The Great War

This past Saturday marked the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. June 28, 1914, the world moved to the brink of a war that would involve much of the planet. 

Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire. His assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was one of six who was a part of a plot to kill the Archduke so that the Slav provinces in the South could break away. 

(Princip)

The first attempt on the Archduke's life failed. The bomb exploded under the car after his. On his way to the hospital to visit those who were injured in the bombing, the Duke and his wife were shot by Princip. 

The assassins were found and put on trial. They were indicted with the crime of conspiracy to commit high treason. The sentence was death for those over the age of 20 and prison sentences for those who were not considered adults. As stated in their testimonies, their goal was to establish a separate state from Austro-Hungary. They did not intend to start the Great War. 

Little Bighorn

June 26, 1876, the Battle of Little Bighorn ended with the defeat of the 7th Cavalry of the US Army. Lieutenant  Colonel George Custer and his battalion were decimated. 

Primarily, the battle has been remembered as "Custer's Last Stand." This view trivializes the accomplishment by the Native American forces in the battle. 

(Custer)

This battle was a part of the Sioux Wars, which occurred because many Native Americans did not want to relocate in the face of white expansion. Chief Sitting Bull established the Sun Dance alliance in order to raise a force to pose a threat to the US settlers and Army. 

Custer attacked the Sioux village at the Little Bighorn river without waiting for the main Army forces and without full knowledge of how many Native Americans were in the village. Custer was vastly outnumbered and within an hour, he and his men were dead. 

The Battle of Little Bighorn was the climax of Native American victory. Afterwards, the whites overtook the Native Americans and they were forced onto reservations that did not include their ancestral lands. 

Get Out the Vote!

Tomorrow, voters will head to the polls in several states for primary elections. Prior to 1971, Americans under the age of 21 could not vote. 

The movement to lower the voting age began with student activism tied to the Vietnam War. On June 22, 1970, President Nixon signed an extension on the Voting Rights Act. However, Oregon and Texas challenged the law, and this required the Constitution to be amended. 

The 26th Amendment prohibits state and federal governments from denying US citizens, 18 years or older, the right to vote because of their age. 

Almost Heaven, West Virginia

June 20th is known as West Virginia Day within the state and is a state holiday because it iss WV's birthday and this year, the state is 151 years old. 

West Virginians have Francis H. Pierpont to thank for their state. Pierpont was from western Virginia, which had long wanted to separate from Virginia. Pierpont was a Republican and opposed Virginia's secession from the Union in 1861. 

Pierpont and other Unionists created the Provisional Government of Virginia, with Pierpont as the Governor, in Wheeling, Virginia. President Lincoln recognized Pierpont, his government and their new constitution as the Restored Government of Virginia. 

Pierpont took the opportunity to push Congress to approve the separation of Virginia and Western Virginia. The state of West Virginia was created in 1863 by breaking away from Virginia. Pierpont remained the governor of the Restored Government of Virginia while Arthur I. Boreman became the first governor of West Virginia. 

(Arthur I. Boreman)

Thanks to Pierpont, Country Roads is about West Virginia and not Virginia and now it is one of the official state songs.

GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!

We just saw team USA beat Ghana. It was an exciting game for America since Ghana beat team USA in a close game four years ago. But the sport of football soccer is much older than both of these countries. 

One of the early sports credited as an origin of soccer is Episkyros, an Ancient Greek ball game. It was played between two teams of about 12 people and unlike soccer, players could use their hands. Each team attempted to throw the ball over the heads of the other team and force the team to cross a white line. 

When the Romans came along, they claimed the game as their own, just as they had with Greek mythology. The Roman version, Harpastum, was played with a small, hard ball, probably similar to a soft ball. Their version required a lot of agility and speed. Both versions were rough and many players were injured. In one case, a spectator was injured. 

In China in 202BCE, the game became more like modern soccer. The Chinese version disallowed the use of hands and points were obtained by kicking the ball through a hole in a net. FIFA sees this game, Cuju, as the earliest form of soccer. It was used during the Han dynasty as military exercises. 

Enjoy the World Cup!

"Oh say can you see..."

June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the stars and stripes as the official flag for the United States of America. The number of alternating red and white stripes represented the 13 colonies as did the stars.

At the Battle of Baltimore of 1814, The Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key while he watched the British bombard Fort McHenry. On the morning of September 14, the flag still flew, indicating that there was no surrender. 

The flag that flew over Fort McHenry turns 200 this September. Major George Armistead, the commander of the fort, commissioned Mary Pickersgill to make a garrison flag. The flag Mary Pickersgill made was 30 feet by 42 feet, with the stars measuring 2 feet across. 

This flag now resides on display at the Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington, DC. The museum asks that everyone sing the national anthem on June 14 in honor of the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner that inspired our national anthem. 

http://anthemforamerica.smithsonian.com

"O say, can you see by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? -

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming!

And the rocket’s red glare, the bomb’s bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?

Now it catches the beam, of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;

‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O, long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave;

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

O, thus be it ever where freemen shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven rescued land

Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto, “In god is our trust”;

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!"

Gender Equality

June 10th is an important day for women's history. On this day in 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963. 

This Act amended the Fair Labor Standards Act. The 1963 Act added that wage differences based on sex was no longer permissible. The Fair Labor Standards Act was signed in 1938 and it established the national minimum wage and disallows employers to hire minors. 

When the Equal Pay Act was passed, Congress stated that the goal was to "prohibit discrimination on account of sex in the payment of wages by employers." It is intended to be interpreted broadly in the case of sexual discrimination. Since the Act was passed, women's salaries have risen.

Operation Overlord

June 6, 1944 was 70 years ago but it is still remembered. Although their numbers are dwindling, there are men who participated in the D Day invasion of Normandy who are still alive today. In fact, one of them plans to parachute in, just as he did in 1944 but this time, he will be 93. 

(Jim Martin)

Operation Overlord was the name for the largest amphibious invasion that has taken place. After practicing in England earlier in the year, the Allied forces landed on the beach at Normandy. Prior to the landings, Allied paratroopers had jumped into France the night before, Naval ships had bombarded the beach and the Allied forces received air support. This was the role of the Tuskegee Airmen during the invasion.

(British Paratroopers)

(Tuskegee Airmen)

Despite the extra aid, the casualties on D Day were devastating because the Germans had fortified the beach. 12,000 casualties and at least 4,000 confirmed dead. The Allied troops had little cover from German gunfire on the beach. 

It was successful though. The victory at Normandy lead to the liberation of France and eventually, the end of the war. D Day is considered to be a major turning point in World War II. 

June Fourth Incident

In 1989, the world watch as people rose up and overthrew their dictators. The Cold War was ending and the Berlin Wall fell. Chinese students attempted to democratize China but unlike other movements, theirs was unsuccessful. 

In April, liberal reformer Hu Yaobang died. His death caused students to march to Tiananmen Square to mourn him. Along with mourning him, the students called for government accountability and freedom of speech, among other things. 

The protest caused smaller protests to break out around the country. On May 20, the government declared martial law and sent troops to Beijing. While the government and military prepared to end the protests, the student movement suffered from internal problems such as mini-coups. 

Within the government, military force against the students was justified by claiming that the students were terrorists, that the Americans were intervening in order to overthrow the government and that the students were counterrevolutionaries. 

On the evening of June 4th, the military was authorized to use force and was tasked with clearing Teinanmen Square by 6am on the 5th.  The regiments could use any-means-necessary to clear the protestors. 

As the army made its way to the Square, civilians who were bystanders were killed. The Square was cleared but later on June 5th, people attempted to return. This was when the famous photo of the man standing in front of the tanks occurred.