RMS Titanic pictured in Queenstown, Ireland 11 April 1912 Source:Cobh Heritage Centre, Cobh Ireland/Wikimedia Commons
Titanic arrives in Queenstown (now Cobh) Ireland at 11:30 am at Roches Point, the outer anchorage of Queenstown Harbor. Tenders PS Ireland and PS America would transport passengers from the White Star Line pier to the ship. The tenders also picked up mail bags at Deepwater Quay that had been brought in by train. 123 passengers embarked from Queenstown. Of the 123, three were first class, seven second class, and the remaining third class (called steerage back then). One of those disembarking was Francis Brown (later Father Brown, SJ) with his camera and photos of life aboard ship. Titanic departed at 1:30 pm for New York.
Sources:
Books
Behe, George TITANIC: SAFETY, SPEED AND SACRIFICE, Transportation Trails, Polo, IL 1997
Eaton John P. & Haas Charles, TITANIC TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY, SECOND EDITION, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, New York, 1995 First American Edition
Lord, Walter, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York, 1955. Multiple revisions and reprints, notably Illustrated editions (1976,1977,1978 etc)
Lord, Walter, THE NIGHT LIVES ON, Willian Morrow and Company, New York, New York, 1986 (First Edition)
Lynch, Don & Marshall Ken, TITANIC AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, Madison Press Books, Toronto, Ontario Canada, 1992
Boat with Jews sailing from Falster (Denmark) to Ystad in Sweden Date: Between September 1943 and October 1943 National Museum of Denmark/Wikimedia Commons
After months of inaction, Germany launches an invasion of Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940. The invasion in Norway was unopposed as commanders were sympathetic to former foreign minister and pro-fascist Vidkun Quisling. Once the troops were landed, Norway was ordered to surrender but decline. Germany sent in paratroopers and took control putting Quisling in charge of government. However loyal troops refused to surrender and fought with British troops against the Germans. The British troops, however, were ordered to France due to German troops advancing there. Norway was forced to surrender and with compliant government in place, the country was secured. Denmark, having not a military strong enough to repel the invasion, would capitulate.
The Danes negotiated a deal where full German occupation did not occur and was allowed to mostly remain somewhat independent. However by 1943, Danish resistance to the Germans had grown causing problems with sabotage. In response, the Germans demanded tighter controls but the government refused. Germany dissolved the government and took over running Denmark directly. Danish Jews were now at risk of being deported. When word was received of an upcoming pogrom on Rosh Hashanah in October 1943, Jews were told to go into hiding by Danish people. Nearby Sweden offered a haven and was unoccupied by the Nazis. And it was close (3 miles away). Jews were ferried across in fishing boats and it was not exactly comfortable and often terrifying. However, 7,000 managed to flee to Sweden leaving only around 500 Jews who could not get away. Those Jews were sent to Theresienstadt. Of them only 51 perished and were saved by persistent support of the Danish for those being held at Theresienstadt. 90% of Danish Jews escaped the Holocaust thanks to righteous Danes.
In the early years of the 20th century, the colonial powers of Britain and France became increasingly concerned with Germany’s military growth. France had suffered defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 and was concerned about its growing military power. Britain was concerned as well about Germany’s growing navy bringing both countries together in an agreement. Africa was the main point of contention with British, French, Belgium and Germany all having colonial territories. Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Spain also had territory in Africa.
On 8 April 1904, both countries declared that they recognized certain territorial claims of the other in Africa. The British agreed that France had control over Morocco and France agreed to recognize Egypt as under British control. The declaration became known as the Entente Cordial and the beginnings of an alliance between the two powers. Although there was an agreement to diplomatically support the other, there was no requirement they provide military assistance if they were attacked.
Why This is Important
While not a formal alliance, it put the world on notice and in particular Germany that Britain and France recognized each other’s colonial territories. Germany saw the agreement exactly for what it was and would take steps to challenge it. Germany supported the Sultan of Morocco in 1905 against France. Britain however sided with France and resulted in an international conference that confirmed France’s control over Morocco. Germany decided to send troops to Morocco in 1911 precipitating another crisis. This forced both Britain and France into an informal military alliance to counter Germany. Rather than break up the two parties, Germany’s actions only brought them closer together. And it would result in more formal military agreement that would include Russia as well. By 1912, Europe was divided into two main blocks: Britain, France and Russia and Germany, Austria-Hungary.
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, 1812 Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825) Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
Napoleon Bonaparte, who rose to power during the French Revolution and became emperor of France, was defeated when allied troops entered Paris on 30 March 1814. Since 1803, the Napoleonic War had inflamed Europe. England and other powers had united against France during this period. France had expanded its power into the heart of Europe, Portugal, Spain and the Mediterranean. His failed foray into Russia and his forces being ejected from Portugal and Spain, weakened his once powerful forces allowing for the invasion of France and the taking of Paris.
Why this Is Important
Napoleon was a major figure in European and French history. He reformed the French state after French Revolution, established and streamlined the justice system under the Napoleonic Code, and sought better relations with the Catholic Church. His military tactics (wins and loses) are still studied today in military academies around the world. The Napoleonic Code laid the basis for legal administration in France today and many of its former colonies.
William H. Seward, Secretary of State 1861-69 Date Unknown Public Domain/U.S. Library of Congress, digital id cph.3a23003
In a purchase ridiculed at the time, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska from Russia for $7 million. While it only cost 2 cents an acre, it was widely jeered in the press and politicians alike. It was nicknamed “Seward’s Folly” and other names as well. Russia had tried to sell it to the U.S. prior to the Civil War, but talks stopped when the war began. Seward believed the landmass was important for the country. Others were not so sure and took a lot of convincing to get the Senate to ratify the treaty. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on 9 April 1867 and the formal transfer was at Fort Sitka on October 18, 1867.
At first settlement was slow (getting there required taking a ship on the Pacific side and sailing up to a port) but in 1898 gold was discovered causing a rapid influx of prospectors and of course businesses to support them. Other resources were found in due course allowing Alaska to grow into a prosperous territory (albeit a cold one). Alaska would become the 49thstate when it was admitted to the union on 3 January 1959. The folly turned out to be golden instead.
Why this is Important
The purchase of Alaska expanded the territory of the United States substantially. The West Coast borders of the country were now forming up. California and Oregon were now states and Washington would soon follow in 1889. The rich resources of Alaska would also contribute as well. By the end of the 19th century, the United States had grown across a continent with cities and settlements on each end and within it.
[Updated with more information and edited both Why this is Important and Aftermath with more information. Add source list to include Wikipedia and photo of procession]
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25, 1911 Originally published in New York World, March 26, 1911 Public Domain US/Wikimedia Commons
At approximately 4:40p.m. Eastern Time on 25 March 1911, a fire would break out in the Asch Building in the Greenwich Village of Manhattan in New York City that was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in U.S. history. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, located on the 8th, 9th, 10th floors, was where the fire took place and was caused when fire broke out in a rag bin on the 8th floor. It was a Saturday afternoon with 600 workers, many of whom were recent Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls aged between 14-23 years of age. The workday was coming to an end when the fire flared up, likely by a unextinguished cigarette or match, in the scrap rag bin that had at least two months of cuttings in it at the time of the fire. A passerby on Washington Street saw the smoke and reported it.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was a sweatshop with cramped spaces and work areas for the employees. When the flames were noticed, people started screaming and hollering. Cramped spaces made it hard to escape quickly and the supposed buckets of water, a standard of the time, were empty many would report later. Many jumped on the machine tables hoping they could hop from table to table to get to the elevators, Narrow aisles with chairs and baskets made that hard. And then the fire start consuming them. The manager did try to use the fire hose on the fire but the hose was rotted and the valve rusted shut.
Panicked workers ran to any exit they could find. There were four elevators but only one was operational; it could only hold twelve people at a time and broke down on the fourth trip due to heat from the fire.. Women began jumping down the shaft to escape the flames. Many would die as a result. There were two stairways but one was locked from the outside to prevent theft trapping the women who burned alive at the door. The other was impassable due to flames. Dozens took stairs to the roof and escaped the flames. The exterior fire escape, shoddy and poorly constructed, became unsafe with so many people trying to use it and collapsed sending 20 people to their death below. Those trapped above the fire escape succumbed to either smoke inhalation or were burned to death.
Bodies of workers who jumped from windows to escape the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire Original image source: Brown Brothers Public Domain (US)/Wikimedia Commons
A crowd had gathered outside watching events unfold. Sadly many of those trapped decided, in groups of two or threes,to jump from the windows. The fire ladders only could reach up to the 7th floor and their safety nets were not strong enough to catch them. To the horror of those watching, 62 people leaped to their deaths causing many in the crowd to weep, faint, or cry hysterically.William Gunn Shepard, a reporter on the scene during the fire, said he heard a sound more horrible than can be described: the thud of a body hitting the stone sidewalk. A similar description would be made many years later when people, trapped in the Twin Towers on 9/11, choose to jump out of the windows. It was captured on film but those who heard the thuds said nearly the same thing as Shepard.
People and horses draped in black walk in procession in memory of the victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, New York City. US Library of Congress, digital id cph.3a30009 Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons
The fire was put out in a half hour and then the shocking number of deaths would be known: 146.123 women and 23 men perished. The youngest victims were two girls aged 14 and the oldest was a women who was 43. Many bodies were found all stacked up against a locked door. As reports of the fire and deaths spread in New York and across the nation, it caused outrage at the conditions the workers had to work in. The owners of the company, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, faced a backlash in the community. Demonstrations outside the building the next day showed the how many were outraged. A memorial procession on April 5, 1911 was attended by over 60,000 people who stood in the rain to see it.
Why this is Important
This fire shocked not only New York but the entire nation. New York created a commission to investigate and recommend laws to make workplaces safer for workers. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union would galvanize and agitate for better conditions, pay, and safety for the workers. It would spark other reformers to seek more comprehensive changes to labor laws, safety, and workers compensation. Changes in other states and at the federal level would occur as well.
Aftermath
Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were put on trial for manslaughter but were acquitted of the charges. While the prosecution showed how locked doors and other thing were an issue, the defense argued that there was no proof the owners knew of the locked doors or authorized them. The were found liable in a civil suit for wrongful death but only paid out $75 per victim to the families despite getting a large insurance payment for the loss. The building still stands today though it has been renamed the Brown Building.
On 23 March 1919, Benito Mussolini founded the Fasci de Combattimento, a name drawn from peasant revolutionaries from the 19th century. These “fighting bands” as they were commonly called back then, became the foundation of the Italian Fascist Party. Mussolini, who had been committed to Socialism but disenchanted how it did not support defending France during World War I, broke away from his former allies to found this new party. The Fascist Party incorporated many aspects of Communism and Socialism within its ideology (please see my write up on Fascism here) but differed when it came to private property and nationalism. Mussolini believed that using nationalism could unify a nation without having to seize private property but rather convince the owners to serve the state in its goals. And like Communists and Socialists, Fascists did not believe in democracy but one party and, more importantly, one person rule.
Why This Is Important
The Italian Fascist Party would inspire others to follow in the same vein such as Adolf Hitler in Germany, Franco in Spain, and Salazar in Portugal. And still inspires movements today.
WhyFascism Appealed to Italians
Italy faced many problems in the wake of World War I though it had been on the winning side. It acquired new territory as the Austrian-Hungarian empire was dismantled but the cost of the war left Italy in an economic depression. Italy lost 600,000 in battle, 950,000 wounded and 250,000 crippled for life. The cost of the war on the nation’s treasury was staggering resulting in its currency having reduced value, unemployment spiked and massive inflation set in as well due to the devalued currency. Despite being on the winning side, Italians felt betrayed at Versailles as their delegation was ignored. The government came across as weak and having little pride in Italy. This is what gave Mussolini his opportunity. With millions unhappy with how things were being done by the parliamentary government combined with a feeling of betrayal at Versailles, Mussolini knew he would be able to bring the Fascist Party to power. In October 1922, he led the Fascists on a march to Rome where King Emmanuel III asked him to form a new government. He was appointed head of the Fascist cabinet and appeared to work with the parliamentary government. Backed up by his own brutal police force, he became the de facto dictator of Italy and suppressed a Socialist revolt in 1924. In January, 1925 he proclaimed Italy a Fascist state and he was its leader (Il Duce). He would remain in power until 1943 when he was removed from office.
Sources:
1. Books
Pipes, Richards : Communism: A History, Modern Library, New York 2001
A Butterfield Overland Mail Coach at Fort Chadbourne museum in Bronte, Texas. Photo: Pi3.124/Wikimedi
Today with our vast networks of freeways, highways and transportation systems it is hard to remember a time when it did not exist. Outside of the major cities and the areas around them, traveling long distance was difficult and often dangerous. When gold was discovered in California in 1849, the need for cross-country shipping increased. On 18 March 1852 Henry Wells and William Fargo along with several investors created a freight service called Wells Fargo & Company . At the time, sending important documents were often sent by courier rather than the U.S. Postal Service as it was faster. The second option was to use stagecoach drivers, railroad conductors or steamship crews to deliver your letters or packages. You really had to hope for the best with the second option, which was cheaper than hiring a private courier. This is where Wells Fargo fit in by having a dedicated service that would deliver documents and freight securely as paid courier for multiple customers.
While messenger services were well established on the East Coast and had penetrated the Midwest, the discovery of gold in California meant people were migrating in large numbers to seek their fortunes. This meant the need for reliable shipping from coast-to-coast was needed along with better communications between them. The telegraph had already been developed but it would take a while to set up the lines between east and west coasts. Ships took a long while to sail either around South America and up to California (or drop you off on the eastern side and you would walk to the west to catch a northbound ship, a perilous journey on its own!). Wells and Fargo wanted to set up a system of messengers that would convey freight to the Pacific Coast. The approached the American Express Company but they did not think it would be profitable. So Wells and Fargo established Wells Fargo & Co on their own with investors.
The first shipment was in July 1852 by shipping freight from the East Coast to mining camps in Northern California. Using contracted stagecoach companies, they were able to establish a service that was known for its fast delivery of freight, important documents, and other valuables. Wells Fargo also served as a bank providing loans, bank notes, and buying gold dust from miners. In 1857 Wells Fargo formed the Overland Mail Company that became knows as the Butterfield Line. This provided regular mail and passenger service along many routes during this time. During this time of boom and busts, they became a standard that people could rely on. They also had a premium service that would deliver and pick up mail or packages. By 1866 they had become the largest stagecoach company around. When the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, they used it to ship freight to locations where the company would receive the shipment and transport it to the destination. By 1910, it had established a large shipping network that stretched from large cities on the East Coast to farm towns in the Midwest, to ranches and mines in Texas and California, and up into the Pacific Northwest where lumber camps were. It was a huge network and showed how valuable such companies were to the growth of the United States.
The bank would split away from the freight business in 1905 and be headquartered in San Francisco. Although the bank’s offices were destroyed in the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, it was able to recover as its vaults were untouched. Wells Fargo Company Express was nationalized with other shipping companies during World War I into American Railway Express. An overseas armored car service with the Wells Fargo name would operate overseas but ultimately merge with Loomis in the 1990’s.
The Death of Julius Caesar,Vincenzo Camuccini (1771–1844). Public Domain
Today is 15 March and on the old Roman calendar was a day of religious observance to the Roman god Jupiter and other lesser deities. But it is most famous as the date in 44 BC when Julius Caesar was assassinated at a meeting of the Roman Senate. 60 conspirators were involved but the leaders were Brutus and Cassius. Caesar was forewarned of his death by a seer according to Plutarch. And in his famous work Julius Caesar, Shakespeare has the soothsayer say “beware the ides of March” which Caesar ignores and if course he ends up stabbed to death uttering the famous line before death:
Et tu Brute!
The assassination was a turning point for Rome. It brought about a civil war and ended the Roman Republic. Octavian (later Augustus) would become emperor and the Roman Empire would come to dominate the entire Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, and parts of Europe and Britain. In Julius Caesar Mark Antony gives perhaps the most remembered funeral oration ever done. Most people recall the famous opening line:
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears! I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Caesar.
The oration is masterful in that it cleverly turns the people against Brutus and Cassius by showing they were ambitious and not Caesar. By the end the plebeians call them traitors and murderers.
In real life, it was much the same. Antony played them by seemingly supporting amnesty but turning people against them both. Brutus was forced to leave and ended up on Crete, Cassius went east to gather support among the governors and to amass an army. Antony and Octavian would clash militarily causing divisions in Rome. This allowed the forces of Brutus and Cassius to march on Rome. However Octavian made peace with Antony upon this news so both forces joined to stop Brutus and Cassius. They met at Philippi on 3 Oct 42 BC. The first battle resulted in Brutus defeating Octavian but Antony defeating Cassius. Not knowing that Brutus had defeated Octavian, Cassius took his own life. At the second battle of Philippi on 23 October, Brutus was defeated and forced to flee into the hills where he committed suicide. Antony treated his body with great respect by having it wrapped his most expensive purple mantle. His body was cremated and remains sent to his mother.
Cheering crowds greet the Nazis in Vienna Source: Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1985-083-10 / CC-BY-SA 3.0 (Via Wikimedia)
On 12 Mar1938 German troops marched in Austria and formally annexed the German-speaking nation.
The movement to unify Germany and Austria (Anschluss) began after the Austro-Hungarian Empire was dissolved in 1919 (by the Treaty of Saint German-en-Laye). There was sentiment to a union with Germany but it was barred by the Treaty of Versailles. Anschluss became an issue during the 1920’s and in 1931 the German and Austrian governments proposed a customs union. Austria had been weakened by the collapse of the Loan Bank (Kreditanstalt) and anarchy in politics. France opposed it as did Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania. The International Court of Justice in The Hague decided it was illegal.
When Hitler came to power in 1933, Anschluss was revived. Hitler considered it a cornerstone of his foreign policy. Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss was murdered in the Chancellery in Vienna by Austrian Nazis trying to stage a coup’état. It failed but Hitler backed the Austrian Nazi Party (illegal in Austria) even though he by treaty in 1936 guaranteed independence for Austria. In 1938, the Austrian Nazis were plotting another attempt to seize Austria and unite with Germany. Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg was invited by Hitler to meet with him in February, 1938. Hitler demanded concessions that involved appointing Nazi sympathizers into positions of power.Schuschnigg, knowing he had no support from Britain or France, gave in. Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Minister of Public Security, who had control of the police, was the key appointment that Hitler sought. Seyss-Inquart was an Anschluss supporter.
Schuschnigg called for a national vote on 9 March on Austrian independence. Meanwhile German troops began massing at the border. Hitler demanded that Schuschnigg resign in favor Seyss-Inquart. Under intense pressure, he resigned and the vote was cancelled. Seyss-Inquart was ordered by Hermann Goering to request German troops be sent in restore order. With that, German troops entered the country on 12 March 1938. Enthusiastic crowds greeted Hitler and the troops. A new Nazi government was created and the Anschluss was proclaimed. Jews in Vienna and other parts of Austria were subject to new harsh measures and many were imprisoned. Known opponents of the unification were also arrested. Many Jews tried to emigrate or flee Austria as well.
The reaction of Britain and other powers was mostly moderate to the annexation. And this emboldened Hitler to use more aggressive tactics to expand as neither Britain or France were going to stop him. Austria would remain a German federal state until after World War II when Austria was made independent again.
The Great Blizzard that struck the Northeast of the United States on 11 Mar 1888resulted in one of the most deadly blizzards to strike in the 19th century.. With massive snow drifts, powerful winds and 55 inches of snow in some places, virtually everyone between Washington D.C. and Maine was effected.
Blizzard of 1888, Park Place in Brooklyn NY. March 14, 1888. NOAA Photo Library Public Domain
No one was prepared for the blizzard. March 10 had been a pleasant day with temperatures in the mid-50’s Fahrenheit. Arctic air from Canada collided with Gulf air on March 11 resulting in a massive temperature drop. Wind quickly began to churn and soon reached hurricane-strength levels in places like New York City. Heavy snow fell everywhere and in New York residents awoke on March 12 to find their city in a complete whiteout. The snow drifts were so high in some cases that they nearly reached the second story of buildings.
Despite this, many did try to get to work using the elevated trains. Alas snow drifts blocked the rails and so trains could not go anywhere. Getting off the platforms proved formidable in some cases as snow drifts blocked exits. Some took advantage of this to offer assistance with ladders for a fee. It is estimated up to 15,000 were stranded. But the problems in New York City multiplied. With telegraph lines, water mains and gas lines all above ground, they were covered with snow and ice made inaccessible. Telegraph lines snapped as well making communication with the outside world difficult impossible.
Getting to work on foot proved perilous as well. With so much snow and ice, many businesses could not open since no one could reach them. Only 30 made it to the New York Stock Exchange. It remained closed for three days. Many people also were injured walking and some fell into small drifts and died (including a New York state senator).
Stereoview picture of Grand Street in New Britain, Connecticut, published by F. W. Allderige in 1888 Public Domain/Wikimedia
Outside of New York, it was just as bad. The wind and snow covered train tracks stopping trains. People had to endure freezing conditions as they awaited for assistance. Hundreds of boats were sunk due to the high waves and winds. Historic amounts of snow fell throughout the Northeast making it difficult for anyone to move about. Telegraph lines were knocked down as well cutting off areas from the outside world.
Aftermath
The storm resulted in $20-25 million in property damage. It took days to clear the railway lines of the snow drifts. Cities and towns had to deal with massive snow that had to be cleared and people were stuck in their homes in many places. Additionally emergency services such as fire and police were unable to respond or assist much in many places during this period. Fires in some places could not be put out as a result. Ships caught out at sea during the blizzard suffered badly; many that survived had to be fixed and lives were lost as well. Food deliveries were delayed since trains could not run for up to eight days until the snow was cleared from the tracks.
Broken telegraph lines had become a hazard in New York City and like the snow took days to clear. With the telegraph down, communication went down between Washington D.C. and the Northeast including Canada. This would begin the start of moving critical infrastructure underground. New York City would begin construction of a subway line, telegraph lines and other important infrastructure would be moved underground as well.
This was the second major blizzard that had hit the United States in 1888. The first one occurred in January1888 and is often called the Children’s Blizzard over the number of children that died in the midwest as a result of it. The Weather Bureau, run by the U.S. Signal Service, did not see this blizzard nor the one that hit the Northeast in March. With all the damage that resulted from the Northeast blizzard, it was clear a change would have to be made. The New York press criticized the bureau for not manning weather reporting stations 24 hours a day. That was changed after this event but did not mollify a lot of critics. In 1890 the Weather Bureau was removed from the U.S. Army Signal Corps and put under the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It would be moved over to the Commerce Department during the Roosevelt Administration. In 1970 it was moved to the National Atmospheric Administration and renamed the National Weather Service in 1970.
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