Infinite Wisdom

"None of these, but one who understands how to command them all."

La Triviata

• In five days, from September 30 to October 4, 1914, British Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Oliver, Director of Naval Intelligence, aided only by a Belgian Army officer, four Belgian privates, and a boy scout, personally sabotaged 38 steamers anchored in the Scheldt by blowing up their engines, to prevent them from being captured by the Germans.
• Adolf Hitler's favorite dessert appears to have been apple pie with a very light crust.
• The Howe brothers who figured so prominently in the Revolutionary War, Sir Richard (1726-1799), who commanded the Royal Navy’s American Station in 1776-1778, and Sir William (1729-1814), who commanded the British Army that captured New York in 1776, were the grandsons of King George I by one of his mistresses, and thus half-uncles of King George III.
• Gaius Pomptinus probably waited longer than any other Roman general in history to celebrate a triumph, having defeated the Gauls in 62-61 BC, he did not return to Rome until 58 BC, and even then was only awarded his triumph in 54 BC.
• When Japanese troops invested the German colony of Tsingtao [Quingdao], on October 31, 1914, they sent a message wishing the defenders good luck.
• During the 1860s, Prussian troops fired about five times as many rounds per year in training as did Austrian ones, which may help explain why the latter were shot off the field in 1866.
• When the British decided to dedicate the column to Lord Nelson’s memory that stands in front of the Admiralty on Trafalgar Square, they made sure it was taller – by 43 feet! – than that which Napoleon had erected to himself in the Place Vendome.
• During World War I 239,274 men attempted to enlist in the Marine Corps, of whom only 60,189 were permitted to serve. 

More...