Other Reasons to Remember March 19
Steve Shives
March 19, 2007
Recorded history stretches back nearly 6,000 years, so any given day is the anniversary of something important. March 19, 2007 is the four year anniversary of the commencement of the present war in Iraq. This we all know, and far better writers than I will no doubt have something to say on the subject, so I’d rather talk about something else first. I was curious what other significant bits of history took place on March 19.
According to the Any-Day-in-History page at Scopesys.com, the first recorded lunar eclipse took place in Babylon in 721 BCE. It may have been insignificant for the ancient astronomers who observed it—this was certainly not the first lunar eclipse, probably not even the first ever recorded, but happened to be the oldest surviving record available when Ptolemy referenced it in the Almagest 900 years later. But it and subsequent lunar eclipses proved very important to man’s understanding of the universe, since it was by viewing the eclipse and seeing the round shadow of the Earth envelop the Moon that classical astronomers deduced the Earth was a sphere.
On March 19, 1865 the Battle of Bentonville began near the modern town of Four Oaks, North Carolina. It was one of the last major battles of the American Civil War, lasted two days, and ended when Confederate General Joseph Johnston and his army of 21,000 retreated in the face of General William Sherman’s Union force of 60,000. Within a month both Johnston and General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Federal commanders and the war was over.
The former planet Pluto was photographed for the first time on March 19, 1915, though it wouldn’t be discovered and identified until it was photographed again fifteen years later. In February of 1930, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh noticed an object that seemed to have moved in the interval between two photos of the same piece of sky taken six days apart . Though it was Tombaugh who first identified Pluto, he did so under the direction of wealthy patron/astronomer Percival Lowell, in the observatory Lowell had funded and named after himself. Lowell had long searched for a planet beyond the orbit of Neptune, and as a result credit for the discovery of Pluto invariably but wrongly goes to him.
Adolf Hitler, on the brink of defeat, ordered all German industry demolished on March 19, 1945. Minister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer discreetly refused to carry out the order. Hitler committed suicide just over a month later, Speer turned himself in to the Allies, and the Nazi government signed an unconditional surrender on May 7, ending World War II in the European theater.
Bob Dylan’s eponymous first album with Columbia Records was released March 19, 1962. The thirteen tracks were mostly arrangements of traditional folk and blues numbers, including Dylan’s version of “Man of Constant Sorry,” which Dan Tyminski recorded memorably in 2000 for the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Dylan wrote two songs himself, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song to Woody,” neither of which really bear up compared to his later work. His first album was also the last on which Dylan would not be the primary songwriter.
On March 19, 1979 C-SPAN began televising sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives. The first broadcast was a speech by then-Congressman and future former President-elect Al Gore. C-SPAN 2 launched seven years later to cover the Senate, proving unequivocally that the elected officials of the federal government were just as corrupt and inept as we had all long believed them to be.
In 2003 American and allied forces, under orders from President George W. Bush, began bombing targets inside Iraq, initiating the ongoing war. Four years later, 4,200 Coalition troops (including 3,200 Americans), over 7,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces, and 18,000 Saddam-era troops and post-Saddam insurgents are dead, along with tens of thousands of civilians. Over 40,000 soldiers, police and contractors on the Coalition side have been injured or wounded. Men, women and children have been tortured, kidnapped and murdered by Coalition forces, insurgents, and agents of the new Iraqi government. As of right now, there is no end in sight.
That brings us up to date.
According to the Any-Day-in-History page at Scopesys.com, the first recorded lunar eclipse took place in Babylon in 721 BCE. It may have been insignificant for the ancient astronomers who observed it—this was certainly not the first lunar eclipse, probably not even the first ever recorded, but happened to be the oldest surviving record available when Ptolemy referenced it in the Almagest 900 years later. But it and subsequent lunar eclipses proved very important to man’s understanding of the universe, since it was by viewing the eclipse and seeing the round shadow of the Earth envelop the Moon that classical astronomers deduced the Earth was a sphere.
On March 19, 1865 the Battle of Bentonville began near the modern town of Four Oaks, North Carolina. It was one of the last major battles of the American Civil War, lasted two days, and ended when Confederate General Joseph Johnston and his army of 21,000 retreated in the face of General William Sherman’s Union force of 60,000. Within a month both Johnston and General Robert E. Lee had surrendered to Federal commanders and the war was over.
The former planet Pluto was photographed for the first time on March 19, 1915, though it wouldn’t be discovered and identified until it was photographed again fifteen years later. In February of 1930, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh noticed an object that seemed to have moved in the interval between two photos of the same piece of sky taken six days apart . Though it was Tombaugh who first identified Pluto, he did so under the direction of wealthy patron/astronomer Percival Lowell, in the observatory Lowell had funded and named after himself. Lowell had long searched for a planet beyond the orbit of Neptune, and as a result credit for the discovery of Pluto invariably but wrongly goes to him.
Adolf Hitler, on the brink of defeat, ordered all German industry demolished on March 19, 1945. Minister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer discreetly refused to carry out the order. Hitler committed suicide just over a month later, Speer turned himself in to the Allies, and the Nazi government signed an unconditional surrender on May 7, ending World War II in the European theater.
Bob Dylan’s eponymous first album with Columbia Records was released March 19, 1962. The thirteen tracks were mostly arrangements of traditional folk and blues numbers, including Dylan’s version of “Man of Constant Sorry,” which Dan Tyminski recorded memorably in 2000 for the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Dylan wrote two songs himself, “Talkin’ New York” and “Song to Woody,” neither of which really bear up compared to his later work. His first album was also the last on which Dylan would not be the primary songwriter.
On March 19, 1979 C-SPAN began televising sessions of the U.S. House of Representatives. The first broadcast was a speech by then-Congressman and future former President-elect Al Gore. C-SPAN 2 launched seven years later to cover the Senate, proving unequivocally that the elected officials of the federal government were just as corrupt and inept as we had all long believed them to be.
In 2003 American and allied forces, under orders from President George W. Bush, began bombing targets inside Iraq, initiating the ongoing war. Four years later, 4,200 Coalition troops (including 3,200 Americans), over 7,000 members of the Iraqi Security Forces, and 18,000 Saddam-era troops and post-Saddam insurgents are dead, along with tens of thousands of civilians. Over 40,000 soldiers, police and contractors on the Coalition side have been injured or wounded. Men, women and children have been tortured, kidnapped and murdered by Coalition forces, insurgents, and agents of the new Iraqi government. As of right now, there is no end in sight.
That brings us up to date.
Print
Email
