The History of Drugs and War is Long and Sordid to Say the Least In 1834, the British Government could not have sent a worse person with the worst set of instructions to China. The British Parliament chose William Napier, a Scottish lord, to be the Chief Superintendent of Trade in East Asia. Lord Napier…
Category: Obscure History
Native American History: The Bloodiest War in American History You Most Likely Never Heard About
On a per capita basis, King Phillip’s War was the Bloodiest War in American History. But being that it dealt with the Native American Indian, it has been suppressed over the centuries while other major “White Man” Wars and Conflicts have been pushed into the limelight. We can never forget events like this. That is…
Military History: The Saga of the Six-Legged Soldiers
The U.S. Army Wanted to Conscript Insects to Fight the Viet-Cong But the six-legged soldiers weren’t terribly reliable! Mao Tse-Tung famously wrote in On Guerrilla Warfare that guerrillas are proverbial fish who have to swim in the water of the people in order to win their struggle against powerful governments. “It is only undisciplined troops who…
Military History: Six Astounding 18th Century Rules of War
“Yes, the objective of any general is to defeat the enemy, but that doesn’t mean you should be a boor about it.” Editor’s Introduction THE GENEVA CONVENTION is in the news of late, thanks to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. The bombastic billionaire-turned-politician has been taking aim at international lawsgoverning the use of military force, characterizing…
Obscure History: Revolutionary War Veterans Live to See the Invention of Photography
Records of the Revolutionary War consist almost exclusively of paintings, sketches, and writings. However, one book, The Last Men of the Revolution, written by Reverend E. B. Hillard 81 years after the war’s conclusion, does contain photographic evidence of a few individuals who fought for America’s freedom: “Published in 1864, the 64-page book stands as the only…
Brush-Up On Your History: The Legacy of the “Sisters-In-Arms”; History’s Famous Female Fighting Units
“There have been a number of women’s brigades that have served in wartime. Here are a few of them.” IT WAS 100 years ago this week that a coalition of armed republican factions seized the city of Dublin and proclaimed Ireland’s independence from Great Britain. The disturbance, which began on April 24, 1916, would go…
Cold War Files: 10 Strange Cold War Tales Left Out of the History Books
We’ve previously talked about bizarre things that happened during the Cold War, and there are many more such stories. Four decades truly is more than enough time for all sorts of wackiness. 10. Nixon’s Pretend Attack On The Soviets In October 1969, nuclear-armed bombers took off from the US and raced over the North…
Brush-Up On Your History: Top 10 Forgotten Foreign Attacks on United States Territories
Citizens of the United States take pride in the fact that—other than events like 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and the War of 1812—their country has remained relatively unscathed by wars that have ravaged the rest of the planet. However, the United States is not as invincible as it believes, and it has actually come under attack…
Obscure World War Two History: Faking Sick Sometimes Saves Lives
How a Fake Typhus Epidemic Saved a Polish City From the Nazis During World War II, a man went to the doctor in Rozwadów, Poland with a unique complaint. He was one of thousands of Poles forced by the Nazi occupiers to work in German labor camps. The man had been granted a 14-day leave…
Military Weapons From the Past: Japanese 7.65mm Hamada Pistol
The Hamada was one of very few Japanese military weapons made by a private commercial firm. Designed and introduced in 1940, the basic Type Hamada pistol was a blowback .32ACP handgun similar in style to the Browning model 1910. About 5000 of them were manufactured during WWII, although most of these were sent to China….