On This Day... in 1424 & Others
During the Hundred Years War, an English force defeated a Franco-Scots army at Verneuil, killing the Scottish commander, the Earl of Douglas.
1759: The French fleet blockaded in Toulon had taken advantage of the withdrawal of the British fleet to Gibraltar for refit, and broke out into the Atlantic, heading for Brest, where it was supposed to cover French landings in Essex. Despite attaining a measure of surprise in running the Gibraltar Strait at night, de la Clue's fleet of twelve ships of the line was soon pursued by Sir Edward Boscawen's ships. The French line was overhauled on 17 August off Lagos Bay, Portugal, and a fierce action ensued. Boscawen's flagship Namur suffered heavy damage to her rigging and dropped out the fight - he transferred his flag to the Newark - but the rear French ship, Centaur, was forced to surrender. The coup de grace was delivered to the French fleet the following day.
1897: During a punitive expedition against the Afridis and Orakzais of the Tirah region on the North West Frontier, Lieutenant Colonel Adams, Lieutenant the Viscount Fincastle, and Lieutenant Maclean went to the rescue of a wounded officer lying under heavy fire in the open. They managed to reach him, but while carrying him back, the wounded man was again hit and killed, as was Maclean. Adams, Fincastle and Maclean were awarded the Victoria Cross for their efforts.
1915: Following his torpedo success on 12 August, Commander Edmonds sank a second Turkish ship. Flight Lieutenant Dacre also sank a Turkish vessel with a torpedo, albeit launched by the unorthodox means of taxiing on the water whilst experiencing engine problems.
1940: Luftwaffe activity was at a low level.
2001: British and Czech troops deployed to Macedonia, as the advance party for Task Force Harvest, a short operation to gather weapons from warring factions as part of the peace settlement process.
Comments
A lucky thing the "English" archers all spoke Welch, and the scouts and skirmishers looked like the chaps in Durer's 1521 sketch of Galloglass mercenaries.
An important thing to consider is that, even as early as the 15th century, we were fielding British, rather than English armies, and that English longbowmen were never the equal of the Welsh.
A fact that no doubt factored into the decidedly non-English Tudors coming out the winners after the War Of The Roses.
A workable definition of successful empire might be a state that lets it's subject peoples do most of the dying, while maintaining it's living capital at home for production of wealth.
Posted by: Ed Foster | August 18, 2008 9:59 PM