Jun 16, 2011
Military History Digest #158
Contents
The Military History Digest is an idiosyncratic selection of military history from a variety of weblogs. Nominations for blogs to follow are always welcome at <hwar@comcast.net>
#158 is size XXL.
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Ancient
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1. Death on the Euphrates
by: Brett Holman
Military History Carnival #27 is now up at Cliopatria. One
of the posts featured is from Zenobia: Empress of the East
and concerns a recent scholarly suggestion (made by Simon
James, an archaeologist) that in the 3rd century CE, Sassanid
soldiers used chemical weapons against Dura-Europos, a Roman
fortress city on the Euphrates. As a weapon, gas is
associated with the First World War so strongly now that it's
always surprising to think of it being used before then (or
at least considered: I've long been meaning to write a post
on Thomas Cochrane, Lord Dundonald, and his chemical...
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19th Century
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1. War of the Pacific: Prat Killed at Iquique
by: n/a
May 21, 1879 - Cmdr. Arturo Prat (right) is killed at the
Battle of Iquique. Born in 1848, Prat was a graduate of the
Chilean Naval Academy and became a passed midshipman in 1864.
Over the next two years he took part in the Chincha Islands
War against Spain. With the conflict's conclusion in 1866, he
returned to peacetime duty and later attained his law degree.
A rising star in the Chilean Navy, Prat moved through several
positions and later found himself commanding the aging
corvette Esmeralda (16 guns) during the open months of the
War of the Pacific with Peru...
See the rest here.