nPostednon December 8, 2016
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Indon’t think of World War I being fought near South America, do you?
Indon’t think of World War I being fought near South America, do you? n
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nBut I guess they don’t call it a “world war” for nothing!
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nImperialnGermany had a squadron of ships that disrupted other nations’nshipping by attacking merchant ships and supply bases.
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nAndnon this date in 1914, this overseas naval group was effectivelyndestroyed!
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nThenGermans’ squadron was made up of eight ships under Admiral GrafnMaximilian von Spee. In November of 1914 they had sunk two Britishncruisers with all hands (“with all hands” means ALL of thensailors and officers died) in the South Pacific Ocean, near Chile.nThis was the first defeat for the Royal Navy in a century. Innresponse to the defeat, the British sent a large squadron to trackndown and destroy the German ships. n
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nThenBritish were waiting at the port of Stanley, in the Falkland Islands,nwhen the German squadron tried to raid the supply base. The weathernwas good, and the visibility was excellent, so I wondered why Speenwould attack seeing the British squadron in port. Well, it seems thatnhe was confident that he could outdistance the big battleships he sawn– the British Dreadnoughts – and he was probably overconfidentnbecause of his earlier victory.
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nHenpaid for his mistake.
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nItnturns out that the Brits also had two swift battle cruisers designednto combine speed and maneuverability with power and big guns. Even asnearly as nine in the morning it was obvious that the Germans werenoutgunned and would be easily caught.
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nEventually,nall but one German ship were hunted down and sunk.
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ThenBritish suffered only very light casualties – only 10 dead comparednto more than 2,000 German sailors, including Admiral Spee and both ofnhis sons. (The three Spees were each on a different ship. Butnremember, 7 out of 8 ships were sunk.) There were a couple of hundrednGerman sailors who survived and were taken aboard the British shipsnas prisoners. It was considered the most decisive naval battle ofnWorld War I – and it provided a much-needed surge of confidence fornthe Allies.
ThenBritish suffered only very light casualties – only 10 dead comparednto more than 2,000 German sailors, including Admiral Spee and both ofnhis sons. (The three Spees were each on a different ship. Butnremember, 7 out of 8 ships were sunk.) There were a couple of hundrednGerman sailors who survived and were taken aboard the British shipsnas prisoners. It was considered the most decisive naval battle ofnWorld War I – and it provided a much-needed surge of confidence fornthe Allies.n
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversarynof a lemon-squeezing device
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nPretendnto Be a Time Traveler Day
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nBlessingnof the Waters Day in Uruguay
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nScientistnJan Ingenhousz’s birthday
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nRocknmusician Jim Morrison’s birthday
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Plannahead:
Plannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on:
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in December
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJanuaryn birthdays
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