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Good morning

I got a shout out. Woohoo. I never get those.

Good Evening Wasp ole buddy.

Good morning

Have a Great flight.

Today in History: July 11

1302 An army of French knights, led by the Count of Artois, is routed by Flemish pikemen.

1346 Charles IV of Luxembourg is elected Holy Roman Emperor in Germany.

1533 Henry VIII is excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Clement VII.

1708 The French are defeated at Oudenarde, Malplaquet, in the Netherlands by the Duke of Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy.

1786 Morocco agrees to stop attacking American ships in the Mediterranean for a payment of $10,000.

1799An Anglo-Turkish armada bombards Napoleon Bonaparte's troops in Alexandria to no avail.

1804 Alexander Hamilton is mortally wounded by Aaron Burr in a duel.

1862 President Abraham Lincoln appoints General Henry Halleck as general-in-chief of the Federal army.

1942 In the RAF's longest bombing raid of World War II, 44 British Lancaster bombers attack the Polish port of Danzig.

1972 American forces break the 95-day siege at An Loc in Vietnam.

1975 Archaeologists unearth an army of 8,000 life-size clay figures created more than 2,000 years ago for the Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

1995 Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.

2021 Rare mass anti-government protests across Cuba due to economic hardships and effects of COVID-19 led to widespread arrests

Born on July 11

1274 Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (1306-1329).

1767 John Quincy Adams, Sixth President of the United States (1825-1829).

1838 John Wanamaker, U.S. merchant, founder of one of the first American department stores.

1899 E.B. White, author (Charlotte's Web).

1927 Theodore H. Maiman, physicist.

JOTD

Tom was not home at his usual hour and his wife was fuming.

Finally around 3am she heard a noise at the front door and, as she stood at the top of the stairs, there was her husband, drunk as a skunk, trying to navigate the stairs.

“Do you realise what time it is?!?” she stammered.

He answered, "Don't get excited, I'm late because I bought something for the house.”

Immediately her attitude changed, and running down the stairs to meet him halfway, she asked “What did you buy for the house, dear?"

Tom answered “A round of drinks!"

Always great to see your historical facts back!

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1302 An army of French knights, led by the Count of Artois, is routed by Flemish pikemen.

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Popular fiction, in all its forms, posits knights as this unstoppable force that none could withstand. It was actually pretty easy to stop them. A wall of pikemen, who hold their ground, beats a headlong charge of cavalry, even heavy cavalry.

Horses are not noted for their incredible intelligence but they are more than smart enough to not charge a row of pointy sticks. If the pike wall doesn't break the charge will at the last second. Then you have a pile of knights in a great big jumble that the pikemen can poke away at.

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1804 Alexander Hamilton is mortally wounded by Aaron Burr in a duel.

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Arguably one of the most important political events in the history of the US. By this point Hamilton's influence was fading while Burr, who had tied in the Electoral College with Jefferson only 4 years previously was coming off a crushing loss in the race for Governor of New York and blamed, among others, Hamilton.

After killing Hamilton Burr's political career collapsed. He responded by traveling to the West of the US and attempting to set up a conspiracy to establish a new country with himself as President. Had he succeeded the US as we know it would have never come about and it is doubtful the fledgling nation would have survived at all.

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1995 Full diplomatic relations are established between the United States and Vietnam.

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In the 80s Vietnam was the go to villain (alongside the Russki's) in bad US action movies. In fact, by the mid 80s, Vietnam was not so quietly doing everything in its power to establish a relationship with the US.

When Vietnam intervened to topple the genocidal Khmer Rouge government in Cambodia (which had, among other things, launched horrific border raids into Vietnam) China invaded Vietnam. The short conflict killed more Vietnamese than all of the US/Vietnamese war. Even though they drove the Chinese back and "won" it revealed some real unpleasant truths.

China would not tolerate another Asian power, particularly a Communist one. Russia, who had been Vietnam's biggest supporter quickly withdrew support rather than risk war with the Chinese. Vietnam was entirely on its own.

So, Vietnam went back to trying to court the one nation it had first sought as a protector... the United States. Yes, as hard as it is to believe, even as late as World War II the Vietnamese had hoped that an American intervention would allow them to establish an independent Vietnam.

The thing is... that worked eventually. Vietnam's unofficial alliance with the US gave them the safety net they needed to start developing their country. Until the current administration you'd be hard pressed to find a country with a better opinion of the United States.

Morning all

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