It's a day in history! Something happened on this date... but what? And was it interesting enough to make the cut here? There's only one way to find out...!
Over the last couple months, we've occasionally discussed Ambrose Burnside, Union general. I seem to recall we've talked about how his big day in the sun was coming soon, where we would see how he did in command of an entire army. Well that day is here! On this date in 1862, Burnside led the Army of The Potomac into battle at Fredericksburg. It didn't go well at all. His plans, while not bad, were not put into effect very well at the outset, and his actual move, intended to take place some time ago, was unable to go until today. During the interim, Lee moved his entire army into place across the River, and waited for Burny to move. Here's something they should have taught him at West Point: When the entire enemy army is sitting there in a position for a couple weeks waiting for you to attack, you probably ought to think really really hard about doing so. Burny didn't. Stories tell of lines of soldiers marching across the field in front of Marye's Heights, and then just disappearing. In the end, over 12,000 men are killed or wounded, against less than 5000 Confederates. While he gets credit for trying again the next month, Burny's career with the Army of the Potomac is pretty much over already. Generals who inflict massive casualties on their own army tend not to be too popular with that army. At least, those who accomplish nothing with those losses- a lesson Grant is meanwhile learning a few hundred miles to the west.
In 1937, things in Nanjing (or Nanking) China get really ugly. The Japanese army captures the City on this date. It starts to engage in what's called The Rape of Nanking (or Nanjing). To say it's gruesome is an understatement. It lasts for weeks, and sees hundreds of thousands dead, and tens of thousands raped by the conquerors. The Japanese still claim it either didn't occur, or that it was nowhere near as bad as the Chinese assert. It did, and it was. But they still won't apologize. Yeah, the Chinese are still not big fans of Japan.
A mere two years later, in South America, the German ship Graf Spee got into a shootin' match with a small British naval force at the River Plate. Everybody got a bit beaten up, and the Germans managed to get into the harbor at Montevideo, Uruguay. Uruguay was neutral, so the Germans were informed that they had 72 hours to fix their ship and get lost. Since the repairs couldn't be made in that time, and the British were believed to have added more ships to their force, the German captain cruised a short distance out of the harbor, and then sank his own ship.
Remember yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that Florida probably should make the decision in the 2000 election that their own laws said had to be made? Well once they ruled that in fact the election had been won by the winner, and was not going to be stolen by the loser, the loser conceded he was the loser. And I suppose it was a good thing for him, as Al Gore then turned his attention to spreading lies about the environment. The useful thing to be aware of here is that lying about the environment pays a LOT better than being president, so I guess it's a good thing. Plus, he was given a Nobel Prize for lying to the public and being a general dumbass. So it's all good.
And finally, in 2003, a flea-ridden dirtbag is pulled out of a hole in the ground near Tikrit Iraq by US forces. Ultimately, he's given over to the Iraqi people, who have plans for him. Heh heh heh. It won't end well for Saddam Hussein, and the world is a better place for it.
The End.
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