A Belgian village in Flanders. The Battle of Passchendaele, also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, was an Allied offensive against the German lines in July to November 1917. Although it had some initial success, it is mostly remembered for the cost to human life and for the rain and mud, which became the main enemy.
Passchendaele
Fact of the Day
Alcohol is from the Arabic word 'al-kuhl', which means 'the essence of things'.
Quote of the Day
"We are not makers of history. We are made by history.
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~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
On This Day
1846 Scottish surgeon Robert Liston was the first European to use anaesthesia during an amputation. He could amputate a leg in two and a half minutes.
1898 Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered the radioactive element radium.
1937 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', the world's first full-length animated film, premiered in the USA
1946 A tsunami caused by an undersea earthquake killed at least 1,362 and left thousands homeless in Japan.
1967 Louis Washkansky, the first man to undergo a heart transplant, died in Cape Town, South Africa, 18 days after his operation.
1988 Pan Am Flight 103 exploded as it was flying over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 243 passengers and 16 crew, and 11 residents of Lockerbie were killed