Category: Odd Facts
‘To Encourage the Others’ – Admiral Byng’s Execution Was a Grim Warning to Royal Navy Officers: ‘Do Your Utmost!’
“Byng’s death had a profound impact on the navy, as it did encourage others to fight and greatly contributed to Britain’s victory in the Seven Years’ War.” By George Yagi Jr. ON MARCH 14, 1757,…
POWs in the USA — 10 Surprising Facts About America’s WW2 Prisoner of War Camps
“Most of us know surprisingly little about these men who lived and worked in America while the war went on without them.” By Kathy Kirkpatrick HITLER’S ARMIES NEVER invaded the United States. Yet amazingly hundreds…
Anatomy of Failure – Historian Explains Why America Loses Every War It Starts
“Every war the United States has started, and every time it employed military force without just cause, it has lost or failed.” By Dr. Harlan Ullman DOES HISTORY MATTER? If it does, why is it…
Floating Purgatory – Life and Death Aboard an 18th Century British Prison Hulk
“The prison hulks of Portsmouth and Plymouth, England would become home to thousands of captured enemy soldiers and sailors.” By Chris Dickon “MAN TOOK ONE of the most beautiful objects of his handiwork and deformed…
Watershed at Waterloo – How the Legendary 19th Century Battle Made Modern Europe
“Why is Waterloo such an important event in European history?” By Mark Simner ON JUNE 18, 2015, some 200 years after the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte, thousands of re-enactors and spectators gathered on the…
Coats of Arms – Exploring the Colourful History of Military Heraldry
“It emerged sometime in the late 12th Century, at a time when knighthood became prestigious, and the knightly caste and the increasingly wealthy nobility merged.” WHY HAVE SO many European countries used double-headed eagles on…
