This Day in History

[Amnorix]

Today...

[JOhn]

17 Dec 1939: German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled in Montevideo, Uruguay

[Stewie]

Originally Posted by Donger

Surely if we can repeal such a mistake as the 18th Amendment, we can repeal the even bigger mistake of the 19th?

It may have been "The Man Show" that set up a booth on an LA street asking people to sign a petition to "End Women's Suffrage." People were signing it left and right. It was obvious people had no idea what they were signing until they were told afterward... and hilarity, with some pissed off people, ensued.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

December 17

1903. Having effected repairs to their plane after the failed effort of a few days ago, the Wright Brothers successfully test their heavier-than-air flying machine.

1989. First episode of the Simpsons airs in the US.

In Season 7 Episode 9 of the Simpsons (Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming), Sideshow Bob takes Bart hostage on the Wright Brother's plane.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Stewie

It may have been "The Man Show" that set up a booth on an LA street asking people to sign a petition to "End Women's Suffrage." People were signing it left and right. It was obvious people had no idea what they were signing until they were told afterward... and hilarity, with some pissed off people, ensued.

Yep, it was The Man Show and it was hilarious.

http://www.sanchi.ro/view_video.php?...f7fac026ead455

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by patteeu

In Season 7 Episode 9 of the Simpsons (Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming), Sideshow Bob takes Bart hostage on the Wright Brother's plane.

That's what I love about history - how two seemingly unrelated events actually were related.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

December 17

1862. US General Ulysses S. Grant issues the infamous General Order No 11, expelling all Jews from his military districts, which were then comprised of Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky. The order was predicated on an effort to stop a black market around cotton smuggling, which was used to financially support the South, and which Grant believed was mostly being carried out by those of Jewish origin. President Lincoln would soon revoke the order, and Grant would claim (dubiously) that it had been drafted by a subordinate and that he has signed it without reading it.

Wow. That's news to me.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Wow. That's news to me.

There are some very interesting stories around Grant and, especially, Sherman. Sherman in all likelihood would have rounded up and shot all the newspapermen around the army if he could. He literally thought of them all as traitors.

Sherman, FWIW, was clearly no abolitionist. While he didn't come out and say it, he was probably not a big fan of abolition or the 14th Amendment. There was a very unpleasant episode during Sherman's March where the Union Army, ostensibly to prevent Confederate troops from continuing to follow them and their baggage train (a legitimate concern) destroyed a pontoon bridge they had made over a river, making it harder for the Confederates to follow. There is some considerable argument as to whether Sherman was aware of this, as this wing of his army was commanded by Union General Jefferson C. Davis (no relation, and one of the weirdest coincidences of the war), who was VERY clearly a racist.

As a result of the cutting of the bridge, the very large number of slaves who had escaped their plantations and were following the Union Army to, hopefully, freedom, were suddenly cut off. Many, in desperation, sought to swim the river, and many drowned. Many of the runaway slaves were older, or women with children.

The Confederate forces who had been trailing the Union Army, once they saw the runaway slaves bereft of Sherman's protection, did the inevitable, and unspeakable.

Word of this somehow got back to Washington, and the abolitionist movement, and in particular Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, were absolutely irate. There was discussion of relieving Sherman -- who had just accomplished one of the most amazing feats in modern military history -- of command. Grant stepped in and mediated.

Stanton was also extremely vexed by the cease-fire/armistice agreement made between Sherman and General Joseph Johnston of the Confederacy, which Stanton, and ultimately President Johnson, thought far too generous (and over-reaching) and they ordered revoked/null. Sherman thought he was carrying otu Lincoln's oft-stated wishes regarding peace, but was overruled and publicly embarrassed.

Weeks later, when the Union armies paraded through Washington DC, the Army of the Potomac, nominally under Meade but really under Grant, were camped closer to the city, and paraded on the first day. Sherman's Army was across the river, and when his men marched through the city, they and Sherman refused pointedly to acknowledge the Secretary of War.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Wow. That's news to me.

Me too. Well done, Amnorix.

[Amnorix]

December 18

1271. Kublai Khan renames his empire (China, mostly) Yuan, marking the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty.

1912. "Piltdown Man" is discovered in England. It won't be firmly proven to be perhaps the most famous paleontological hoax until 1953. You can still have a drink at The Piltdown Man Pub, near the site of the "discovery", which is still in business under that name.

1915. President Woodrow Wilson, while in office, marries Edith Bolling Galt. A few years later she will effectively run the government after her husband is incapacitated by a serious stroke that is hidden by the public.

1932. The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the NFL Championship. Because of a blizzard, the game was moved to the indoor Chicago Stadium, which could only accomodate an 80 yard field.

[Amnorix]

December 19

1777. The Continental Army and George Washington go into winter quarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1828. John C. Calhoun pens a pamphlet triggering the Nullification Crisis of 1828, which primarily relates to a tariff.

1916. The Battle of Verdun ends, with the French having successfully thwarted a German offensive, though hundreds of thousands of casualties occur on both sides.

1924. The last Rolls Royce Silver Ghost is sold.

1993. The House of Representatives forwards articles of impeachment against President Clinton to the Senate.

[Amnorix]

December 22

1807. Congress passes, at President Jefferson's urging, the much-despised Embargo Act of 1807. The Act prohibits all trade with foreign countries. During the lead-up to the War of 1812, this Act was designed to (theoretically) protect America's interests as it was increasinbly being drawn into the war(s) between England and France during the Napoleonic era. The law was fairly effective at throttling trade between America and her trade partners, and Jefferson thought that he could bring Europe to heel by this method of economic coercion. Instead, American ships rotted at their wharves and American crops could not find their way to markets. England switched to South America as a primary trade partner, and English shipping interests were thrilled to have competition from America eliminated. This Act, without doubt one of the stupidest law in early American history, was replaced in...

1809. ...with the Non-Intercourse Act, which repealed the Embargo Act, four days before Jefferson's Presidency ended. The Non-Intercourse Act prohibited foreign trade only with England and France, and was basically completely unenforceable.

It should be noted, however, that the Embargo Act and Non-Intercourse Act had an unintended side-benefit -- due to the inability to import manufactured goods from Europe and the stifling of foreign trade, the development of America's manufacturing sector boomed during this period, as investors sought something to invest in, and there was a serious shortage of manufactured products.

1864. William T. Sherman captures Savannah, Georgia, and sends a note to President Lincoln about it.

Originally Posted by Willam T. Sherman (to President Lincoln)[/quote

I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the City of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition, also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton

to which Lincon replied

Originally Posted by Abraham Lincoln

Many, many thanks for your Christmas gift – the capture of Savannah. When you were leaving Atlanta for the Atlantic coast, I was anxious, if not fearful; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering that 'nothing risked, nothing gained' I did not interfere. Now, the undertaking being a success, the honour is all yours; for I believe none of us went farther than to acquiesce. And taking the work of Gen. Thomas into the count, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it afford the obvious and immediate military advantage; but, in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the whole – Hood's army – it brings those who sat in darkness, to see a great light. But what next? I suppose it will be safer if I leave Gen. Grant and yourself to decide. Please make my grateful acknowledgements to your whole army – officers and men.

This concludes Sherman's March to the Sea, as he had successfully reached the coast and replenishment via the US Navy. He would go on, however, to march North, through the Carolinas, inflicting as much damage there as he had in Georgia.

1894. The Dreyfus Affair begins when French officer Alfred Dreyfus is wrongly convicted of treason, mainly on antisemitic grounds.

1944. German troops demand the surrender of Bastogne, Belgium, which is stubbornly being held and defended by American troops of the 101st Airborne Division actively commanded by General Anthony McAuliffe. The 101st's usual commanding officer was in the United States at a staff meeting when the Germans launched their surprise assault. The 101st was soon completely encircled by German forces, prompting this exchange.

Originally Posted by German General von Luttwitz

To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.

The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Our near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.
There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.

If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term.

All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity.

The German Commander.

Originally Posted by General Anthony McAuliffe

To the German Commander,

NUTS!

The American Commander

The response was not really understood by the Germans, and the Americans delivering the message under truce explained that it meant "Go to hell".

Following this exchange, the American forces under McAuliffe held out for four days until relief arrived from American forces rolling back the German assault. Shortly after this, McAuliffe received his own division, the 103rd. He would remain in the Army following the war, eventually retiring after serving as Commander in Chief of US Army forces in Europe.

1984. During a time when crime in New York City was at an all-time high, a white man named Bernhard Goetz shoots four African-American would-be muggers on an express train in New York, prompting national discourse regarding crime, race relations and vigilantes. All four victims were seriously wounded, but survived. Goetz would be charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment and other crimes, but would be found not guilty by a Manhattan jury of all counts except the possession of an unlicensed firearm charge, for which he served an eight month sentence.

1989. Ion Iliescu takes over the government of Romania after a week of bloody demonstrations, ending Nickolai Ceausescu's repressive Communist regime.

1978. Deng Xiaoping reverses Mao's economic policies, and replaces them with plans that would lead to China's growing economic power and ascendancy which continues through today.

1992. Dr. Martin Almada, a human-rights activist and lawyer, trolls through files in Paraguay searching for information regarding a former prisoner. He instead finds the "Archives of Terror" -- detailed files regarding the murder of 50,000 people and imprisonment of 40,000 more Latin Americans by the former government under General Pinochet. The files detail the kidnapping, capture and brutal torture of victims, often before execution, and how other Latin American countries' military and intelligence services helped by providing information regarding the victims. Some of these other countries then used the files to prosecute certain fo their own military officers who had helped Pinochet.

2001. Richard Reid attempts his shoe-bombing.

[Sully]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1932. The Chicago Bears defeat the Portsmouth Spartans 9-0 in the NFL Championship. Because of a blizzard, the game was moved to the indoor Chicago Stadium, which could only accomodate an 80 yard field.

If I recall correctly, this game is where moving the ball to the hashmarks comes from, as well.




Sent from my Cuisinart using Tapatalk

[Donger]

So, nothing happened on the 20th and 21st? Was time travel invented?

[Amnorix]

December 21

2010. Amnorix flies out to wherever the hell Donger is and kills him.


Typo fixed, bastidge.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

December 21

2010. Amnorix flies out to wherever the hell Donger is and kills him.

patteeu, when do you think you'll have pictures up?