Friday, June 28, 2019

June 28 is a busy day in history

June 28 is an interesting date in history.

In 1491 Henry VIII was born.

On this date in 1914 Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are assassinated in Saravejo and so begins World War I.

In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles is signed and so is formed the genesis of Adolf Hitler and World War II.

In 1922 the Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces.

In 1926 Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merge their two companies to form Mecedes-Benz.

In 1942 Hitler gives the green light for the summer offensive against the Soviet Union.

It was a two-pronged attack, one part of it heading for the Volga. The plan was to take out the Red Army. But against all the odds it was at Stalingrad that the Soviet Union changed the course of the war. It was the beginning of the end for the Germans.

How come in the teaching of history in Irish schools were we never told of the significance of Stalingrad, now Volgograd?

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