On This Day In History - 16th June
On This Day In History - 16th June 16th June 363, Emperor Julian marched back up the Tigris and burned his feet. Oops , I mean fleet. Yep, fleet. His fleet of ships. Why would anyone burn his own feet. Come to think of it, why the heck did he burn his fleet? It was all an elaborate plan to persuade his generals and army to fight the Persians instead of retreating. As it turns out, it was a bad idea. They had to retreat and suffered great losses. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The lesson here is - don't burn certain things. 1. Ships. 2. Bridges. 3. My dinner. 16th June 1779, Spain declares war on the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Will they never learn? It was all about a tiny rock on the southern tip of Spain at the entrance to the Mediterranean sea called Gibraltar. Britain had it, much to the annoyance of Spain, and Spain wanted it back. With the help of France and in the midst of the American War of Independence,...