The 38 Minute War, Beginning of World War 2, and, a Senator who gave a 24 hour long speech!
Giving you the full scoop on the historical events of this week and keeping you up to date with the latest news and finds about history.
This Week In History
As always we will start off by going over the events that I found the most interesting for each day during this week.
August 27th, 1896: The Anglo-Zanzibar War
The Anglo-Zanzibar war is the shortest war in world history lasting between 38-45 minutes. It was fought, between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar. The British wanted to assert their dominance and control over Zanzibar by installing a Pro-British Sultan, so that the Brits can maintain superiority in a strategically important region due to its trade routes and resources.
August 28th, 1957: Strom Thurmond’s filibuster:
US Senator Strom Thurmond wanted to prevent the United States Senate from voting on the Civil Rights Act of 1957, so he decided to filibuster for over a day. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an attempt to prevent the bill from being passed, it remains the the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.
August 29th, 1541: Ottoman Expansion
The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.
August 30th, 1967: Thurgood Marshall’s Big Day
Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
August 31st 2006: The Return Of The Scream:
In a callback to last week’s newsletter, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream are stolen on August 22, 2004. Just over 2 years later they are recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.
September 1st, 1939: The Start of WW2
Nazi Germany invades Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.
September 2nd, 44 BC: New Pharaoh In Town
Cleopatra of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. It is rumored that he is the son of Julius Caesar.
Looking Back In Time
There is something about the 1940s military aesthetic that just lights up my brain. Something about the “way it used to be” just makes me daydream about experiencing wha tit was like first hand. Pictured below is the crew of B-29 Superfortress 42-24598 "Waddy's Wagon" (20th Air Force, 73rd Bomb Wing, 497th Bomb Group, 869th Bomb Squadron) posing to duplicate the nose art. Lots of times we have a notion that people in the past were more serious than we are today, but photos like this show people 80 years ago also had goofy side.
Unfortunately, all of the men were killed in action KIA when the bomber was shot down over Japan in January, 1945.
History News
Trove of Rare Renaissance Books Could Fetch $25 Million at Auction
For over sixty years, dedicated American bibliophile T. Kimball Brooker has meticulously assembled a remarkable collection of rare books, encompassing over 1,300 French and Italian texts dating back to the 16th century.
However, the time has come for Brooker to bid farewell to his cherished assortment of Renaissance literary treasures. In the upcoming autumn season, the prestigious auction house Sotheby's will commence the auctioning of Brooker's curated library. Anticipations are high, with the auction house projecting earnings exceeding $25 million from this remarkable collection. The individual books themselves will span a wide spectrum of pricing, ranging from $200 to as high as $600,000.
Among the items up for auction, there lies an early edition of Leonardo da Vinci's "Treatise on Painting," containing a captivating array of 56 ink illustrations scattered across its 375 chapters. This exquisite manuscript holds the potential to fetch a valuation ranging from $120,000 to $180,000.
Within Brooker's distinguished library, a treasure trove of around 1,000 books Encompassing titles from the 1490s to the 1590s, this collection alone is projected to yield an impressive $10 million.
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