Was it a war crime? The bombing of Dresden on February 13-14, 1945 was one of the most destructive of the Allies’ late-war bombing campaigns over Germany. Somewhere between 22,000 and 25,000 people were killed and a famously beautiful city was leveled. It’s been called an Allied war crime, and Kurt Vonnegut’s famous novel “Slaughterhouse…
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There are so many aspects of American history and patriotism that we think originated in the revolutionary period of the 1770s, but are actually products of a hundred years later, in the waning decades of the 19th century, and sometimes are products of the 20th century. The national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, is perhaps…
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The five-star American general Douglas MacArthur is one of the most famous and celebrated generals in American history. Along with Patton, however, he’s one of the most misunderstood and most mythologized. Born in the 19th century, MacArthur served in both World Wars, the Korean War, and other, less extensive US military actions. Yet he is…
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Hitler didn’t dance that jig France fell to Nazi Germany in June 1940. The Germans stage managed it so that Hitler would receive the French surrender in the same railroad car that the Germans had signed their surrender that ended World War I. Hitler stepped out of the railway car while the surrender documents were…
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The apple of Adam’s eye Many of us “know” that, in the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by a serpent to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge. She ate the apple, and that led to God expelling her and Adam from the Garden of Eden. This is known as the “Fall of…
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Listen, oh Buzzkillers, and you shall hear,the true story of the Ride of Paul Revere All American children grow up hearing Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s famous poem that tells us this great story. On April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, a Boston silversmith and American patriot, jumped on his horse and rode through “every Middlesex village and…
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The “unsinkable” ship that sunk The myths about the RMS Titanic, which sank on April 15, 1912, are themselves so big and numerous that we could call them titanic in their own right. In fact, they’ve lasted so long they might be considered unsinkable. Let’s take that word, “unsinkable,” first. The story is that the…
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Quit monkeying around On April 24, 1925, a high school teacher named John Scopes taught a class in Dayton, Tennessee, using a state-mandated textbook that included a chapter explaining Darwin’s theory of evolution. In doing so, Scopes was in violation of Tennessee’s Butler Act, passed earlier in the year. He was arrested, tried, convicted, and…
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The Pony Express “ponies” were actually mules The image of the Pony Express is very strong in the American consciousness. Here’s what we “remember” — a rider galloping as fast as the wind through the wild west, ignoring the elements, dodging hostile Native Americans, and delivering the mail. But that image owes more to Buffalo…
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Was the march of progress that heartless? It’s a story that drives tour guides and historians of engineering crazy. A worker falls into a pool of wet concrete that’s being poured as part of a major construction project. Before he can be saved, his body slips beneath the surface and he drowns in the thick…
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