Vespasian was Emperor of Rome from 69-79 AD. In 69, after being declared Emperor by the Roman Legions in Egypt, Vespasian saw two men, one blind and the other lame. According to reports, the blind man was able to see after Vespasian spat on his eyes and the lame man was able to walk after Vespasian touched […]
In August 1943, future President John F. Kennedy was commanding officer on PT-109, a patrol torpedo boat, and in charge of 12 men. They were stationed in Rendova Island, an island in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. The night of August 1 his boat, one of fifteen, was sent out to torpedo Japanese destroyers […]
The Pulitzer Prize is generally regarded as the most prestigious prize in journalism. There are currently 21 categories which are awarded the Pulitzer, ranging from photography to music. There were 14 Pulitzers awarded in 1957, less categories than the current number because of the introducton of new categories for online content. That year, the Pulitzer for […]
Operation Tracer was a World War II Allied military operation designed as a backup plan in case Gibraltar fell into Axis hands. A room was built as an observation post from which enemy movement could be reported to the United Kingdom. The room included views of both the Bay of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea. […]
To say President Eisenhower was obsessed with golf would be an understatement. He played close to 800 rounds while in office, an average of 100 rounds per year since he served two terms. His prolific golfing helped turn the sport from an elitist pasttime to one for average Americans. He left the presidency in 1961 and […]
Eisenhower picked up smoking during his time at West Point and by the end of World War II was up to smoking 4 packs a day. In 1949 he decided to quit and began by trying to remove cigarettes and ashtrays from the spaces he occupied. When this didn’t work he went the opposite direction. […]
Operation Husky was the codename given to the Allied invasion of Sicily and was the first operation to use troops dropped into battle by parachute. Before the majority of the paratroopers could be dropped onto Sicilian soil one of the Allied ships on the coast began to fire on the transport plane formation. The other Allied […]
The siege of Leningrad occurred during World War II. It lasted from September 8, 1941 until January 27, 1944, a total time of 872 days. The 1.5 million lives lost include both civilian and military casualties. It is one of the longest and deadliest sieges in human history. Operation Barbarossa was the codename given to the […]
The government of France signed an armistice with Germany and relocated the seat of government to the city of Vichy in 1940, leaving the northern part of France (including the capital city of Paris) to German forces. This French State is known in history as Vichy France and included territory in Morocco and Algeria. The movie […]
General Rommel was also known as the Desert Fox for his actions in North Africa (Egypt and Libya) between 1941-1943. He is regarded as one the greatest military commanders of all time and his reputation is bolstered by the fact he waged a “clean” war. (“Clean” is used because of his alleged apolitical attitude towards […]
