This Day in History

[besilarius]

On this day admiral Pierre Dr Villaneuva, who was trounced thoroughly by Nelson at Trafalgar, committed suicide by stabbing himself at least five times in the chest and back.

[Staggerwing]

In the back !?

Did he have some help? Maybe it wasn't actually his idea?

[Undercovergeek]

Yeah in the back is commitment to the cause!!

[Sir Slash]

Yeah, I don't think Napoleon's Retirement Plan was very enticing. 

[besilarius]

On this date in 1943, the freighter, El Estero, which had already survived a convoy run to Murmansk, caught fire while loaded with munitions in New York harbor.  At the Cave ammunition armory, a boiler blowback ignited the oil in her bilges.  There was 5,000 tons of munitions on the ships and on the pier.  When the fire got out of control, NYC fire boats and Coast Guard tugs pulled the ship out to shallow water.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_El_Estero

The Seventh Infantry Division, after intensive desert training, shipped out for Alaska.

[GROGnadsUSA]

On this date in 1943, the freighter, El Estero, which had already survived a convoy run to Murmansk, caught fire while loaded with munitions in New York harbor.  At the Cave ammunition armory, a boiler blowback ignited the oil in her bilges.  There was 5,000 tons of munitions on the ships and on the pier.  When the fire got out of control, NYC fire boats and Coast Guard tugs pulled the ship out to shallow water.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_El_Estero

The Seventh Infantry Division, after intensive desert training, shipped out for Alaska.

They never heard of the 'Dessert': "Baked Alaska-!-"-?

[besilarius]

On this date in 1792, Nicolas Jacques Peletier, French highwayman, is the first person to date Madame Guillotine.
In 1942, the carriers Hornet and Enterprise return to Oahu after sending Jimmy Doolittle off to Japan.

[Staggerwing]

In 1942, the carriers Hornet and Enterprise return to Oahu after sending Jimmy Doolittle off to Japan.

My junior high school history teacher was convinced that the Japanese attacked Midway because they thought it was the mysterious 'Shangri-La' that Roosevelt claimed Doolittle's B-25s took off from in his radio address following the raid.

He was also adamant that the Japanese couldn't actually build a capable fighter on their own. He tried to convince our class that they had reverse engineered the P-36 Hawk and simply added fuel injection. Even at that young an age I knew he was full of shit, having been reading about WW2 aircraft for several years beforehand.

[Sir Slash]

I had an Eighth Grade Social Studies teacher explain to us that Spain would never have come in to WWII on the side of the Germans because they were allied to the U.S. at the time. That's a part of History I never heard about. 

[besilarius]

On this date in 1478, the PaZzi family attempts to assassinate the Medicis in Florence.
While at church, GuiIano and Lorenzo Medici are attacked.  Giuliani is killed but Lorenzo fights his way into a confessional and holds off the killers until his guards get through the worshippers.
The Florentine citizens hang the conspirators.

Ludwig Samson Arthur FreiherrVon und zu Tann-Rathsamhausen dies,1881.  Bavarian Field Marshal.
Setting a precedent for naming Imperial battle cruisers that has mystified English speakers for over a century.

[Staggerwing]

^ Aircraft Carriers as well, all one of them.

[Sir Slash]

My thinking is the names were tactical. If you can't pronounce a ship's name, how can you order someone to go and sink it? 

[besilarius]

On thi?s day in 1503, Gonzalo de Cordoba, "El Gran Capitan", wins the battle
 of Cerignola defeating a French army in the kingdom of Naples.
Cordoba had reorganized the light Spanish army into a combined arms force of pikemen, swordsmen, and arquebusiers, creating a modern infantry organization, the tetcio.
On this firm basis, Spanish armies dominated the battlefields of Europe until Rocroi, almost 140 years.
El Gran Capitan drove the French out of Naples and secured it for king Ferdinand of Spain.
After queen Isabella's death,
Ferdinand didn't trust Cordoba, rusticated him to his estates, and badgered him about his accounts for the rest of his life.

[GROGnadsUSA]

On this day in 1503, Gonzalo de Cordoba, "El Gran Capitan", wins the battle
 of Cerignola defeating a French army in the kingdom of Naples.
Cordoba had reorganized the light Spanish army into a combined arms force of pikemen, swordsmen, and arquebusiers, creating a modern infantry organization, the tetcio.(sp) =  'Tercio'
On this firm basis, Spanish armies dominated the battlefields of Europe until Rocroi, almost 140 years.
El Gran Capitan drove the French out of Naples and secured it for king Ferdinand of Spain.
After queen Isabella's death,
Ferdinand didn't trust Cordoba, rusticated him to his estates, and badgered him about his accounts for the rest of his life.

corrected spelling-!

[besilarius]

On this day in 711, Tariq ibnZiyad invades Spain from Morocco.  Overthrowing the Visigoth kingdom, he kicks off a conflict that endures until 1492.
In 1492, Joan of Arc breaks the English siege of Orleans.
In 1945, the lovebirds Eva Braun and Adolph Hitler are married.