This Day in History

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50. The Roman Emperor Claudius (A.D. 41-54), was the first to declare that members of the Army's auxilia, recruited from non-citizens, were to receive the citizenship upon  completion of 25 years' of service, to include their wives and hitherto illegitimate Children.

1783. The Imperial German Füsilier-Regiment Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Albrecht von Preußen (Hannoversches) Nr. 73 wore a blue cuff band bearing the British battle honor “Gibraltar,” commemorating its descent from a Hanoverian regiment that had served in the defense of “The Rock” during the siege

1916, at the height of the Great War, Hiram Maxim was deaf, having fired his invention, the first really practical machine gun, some 200,000 times while selling it to virtually every army in the world

1945. During World War II the prostitute population of Fayetteville, North Carolina, site of Fort Bragg, rose from a “normal” level of about 200 to occasional peaks of some 5,000, as the number of troops stationed there rose and fell.

1977  The tomb of Philip II of Macedon is discovered near Vergine, Macedonia

[bayonetbrant]

That's probably a very low number for Fayetteville these days

[Sir Slash]

That's probably all those, 'Flat-Landers' coming up to see the sights. There's got to be a joke about, 'Tar Heels' in there somewhere.

[besilarius]

2348   BC   The "Great Flood" of Noah begins according to the estimate of the Episcopal Bishop John Ussher

638 B.C. the Chinese Duke of Sung refused to attack an enemy army as it was crossing a river, believing such an act to be unchivalrous; not surprisingly, he lost the resulting battle, though he afterwards boasted that he had perserved his honor.

1739. Admiral Lord Vernon, who campaigned in the West Indies during the so-called “War of Jenkin’s Ear,” concentrated his attentions on destroying the Spanish revenue service, so that English smugglers would have an easier time trading with the enemy, to whom he was otherwise rather lenient, not even plundering the city of Portobello, Panama, when he captured it, lest it offend potential customers.

1809         British diplomat Benjamin Bathurst vanished in Perleberg, Germany, probably bumped off by Napoleon's agents, but fueling numerous woo-woo theories

1870  When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, General Abel. Douay was named commander of the 2nd Division of the I Corps. On August 4th, Douay’s division formed the advanced guard of the Army of the Rhine, at Wissembourg, in eastern Alsace, preparing to advance into Germany. By a surprise concentration, three German corps fell on the French force. Despite a desperate resistance, the French, greatly outnumbered (c. 60,000 to c. 8,000), were driven from the town. Douay himself was mortally wounded during the fighting when a mitrailleuse, an early machine gun, exploded during the fighting. He died soon after, the first French general to fall in the war. In death, Douay received honors from Prussian Crown Prince Frederick William (later the Emperor Frederick III, the father of “Kaiser Bill”), who had commanded the attacking forces, and other German commanders.
Meanwhile, after driving the remnants of Douay’s division from Wissembourg, the Germans pressed on, though not after collecting the spoils of war.
Among the loot were four carriages that belonged to Douay. One was described as “a businesslike traveling office.” The second was “an elaborate kitchen wagon, complete with mini-wine cellar, cages for live poultry, and all the tools of the culinary arts.” Finally, there were to two well-appointed camp wagons. In the wagons were found the late general’s considerable collection of uniforms, and “corsets, crinolines, and peignoirs,” belonging to the general’s mistress, who was, alas, not among the spoils.

[bayonetbrant]

I, too, hope to one fuel some woo-woo theories

[besilarius]

634         "Battle of the Euphrates Bridge" - The Persians annihilated a Moslem Arab army

1692, admiral Edward Russell was in command of the ships that were to oppose the fleet France was concentrating under the Count de Tourville for an invasion of England in order to restore James II. Now according to tradition, there was great sympathy in the Admiralty for James, who had been an excellent naval officer. And so, as Russell was preparing to put to sea with an Anglo-Dutch fleet numbering perhaps 120 vessels, including over 80 ships-of-the-line, he was handed sealed orders from the Admiralty with instructions to open them when he had reached a certain latitude. Russell, however, had apparently been informed of the contents of the orders, which instructed him to avoid action with the French. Moreover, he had actually been approached in secret with an offer of huge bribe if he avoided action or, if forced to fight, threw the match. So even as his fleet was about to sail, the good admiral made a secret journey from Portsmouth to London, and had a private audience with King William III.
Russell explained to the king the absurdity of these secret instructions (what, for example, was he to do if he encountered the French before opening the orders to avoid them?) Mentioning the offer of a bribe, he suggested that treachery was afoot. He concluded by asking the king to either issue fresh orders permitting him to take on the enemy, or accept his resignation. William told him to take the bribe, and then, with his own hand, wrote orders that Russell was to take, sink, burn, or otherwise destroy as many of the enemy as he should meet, and dated the document so that it superseded any orders issued by the Admiralty.
With his new orders in hand, Russell returned to Portsmouth, put to sea, and between May 29th and June 4th inflicted a stunning series of defeats on the French in raids on the ports of Barfleur, Cherbourg, and La Hogue, a feat, oddly, witnessed and greatly admired by the deposed James II.
Returning to England in triumph, Russell was summoned to the Admiralty to explain why he had disobeyed orders. With a flourish, he produced the king’s instructions.

1703. The Great Storm.  One of the most severe storms recorded in the south of England.  Winds gust up to 120 mph and around 9,000 people die.  In London, approximately 2,000 chimney stacks are blown down.  The lead roofing on Westminster Abbey is torn off.  On the Thames, over 700 ships were pushed together in the Pool of London.

1741. When in the field the Comte de Saxe (1696-1750) always traveled with a theatrical troupe – partially to enjoy the show and partially to enjoy the actresses – and it was usually at the conclusion of a performance that his subordinates learned whether a battle was imminent, for after curtain call, one of the starlets would appear to announce the name of the play for the following night, but would occasionally say, “Gentlemen, there will be no play tomorrow for the marshal gives battle” before explaining what was scheduled for the day after that.

2016  thie death Fidel Castro Ruiz, 90, sometime Hollywood bit player, lousy baseballer, Dictator of Cuba (1957-2008)

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1770. Horatio Nelson entered as midshipman in HMS Raisonnable.

1828 the newly elected, but not yet inaugurated, President of Mexico, Manuel Gomez Pedraza, a moderate liberal, used the army to eject the governor of the State of Mexico, Lorenzo de Zavala.  Not a man to take such high-handed and illegal treatment lightly, in December, supported by General de division Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a hero of Mexico’s War for Independence, Zavala rallied most of the garrison of Mexico City to his side. There followed four days of bloody fighting.  Zavala's men won the fight, and installed another supposed liberal, Vicente Guerrero, as President.
Now, during the fighting there was considerable looting on the part of the city's underclass, aided and abetted by soldiers and even officers.  When the property owners sought redress, they were ignored.  For those among the victims who were Mexicans there was no further recourse.  However, some of those who had lost property were French citizens, and they promptly took their cases to their consul.  But they found that that the consul was only mildly interested in the matter, doing little more than sending occasional notes to the Mexican government.  So the matter died.
But in 1838 one of the French claimants, a pastry cook known as Monsieur Remontel managed to get the ear of someone higher up the food chain in the French government.  He claimed that his shop in the Tacubaya district of Mexico City had been looted by Mexican officers during the four days of fighting back in 1828, and he wanted compensation.  This time, word went up the chain-of-command, and King Louis-Philippe decided to champion his subject’s claims.  Soon, the French Minister presented a demand that Mexico pay some 600,000 pesos in compensation, an enormous sum for the times, since a common Mexican workman's daily pay was only about one peso.
Now for some years Mexico had been in a state of considerable disorder.  Domestic affairs had never been orderly, with the presidency changing hands repeatedly by coups and counter-coups over the previous decade, and secessionist movements had threatened to separate various states from the central government, with Texas actually achieving independence in early 1836.  And in any case, of course, the country was broke.
So President Anastasio Bustamante rejected the demand.  And on March 21, 1838, a French naval expedition showed up off Vera Cruz and presented an ultimatum; pay up or suffer the consequences.  Bustamante tried negotiations, while making efforts to bolster the country’s coast defenses, but on April 16th, the French imposed a blockade of the Mexican Gulf coast and bombarded the island fortress of San Juan de Ulua, which guarded the harbor of Vera Cruz, and quickly seized it, thus controlling maritime access to the country.
This marked the beginning of desultory hostilities that came to be known as "The Pastry War" in both France and Mexico.  There was little fighting, though the French made occasional raids into the interior to "sting” the Mexicans into cooperating.  On November 27th, the French commenced a heavy bombardment of Vera Cruz proper, which was followed by some listless negotiations, and then on December 5th, the French took the city by a coup de main.  They remained for most of the day, hauling off considerable loot, including most of the Mexican fleet.
The disaster at Vera Cruz, coming on top of the increasing impact of the blockade, was the final blow for Mexico.  Negotiations resumed, and the Bustamante government promised payment in full.  On March 9, 1839, the French politely sailed for home
The Pastry War had complex historical consequences.  The loss of the Mexican fleet proved an immense handicap in Mexican efforts to curb a secessionist movement in Yucatan, as well as recover Texas.  In addition, the war led to the return of the amazingly corrupt, yet remarkably adept Antonio Lopez de Santa to the scene.
Ousted from political life in 1836, after bungling the suppression of the Texas War for Independence, Santa Anna had retired to his hacienda at Jalapa, in the mountains west of Vera Cruz.  When the French invested Vera Cruz, Santa Anna rode down from the mountains, quite illegally took command of the defending forces, and helped prolong the resistance.  Actually in the city when the French stormed in on December 5th, legend has it that when the final French assault began, he was in the arms of his mistress and had to flee through the night wearing only a towel.  Santa Anna redeemed himself, however, after a fashion, later that same day when, as the French pulled out of Vera Cruz, he led some troops in pursuit through the streets of the city.  As his men tangled with the French rear guard, the general’s left was leg mangled by some grapeshot, necessitating an amputation that left him in considerable pain for the rest of his life.  Santa Anna had the severed limb preserved in a richly decorated casket, like a saint’s relic, and would parade it on special occasions to remind everyone of his devotion to the patria, which he otherwise served so poorly.

1941. a Joint Army-Navy signal was sent senior commanders in the Pacific ended with, "This dispatch is to be considered a war warning," to which the CNO added to CINCUS Kimmel "an aggressive move by Japan is expected within the next few days" .

1942. with the United States engaged in World War II, the science fiction writer L. Sprague de Camp (1907-2000) realized he needed to do his bit. At the suggestion of his friend, fellow-science fictioneer Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1998), a former naval officer (USNA, 1929), who was working as a civilian scientist in a laboratory at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, de Camp applied for a commission in the Navy.
After the paperwork made its way through the system, de Camp was ordered to appear before a board of officers to assess his suitablility for a commission. The board, composed of crusty old salts, some of whom had been pulled out of retirement to assist in the war effort, reviewed his qualifications and found them excellent. De Camp had received a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Cal Tech in 1930 and a master’s from Stevens Institute three years later.
Then came the time for some general questions. One or another of the officers made some innocuous inquiries, but de Camp could sense that there was something wrong, a tension among the interviewers.
Finally, one of the officers almost abashedly asked, “Mr. de Camp, why do you write?”
De Camp replied, “Why, to make money.”
At that, there was an immediate reduction in the tension in the room; the board members, hard-headed realists all, apparently had feared that he would start talking about an inner compulsion to pursue his art or some other touchy-feely explanation, and were pleased to learn that his muse was driven by the need to make a living, since during the Depression he had been unable to find work as an aeronautical engineer. De Camp was commissioned a lieutenant.
Commission in hand, de Camp was recruited by Heinlein to work with him in the aviation materials lab at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Another co-worker was Isaac Asimov (c. 1920-1992), a young science fiction writer and scientist who had also been recruited by Heinlein. They were part of a team that performed technical anlysis and evaluation of materials. Conspiracy theorists, of course, believe the three were deeply involved in the “Philadelphis Experiment,” in which the Navy supposedly dematErealized a destroyed and transported it out of Philadelphia.
A laudable ambition in war or peace.

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1520   Magellan's fleet emerges from the strait that now bears his name onto the Pacific Ocean.

1721  Louis Dominique Bourguignon, known as "Cartouche", 27-28, noted highwayman, broken on the wheel at Paris

1795  US pays $800,000 & a frigate for "protection" from Algerian & Tunisian pirates

1912. One of the Imperial-and-Royal Austro-Hungarian Army's most dedicated soldier diplomats, Alois Esterhazy, the Prince de Galanthe-Forchtenstein (1844-1912), served as military attaché to the Court of St. James from 1884 through 1901. The urbane, free-spending Esterhazy was popular in Britain. He traveled in all the right circles, and knew everyone who was anyone both in Society and in the British Army. In short, he was the perfect military attaché in all respects. Save one.
Military attaches were supposed to collect information. But as an intelligence operative, Esterhazy was a complete failure. In all the years that he served in London, Esterhazy managed to forward to his superiors virtually nothing in the way of useful military information. He spent most of his time at the races, where he bet heavily and often won, or visiting French resorts, where he pursued young women with considerable success. Back in Vienna his lack of success in the pursuit of information does not seem to have caused much alarm. There were a variety of reasons for this.
The Imperial-and-Royal service was, after all, not particularly noted for its efficiency. Esterhazy was also a distinguished Hungarian nobleman, a matter of considerable importance in an army which placed great emphasis on aristocratic lineage. And, of course, he was a relatively high ranking officer - eventually a general - in an army that had twice as many officers relatively speaking as did any other. But there was one reason that was even more important than all of these. It seems that Esterhazy's tenure in London was good for the Imperial-and-Royal Joint Finance Ministry, for he paid all his own expenses, so that the army got a military attaché on the cheap.

1918. During the final 200 days of World War I Germany suffered 681 men killed in action each day, Britain 510, France 908, and the U.S. only 251.

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44   BC   Legio IV declared for Octavian, joining the Martia, which had already defected from Marc Antony.

1760. Rogers' Rangers capture Detroit from the French.

1776. Continental brig Reprisal arrives in Quiberon Bay, France, becoming the first Continental vessel to arrive in Europe. Reprisal was carrying Benjamin Franklin who was acting as the diplomatic agent to the country.

1682   Death of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, 62, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria & of Cumberland, Earl of Holderness, etc., general and admiral

1811  At the Admiralty Sessions, the master of a merchant vessel was sentenced to pay a fine and be imprisoned 12 months in Newgate for enticing seamen from the King's service.

1878. the Royal Navy was still issuing pork and beef that had been salted down in 1805..

1941. Army Intel analysts in Hawaii recommended "Our forces should be placed on the alert and stay there, due to the imminent possibility of an attack," and were ignored by Lt. Gen. Walter Short.

1944 USS Maryland (BB 46) is hit by a kamikaze off Leyte. She is repaired in time for Okinawa Invasion where she is hit by a kamikaze again April 7, 1945.

[bayonetbrant]

1760. Rogers' Rangers capture Detroit from the French.

and the French have thanked us ever since

[Sir Slash]

   True that! Or else the Detroit Lions would've been the Detroit Lyons? 

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532       The Nika Riots begin in Constantinople, tens of thousands died as Justinian and Belisarius "restored order.

347     Born Flavius Theodosius -- Roman Emperor Theodosius I "the Great" (379-395), last ruler of the united empire.
From the time Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus was granted the title Augustus, on Jan. 16, 27 B.C., until the deposition of Romulus Augustulus on September  4, A.D. 476, 81 men are more or less regarded as having served as Roman Emperor through to the end of the empire in the west.  Less than a third of these men died of natural causes.

Classicist Philip Matyszak recently examined the various ways in which those who attained what he called "the most dangerous job in the ancient world" passed from the scene.

Natural Causes
          Old Age        10        percent (including heart attacks, etc.)
          Disease        11        
          Accident        4        (includes a fall from a horse and a lightning strike)
Unnatural Causes
          Killed by mutinous troops        24        
          Assassinated by family or friends        8        
          Killed in action        8        (mostly against usurpers)
          Executed        8        (by their successors)
          Suicide        7        (mostly to avoid execution by a usurper)
          Drowned while evading capture        1        
Resigned or Deposed        12        (deaths included above)
Now although attaining the Imperium was not likely to enhance one's chances of dying in bed of old age surrounded by one's children and grandchildren, the job never seems to have lacked for "applicants."  In addition to the canonical 81, at least 80 other men laid claim to the imperial dignity, virtually all of whom met a violent end.


1943  Carlo Tresca, 63, anarchist, assassinated on Fifth Avenue at 13th Street, by pro-Fascist gangsters
1944  Galeazzo Ciano, 40, Italian politician, executed by his father-in-law, Mussolini

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1500  Cesare Borgia captures the citadel of Forli, and the great Caterina Sforza, taken weapons in hand.  At one point in the siege, the attackers brought up Catherine's children and threatened to kill them if she did not surrender.  Caterina patted her stomach, "I can make more.". Mother Love is truly amazing.

1916  Joseph Joffre, the French  supreme commander from the outbreak of the World War until December of 1916, probably holds the world's record for sacking generals.  Even before the war he had been known to can generals who turned in a poor performance during maneuvers.  In fact, he actually sacked seven division commanders during mobilization, before the shooting began.
During the first 90 days of the war Joffre not only sacked 65 division commanders, but also 22 of the 65 replacement generals (33.8 percent), and then 6 of these 22 "third-generation" commanders (27.3 percent).  Nor were senior officers immune, for in that same 90 days he also sacked two of the five army commanders and 19 of 37 corps commanders.  Adjusted for casualties – in 1914 generals still often led from the front – only 3.5 percent of the French  generals holding divisional or higher command in 1914 still held posts of equal or greater responsibility at the end of the war, in 1918. 

1992   Born   HAL, noted cyber personality, d. 2010

2015  John E. Hill, American wargame designer, 69

[bbmike]

1992 

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1642. Castro was an ancient city of Latium west of Lake Bolsena, north of Rome. For centuries a dependency of the Papal States, in 1537 Pope Paul III made his illegitimate son Pier Luigi Farnese the Duke of Castro. The fief remained in the Farnese family for more than a century thereafter. But in 1642 Duke Odoardo Farnese – who was also Duke of Parma and Piacenza – had a run-in with Pope Urban VIII, a member of the Barberini family. The duke had a lot of debts. The Pope demanded that the duke pay some of them. The duke refused. So on October 13, 1641, a small papal army under Urban’s nephew, Taddeo Barberini, Prince of Palestrina and “The General of the Holy Church,” occupied Castro and some other territories. Duke Odoardo still refused to pay his debts, so on January 13, 1642, the pope formally confiscated Castro and several other fiefs. This initiated the “First Castro War,” 1642-1644.
Duke Odoardo slowly mobilized a miniscule army, and secured an alliance with Grand Duke Ferrante II d’Medici of Tuscany, the Most Serene Republic of Venice, and Duke Carlo II de Nevers of Mantua, all of whom had territorial issues with the papacy, and secured support from France, just then at war with Spain, the dominant power in Italy. Eventually Odoardo was able to raise an army of some 3,000 troops. After much delay, the duke advanced into the States of the Church, inflicting a defeat on Don Taddeo, who handled the papal army badly, not least because he was pocketing a substantial portion of the money appropriated for its support (In fact, the shortage of funds became so severe that jokes circulated about collecting “Alms for the Pope’s Army.”). In mid-1643 an armistice was called. Desultory peace negotiations went on for a time at Orvieto, to no avail. Late that year, hostilities were resumed, though little fighting took place. Finally, under pressure from the French, on March 31, 1644, Pope Urban concluded the Treaty of Ferrara with Duke Odoardo and his allies, which ended the war on the basis of status quo ante bellum, which included an agreement by the duke to pay his debts. Thus ended what was sometimes called the “Barberini War.”
A few weeks later, Pope Urban died, to be succeeded on the See of Peter by Innocent X, a reforming pope.
In 1646, Duke Odoardo died, to be succeeded by his son Ranuccio II. Ranuccio repudiated his father’s agreement to pay the debts. Worse, he refused to recognize Cristoforo Guarda, whom the pope had appointed Bishop of Castro. And as the good bishop was traveling to his new see, his party was ambushed and he was murdered. Determining that the deed had been committed at the instigation of Duke Ranuccio, the pope ordered the occupation of the fief, touching off the Second Castro War, which lasted only a few weeks.
A papal army quickly invested the citadel of Castro. Meanwhile, Duke Ranuccio collected together an army, which he entrusted to the command of Jacopo Gaufrido. A civilian functionary – he had been Secretary of State of Parma – Gaufrido lost a hard fought battle in August against an army from Bologna, and was himself captured while trying to escape. Soon afterwards, having heard news of the defeat of Gaufrido’s army, Castro surrendered.
In victory, Innocent X dealt harshly with his enemies. Gaudrido was tried for making war on the Church, and punished severely. Ranuccio – on whom the pope was unable to lay his hands – was excommunicated. As for Castro, since its people had put up a stout defense, on September 2, the pope ordered the city destroyed and the populace dispersed.
The Castro War was pretty small, even by contemporary standards. Aside from the handful of dead and the destruction of Castro, it’s principal consequences were that the papal treasury received a thorough overhaul, since Innocent soon discovered that a lot of money destined for the army never made it, and the production of a great deal of art, for although defeated, the graft he collected permitted Don Taddeo to amass an impressive number of notable works, as may be noticed by anyone who’s visited the Barberini Palace and National Gallery of Antique Art, at No. 13, Via Quattro Fontane, Rome, including such items as Camassei’s “The Massacre of the Niobids.”

1798  Lt. Lord Camelford, commanding HMS Favorite (16), shot dead Lt. Charles Peterson commanding, HMS Perdrix(22),  for mutiny in an argument over seniority at English Harbour, Antigua.

1811  Cumberland merchant ship, Cptn. Barret  with 26 men, defeated four French privateers, taking 170 men, who had boarded the Cumberland, prisoners.

1842. Among the many regiments that have served in the British Army over the centuries is one that holds the dubious distinction of having been wiped out more often than any other in the history of the service, the former 44th Regiment of Foot.

The 44th Foot had its origins in 1741, when one James Long raised a regiment for the British Army.  For a time known as the 55th Foot, in 1748 the regiment was redesignated as the 44th, and was later renamed the 44th East Essex.  In 1851 the regiment merged with the 56th West Essex Regiment and became the 1st Battalion of the new Essex Regiment.

On four occasions the regiment was virtually obliterated in action.

Sept. 21, 1745, the Battle of Prestonpans, Second (or maybe Third or Fourth . . . ) Jacobite Rising: Of 291 men present in five companies, some were killed but most were captured, including 13 officers, among them Lt. Col. Sir Peter Halkett, commanding.
July 9, 1755, the Battle of the Monongahela ("Braddock's Defeat"), French & Indian War:  The regiment lost heavily, with many killed, including Col. Halkett and his son, and most of the rest wounded.
January 13, 1842, Battle of Gandamak, First Anglo-Afghan War:  The final battle of the British retreat from Kabul, only one man escaped death or capture, to make it back to India, Surgeon William Brydon; 41 men were subsequently released from captivity
July 1, 1916, Battle of the Somme, The Great War:  In 90 minutes (1050-1220) the 1st Battalion took so many casualties that it was unable to continue in action.
On might also include the Battle of New Orleans (January 8, 1815), where the regiment suffered 36 killed, 162 wounded, and 80 captured, for 278 casualties, not to mention one officer subsequently cashiered.  Making matters worse, American observers claimed that the regiment left the field precipitously.