Misc + 3-d Prints
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6571093/files
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6078110
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheDanza
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6091449
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6066373
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4966932
https://www.printables.com/model/505198-atlantis-the-lost-empire-ulysses
Lego 3-d model maker
https://cults3d.com/en/users/TedGhast/3d-models
Xo-2 Power armour
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/post-apoc-advanced-power-armour
Spider Drone Plant Vase
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/home/spider-drone-planter-fallout-eternal
T-45 power armor (non Lego)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-power-armor-t45
Xo-1 power armor Miniatures (FREE!)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/enclave-classic-advanced-power-armor-for-fallout-wasteland-warfare
T-45D power armor Figure (non Lego)(FREE!)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-t-45d-power-armor-fixed
LIBERTY PRIME Miniature (FREE!) Non-Lego
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/fallout-4-liberty-prime-minus-bomb-foot
Fallout xo-1 Poseable Action figure
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-power-armor-x01-action-figure-fixed
NukaCola Bottle (Free!)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-replique-1-1-fanart-d-une-bouteille-de-nuka-cola
T-51 cosplay Helmet $2
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/t-51-helmet-stl
Mini Nuke Flower Pot (FREE!)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-4-mini-nuke-flower-pot
NukaCola Machine (FREE!)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/fallout-game-nuka-cola-soda-machine-box
2 color Plasma Grenade (FREE!)
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NukaCola Regular and Quantum bottles (FREE!)
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Quantum:
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Institute Keychain (Free)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/institute-key-chain-fallout-4
Stimpack (free)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-stimpack-mjw2121
Pip boy? (Free)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/pipboy-3000-fixed-scale
NukaCola Can Cozzie
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/various/nukacola-michelob-beer-holder
Fallout Midwest (Bos Tactics) Miniatures free
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-midwest-power-armor
Eye bot (free)
https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/fallout-enclave-eyebot
Fun Fact #510
Rheinmetall
Founded during The German Empire (1889), Rheinmetall has advanced well beyond merely making ammunition, by achieving fame in 1896 with the world’s first firearm (The X49 “Ehrhardt” more commonly known as The MK1 Field Gun) to use the recoil of the action to reload –although today we’d call it Artillery given its size. Later during The Great Depression Rheinmetall bought up several bankrupt companies helping to keep as many people employed in that time of turmoil as they possibly could.
However after WW2 the company was split between West and East Germany. The East went on to make Mopeds, Printers, Computers, and cameras, whereas the West had a bit more trouble becoming a holding company until they were allowed to make ammunition again in 1956. From here their growth quickly snowballed from Machine guns, to Howitzers, and acquired several companies along the way in related fields like metal packaging and Automobiles. In 2000 they decided to specialize in Defense Technology, Automotive Technology, and Electronics. These moves resulted in them becoming the 5th largest arms manufacturer in Europe and the 28th in the world.
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/282552-unkown-german-artillery-piece/ Image of the X49 Ehrhardt from The Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, Belgium.
Fun Fact #511
SAAB AB
Fun Fact #505
The Incident at Southhampton
Designed to be the pinnacle of comfort and luxury, The RMS Olympic was the biggest ship in the world, with just one equally sized problem. The boat sucked.
In 1910 she was the only ship her size and so when a new navigator took over the ship in 1912 he ordered her tugboats to disengage before she cleared the Harbor. When her propellers started to rotate, the amount of water displaced caused the Royal Navy’s cruiser HMS Hawkeye– to be sucked in and run over. The resulting collision left both ships stuck at port for repairs and a court case.
Seeing the damage this could cause to their reputation and The already strapped for cash parent company “White Star Line '' decided to move forward with The maiden Voyage of their newest Ship of the Olympic line while investigations were underway. Yet disaster nearly struck a second time as the navigator for the The RMS Titanic made the same mistake, ripping the SS City of New York from its moorings only for crisis to be averted when the Tugboat Vulcan –which had broken port rules by staying near the Titanic against orders– stepped in to divert the ship at the last second, missing the Titanic by mere inches. This incident rightfully spooked many of those onboard resulting in a number of people leaving when she docked in Ireland just before the Trans-Altlantic trip. One member of the crew –John Coffey– was even so scared that he hid himself in the mail bags to stow away to Ireland and be fired rather than trust the ship with his life –becoming the last person to disembark the ship at port.
On April 15th, 1912 The Titanic collided with an Iceberg and sank in the Atlantic ocean killing over 1,500 people. Upon hearing the fate of The RMS Titanic, the Captain of The Vulcan became deeply depressed and resigned. If he had just followed the Navigator’s orders to move the tug away –at worst– the Titanic would have sunk in the Harbor where help would have been abundant and immediate. Also worthy of note, The RMS Olympic’s Trial led to all crew for “White Star Line '' to be retrained and require ship-line certifications for crew on all future ship lines which is still in effect today.
While things did not end well, It should be noted that the actions of The Vulcan’s Captain did save the lives of 36 crew members who were aboard the City of New York, as well as other nearby ships like the fully loaded passenger ship The RMS Oceanic (2,059 people aboard) who were also being drawn in by the Titanic’s displacement. Suffice it to say, without The Vulcan’s involvement, tragedy could have been much worse than what came to pass.
The SS City of New York breaks free of her moorings.
Fun Fact #504
In the Depths
In October of 1812, The “Half-Mad” General Claude François de Malet escaped from Jail. Hours later, France was in the middle of a full scale Coup. The Plan was simple, while Napoleon was occupied in Russia, G. Malet and his colleagues around the Empire would announce the (False) news of Napoleon’s death. This succeeded for a time until another General realized it was a bit of a coincidence that the News had reached all the major cities at the same time, counter-couping to restore Napoleon to power.
Yet the damage was done. While Malet’s coup failed, it showed the European powers that Napoleon could be defeated. This in turn led to France’s Allies of the German States, and Austria to turn on him, culminating in “The Battle of Nations” near Leipzig, Germany as all of Europe attacked the Dictator forcing him to return to protect France’s borders before ultimately abdicating the Throne on April 11th, 1814.
However while Napoleon’s hopes were sunk, 86 years later this day would see The US Navy rise from the depths with its first Commissioned Submarine with the USS Holland (SS-1) being purchased on April 11th 1900. It was not the first Sub used by the US as that title belongs to The USRC Turtle used in the revolutionary war to place mines in British occupied harbors –making it the first Submarine ever used in war. However what was special about the Holland was it was the first submarine to be commissioned by The US Military and is recorded as being the first successful torpedo submarine in the world and was used until 1914 when the next interaction was designed.
This meant that, oddly enough, The US was the submarine powerhouse of the First World war (although they sold most of the Holland class to The UK by the time they entered the war). This threat –while minor given Holland's limited numbers– would be well remembered in Germany’s eyes for its secrecy and effectiveness and lead to the Nazi’s focus on the craft in the lead up to WW2.
April 11th is now recognized as National Submarine day in The US and I can thankfully report it is free of both Napoleon and Nazis.
The USS Holland (SS-1) Underway
Fun Fact #503
Getting the ShadowBand Back together
Good Morning everyone! I really do hope you got a chance to enjoy the solar eclipse yesterday, but in case you missed it here are some cool facts and photos taken by other members from around Rock Cut Campus.
The Eclipse itself casts quite a large shadow over this fun fact so to start off there. Here is an Image that Daniel Freund was able to take with his modified Telescope. What’s really cool about this photo is that it provides an excellent view of the Chromosphere which is normally hidden by the sun’s much brighter surface. The reason it’s red is due to the presence of Hydrogen Plasma (Hydrogen at really high temperatures). The reason this view was even possible is because Rockford only got 9% the normal amount of sunlight. Really cool ... well plasma is Hot by definition so technically its not cool, but you know what was cool? The fact that it became a little under 5 degrees cooler in Rockford during the Eclipse Duration.
(Image of Chromosphere by Daniel Freund)
Next up is This image of Optical Wizardry by Hayden Morris on his Phone. When you take images there are a lot of interesting factors to take into account and Solar Eclipses are more difficult than most. First off most phones have thankfully short exposure times which limits the potential damage the sun can have. This short time however, means the phone doesn't always get a clear image with artifacts like oversaturation which caused the sun to be blurry in this image. Yet that's not what makes this image interesting, if you look below and above the image you can see a green and blue dot respectively. These are from a Lens flare where the sunlight is refracting within the lens of the camera itself, making two dimmer reflections of the solar eclipse for a Triple Eclipse Photograph. Better images do exist online but it's still really cool that Hayden was able to capture one. Lastly there are also 4 Diffusion Spikes (also called Starbursts or SunStars) which were likely caused by the camera aperture on smartphones. The 4 spikes means it has 4 blades which is common among smartphones for simplicity. THe more blades means more corners which translates into more visible spikes.
(Image Of Eclipse Diffusion Spikes by Hayden Morris)
Lastly we have Nate Gomes’ Image of Shadow bands appearing on the ground. Shadow Bands are a rather interesting phenomenon which scientists have settled on a theory for but have yet to be able to successfully prove it in a laboratory setting, meaning we can't say with certainty what causes them. However they tend to appear as waves of moving crescent shadows just as the Sun is almost fully eclipsed. While rare outside of Umbral areas due to the low levels of light this was visible from RCC which is rather cool. As for what the current leading theory is, it relates to the Sunlight from the eclipse being refracted within subtle aircurrents, theoretically creating the moving shadow images that Nate saw. Another theory (older) has to do with light diffusion in a similar vein to what Hayden experienced in his photo, but this theory is generally considered outdated today.
(Image of Shadowbands by Nathaniel Gomes)
Once again, a special thanks to Dan, Nate, and Hayden for sending pictures of the solar eclipse, as it was rather fun to dive into. If anyone has any more feel free to send them and I’ll try to make another fun fact like this. As always, thanks for reading and please have a wonderful day.
Magnetic Loops
Sun Dogs
Solar Flares
Fun Fact #499
A Fool’s Errand
Every year, as the days of March grow short, I march fourth and try to find the History of April Fools Day. In short this is a fool’s errand because the Famous holiday seems not to have started in any one place but rather been the slow merger of “Fool’s Day Celebrations” from around the world.
The reasons for this merger however is due to various similarities between the holidays. For instance in the spring fish will spawn (release eggs for fertilization) and so become much hungrier than normal resulting in them being easier to catch than normal. Thus in many places with access to waterways the idea of fooling people and calling them “Fool Fish'' arose in the spring. Whereas in plains and forests it became somewhat of a day of jubilation when berries, and trees began to bloom –a sign that winter’s hunger had come to an end. Meanwhile in the east, it was believed that playing a joke on the first day of the month would bring good luck.
However, all good things must come to an end and it was no joking matter when Fools Day celebrations came to blows against the Behemoth of international Trade. Sure your town may have their joke day once a year but springtime became a pain if you were trying to do legitimate business. Some countries (like France), and even whole regions (The Prussian Confederation) moved to celebrate a singular Fool’s day as a result. Yet it was The Canterbury Tales (1392) which ensured April 1st’s Reign when a cook is fooled by a Fox into letting it go as it's not yet the proper hunting season being March 32nd. Today very few places still Fool’s day outside of April 1st (parts of the Mediterranean still celebrate it on May 1st).
I hope you have enjoyed and please have a fantastic day!
A Tale from the Decameron by John William Waterhouse
FunFact # 500
Milestones
Good Morning everyone, Apologies for this odd format of Fun Fact but seeing as its the 500th one I’ve done I figured we’d do something special. It really does surprise and touch my heart that you guys like these fun Facts so a huge thank you, it really does mean quite a lot. These fun facts have come a long way from where they started and in the process they have turned from a personal hobby into something that I can share and hopefully make your days just a little more interesting along the way.
To celebrate (and to break the 4th wall) here are some Fun Facts about “Willsea The Facts”
This newsletter began on October 31st 2021 as a way to keep in touch with some of my friends on night shift as I moved to days.
The First Topic covered was “The Bronze Age Collapse”
On March 4th 2023 The Newsletter was Finally named “Willsea The Facts” by my Father. I failed to realize what the abbreviation of this was until my siblings gave me a Jersey with “W.T.F. Blog” written in giant letters on it.
… This is why The Blog’s joke slogan is “What The Fact?”
There is a Blogspot where people can view these Fun Facts outside of work. It also allowed me to search for previously covered topics with ease. Still working on adding in all the fun facts before #331 however…
If you ever want to see these fun facts outside of work then look up “Willsea The Facts” and The blogspot Page will be the first result on Google, or Bing will often use 5 random fun facts for the first 5 results it shows. Not quite sure why Bing does that but I wont stop it.
WillseaTheFacts.BlogSpot.Com
There are Labels for Common Topics such as Christmas, Halloween, Or Rockford Fun Facts.
I am working on an “At Home Activities Section” for Fun Facts involving Topics meant to spark Kids Curiosity.
The Newsletter has had two variants of its homemade Lightbulb Logo, but both suffer from scaling issues.
The Lettering Is in “Harlow Solid Italic”
Most of the Research topics for Fun Facts come either from people’s suggestions or Metaphorical Rabbit Holes I’ve fallen into while researching other fun facts –Just don't tell Alice.
I used to do extra Fun Facts for the weekends. There were more for topics that I wanted to cover but didn't fit in with that week’s theme (Like Recent Scientific Discoveries such as Magnastars).
Lastly, there have been times where I’ve asked questions from various groups in researching Fun Facts which is why you may have noticed “Special Thanks to …” for their help with this week’s fun Facts”. Including:
“Cumberland Public Library” they helped with the first 100 or so Fun Facts and still occasionally display them.
“Women’s of Today’s Manufacturing" for last year’s topics in Women’s History Month
“WomanSpace” for a lot of the Rockford Fun Facts (although my favorite was the Labrinth week fun Facts)
“Rockford Cryptids group On Facebook” they help with a lot of the halloween themed fun facts particularly in researching local cryptids and the explanations behind them.
In Roman Numerals 500 is D
the
Fun Fact #501
The Moai Monument
On May 29th 1962, as the first glimmers of sunrise started to break their way over the horizon , The town of Zaandvort (SandFord) found a head on their shoreline. However this was no crime scene, rather it was a Moai Head from Easter Island and by April 1st the story made international news.
Moai are monolithic statues raised by the Rapa Nui on Easter Island to be living memories of their ancestors, and at that time were virtually unknown across the world. Thus the theories raged about how the Head must have floated and washed ashore there –despite the near impossibility of it. Yet by the end of April 1st local stone mason Edo Van Tetterode revealed he had made the 4ft statue as a joke. Still it took time for news that this was actually a hoax to get out and so the Statue was placed in the Town’s square as people flocked from around the world to see this prank. The following year Mr. Tetterode helped found “The National April 1st Society” which inspected every April Fool’s day since and awards bronze Moai Trophies based upon Originality, Cause (did it bring awareness to a good cause –The Red Cross often won this) and of course Humor. This committee and the Moai head which still stands in the town of Zaandvort today, laid the groundwork for Zaandvort to be the Tourist attraction it is today.
As for The Rapa Nui they received an award as well, since before the incident the heads were practically unheard of hidden in the research of Thor Heyerdahl. After the incident National Geographic featured them turning them into a popular tourist spot as well which has helped fund the preservation and maintenance of the Island ever since. Out of the 900 official Moai statues only 7 have been removed from the Island and can now be found in some of the most prestigious Museums in the world. Only 2 can be found in the US today, one in the Smithsonian, while the other is in New York’s American Museum of Natural History which you may recognize as the inspiration for “Dum-Dum” in the Night At the Museum Movies.
Lastly Since Mr. Tetterode’s death in 1996, the Netherlands has taken up awarding a Moai every year as the “Oscar of Pranks”, although Bronze Replica Moai Awards can be found online (average of $44) and uninscribed to allow any individual group or city to mark the Trophies and award Noteworthy Pranksters.
international headlines for pranks
and so are well treasured with only 7 having been allowed to leave the Island today and are found in
https://hoaxes.org/af_database/permalink/easter_island_statue_washes_ashore
Edo Van Tetterode
Fun Fact #502
Gmail fools day mistake
Fun Fact #503
Fun Fact #498
Easter Eggs
In the early days of Video Games, developers were a rare and treasured commodity, and noteworthy ones quickly became a selling point in and of themselves. To retain as many developers as they could in this VideoGame Cold war most games did not credit their developers but just the companies that made them. Employees could even be reprimanded for discussing their games outside of work.
This would all change thanks to “The Gray Pixel” which was a specific pixel on one of the levels of Atari’s game Adventure which would reveal the game’s developer Warren Robinett. Atari was outraged but there was little they could do, Warren had quit a few weeks after release, and it was too costly to remake just to exclude the dreaded pixel. Worse yet the pixel practically caused a revolt by other developers who wanted to credit themselves in their games (The Pixel Revolt of 1980). Instead, the lead Director of Software Development –Steve Wright– suggested they take a page out of Martin Luther’s playbook and call them “Easter Eggs” for players to find. The practice has continued to this day and has expanded well beyond Videogames with most forms of visual media including them, resulting in dedicated online communities to finding these “eggs” (“ScreenCrush” does video guides to easter eggs for example).
As for how the Easter Eggs tradition came about relates to Martin Luther and the protestant Reformation. In short he had Men hide the eggs for women and children to find bringing the congregation closer together during times of celebration (not Limited to Easter). The Chri
(Screen Shot of Warren Robinett’s Attribution Easter Egg)
Fun Fact #497
Tuckerization
Have you ever wondered why seemingly irrelevant characters get names in modern movies, comics, Novels, and even operas? The answer can be found at an electrician’s grave on the outskirts of Peoria, Illinois.
Wilson “Bob” Tucker had always had a love of Science fiction growing up to the point that he created the first Fanzine The Planetoid (magazine run by fans of a given genre) in 1936. Over time he would coin many of the terms used today including “Space Opera” which you may recognize from Star Wars. Why make a Fanazine in the first place? Well before the internet it was the best way to spread and learn what was going on in genres of fiction as “Bob” would hunt answers to his reader’s questions and then publish them along with some stories of his own to pad the magazines a bit.
Because every story was stand-alone he wound up running through character names fairly quickly and so began using alterations of friends’ names and even those who submitted Story ideas, allowing those in the know to recognize them while remaining harmless to those unaware. This practice quickly became known as “Tuckerization” and has been adopted by most other fictional story groups such as Dark Horse Comics, and movie companies like Paramount or Sony. This allows these stories to grow and evolve around unexpected interest in side characters. More importantly, it looks better on a resume for actors to have named roles –even when those names are just slight variations of the actor’s own name– meaning this is a great way to introduce fresh blood to the Film Industry.
As for Mr. Tucker –before his death in 2006– he received multiple Hugo awards, Ran the Bloomington Newsletter (now called “The Pantagraph”), and was inducted into The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2004. His magazines and novels are even still reprinted and distributed throughout Kansas City to this day (you can often find magazines being given out at Chief’s Games while the Novel sales support the city’s foodbank).
Tucker's "The Princess of Detroit" was the cover story for the June 1942 issue of Future.
Fun Fact #496
While the term “Cameo” has become famous in film, it has been used long before the Screen was even invented, often included in literature.
The reason why actually makes some sense as it can be used to date something like historical fictions, or plays based on real events (weirdly Benjamin Franklin has by far the most cameos in Literature particularly in European books). It can also be used to pay Homage to characters in other works by including a very similar figure (Don Quixote is one of the most famous examples of this).
Yet by far the version that is the most famous is pulling a Balzac. Honore De Balzac (yes that was his real name; 1799-1850) was the founding father of realism in European literature, and part of this was his idea of writing his books in a shared universe La Comidie Humaine (The Human Comedy: 96 Novels, 48 volumes, 5 plays, and another 48 short stories with an array of unfinished works). To achieve a sense of unity between his works they often had Characters from previous books make appearances in newer works. In short this proved highly successful and Balzacs –more commonly known as Universes– are still made today with works like The MCU, SonyVerse, and The Pixar Theory being wonderful examples of this.
Also just a Fun Sidenote: In 1976, the IAU named one of the largest craters on Mercury named after Honore Balzac with multiple craters being contained within his crater all being named after some of his characters
Bonus Fun Fact! From April 15th through April 29th The earth will be experiencing The Lyrid Meteor Shower which will be made from debris that broke off comet Thatcher around 687 BC making it the oldest ever recorded Meteor shower. NASA Predicts the best night to view this will be April 22nd between Moonrise and Moonset with a possible 100 mentors an hour during that time (normal nights see around 18 meteors a night). If you miss That meteor shower there will be another one around May 4th from Haley's comet, but that one is only expected to produce 10-30 meteors an hour. Sorry Couldn't fit this in nicely with this week's fun facts but thought you all would enjoy it.
As Always thanks for reading and I hope you have a stellar day!
Fun Fack #495
Cameo
In the late 1927, the very first talking movie (The Jazz Singer) was produced and ushered in the Golden age of Movies (1927-1960). Practically forgotten in this golden shadow however, was another innovation: The Cameo.
The word originally meant “A small role which stood out from the rest” and was intended for side characters which appeared for a second or two to push the plot along then are never seen again. However, then something strange happened: older actors from The Silent Era began applying for and getting these no-name roles bringing their notoriety with them. This would then evolve the idea of Cameos into a way to honor people according to the wishes of the creator and are still primarily used this way even in the current era.
Fun Fact #496
Yet, Cameos aren't just used in movies,
Fun Fact #489
Founding Father of The Navy
When you look up persistent mischief in the dictionary, there is a good chance you’ll learn of “John Paul Jones”. Born in Scotland he made a good naval career earning his own command of the ship HMS John but after the ship’s carpenter died of yellow fever, Jones fled to Virginia.
When the Revolution began, Jones once again took to the seas in the ship The Providence and sailed to Indonesia with some ships he managed to “Liberate” along the way such as The Alfred. There he harassed the British Navy to such an extent they diverted an entire fleet after him, so he skipped town towing many ships back to friendly harbors where he found sailors willing to crew the ships as part of his Privateer Fleet.
In 1777 John Paul Jones was appointed to The Ranger and decided that now would be the perfect time to visit home and found much of the British coast unprepared and unguarded Pilliging his way through the British Isles before resupplying in France and launching a second attack after having gotten yet another larger and well armed flagship The Bohnomme Richard. This time taking only 7 of his ships he raided the coasts of the Irish Sea getting resupplied off stolen cargo and from the Sympathetic Isle of Man, until finally The HMS Serapis latched ropes around The Richard and kept firing her cannons point blank until the ship sunk. John Paul Jones reacted to this by taking over The Serapis –which was better armed anyway– and using it as his new Flagship before fleeing to The Netherlands.
Seeing as The Dutch one of Britain’s closest Allies at the time and a major trade partner, Two entire Fleets were sent after John Paul Jones while he was docked at Texel, Netherlands in the hope of ending Jone’s piracy. Instead they were informed that the Netherlands would not allow them to take Jones away while he was paying his docking fees, once he missed a payment then he was all theirs, but seeing as he was using his loot to pay he prepaid and slipped away once the British Blockade eased up. While Jones escaped the tensions he caused between the Dutch and British would spiral into yet another sister war (Anglo-Dutch war) which forced Britain to switch to mostly defensive naval actions worldwide for the rest of the American Revolution as two of the Largest Naval powers at the time duked out their issues.
As for John Paul Jones, he was heralded as a Hero back in the US, and his fleet of stolen vessels would outlast the Continental Navy becoming the backbone of The US Revenue Cutter Service who would later form both The Coast Guard, and The US Navy.
John Paul Jones bids goodbye to his Victorious Ship, USS Bonhomme Richard by Percy Moran
Fun Fact #488
The Green Mountain Boys
Ask almost anyone for the name of a state that was its own country before joining the US and you’ll hear about California or Texas. However there is another The Republic of Vermont.
In 1764, THe Green Mountain Boys Militia was founded by Ethan Allen and it quickly became one of the best trained military units on the continent resulting in them getting sent British recruits from even outside the American Colonies in order to train them. Although Allen missed the signing of The Declaration of Independence his Militia sided with the Revolution, quickly making their presence known as far north as Quebec. Yet The Crown took note of their lack of a signature and made them a deal: “Abandon George Washington’s Cause and gain independence for your Militia as an ally of the crown.”
Thus The Vermont Republic was born, yet –much to Britain’s surprise– the Mountain Boys decided to stay independent while denying travel to Loyalist and Revolutionary and instead offered to accept any deserters into their well fed/paid Vermont Army. This long march around the Mountain Boys combined with their easy way out of the war caused Desertion to run rampant through the Canadian reinforcements severely weakening their impact. Post war President Washington was repeatedly requested by congress to invade but his denial prevented this. Instead they sought to make it far more beneficial to trade with the US than Britain, ultimately succeeding when THe Vermont Republic joined the US as the 14th state in October 1779.
Today The Vermont National Guard is a continuation of the Green Mountain Boys still flying the same green flag as when they started 260 years ago.
Fun Fact #487
The League of Armed Resistance
On March 11th, 1780, Russian Empress Cathrine The Great (Cathrine II of Russia) looked out upon the world. Earlier that year she had had enough of Britain threatening international trade by seizing ships and impressing their crews into servitude fighting the French and Americans. Thus she organized The First League of Armed Resistance, whose members pledged not to carry contraband in exchange to avoid searches by other nations. Additionally any attack on one country would be counted as an attack on every country in the League, and thus would result in all of the member nations declaring war.
This league really was the first of its kind as no one had ever proposed unrestricted Trade of this scale before, let alone sailing directly into warzones. Yet somehow it survived, gaining Sweden, Denmark-Norway, Finland, Prussia, Austria, Switzerland, and Portugal along the way. Heck even the Netherlands tried to Join, before Britain started a war specifically to prevent The Netherlands from joining the alliance.
The League would prove Highly successful (for all but the Netherlands) and would build the backbone of “The European Axis” which was a series of alliances spanning most of central Europe. The Second League was formed for the Napoleonic wars, yet failed to deter Napoleon from invading which would lead to his downfall (twice!). Meanwhile the Third was during the American Civil war as an unofficial agreement between the countries. Today the League is more infamously remembered as the Namesake of the Axis Powers in the World Wars which shared many of the same member countries –just with new names like Turkey instead of The Ottoman Empire. Or Germany instead of The Prussian Confederation.
(International History files from Wordpress. com)
Fun Fact #486
A Spain to Deal with
In February 1776, two Portuguese fleets commanded by Robert MacDouall sailed up the Rio Grande and began shelling the Spanish Fort there. This was the beginning of the Spanish-Portugeese War (1776-1777), and it came just ahead of the American Revolution so that most of Britain’s Allies who had promised support in The New World were too preoccupied with Brazil to come promptly to their aid. “The Great American Sideshow” as the Portuguese called it would have to wait. Yet the Spanish didn't wait, while they did not want to be drawn into two wars at once, they did organize “The Roderigue Hortalez and Company” to start delivering as much Arms, gunpowder, and Gold from Havana as was required to New Orleans where the French pass it along to The Continental Army.
Then in 1777 The Portuguese Surrendered and chose to abandon the British all together taking with them the support of several smaller countries and joined The League of Armed Neutrality. Spain now openly funded the Revolution, Yet did not send in any troops for a long time, except to defend captured ports. SPain feared that if the US was successful then it could spell the end of the Monarcies of Europe – They wound up being right about this as The American Revolution would be the beginning of “The Age of Revolutions” (1776-1849) in light of the enlightenment Ideals and God Given rights.
The British would retaliate in The Antilles War (Invasion of Nicaragua)but the Spanish organized a defense with the help of Miskito Indians holding their ground long enough for the Tropical Rain to spread Malaryia, Typhoid, and Dysentery through the British ranks The Spanish then took the Bahamas and were about to launch an all out invasion of Jamaica when Britain surrendered on that front of the war in 1783. The sugar production and Naval Bases in Jamaica were just too valuable to lose. In the end The Antilles war was by far the most costly in terms of people for the British in The American Revolution effectively diverting half the Empire’s reinforcements and supplies to support the failed operation in the Tropical Forest (not Jungle– too Gry for Jungle).
