Category: War
Two Tragedies of Modern Memory: Titanic and the American Civil War
Today marks the 160th anniversary of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. This ultimately led to the surrender of other Confederate forces throughout the country and ended the bloody American Civil War. After four years of terrible warfare, between 650,000 and 750,000 soldiers were dead. Practically…
Movie Review: Britannic (2000)
In January 2000, a made-for-TV movie called Britannic aired. Starring Amanda Ryan, Michael Atterton, John Rhys-Davies, and Jacqueline Bisset, the film tells a highly fictionalized account of HMHS Britannic and her last days in November 1916. I remember renting this movie from Blockbuster back in the day and being really excited to watch a film…
Day of Final Victory: Black Soldiers Aboard the Queen Mary
During World War II, the need to transport large numbers of Allied troops across the globe saw the world’s ocean liners being pressed into military service. Mighty ships like Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, Île de France, and Aquitania were pressed into service. So were smaller liners like Laconia, Empress of Japan (renamed Empress of Scotland in 1942), Borinquen, and…
Born of Death: The Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff
By late January 1945, Nazi Germany was on the verge of losing World War II. On the Western Front, its offensive in the Ardennes failed. The Battle of the Bulge was a major Allied victory that saw German forces on the defensive for the rest of the war. On the Eastern Front, the Soviet Union’s…
A Royal Pain: The HMT Georgic & HMS Dido Incident
I don’t know about you, but I need something a little lighter after writing about some heavy topics lately (the last few weeks have been unusually challenging at work). So, I wracked my brain and remembered an amusing story from the Cunard Line’s Commodore Harry Grattidge. I chuckled as I re-read the passage in his…