Infinite Wisdom

La Triviata

• Opening in Munich on July 19, 1937, the Nazi exhibition of “degenerate art” attracted some two million visitors in a two month run – still the world’s record attendance for an art show – and then went on tour to eleven other cities, completely overshadowing the “Great German Art Exhibition” that ran simultaneously, with stuff more in keeping with Der Führer’s taste.
• The First Century encyclopedist Pliny the Elder tells us of a Scythian warrior who, having dismounted to strip a slain enemy of his arms and armor, was promptly kicked to death by the dead man’s horse.
• Contrary to the impression (shared even by many historians) that during the Great War the BEF had held enormous numbers of cavalry in reserve for years in anticipation of a breakthrough, in fact at its strongest, early in 1915, the British Cavalry Corps consisted of five divisions totaling only about 25,000 men.
• Early in 1417, to assure a plentiful supply of arrows for the royal campaigns in France, King Henry V of England prohibited the use of ash (the wood of choice for arrow shafts) for making shoes and ordered that six wing feathers be plucked from every goose in 20 counties and sent to the Tower of London.
• While serving as Minister President of Prussia, and then Chancellor of Germany (1862-1890), Otto von Bismarck was also a major in the 1^st Reserve Cuirassier Regiment, wearing its uniform when he accompanied his king and later emperor at maneuvers or on campaign.
• During the final year of World War II, German anti-aircraft defenses against the allied strategic bombing of their homeland included some 20,000 heavy flak guns and millions of thousands of rounds of ammunition adaptable to anti-take use, as well as between 250,000 and 500,000 troops, not to mention many civilian auxiliaries, resources which might have proven critically important if diverted to the fronts.
• During preparations for the Roman Emperor Julian’s campaign against the Parthians in AD 363, a mountainous store of hay at Batnae (Suruç, in Turkey, near Syria) collapsed, killing 50 men.
• The Archduchess Elisabeth Maria Henriette Stephanie Gisela of Austria (1883-1963), only child of Archduke Rudolf of Austria-Hungary (who in 1889 murdered his girl friend and then blew out his few brains), joined the Austrian Social Democratic Party in 1921 and remained a socialist thereafter; nicknamed "The Red Archduchess", on her deathbed she disowned her children to will her most valuable possessions to the Republic of Austria.

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