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Operation Husky was the codename given to the Allied invasion of Sicily and was the first operation to use troops dropped into battle by parachute. 

Before the majority of the paratroopers could be dropped onto Sicilian soil one of the Allied ships on the coast began to fire on the transport plane formation. The other Allied ships in the vicinity joined in and forced the troops to jump from their planes far from their intended drop zones. 

Twenty-three planes were destroyed and the friendly fire accounted for almost 400 casualties, with 81 paratroopers killed.

After such a shaky start the invasion of Sicily was ultimately a success and, after six weeks of fighting, Allied powers took control of the island on August 17, 1943.

The siege of Leningrad occurred during World War II. It lasted from September 8, 1941 until January 27, 1944, a total time of 872 days. The 1.5 million lives lost include both civilian and military casualties. It is one of the longest and deadliest sieges in human history.

Operation Barbarossa was the codename given to the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler’s order to his generals for the operation was “Leningrad first, the Donbass second, Moscow third.” (Donbass is a term for a region in eastern Ukraine/southwestern Russia)

Hitler’s intention was to destroy the city and it’s population. The option of surrender was never on the table since the German’s had no desire to solve the logistical problems of how to feed and relocate so many people. 

During the winter of 1941-1942, the ration of “bread” was 125 grams. The bread was over half sawdust. This led to reports of cannibalism among the starving inhabitants of the city.

Before the siege of Leningrad the population of the city was 3.5 million. By the end of the siege only 700,000 people were left (the difference between lives lost and those remaining were evacuated.)

The city of Leningrad became Saint Petersburg in October, 1991.

The government of France signed an armistice with Germany and relocated the seat of government to the city of Vichy in 1940, leaving the northern part of France (including the capital city of Paris) to German forces. This French State is known in history as Vichy France and included territory in Morocco and Algeria. The movie Casablanca takes place during this time, the Nazi's serving as the ultimate symbol of evil and oppression.

The French North African territories were officially Nazi controlled but rumors of mixed loyalties were circulated and the Allied powers believed these people could be convinced to support the allied cause. 

General Dwight D. Eisenhower planned an amphibious invasion of French North Africa, Operation Torch. Up to this point the Soviet Union had been adamant about the Allied Powers opening a second war front against the German Army and this was the initial engagement which saw the Germans being attacked from both sides. 

Local French resistance was instrumental in the capture of Algiers. 

The lessons learned during Operation Torch served Eisenhower well during his most famous amphibious landing, Operation Overlord– better known as D-Day, or the Invasion of Normandy.

General Rommel was also known as the Desert Fox for his actions in North Africa (Egypt and Libya) between 1941-1943. He is regarded as one the greatest military commanders of all time and his reputation is bolstered by the fact he waged a “clean” war. (“Clean” is used because of his alleged apolitical attitude towards Nazism and chivalrous nature of the North African campaign)

Rommel was highly decorated in World War I and wrote a book on military tactics just before World War II began. This resulted in him being a national hero in the eyes of the German public.

A plot which implicated Rommel in the assassination of Hitler came to light in July of 1944. Rather than execute him publicly Hitler gave him an ultimatum, fearing the public backlash. Rommel was forced to choose between committing suicide or facing a trial which would result in his disgrace, execution, and could potentially affect his family. Rommel chose suicide and died from a cyanide pill in October 1944. 

The Louisiana Maneuvers were a series of Army exercises designed to prepare Army officials for large scale engagements during World Ward II. General George C. Marshall said “I want the mistakes made down in Louisiana, not over in Europe.”

At the time, the Louisiana Maneuvers were the largest ever conducted on American soil and involved nearly five hundred thousand men.

Among the Army officers who participated in these exercises were future President Dwight Eisenhower and future General George Patton.

The men were divided into two equal armies, red and blue, and the commanding officers were given directions during two separate phases of the exercise. In the first phase both red and blue were given offensive missions: to take control of the river separating the two armies. In the second phase the red army was tasked with defending Shreveport while the blue army was tasked with seizing the city. The blue Armored Division, led by Patton, made a wide sweep from the west and was able to flank the city and defeat the red army. This action led to the emergence of Patton as one of the Army’s rising stars.

The horse’s original named was Rienzi and served with Sheridan during the Civil War. 

Phillip Sheridan, nicknamed “Little Phil” because of his height, rode the horse through the majority of the war. In 1864 Sheridan rode Rienzi from Winchester, Virginia to Cedar Creek, Virginia to stop a surprise attack by the Confederates. This victory prompted poet Thomas Buchanan Read to write Sheridan’s Ride, a poem which made Little Phil famous. The poem’s refrain “Winchester, twenty miles away,” is the reason Rienzi was renamed Winchester.

Little Phil would go on to become the Army’s commanding General in the 1880’s. On his desk he kept a horseshoe from Winchester, his lucky charm, which he used as a paperweight. Winchester’s body is on display at the Museum of American History but the horseshoe has gone missing.

The Cape Coast Castle in Cape Coast, Ghana has been standing for centuries. Originally built as a trading post, the castle gained prominence during the slave trade and became a hub of activity for European businessmen.

The stark white living quarters above ground stand over dark dungeons designed to hold up to one thousand slaves. These dungeons were the last thing the slaves saw in Africa before boarding ships bound for the Americas.

The Obama family visited Cape Coast Castle in 2009 after Michelle had traced her lineage to a 6 year old slave on a South Carolina plantation. The “country” her ancestor came from is uncertain but since the castle was such a large part of the slave trade it is a likely place of origin.

Centuries earlier, after Black Bart, the most succesful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy, died in a battle with the British Royal navy, the rest of his crew were taken to Cape Coast Castle and 54 of them were sentenced to death. The amazing thing about the battle in which Black Bart died is that he was only one of three men killed. His success as a pirate was well-known and some locals thought him invincible so his death came as a shock. 

Speech Act Theory is the study of not only the transfer of information through spoken words but also associated actions.

Examples of the theory are assertions and imperatives. Assertions are the direct transfer of information while an imperative tries to issue an obligation for action, to do something. An example of an assertion would be “is there salt?” implying the listener to provide salt.

In an interview, philosopher Rebecca Kukla uses Speech Act Theory to jusitfy the use of profanity in every day speech. “You can take the curse words out, but then you have lessened the performative and pragmatic power of our language.”

An unique example of an imperative (issuing obligation) is something called a performative, when the spoken word accomplishes the task. For example, “I nominate __ for President.” The statement completes the action as the statement is spoken. 

Called monolithic churches, all eleven are located in a town called Lalibela.

The largest and most popular church is the Church of Saint George. The roof of the church is level with the surrounding ground. Workers had to cut down through one large piece of rock in order to create the outer structure then carve out windows and the massive interior. Steps are carved into the surrounding ground in order to get to the entrance of the church, the full height of the buliding below ground level.

Lalibela is named after Zagwe king Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, who reigned from 1181-1221. There is dispute among scholars that construction of all eleven churches could have been completed before Lalibela’s reign ended and the belief is that construction continued after his death.

The eleven churches were named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1978.

The incident occurred in 1950. Truman was living at Blair House, across the street from the White House, while the White House was undergoing renovations. 

Truman was upstairs asleep when the two attackers approached the temporary living quarters. One of the men, Collazo, shot a Secret Service agent, the noise of which prompted the rest of the men assigned to protect Truman to rush outside and kill Collazo on the entrance steps. 

Meanwhile the other attacker, Torresola, went to a guard booth in the corner. He shot and mortally wounded officer Leslie Coffelt after taking the guard by surprise. Torresola then made his way to his partner at the entrance to Blair House.

Truman woke up and looked out the window to see what the commotion was all about. He was ordered to get away from the window. 

At this point an injured Coffelt, without much longer to live, propped himself against the guard booth and shot Torresola above the ear from thirty feet away.

Coffelt died within hours from the injuries he sustained. He is the only secret Service member to be killed while defending a President.

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