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Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war. -- Thucydides |
Katzbalger(152 total words in this text)(2609 Reads)  There are different explantions about the origin of the term "Katzbalger": It is said to come from the custom to carry a sword without a scabbard, held only by a cat's skin (German word "Katze" means "cat", while "balgen" can mean "to skin" or "to brawl"). This probably allowed faster drawing (and looked more threatening), thus the practice was outlawed in some cities. Other believe that the word is derived from the second meaning of "balgen" (brawling), and refers to intense, close quarter combat like fights between feral cats. As medieval swords were very expensive and prone to rust, in general it paid off to protect them with a scabbard. |
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This Day in History
1775:
In Massachusetts, British troops march out of Boston on a mission to confiscate the Patriot arsenal at Concord and to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, known to be hiding at Lexington. As the British departed, Boston Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback from the city to warn Adams and Hancock and rouse the Patriot minutemen.
1847: U.S. forces defeat Mexicans at Cerro Gordo in one of the bloodiest battle of the war. 1864: At Poison Springs, Arkansas, Confederate soldiers under the command of General Samuel Maxey capture a Union forage train and slaughter black troops escorting the expedition. 1885: The Sino-Japanese war ends. 1943: Traveling in a bomber, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor, is shot down by American P-38 fighters. 1983: A suicide bomber kills U.S. Marines at the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon. |
