Gilbert M. Stack's Blog, page 132
June 24, 2018
Today in History: The Battle of Sluys
On this day (June 24) in 1340 the English fleet won the Battle of Sluys, defeating the French at the beginning of the Hundred Years War. England’s Edward III probably had between 160 and 180 ships, against 204 French vessels. Edward was attempting to sail up the Zwin to Bruges and the French chained their vessels together in an attempt to block his passage. This permitted Edward to concentrate his forces against a portion of the immobile French vessels. His basic tactic was to send two vessels filled with longbow men against a French ship, riddling the defenders with 20 accurate arrows a minute (ten times the rate of fire of the defending Genoese crossbowmen). Then a third English ship would lash itself to the French vessel and men-at-arms would cross and secure the French ship. These tactics crushed the French giving the victory to Edward, who was wounded in the battle, probably by an arrow or crossbow bolt.
June 23, 2018
Today in History: Sonic the Hedgehog
On this day (June 23) in 1991, the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise was launched with the release of Sonic the Hedgehog. By 2016, more than 350 million Sonic games had been sold and the Sonic characters have also been featured in six television series, are the subject of an upcoming movie (to be released in 2019) and have starred in numerous comics and manga.
June 22, 2018
Today in History: The Quebec Act
On this day (June 22) in 1774, Britain passed The Quebec Act which was intended to straighten out many problems that had developed from their takeover of Quebec. In doing so they greatly exasperated their problems with their thirteen American colonies. The Quebec Act gave to Quebec much of the Ohio River Valley which was claimed by the American colonies. It also made it possible for Catholics to serve in the government of Quebec and for the Catholic Church to collect tithes. In general the Americans viewed it as an attack on their rights, a threat to their colonial assemblies, and an establishment of Catholicism in Quebec. That it came at the same time Britain was passing the Intolerable Acts to punish the Boston Tea Party further aggravated tensions and brought the Americans closer to the Revolutionary War.
June 21, 2018
Today in History: A Questionable Execution
On this day (June 21) in 1734, Marie-Joseph Angelique was executed for setting the fire that burned down a section of Old Montreal. Angelique was a slave and her conviction is the subject of much debate among historians. Some argue that there is no evidence that she actually set the fire in her owner’s home which eventually burned down the city. They argue that she was convicted because of her reputation as a rebellious slave. Others argue that her action was a conscious rebellion against slavery. In truth, there is no evidence against her. As the fire spread to burn down 45 houses and a convent, people began to loot the city, spreading the damage. At the same time, people began to accuse Angelique of setting the fire. The lack of evidence frustrated the prosecution to the point that they considered asking for permission to torture a confession out of her, but a 5 year old girl was produced who said she had seen Angelique carrying coals to the attic to set the fire. On the strength of this late testimony by a very young child, the court sentenced her to have her hand cut off and then be burned alive. The appeals court changed this sentence to hanging before having her corpse burnt and her ashes scattered—but first she was to be tortured to identify her accomplices. (It’s not clear where the idea of accomplices came from as the little girl did not mention them.) After her legs were broken, Angelique confessed to arson but insisted she acted alone. They then broke her ankles but she would not change her story. She was then hanged.
June 20, 2018
Today in History: Rome vs. Attila the Hun
On this day (June 20) in 452, Roman General Flavius Aetius led a coalition of Roman and Barbarian forces against Attila the Hun. Aetius had spent time as a young man with the Huns and was well acquainted with their tactics. He played the Roman hand brilliantly and won a draw in the battle. But Attila retreated afterwards and the Romans misinterpreted this as a sign that they had won a great victory. With the threat of Attila diminished, the alliance broke apart and could not be reassembled when he returned the next year. Aetius fought a delaying action and a combination of famine and pestilence and the intervention of the Pope turned Attila back for the final time. With the threat of the Huns diminished, Emperor Valentinian III felt free to move against Aetius whom he saw as a threat to his reign. Valentinian personally attacked Aetius in his court, murdering him. In doing so, he destabilized the empire which resulted in his own assassination.
June 19, 2018
Today in History: Baseball
On this day (June 19) in 1846, the first recorded baseball game (played by Alexander Cartwright’s rules) was played on the Elysian Fields, in Hoboken, New Jersey. The game was won by the New York Baseball Club who defeated Cartwright’s Knickerbockers 23-1. For decades, the credit for inventing baseball was given to Abner Doubleday thanks to the Mills Commission Report in 1907 which erroneously credited Doubleday with inventing the sport in Cooperstown, New York, in 1939 (which explains why the National Baseball Hall of Fame is in Cooperstown). Cartwright did not invent baseball all by himself, but he did establish the rules that are the basis of the modern game.
Today in History: Susan B. Anthony
On this day (June 19) Susan B. Anthony was found guilty of illegally voting. The judge (Ward Hunt) directed the jury to find Anthony guilty. She was not allowed to speak before the sentence was rendered, but when she did she castigated the court for stealing her right as a citizen, guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment, to vote. She was fined $100 but swore she would not pay it. The judge then decided not to jail her until she paid, because jailing her would permit her to bring her case to the Supreme Court and he did not want to risk being overruled.
June 18, 2018
Today in History: The Finest Hour Speech
On this day (June Eighteen) in 1940, Winston Churchill addressed the British House of Commons to brace the country for continuing the war against Nazi Germany alone without France. He ended the speech: “But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."
June 17, 2018
Father's Day
Father’s Day was originally celebrated in Europe during the Middle Ages on March 19 (St. Joseph’s Feast Day). In the U.S. the first celebration of Father’s Day outside of Catholic circles was on July 5, 1908. It was made in honor of 250 fathers who had died the preceding year in the Monongah Mining Disaster. It was not celebrated again for many years. Other efforts to start the holiday (1910, 1911, 1912, 1915) either failed or had only short term success. Congress persistently refused to declare Father’s Day a holiday out of fear that the celebration would become commercialized. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson officially established Father’s Day on the third Sunday of June by proclamation, and six years later, Congress finally agreed and passed legislation (signed by Richard Nixon) to make the holiday permanent.
Today in History: A Pope Arrested
On this day (June 17) in 653, Pope Martin I was arrested in the Lateran Palace by agents of Constans II, the Emperor of the (Eastern) Roman Empire. Martin was charged with treason for unauthorized contacts with Rashidun Caliphate and for energetically promulgating the findings of the Lateran Council of 649 which condemned as heresy the Monothelitism teachings of two Patriarchs of Constantinople who had enjoyed the emperor’s support. (Monothelitism teaches that while Jesus had two distinct natures—divine and human—he had only one will, rather than a divine will and a human will.) Martin was brought to Constantinople and found guilty. His life was spared only because the current Patriarch of Constantinople pleaded for him. He was exiled and died a couple of months later.
