Humanity fought its earliest wars using fists, clubs, and rocks. At some unknown point in time, a forward-thinking adversary learned to propel rocks towards the enemy through the use of a sling. Later improvements in military efficiency included edged weapons, and the use of spears, flung with the force of a strong arm. Smaller spear-like…
Author: Larry Holzwarth
Military actions and life have long been a subject for the film industry. Virtually every war in which American troops were involved, and many in which they were not, have been given the Hollywood treatment. In most film and television presentations, much of what Hollywood portrayed of military life was and is simply wrong. One…
The word strange is barely adequate for some of the ancient leaders described here, if the tales told of them are true. The ancient world had no shortage of outright butchers who practiced patricide, matricide, fratricide, and mass murders to consolidate and secure their positions at the head of their societies. They used brutal, though inventive methods…
The ruins of ancient civilizations prove the existence of cultures thousands of years gone which nonetheless rival our own in many aspects. Take the Roman Colosseum, as an example. It was but one of many such arenas which stood across the Roman Empire, in varying sizes depending on the local population. As with today, the…
A surprising number of foods enjoyed by our ancient forebears remain a commonly consumed part of diets around the world in modern times. Among them of course is bread, in different forms and styles depending on the cultures of the consumers. Another is beer, considered a food to the ancients. The builders of the Great…
Humanity gathered in communities, which evolved into cities, from the Neolithic age. Their reasons for creating communities included mutual protection, from the elements as well as from other communities. Gradually, they developed systems for the sharing of water, trade, the disposal of waste, and the means of government. From humble dwellings clustered together larger cities…
Few, if any, nations in all of history have been more isolated than North Korea. The government of the benighted country presents itself as socialist, though in truth it is a cult of personality operating as a dictatorship along fascist lines. It controls all aspects of life, feeding its subjects a steady diet of falsehoods.…
As dynasties go the reign of the Tudors was relatively short (1485-1603) but it holds its own in terms of infamous characters, nefarious schemes, and bloody events. It began in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses, and reached its peak with the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The first English colony in North…
There are those who argue that all wars are stupid, and that there has never been a good reason for it. Others hold a different view. Wars are tragic, and in hindsight many of the wars of history could have readily been avoided. Some seem to have been triggered by overreaction to events, in which…
All but two of America’s Presidents have exercised the power, granted them in Article 2 of the Constitution of the United States, to pardon individuals for various federal crimes. William Henry Harrison and James Garfield are the exceptions; both died during short terms in office. Beginning with George Washington and continuing through the administration of…
All families, so it is said, have closeted skeletons, crazy uncles, less than savory in-laws, and ancestral behavior of questionable repute. Britain’s Stuarts, the dynasty which produced King James, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, were certainly no exception. A Royal House of Ireland and Scotland, and finally of Great Britain, their original…
When Apollo 13 lifted off from the John F. Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970 on America’s planned third visit to the surface of the moon, the general public greeted the event with a collective yawn. After just two manned visits to the moon the reaction by many to continuing lunar exploration was “been there,…
Humanity fought its earliest wars using fists, clubs, and rocks. At some unknown point in time, a forward-thinking adversary learned to propel rocks towards the enemy through the use of a sling. Later improvements in military efficiency included edged weapons, and the use of spears, flung with the force of a strong arm. Smaller spear-like…
The word strange is barely adequate for some of the ancient leaders described here, if the tales told of them are true. The ancient world had no shortage of outright butchers who practiced patricide, matricide, fratricide, and mass murders to consolidate and secure their positions at the head of their societies. They used brutal, though…
Warfare has always provided the impetus for advancing more efficient methods of killing one’s fellow man. History shows nearly every extended period of warfare found new weapons proposed and developed, which often failed because existing technology incapable of supporting the design. For example, the earliest land mines, filled with gunpowder, often failed because the moisture of the…
The airplane was less than a decade old when it first appeared as a weapon of war during the Italo-Turkish War in 1911. The Italians used airplanes to observe Turkish troop positions, as well as dropping bombs on their enemy. By 1915 the airplane had matured into a weapon capable of bombing enemy troops, strafing…
The French were among the innovators militarizing the air as early as 1794, when a lighter than air observation balloon tracked the movements of Austrian troops before and during the Battle of Fleurus. France was an early customer of the Wright Brothers, and soon began developing and building its own aircraft, with innovations kept secret…
If the truth be told, the smartest criminal of all-time likely doesn’t appear on this list. That’s because the smartest criminals’ crimes go undetected. Or at best, the criminal is never identified as the perpetrator of a crime, which remains unsolved, baffling the police and other authorities. There have been many possessed of superior mental…
There are ships that are kept hidden from the public that pays for them, usually because they are of an experimental nature. Other ships are presented to the public as existing for a purpose far different from the role they actually play. And some ships simply operate in environments where their mission and work are…
Warfare has always provided the impetus for advancing more efficient methods of killing one’s fellow man. History shows nearly every extended period of warfare found new weapons proposed and developed, which often failed because existing technology incapable of supporting the design. For example, the earliest land mines, filled with gunpowder, often failed because the moisture…
Since 1942 or thereabouts, the quip, “The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language,” has been attributed to George Bernard Shaw, though it does not appear in any of his known writings. Another, from Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost, claims, “We have really everything in common with America nowadays,…
During the 2012 presidential election less than 56% of eligible Americans cast votes. Two years later the mid-term elections saw only 36% participation by voters. The lack of participation of so many eligible voters has led to a growing movement in the United States to make voting in national, state, and local elections mandatory, a…
The chief advantage of the submarine in warfare is stealth. Their ability to approach a target and strike without detection was originally considered unfair by professional naval officers. Naval officers considered them ungentlemanly up to and during the First World War. Since then their operations have become ever more stealthy, and they can operate in all the world’s…
Soldiers have been decorated by their grateful leaders throughout history, though not always through the awarding of medals. Decorations for heroism or distinguished services appeared in armies of the ancients, including among the Greeks and Romans. Roman commanders wore laurels signifying victory over their enemies, while rank and file soldiers could receive a stiffened neck…