History with Descriptions - A through Z

[Boxlicker101]

New Orleans, Battle of

Final and largest battle of Anglo-America War, AKA War of 1812. Approx. 4,500 American irregulars commanded by General Andrew Jackson soundly defeated a force of 8,000 British regulars, commanded by Sir Edward Pakenham, fresh rom the defeat of Napoleon. The battle was actually fought after a truce had been signed, but news traveled slowly then.

http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-new-orleans

 

[JKendallDane]

New Orleans, Battle of

Umm. The next letter was "D".

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[Boxlicker101]

Umm. The next letter was "D".

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I didn't realize we were still trying to remain in order.

Okay: Dalton Gang: A gang of bank and train robbers who operated in the American West in the late 19th Century. They were known by that name because five of their members were brothers. Their numbers were decimated in a shootout following the robbery of a bank in Coffeyville, KS.

The Daltons were associated by marriage with the James Gang and the Younger Brothers.

 

[JKendallDane]

The Ernest Hemingway House

Officially known as the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, this was the residence of author Ernest Hemingway in Key West, Florida, from 1931-1939. It is located at 907 Whitehead Street, across from the Key West lighthouse, close to the Southern coast of the island. On November 24, 1968, it was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

http://travellogs.us/2012%20Logs/Florida-2012/12-56%20Hemingway%20House/hemingway%20cat.jpg

It was in this house that Hemingway did some of his best work, including the short story classics "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," his novel To Have And Have Not, and the non-fiction work Green Hills of Africa. Descendants of Hemingway's original six-toed cats continue to live on the premises.

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[Carnal_Flower]

Saint Francis

Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco (1181/1182 – 3 October 1226), was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.

Pope Gregory IX canonised Francis on 16 July 1228. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. He later became associated with patronage of animals and the natural environment, and it became customary for Catholic and Anglican churches to hold ceremonies blessing animals on his feast day of 4 October.

Saint Francis in Ecstasy by Giovanni Bellini

https://mydailyartdisplay.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/st-francis-by-giovanni-bellini2.jpg

 

[JKendallDane]

Yuri Gagarin

A Russian Soviet pilot and cosmonaut, he became the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.

http://blog.celestis.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/gagarin_newspaper.jpg

Just a few weeks later, American Alan Shepard followed Gagarin in his Mercury spacecraft named Freedom 7 and the race to the moon was officially on.

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[Hard_Rom]

Harald Hardrada

Harald Sigurdsson, given the epithet Hardrada in the sagas, was King of Norway from 1046 to 1066. In addition, he unsuccessfully claimed the Danish throne until 1064 and the English throne in 1066. Prior to becoming king, Harald had spent around fifteen years in exile as a mercenary and military commander in Kievan Rus' and of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantine Empire.

 

[SamScribble]

New Orleans, Battle of

Final and largest battle of Anglo-America War, AKA War of 1812. Approx. 4,500 American irregulars commanded by General Andrew Jackson soundly defeated a force of 8,000 British regulars, commanded by Sir Edward Pakenham, fresh rom the defeat of Napoleon. The battle was actually fought after a truce had been signed, but news traveled slowly then.

http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-new-orleans

I visited New Orleans a few years ago and, having an afternoon to spare, took a trip up the river to where the now-famous battle was fought.

The site was basically just a large empty field. A Park Ranger of some sort escorted a bunch of us around and 'painted pictures' of what happened where and when. I have to say that the woman, the Ranger, was brilliant. It was like being there on the day of the battle. It was an afternoon I will probably never forget.

 

[Boxlicker101]

Ivan the Terrible:

AKA Ivan the Fearsome.

Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and first 'Tsar of All the Russias from 1547 until his death in 1584. Expanded Russia fro a backward nation to a multiethnic and multicontinental world power. Earned his sobriquet through his ruthlessness and because he was bat-shit crazy.

 

[Carnal_Flower]

JASPER JOHNS

American painter and printmaker, b. Augusta, GA 1930

Important artist, influenced by Abstract Expression and forerunner of Pop Art.

Known for his paintings of flags, targets, maps rendered in various styles and materials.

He is 86 years old, the most important living American artist

http://www.artnet.com/WebServices/images/ll908635llg6ZfDrCWBHBAD/vik-muniz-three-flags,-after-jasper-johns-(pictures-of-magazines-2).jpg

 

[JKendallDane]

Bob Keeshan

Known by nearly every Baby Boomer as Captain Kangaroo.

The popular children's television series aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. During the long run, Keeshan appeared as Captain Kangaroo more than 9,000 times.

Take a quick walk back in time with this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12h2HHYTZtY

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[SamScribble]

The Battle of Lepanto - October 1571 - the last major naval battle in the Mediterranean fought entirely between galleys

 

[Handley_Page]

Leonidas, King of Sparta. (540-480BC)

Famous for being the doomed leader of the Spartans at Thermopylae, he was the son of of Anaxandridas. He was educated in the Public School system, without which none could qualify as a citizen.

He took his personal guard to Thermopylae (all 300 of them), and, with the aid of a few thousand other troops, held up the Persians under Xerxes for four days, causing no small problem for Xerxes, who attempted to negotiate a sort of settlement, which Leonidas refused in no uncertain manner.

 

[MatthewVett]

Leonidas, King of Sparta. (540-480BC)

Famous for being the doomed leader of the Spartans at Thermopylae, he was the son of of Anaxandridas. He was educated in the Public School system, without which none could qualify as a citizen.

He took his personal guard to Thermopylae (all 300 of them), and, with the aid of a few thousand other troops, held up the Persians under Xerxes for four days, causing no small problem for Xerxes, who attempted to negotiate a sort of settlement, which Leonidas refused in no uncertain manner.

Just want to add that the only reason he was educated in the agoge, the public school system, was because he wasn't expected to become king. The heir apparent in Sparta was exempt from the agoge, who was Cleomenes. Leonidas ended up marrying Cleomenes's daughter, Gorgo, who's one of the better known Greek women. Plutarch records a number of her sayings, showing her wisdom and Spartan soul. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer...h/Moralia/Sayings_of_Spartan_Women*.html#ref3

 

[Boxlicker101]

Bob Keeshan

Known by nearly every Baby Boomer as Captain Kangaroo.

The popular children's television series aired weekday mornings on the American television network CBS for nearly 30 years, from October 3, 1955 until December 8, 1984, making it the longest-running nationally broadcast children's television program of its day. During the long run, Keeshan appeared as Captain Kangaroo more than 9,000 times.

Take a quick walk back in time with this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12h2HHYTZtY

.

He also played Clarabell Clown on Howdy Doody.

 

[JKendallDane]

The Marshall Plan

Officially known as the European Recovery Program (ERP), the Marshall plan was an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $12 billion (approximately $120 billion in current dollar value) in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II.

The initiative is named after Secretary of State George Marshall. The plan had bipartisan support in Washington, where the Republicans controlled Congress and the Democrats controlled the White House with Harry S. Truman as President.

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[Zahndo]

The Rape of Nanking

Japan's horrific invasion of China in the 1930s, said to involve rape in the 10s of 1000s and many more deaths. Japan refers to this as the 'Nanking Incident' and has a complicated history of acknowledging what happened.

(wooo my first post, go easy on me, lol)

 

[Carnal_Flower]

I'd heard of it but didn't know much...gah!!!

The Rape of Nanking

Japan's horrific invasion of China in the 1930s, said to involve rape in the 10s of 1000s and many more deaths. Japan refers to this as the 'Nanking Incident' and has a complicated history of acknowledging what happened.

(wooo my first post, go easy on me, lol)

 

[Hard_Rom]

Ontario

It is Canada's most populous province by a large margin, accounting for nearly 40 percent of all Canadians, and is the second largest province in total area. Ontario is fourth largest in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included. It is home to the nation's capital city, Ottawa, and the nation's most populous city, Toronto.

The province is named after Lake Ontario, a term thought to be derived from Ontarí:io, a Huron (Wyandot) word meaning "great lake", or possibly skanadario, which means "beautiful water" in the Iroquoian languages. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes.

Prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the region was inhabited by Algonquian (Ojibwa, Cree and Algonquin) in the northern/western portions, and Iroquois and Wyandot (Huron) tribes more in the south/east. During the 17th century, the Algonquians and Hurons fought the Beaver Wars against the Iroquois. The French explorer Étienne Brûlé explored part of the area in 1610–12. The English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed the area for England.

Samuel de Champlain reached Lake Huron in 1615, and French missionaries began to establish posts along the Great Lakes. French settlement was hampered by their hostilities with the Iroquois, who allied themselves with the British.[34] From 1634 to 1640, Hurons were devastated by European infectious diseases, such as measles and smallpox, to which they had no immunity.

The British established trading posts on Hudson Bay in the late 17th century and began a struggle for domination of Ontario. The 1763 Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years' War by awarding nearly all of France's North American possessions (New France) to Britain. The region was annexed to Quebec in 1774. The first European settlements were in 1782-1784 when 5,000 American loyalists entered what is now Ontario following the American Revolution. The Kingdom of Great Britain granted them 200 acres (81 ha) land and other items with which to rebuild their lives.

American troops in the War of 1812 invaded Upper Canada across the Niagara River and the Detroit River, but were defeated and pushed back by the British, Canadian fencibles and militias, and First Nations warriors. However, eventually the Americans gained control of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. During the Battle of York in 1813, American troops occupied the Town of York. The Americans looted the town and burned the Parliament Buildings during the brief occupation.

Unrest in the colony began to chafe against the aristocratic Family Compact who governed while benefiting economically from the region's resources, and who did not allow elected bodies power. This resentment spurred republican ideals and sowed the seeds for early Canadian nationalism. Accordingly, rebellion in favour of responsible government rose in both regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau led the Lower Canada Rebellion and William Lyon Mackenzie led the Upper Canada Rebellion.

Although both rebellions were put down in short order, the British government sent Lord Durham to investigate the causes of the unrest. He recommended that self-government be granted and that Lower and Upper Canada be re-joined in an attempt to assimilate the French Canadians. Accordingly, the two colonies were merged into the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840, with the capital at Kingston, and Upper Canada becoming known as Canada West. Parliamentary self-government was granted in 1848. There were heavy waves of immigration in the 1840s, and the population of Canada West more than doubled by 1851 over the previous decade. As a result, for the first time the English-speaking population of Canada West surpassed the French-speaking population of Canada East, tilting the representative balance of power.

An economic boom in the 1850s coincided with railway expansion across the province, further increasing the economic strength of Central Canada. With the repeal of the Corn Laws and a reciprocity agreement in place with United States, various industries such as timber, mining, farming and alcohol distilling benefited tremendously.

A political stalemate between the French- and English-speaking legislators, as well as fear of aggression from the United States during and immediately after the American Civil War, led the political elite to hold a series of conferences in the 1860s to effect a broader federal union of all British North American colonies. The British North America Act took effect on July 1, 1867, establishing the Dominion of Canada, initially with four provinces: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. The Province of Canada was divided into Ontario and Quebec so that each linguistic group would have its own province. Both Quebec and Ontario were required by section 93 of the British North America Act to safeguard existing educational rights and privileges of Protestant and the Catholic minority. Thus, separate Catholic schools and school boards were permitted in Ontario. However, neither province had a constitutional requirement to protect its French- or English-speaking minority. Toronto was formally established as Ontario's provincial capital.

 

[Boxlicker101]

The Rape of Nanking

Japan's horrific invasion of China in the 1930s, said to involve rape in the 10s of 1000s and many more deaths. Japan refers to this as the 'Nanking Incident' and has a complicated history of acknowledging what happened.

(wooo my first post, go easy on me, lol)

I wonder if the Japanese told the same pack of lies about their atrocities in Manila and Singapore and other Asian cities.

 

[Zahndo]

Probably. Seems to be the way most countries deal with atrocities though... only a year or two ago the Smithsonian were forced to cancel plans to show an exhibition on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. History is a complicated beast!

 

[Boxlicker101]

Probably. Seems to be the way most countries deal with atrocities though... only a year or two ago the Smithsonian were forced to cancel plans to show an exhibition on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. History is a complicated beast!

You can hardly call those bombings atrocities or genocide. They prevented vast amounts of death and destruction, because the Japanese would have honored the emperor by fighting on against insurmountable odds.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There is a fair historical assessment that Japan surrendered not only because of the atomic bombs, but also because the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and mobilised across the Manchurian border (the Amur River) on 8 August 1945. After victory in Europe, the Soviets transferred the bulk of their armies to the east, and would have progressively rolled across Manchuria, which was where the greater part of the Japanese land forces were situated. Although Hiroshima was bombed on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August, the Soviet declaration of war was understood by the Japanese military command to be the end game for their land forces. An invasion of Japan by the US would have been a brutal affair, certainly, but in the middle of August 1945, the Soviet army was Japan's immediate problem.

Genocide, no, not when compared to the Holocaust. Atrocity.... that's not so easy. Any act of war on unarmed civilians runs a fine line and is an uneasy debate, especially when the casualty counts get into city sized numbers. Even in 1945 many many people at senior levels in government, the military and amongst the scientists, who understood the power of the bomb realised that the original premise of "total war" had utterly changed, and questioned the use of atomic weapons on civilians. The same debate ran in Europe, especially after Dresden.

But we can't judge the decision makers yeah or nay, since we weren't there.

But atomic power is undoubtedly one of the greatest tests of any civilised race (along with genetic engineering, I suspect). The human race is only seventy years in to its test - I sure hope we pass!

You can hardly call those bombings atrocities or genocide. They
prevented vast amounts of death and destruction, because the Japanese would have honored the emperor by fighting on against insurmountable odds.

 

[Zahndo]

I make no judgments about one country being 'better' than another here - I am neither Japanese nor American. One thing I will say though, if the bombing of Hiroshima was a clean cut affair then there wouldn't have been any problem with the Smithsonian featuring an exhibit on it.

The fact remains that history is contestable, and no country is squeaky clean when it comes to maintaining the 'official' national version of their history.

 

[Carnal_Flower]

Persepolis


Persepolis (Old Persian literally meaning "the Persian city," also known as the Throne of Jamshid, was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (ca. 550–330 BC).

Archaeological evidence shows that the earliest remains of Persepolis date back to 515 BC. André Godard, the French archaeologist who excavated Persepolis in the early 1930s, believed that it was Cyrus the Great who chose the site of Persepolis, but that it was Darius I who built the terrace and the palace.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7e/Persepolis_east_side_at_spring.jpg/640px-Persepolis_east_side_at_spring.jpg