Infinite Wisdom

"Fame, as it reaches the furthest limits of the sunlit earth, Shall learn the valor of these men: how they died In battle with the Medes, and how they garlanded Athens, The few who undertook the war of many."

La Triviata

• Late in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, the British Admiralty received a message from Vice-Admiral Charles G. Ramsey complaining that preparations for the upcoming Coronation naval review were being interfered with by the need to provide escort for British ships against "pirate" (i.e., Italian) submarines ambushing shipping bound for Republican ports in Spain.
• The celebrated Mexican victory over the French at Puebla on May 5, 1862, coincided with the 36^th birthday of Napoleon III’s wife, the Empress Eugenie.
• German Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (1887-1973) was the biological son of one von Sperling sister (Helene, who married Lt. Gen. Eduard von Lewinski), adopted at birth by another von Sperling sister (childless Hedwig, who married Lt. Gen. George von Manstein); and was the nephew of the third von Sperling sister (Gertrud, who was married to Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg).
• By 1913 the French birth rate had dropped below half what it had been in 1800, which had significant military consequences as France fell from the most populous country in Europe to fourth place behind Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Britain, and to near-parity with Italy.
• A rather questionable story has it that Josef Stalin did not know that the Netherlands and Holland were the same country, a misapprehension that supposedly continued for some years, because no one in his entourage dared correct him; a story that gains plausibility when on considers the consequences to those who contradicted the dictator on more serious matters.
• In 1916, the Imperial German Army activated the Königliche Preussisches Jäger-Bataillon 27 (Royal Prussian 27^th Light Infantry Battalion),composed of some 2,000 Finnish nationalists seeking independence for their country from Russia, at least five of whom later became generals in the Finnish Army.
• During the American Civil War, Norwich University (a small military college in New England) furnished the Union with 12 generals, 25 colonels, 90 lieutenant colonels and majors, and 198 company officers, a record exceeded only by that of West Point.

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