receive the Medal of Honor for the Spanish-American War.

1942 Lt Howard P Ady spots the Kido Butai.

2003   Gregory Peck, actor ("Captain Horatio Hornblower"), at 84

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1509  Pisa surrenders to Florence, after a siege of nearly two years

1615. Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, captures Osaka after a six month siege.

1647  English Puritan troops capture King Charles I

1789  The Constitution of the United States goes into effect

1798  Giacomo Casanova, sometime soldier, priest, librarian, con man, racy memoirist 73.

1829  Magazine explosion destroys steam frigate USS 'Demologos', Brooklyn Navy Yard, 30 die.

1833  Sir Garnet Wolseley, "the very model of a modern major general," d. 1913   
Perhaps the most British general of the Victorian age, Sir Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913) was so capable that he was satirized by Gilbert and Sullivan as "The very model of a modern major general," and the phrase "All Sir Garnet" came to mean "everything's right and proper."
Wolseley was commissioned in the British Army in 1852 and rose quickly, campaigning against Burmese, Russians, Indians, Canadian insurgents, Fenians, Ashanti, Egyptians, and even Sudanese, almost always with success; his attempt to relieve Khartoum in 1884 was the only notable failure, and he was put in command far too late to save the day.  Later made the commander-in-chief of the British Army, Wolseley initiated many reforms, including the restructuring of the regimental system in the 1870s and the creation of a reserve system in the 1890s.
But it was Wolseley's skill as at organization and logistics that underpinned his success.  When he took the field, everything quite literally was ready.
In 1869 Wolseley, attempting to help other officers become better at their craft, wrote The Soldier’s Pocket-book for Field Service.  This was a thick handbook that covered everything an officer needed to know to help plan and conduct a military operation, embodying Wolseley's own experience, and what he learned through extensive reading (he was also a pretty good amateur historian).
Some idea of the detail in The Soldier's Pocket-book can be seen in Wolseley's discussion of the use of animal transport, in theaters where railroads were unavailable.  Since no army in that era had to cope with so many diverse environments while on campaign as did the British Army, which rarely operated in places that had railroads, this was invaluable information.

Animal   Speed      Pack Load      Draught Load      Work Day   
Ass *   4.0   mph   150-175   pds   900   pds   15-16   miles
Camel   2.5      300-600      1000      20   
Dog *   6.5      na      160      60 by sleigh   
Elephant   3.5      800-1200      8000      15-20   
Horse   4.0      250-400      350      15-16   
Human   2.5      40-80      120-150      4-8   
Llama *   2.5      65-125      na      12-18   
Mule   4.0      150-300      500      15-16   
Ox   2.2      160-200      300-500      4-6   
Reindeer   18      na      300      50-100 by sleigh   
Note: Since Sir Garnet didn't campaign in places where some types of beasts of burden were in common use, we've added a few of these, as indicated by an asterisk. Pack Load includes weight of the pack; Draught Load includes that of the vehicle; na, not applicable for military usage.
Naturally, load limits and work day vary depending upon climate, the size, strength, and condition of the animal, and how long it's been working; horses, mules, and elephants may be able to work for 15 or so miles a day when they're fresh, but after several days of hauling heavy loads, they'll begin slowing down.
It's worth recalling that although these figures are drawn from nineteenth century experience, the world's most mechanized armies have been finding mules and horses quite useful in Afghanistan of late.
1859         Battle of Magenta: Franco-Sardinian forces under Napoleon III defeat the Austrians.  Artists are inspired to create a new hue to represent blood on red trousers.

1942   the Battle of Midway began
RADM Tamon Yamaguchi, IJN, CO 2nd Carrier Division, going down with the 'Hiryu' at 49

1989  Chinese People's Liberation Army troops fire on and drive over democracy advocates in Tiananmen Square, Beijing; hundreds, possibly thousands die

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468   BC   Socrates, stonecutter, hoplite, philosopher, hemlocked in 405 BC

1589.          Battle of Lisbon: Spanish beat off an English assault -- The first defeat of the "English Armada", an effort to seize the Azores and raise Portugal against Spain

1942. Midway Campaign: Yamamoto orders the Combined Fleet to retire. 
The Battle of Midway, the second carrier battle of 1942, was the most decisive of the war. But not for the reasons the Japanese thought it would be, even if they had captured the place. In fact, the Battle of Midway would have turned into the "Siege of Midway" if the Americans had not known what the enemy were up to or did not have forces available with which to ambush their opponents. The Japanese decided to seize Midway island in order to force the US fleet to come out and do battle, so that it could then be decisively defeated. A base on Midway would provide an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" for the rest of the Japanese fleet to maneuver around while the smaller US fleet was chopped to pieces. Midway was a massive operation, involving eight Japanese carriers plus numerous destroyers, cruisers, battleships, and submarines The operation also involved landing Japanese troops on several undefended islands off Alaska as a diversion. The Japanese plan was to seize Midway Island quickly and then advance down the chain of islands the thousand or so miles to Hawaii sinking any US naval forces rushing out to the defense of Midway. But that was the Japanese way of thinking. The U.S. Navy had other ideas. If the Japanese had seized Midway, the US would have put it under siege with long range aircraft and submarines Midway was over two thousand miles from the Japanese home islands and quite isolated. It would have to be supplied by sea and the Japanese never fully grasped the problems of logistics in the Pacific war. A Japanese held Midway island would have turned into another of many Japanese logistics disasters. While the Japanese played down logistics, they played up the importance of "military honor." They felt the Americans would come out to defend Midway no matter what. The Americans felt otherwise. Because the US had broken many Japanese codes, the US knew most of the Japanese plan and had all of its three available carriers in the Pacific stationed off Midway to ambush the Japanese. The US force was lucky, the Japanese force was sloppy and four Japanese carriers were sunk to the loss of only one US carrier. The Japanese Navy never recovered from this because the US could (and did) build new carriers much faster than Japan. American admirals knew they would have to deal with the Japanese carriers eventually, especially the six heavy carriers. By June, 1942, the US had only three heavy carriers available for operations in the Pacific and would not receive the first of the two dozen new Essex class heavy carriers until after the new year. They had already resigned themselves to fighting a defensive battle until then, emphasizing submarines and land based aircraft. Midway was an opportunity the Americans could not pass up, but only because they had the drop on the Japanese. Without the advantage of reading the coded Japanese messages, the US would not have risked their three carriers against the Japanese. Midway would have fallen to the Japanese, but the effect of this success on the course of the war may actually have been relatively minimal.

1944. the Allied Expeditionary Forces radioed Paul Verlaine’s lines "Blessent mon coeur / d'une langueur / monotone ("wound my heart with a monotonous languor") to the French Resistance

British X craft, mini subs, take station off the eastern beaches of Normandy to guide the landing craft in on DDay.

1964 Ike and Walter Cronkite visit Normandy.  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vNaxTXfjfXk&pp=ygUaQ2JzIHJlcG9ydHMsIEQgRGF5IGVwaXNvZGU%3D

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1491   Coup attempt against the Baglioni at Perugia by the Oddi & other exiles, c. 60 die.      Bertoldo degli Oddi and Fabrizio degli Oddi, kia against the Baglioni, who then execute Costantino de' Ranieri, in Perugia

1513. Battle of Novara: Swiss defeat the French, restoring the Sforza to Milan.  The last great victory won by Swiss pikes.

1639. Massachusetts grants 500 acres of land to erect a gunpowder mill

1862. River Battle off Memphis: Yank gunboats defeat Rebs, with only 1 man m/w

1918. the US Marines secured Belleau Wood.  The capture of Belleau Wood by the 4th Marine Brigade, which took nearly an entire month (June2-July 1, 1918), was the first major offensive by American forces on the Western Front. It was an action in which the Marines took more casualties than they had hitherto suffered in the entire previous 142 years of their history. Their opponent was the German IV Reserve Corps, also known as Group Conta, from its commanding officer, General der Infanterie von Conta. In the course of the operation, the Marines engaged and broke five German divisions. The 237th Reserve Division and the 197th Division were in the front lines at the beginning of the battle for Belleau Wood. The 87th and 28th Divisions relieved these two divisions in the course of the fighting. The 5th Guards Division was brought in as a counterattack force, but failed to dislodge the Marines, whom the nicknamed Teufelhunden Devil Dogs.

1942. Midway Campaign: Japanese sub 'I-168' torpedoes damaged 'Yorktown' (CV-5), sinks 'Hammann' (DD-412), as American carrier a/c attack the retiring Japanese, sinking or damaging 2 CAs

1944. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was unable to attend his son John's graduation from West Point, having pressing business elsewhere

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417   BC   the desecration of the Herms at Athens [Alt]

0   the Roman festival of the Ludi Piscatorii, celebrated by the fishermen of the city to honor Father Tiber

1117. The entrance to the Baptistery of the Church of San Giovanni in Florence sports spectacular bronze doors made by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the early fifteenth century, and is framed by two massive columns of porphyry. Now porphyry is a stone of such color and quality as to be termed “Imperial Porphyry,” and the columns are among the largest pieces known of this rare stone; apparently only Tamerlane’s sarcophagus in Samarkand is larger. How the baptistery acquired the columns is an interesting story.
Though later they would be at each other’s throats for generations, during the twelfth century Pisa and Florence, neighbors in Tuscany, were on friendlier terms. So much so, that the Pisans once asked the Florentines to guard their city while they were on an overseas expedition.
The tale is told by Giovanni Villani, in his New Chronicles on the history of Florence, composed early in the fourteenth century. 
In the year of Christ 1117 the Pisans made a great expedition of galleys and ships against the island of Majorca, which the Saracens held, and when the said armada had departed from Pisa and was already assembled at Vada for the voyage, the commonwealth of Lucca marched upon Pisa to seize the city. Hearing this, the Pisans dared not go forward with their expedition for fear that the Lucchese should take possession of their city; but to draw back from their enterprise did not seem for their honor in view of the great outlay and preparation which they had made.
Wherefore they took counsel to send their ambassadors to the Florentines, for the two commonwealths in those times were close friends. And they begged them that the Florentines would please to protect their city, trusting them as their inmost friends and dear brothers. And on this the Florentines undertook to serve them and to protect their city against the Lucchese and all others.
Thus, the commonwealth of Florence sent thither armed men in abundance, horse and foot, and encamped two miles outside the city. In respect for the Pisan women they would not enter the city, and made a proclamation that whosoever [of the Florentine host] should enter Pisa should answer for it with his person. One man did enter the city and was accordingly condemned to be hanged.  And when the old men who had been left in Pisa prayed the Florentines for love of them to pardon him, they would not.  But the Pisans still opposed, and begged that at least they would not put him to death in their territory; whereupon the Florentine army secretly purchased a field from a peasant in the name of the commonwealth of Florence, and thereon they raised the gallows and did the execution to maintain their decree.
And when the host of the Pisans returned from the conquest of Majorca they gave great thanks to the Florentines, and asked them what memorial they would have of the conquest — the metal gates or two columns of porphyry which they had taken and brought from Majorca. The Florentines chose the columns, and the Pisans sent them to Florence covered with scarlet cloth, and some said that before they sent them they put them in the fire for envy. and the said columns are those which stand in front of [the Baptistery of the Church of ] San Giovanni.
Thus it was that, for the cost of keeping an army in the field for some months, plus one disobedient soldier hanged, Florence acquired two of the most impressive porphyry columns in the world, between which, more than a century later Ghiberti would work his own magic.

1672         Battle of Solebay: Dutch Admiral Michael de Ruyter trounces the English

1763. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the fortification of Cartagena de las Indias, in Colombia, cost the Spanish Crown some 59 million ounces of gold, easily about $17.3 billion today, without adjusting for the relatively higher value of gold a quarter of a millenium ago.

1878. During their protracted siege of the Turkish fortress of Plevna, in Bulgaria, in 1877-1878, the Russian Army lost about 22,000 draft horses, roughly two-thirds of the number available to haul supplies and equipment.

1914. Although the British Army had been preparing for military operations alongside the French for many years, when the BEF went into action in France and Belgium in August of 1914, maps were in such short supply many officers had to rely on Michelin guides.

1952. Marshal of the Royal Air Force Hugh Dowding, who commanded “The Few” during the Battle of Britain, was a champion skier, a vegetarian, a member of both the Fairy Investigation Society and the Ghost Club, and a spiritualist who believed he communed with his late wife and his dead airmen.