Lucius Quinutius Cincinnatus was a Roman dictator. He was born in 520 BC and died in 440 BC. He held power on two occasions. Once for 14 days and then again for 12 days. During his periods in power he freed Rome from her enemies, and then returned to his farm refusing all rewards. After violently opposing the passage of the Terentilian law for the equalization at law of patricians and plebeians, he succeeded Publicola in the consulship, and then retired to cultivate his small estate beyond the Tiber. Here, when Minucius was surrounded by the AEquians, the messengers of the senate found him at work when they came to summon him to the dictatorship. He rescued the army from its peril, marched to Rome laden with spoil, and then returned quietly to his farm. At the age of eighty he was again appointed dictator to oppose the ambitious designs of Spurius Maelius. Research Cincinnatus
Ghede, in the original myths of Haiti, was the god of love, sex incarnate. In later, Voodoo myth he was amalgamated with BaronSamedi, god of death. He kept his earlier lustful ways, and a fondness for rum and feasting. He was a dandy, always wearing a black tail-coat, a top hat and sunglasses, twirling a cane and smoking a cigar or a cigarette in a long holder. He loved to dance, and swept his followers away into the ecstasy and trance of dancing. But the dance, which originally was a phallic ritual of birth, had now become a dance of death: Baron Samedi's orgies always ended (for his mortal followers) at the crossroads between this world and the Underworld, and the way they went was down. Because Ghede was Guardian of the Crossroads, he knew all the secrets of magic, and had second hearing and second sight. He could be consulted for advice - often on questions of fertility, either of humans, crops or animals. The questioner made blood-sacrifice and asked the priest questions to put to Ghede, and the god answered in the patterns of
rum-drops spilled in the dust, or in the hll of dice or the turning of Tarot cards. The advice was often frightening and apparently ridiculous, but it was always true and you neglected it at your peril. Research Ghede
The Battle of Charleroi was fought during the Great War between French and German forces on the 21st to the 24th of August 1914 as the French attempted to make an orderly retreat from Belgium under intense German pressure. The operation probably saved the French 5th Army and slowed the German advance into northern France considerably.
Charleroi was the most important battle of the Great War up to the first Battle of the Marne, and was remarkable for the escape of a French army from an envelopment such as the Germans carried out in 1870 at Sedan. The German staff expected to reap the fruit of the treacherous advance through Belgium at this point, but its plans were thwarted by the quick manoeuvring of the two generals concerned - Lanrezac on the French side, and Sir John French on the British.
Owing to changes in its organization made by Joffre at the last minute, the 5th French army (commanded by Lanrezac) had not completed its concentration before it was attacked. It was composed of the 1st, 10th, 3rd, and 18th corps, in order from right to left, though the last was not ordered from Alsace before August the 16th, and did not arrive until August the 21st. It was stationed on the eve of the battle from Givet on the Meuse to the line of the Sambre, near Namur - which fortress was to protect its centre - and Charleroi, with its extreme left north of the Sambre near Anderlues. It included five independent divisions, badly equipped, and may have totalled some 250,000 men.
At Namur were 25,000 Belgian troops, somewhat shaken in moral, under General Michel, and at Maubeuge a mass of 30,000 reservists and territorials, badly equipped owing to the shortage of boots, and without transport. They could not be regarded as available for field warfare. The mission of the 5th army, in conjunction with the British Expeditionary Force, then arriving at Maubeuge and moving towards Mons, was to protect the French left flank and to strike the German right, which was supposed by the French high command not to extend far west of the Ardennes.
The position of the 5th army was one of great peril. Three German armies were closing upon it - namely, the 1st (Kluck), passing across its front to execute a vast enveloping movement - and if the British should be encountered to deal with them; the 2nd (Bulow), moving directly upon its front on the Sambre; and the 3rd (Hausen), the existence of which does not appear to have been known to the French supreme command, moving against its right flank and rear. Thus the 5th army and the British were threatened with the double envelopment which marked Cannae and Sedan, two of the most famous battles in history before the Great War.
The total German force is placed by Baumgarten-Crusius at 30 infantry and 5 cavalry divisions (each German cavalry division included rifle battalions, machine-gun companies and cyclists, besides cavalry and horseartillery, and thus was far more formidable than a British or French cavalry division), against 16 British and French infantry divisions and 4 cavalry divisions, In fighting force on the spot the Germans were about two to one (600,000 to about 320,000 men).
Lanrezac with good reason was anxious as to his position. He had warned Joffre in vain of the risk of such a great German turning movement as was now being carried out. On August the 20th he was ordered to take the offensive in combination with the 4th army (Langle de Gary) on his right, which was separated from him by a wide gap, and with the 3rd army (Ruffey). He was unable to do so because all his troops had not arrived, and the British were not yet in position. On the 21st he pointed this out to the French headquarters, and was told that he could wait until the 24th before attacking. It was fortunate that he did not advance on the 20th; had he done so he would have walked with his whole army into the trap which the Germans were trying to set for him.
On August the 21st the Germans took the initiative. Troops under Gallwitz began the bombardment of Namur with heavy German and Austrian artillery, and two German corps appeared on the Sambre, and with detachments forced the passage of that river at Tamines and Jemeppe, driving back detachments of the French 10th and 3rd corps. French documents were captured afterwards which showed that Lanrezac's intention was to allow portions of the German army to cross the Sambre, and then fall on them in full strength, a judicious plan which his corps commanders disregarded by making a series of ill-concerted attacks. On the French left, Sordet's cavalry was pushed back, opening a serious gap between the 5th French army and the British.
That same evening Hausen's 3rd army at three points near Dinant attempted to force the passage of the Meuse, gravely threatening the communications of Lanrezac and engaging the attention of the French 1st corps - which nevertheless was able to protect the river line. That night Bulow announced that he would fight the great battle on the 23rd. Perfect cooperation between Bulow and Hausen was necessary to bring off the stroke. Fortunately for the Allies, Bulow developed a violent attack with four corps on the Sambre on the 22nd before Hausen was ready. After severe fighting the Germans pushed across the Sambre and penetrated into Charleroi, where they burnt many of the houses and killed many inhabitants. Heavy loss was inflicted on the Guard by a counter-attack of the 38th Algerian division south of Chatelet, but French authorities stated that their own casualties were 'terrible'. By nightfall the French had been driven back to a line which ran from near Thuin to Mettet, and the Germans were clear of the difficult industrial district. This retirement exposed the flank of the British at Mons, and was one of the reasons why Sir John French had to retreat.
On the evening of August the 22nd Lanrezac issued orders for an attack on Bulow's army; but during that same night Hausen placed 340 guns in position on the east bank of the Meuse, from Yvoir to Blamont, to cover a crossing and take Lanrezac in flank and rear. To meet this attack, on August the 23rd the 1st French corps had to be withdrawn from the front northwards, where it was on the point of administering the coup de grace to the Guards; but it succeeded in stopping the 3rd German army. In the morning German airmen reported that the roads behind Lanrezac's front were crowded with disorderly columns retiring south-west and west. About the same time German troops penetrated into Namur, moving between the forts, and the Belgian field troops and three French battalions there were forced to decamp with all speed, losing heavily in their retreat.
But at the critical moment the French on the Meuse, notwithstanding the enormous artillery ascendancy of Hausen's army, inflicted such heavy loss that by nightfall no strong German force had crossed the river. At 4.30p.rn. German airmen reported the general retreat of the French, though, according to French authorities, Lanrezac did not order this until 9 pm. It was the news of this retreat which led Sir John French to break off the Battle of Mons. By the morning of the 24th the 5th army held a front from Beaumont to Rosee, and the danger of envelopment from Hausen's army had practically vanished. It fell back, despite heavy loss, in fairly good order to another line between Avesnes and Regniowez.
The losses on both the German and French sides were considerable. Bulow claimed that he only lost 11,000 men, and that the French losses were at least double; he said that he took 4,000 prisoners and 36 guns, but he gave no figures for Hausen's loss, which is known to have been considerable. Lanrezac's management of the battle was severely criticised in France, and he was superseded soon after it by Franchet d'Esperey. But he had to contend with superior numbers and a deplorably bad strategic position, due to the German movement through Belgium and the sudden apparition of Hausen's army. If the line of the Sambre had been defended with more energy, Lanrezac could not have escaped, and could not, by saving the 5th army, have saved France.
The Germans regard the battle as a tactical success for themselves but a strategic failure, and such it was. Many of the advantages gained by the faithless advance through Belgium were lost when Lanrezac and French escaped the toils. Hausen was removed, ostensibly on the ground of ill-health, after the Marne, but really it would seem because the German Staff blamed him for failing to cut off the French. As Crusius points out, the real fault rested with the German high command, which failed to profit by an extraordinarily favourable situation.
In his book The March on Paris, General von Kluck states that the Germans only learnt on August the 22nd of the presence of British troops in front of the second army (Bulow), The more important was, it observes Kluck, that his own army, the first, should keep well to the westward, and so outflank the British, but an army order directed Kluck's army to wheel to the left in support of Bulow, and this order was upheld in spite of Kluck's appeal to the supreme command. He says that had he been free he could have outflanked the British army from the west, forced it back on the French fifth army (Lanrezao), and taken both in the rear. Research Battle of Charleroi
The First Battle of the Marne was the first significant victory for the French army, supported by British troops, in September 1914 during the Great War. After a fortnight of defeat and retreat the French armies with the British took the initiative, and drove back the Germans in the west 35 miles.
On September the 4th, 1914, during the Great War, Joffre issued the order to the Allied armies to assume the offensive on September the 6th, and profit by the adventurous position of the 1st German army to concentrate against it the efforts of the Allied armies on the left.
On September the 4th the cipher which the Germans employed had fallen into his hands, and from that day onwards for a fortnight he knew many of the German movements. According to Admiral von Tirpitz the German staff, on September the 6th, secured the French plans.
Joffre had learnt from the airmen's reports that Kluck's 1st German army was at this date marching from north-east of Paris to a point east of Paris, in order to support Bulow's 2nd army in crushing the French 5th army, thus exposing the German right flank to a blow. Kluck and the German intelligence service believed the British army demoralised, and they knew nothing of the new French 6th army under Maunoury, which was assembling on their right flank. This army Joffre intended to use to crush the German right, which was covered by the 4th German reserve corps. Nor had the German command knowledge of the new French 9th army which was employed in the French centre.
The armies in presence from west to east were as follows:
Germans: 1st (Kluck) 10 divisions; 2nd (Bulow) 8 divisions; 3rd (Hausen) 6 divisions; 4th (Duke of Wurttemberg) 8 divisions; 5th (Crown Prince) 8 divisions. (total German force 40 divisions).
At full strength a division would number about 20,000 men, but all these units had been fighting and were far below establishment, so it is doubtful whether they averaged 12,000 on the first day of battle.
Thus, the French 12th corps had only 6 battalions fit for battle and present, and Gallieni estimates that 5.5 of Maunoury's divisions totalled only 60,000 men. To the above divisions, which may have numbered 600,000 men for the Allies and 450,000 for the Germans, must be added troops on the line of communications, and units brought up in the battle, at the close of which, according to German authorities, 45 German divisions had been engaged against 66 Allied divisions, Two German corps were neutralised by the Belgian army, and a third was besieging Maubeuge.
The Germans were confident of success, but their communications were bad; the Belgian resistance had dislocated their plan; and the unexpected vigour of the Russian attack had led them to divert two corps to Russia, and was thus, perhaps, the cause of their defeat. Their superiority in numbers had passed, though they still retained a great superiority in heavy artillery, aircraft, and equipment.
Joffre's orders, which reached the army commanders on September the 5th, were: the new 6th army to cross the Ourcq on the 6th, moving towards Chateau-Thierry, with the 1st cavalry corps linking it to the British; the British to face east and attack in the general direction of Montmirail; the 2nd French cavalry corps to link the British right to the left of the French 5th army, which was to attack north between Courtacon and Sezanne; the 9th was to cover the right of the 5th and move north of Sezanne; the 4th army to attack and link up with the 3rd, which was to attack the left flank of the Germans marching west of the Argonne.
The German orders were for the 1st army to follow the 2nd army, echeloned behind it, act as a protection to the German flank, and crush any hostile movement from Paris in conjunction with the 2nd army; for the 3rd army to advance towards Troyes-Vandoeuvre; for the 4th and 5th armies, by a continued advance south-east to open the passages of the upper Meuse to the 6th and 7th armies. The original idea of driving the French up against the Swiss frontier was abandoned, and a plan of double envelopment of the Allies adopted.
Joffre issued a general order to his troops calling on them, if they found it impossible to advance, to 'stand their ground at all cost and die rather than give way; this is a moment when no faltering will be tolerated'. Sir John French exhorted the British army 'to show now to the enemy its power and to push on vigorously to the attack beside the 6th French army', Similar orders were issued to the German troops, who were told that 'everything depends on the result of tomorrow'.
Joffre directed the 6th army to open the attack one day in advance of the other armies, and on September the 5th Maunoury's artillery and that of the 4th German reserve corps almost simultaneously opened fire near Monthyon, and fighting continued all that afternoon. The main battle began on Sunday, September the 6th. Kluck in the night had ordered two of his four corps south-east of Paris to march to the aid of his corps near Monthyon, and during the day he recalled the other two, thus opening an enormous gap between his army and Bulow's 2nd army, apparently supposing the British in his front to be incapable of action. The British, advancing slowly across the forest of Crecy, were held in the morning by a German demonstration, but in the afternoon, noting signs of a German retreat, pushed forward to the Grand Morin. Gallieni severely criticises the leisureliness of their advance.
Meanwhile the 6th French army attacked from Meaux north with great energy. Though Kluck was hurrying up reinforcements and the fire of the German artillery was deadly, the French gained ground. On the British right the 5th French army engaged Bulow's troops, and one of Kluck's four corps which was moving back across the Marne. They forced the Germans north in prolonged fighting, bending in Bulow's right flank and gravely threatening his position. The 9th army was heavily engaged north of Sezanne, where the Germans made great attempts to break through its front; it could do no more than barely hold its positions. The 4th army was forced back very slightly; the 3rd army generally checked the Crown Prince in his effort to move on Bar-le-Duc, but it lost ground at the south of the Argonne.
On September the 7th Kluck's movement of his whole army to the Ourcq imperilled the 6th French army, and, recognizing the danger, Gallieni hurried aid to that army in taxi cabs which he requisitioned. At dusk it had gained a little more ground, though the Germans now had three corps in action, and its left flank was in danger. But it had attracted to itself Kluck's whole force, and thus created the gap in the German front which proved fatal to the German plans. The British had been delayed by a German cavalry screen with infantry detachments from Kluck's troops, using machine guns very skilfully in difficult country, but they reached the Petit Morin after seizingCoulommiers, thrusting into the gap in the German front.
The 5th army pressed Bulow hard and pushed back his right six miles; it detached the 10th corps to the right to aid the 9th French army, which was again violently attacked and very hard pressed, but held its ground gallantly. The 4th army maintained its front everywhere except to its extreme right, where the loss of Sermaize was dangerous, imperilling its connexion with the 3rd army. The 3rd army was fiercely engaged. A German corps from Metz was attacking Fort Troyon and attempting to break through the Verdun line of forts. That day Maubeuge fell, setting free one German corps and vital railways at a moment when German supplies and ammunition were running low.
On September the 8th a fierce battle raged on the Ourcq, where each side strove to outflank the other without decided success; as the fresh German troops arrived the French northern flank wavered. Gallieni hurried up reinforcements and it held. The British crossed the Petit Morin, after at La Tretoire inflicting severe loss on the Germans; they began the attack on La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and violently shelled the Marne bridges crowded with German troops. The 5th army attacked with increased energy and crossed the Petit Morin high up, capturing Montmirail and placing Bulow in peril of having his whole front rolled up, as the gap between him and Kluck widened.
The 9th army was again violently attacked; the Prussian Guard assaulted at St. Gond and stormed Fere-Champenoise; Foch's centre and right were forced back under a fearful fire from the German heavy artillery, and all but broken. Foch's coolness and the fighting qualities of the French retrieved the position. But it is a fable that he sent to Joffre the message: 'My centre is giving ground; my right retiring; situation excellent; I am attacking'. The 4th army was attacked almost as fiercely, but did not yield. The 3rd army gained a little ground. The Germans bombarded Fort Troyon all the afternoon, yet at nightfall the garrison was unshaken. The crisis of the battle had arrived and the German ammunition was beginning to run low.
On September the 9th the flank battle on the Ourcq was fiercely maintained, as fresh German troops of Kluck's army assailed the 6th French army. Here there was extreme danger; a division of the 4th corps, one of the best, momentarily recoiled, then recovered itself. The British were thrusting north into the gap between Kluck and Bulow, and Kluck was now in imminent danger of being enveloped on both flanks and crushed. At noon Hentsch, who had been sent by the German staff to examine the position, reached the 1st army and stated that as Bulow was being forced back and the German situation was unfavourable, a general retreat to the Aisne must be executed.
At the critical moment the German staff had lost heart. Kluck began to retreat about 1 pm; an hour earlier Bulow announced by wireless that his own right was in retreat. The general retirement of the Germans, carrying with it the news that the great and decisive battle of the war had been won, was noticeable from the Allied line during the afternoon. Early in the day the British had reached the Marne and pushed through La Ferte, crossing the river there and also west of Chateau-Thierry, where they advanced four miles north of the Marne, thus threatening Kluck's rear and Bulow's right flank.
The 5th French army entered Chateau-Thierry, and the aid of its 1st and 10th corps decided the battle on the left of Foch's 9th army, which was still very hotly engaged north of Sezanne. It had been forced slightly back from the St. Gond marshes, but at dusk the position improved as the Germans weakened, and Mondement was stormed by the French. The 4th army attacked with great spirit on its right, and sent two divisions to its aid. The 3rd army advanced, but much of its attention was centred on Fort Troyon, where three German attacks that evening collapsed before the steadiness of the French garrison. Sarrail refused to abandon Verdun, though Joffre had authorised him to do so. At Nancy the Germans suffered a complete defeat.
On September the 10th the 6th French army rapidly gained ground as the German retreat was accentuated. Kluck's army this day was placed under Bulow. To the south French troops of the 6th army crossed the Ourcq and pushed north astride of that river, in conjunction with the British, who had now linked up with them. Thirteen guns and 2,000 prisoners were taken by the British, who pursued in pouring rain. The 5th army pushed its centre and right to the Marne, capturing six guns and 1,500 men. The 9th army attacked north and south of the St. Gond marshes, which were nearly dry, and hustled the German rearguards. It stormed La Fere-Champenoise in the morning and by the evening reached a line 11 miles south of Epernay. The 4th army attacked without success at Vitry-le-Francois, where the Germans were strongly entrenched. The 3rd army captured Sermaize and two German assaults on Fort Troyon were repulsed.
On September the 11th and 12th the Allies in the west advanced rapidly to the Aisne; the 9th army reached Epernay and Chalons, in the centre, and on September the 13th occupied Reims. The 4th army seized Vitry-le-Francois. The 3rd army pushed up to the line of railway from Verdun to Ste. Menehould. The Germans were now approaching or had actually reached the line which they were to fortify and hold, with little change, until 1916.
The German staff in its report on the battle states that the thrust of the British into the gap between the 1st and 2nd German armies compelled the retreat. This gap, however, had been caused by the brilliant work of the 6th French army. The hardest fighting fell to the lot of the French 6th and 5th armies, to Foch, and to the French before Nancy, but all fought magnificently. The net result was that after a fortnight of defeat and retreat the French armies with the British had taken the initiative, and driven back the Germans in the west 35 miles.
German critics severely blame, both Moltke and the Kaiser for the defeat, pointing- out that they withdrew troops for the east and left a large force in Belgium, thus fatally weakening the German attack on the Marne, and that they persisted in an attempt to break through at Nancy when they had not sufficient force for such an operation. None of the German army commanders showed any great genius. Bulow, Kluck, and Hausen blame one another, but Bulow is held responsible for the order for retreat.
The credit for the victory rests as much with Gallieni as with Joffre, though Gallieni's part has been often ignored. The French generalship was of a high order, but Gallieni held that mistakes were made in not bringing a larger force at the outset from Lorraine to the Ourcq (two additional corps were sent too late), and in failing to put in the French cavalry at the close of the battle to exploit the victory. The behaviour of the French troops was admirable. German and French authorities criticise the slowness of the British movements, which have not been satisfactorily explained, but may have been due to Sir John French's experiences at Mons and the orders from the British government to act with caution.
Kluck's swift withdrawal west instead of east surprised everyone and necessitated changes in the Allied movements; it was severely blamed by Bulow. Throughout the battle Gallieni employed what cavalry he had to raid the German flank and rear, and the work done in this direction was excellent. The French report the prisoners as being 38,000 with 160 guns (the latter nearly all damaged). The French loss was stated in the Chamber after the war at 300,000, which must include losses in the retreat and in the Lorraine battles of September. The British were only slightly engaged in the Marne proper. Research First Battle of the Marne
Aeronautics is the art of sailing in or navigating the air. The first form in which the idea of aeriallocomotion naturally suggested itself was that of providing men with wings by which they should be enabled to fly. By about 1905, however, it was generally admitted that it is impossible for man by his muscular strength alone to give motion to wings of sufficient extent to keep him suspended in the air. Hence later attempts at aerialnavigation structures of a different kind were generally tried, such as some sort of flying car, elevated and propelled by machinery which eventually gave rise to the modern aircraft, or a vehicle so buoyant as to float in the air, the balloon being the most common. Early pioneers in flight encountered one great difficulty in that of supporting in mid-air a sufficient weight of machinery to provide the necessary power for propelling and steering purposes.
The navigation of the air by means of the balloon dates only from nearly the close of the eighteenth century. In 1766 Henry Cavendish showed that hydrogen gas was at least seven times lighter than ordinary air, and it at once occurred to Dr. Black of Edinburgh that a thin bag filled with this gas would rise in the air, but his experiments were for some reason unsuccessful. Some years afterwards Tiberius Cavallo found that a bladder was too heavy and paper too porous, but in 1782 he succeeded in elevating soap-bubbles by inflating them with hydrogen gas. In this and the following year two Frenchmen, the brothers Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, acting on the observation of the suspension of clouds in the atmosphere and the ascent of smoke, were able to cause several bags to ascend by rarefying the air within them by means of a fire below. These experiments roused much attention at Paris; and soon after a balloon was constructed under the superintendence of Professor Charles, which being inflated with hydrogen gas rose over 3000 feet in two minutes, disappeared in the clouds, and fell after three quarters of an hour about fifteen miles from Paris. These Montgolfier and Charles balloons already represented the two distinct principles in respect to the source of elevating power for balloons, the one being inflated with common air rarefied by heat, requiring a fire to keep up the rarefaction, the other being filled with gas lighter at a common temperature than air, and thus rendered permanently buoyant. Both forms were used for a considerable time, but the greater safety and convenience of the gaseous inflation finally prevailed. After the use of coal-gas had been introduced it superseded hydrogen gas, as being much less expensive, though having a far less elevating power.
The first person who made an ascent in a balloon was Pilatre de Rozier, who ascended 50 feet at Paris in 1783 in one of Montgolfier's. A short time afterwards M. Charles and M. Robert ascended in a balloon inflated with hydrogen gas, and travelled a distance of 27 miles from the Tuileries; M. Charles by himself also ascended to a height of about two miles. Since then a multitude of ascents and aerial voyages were made, with, strange to say, comparatively few disastrous results in the early years. Among the names of the earlier balloonists we may mention Lunardi, who first made an ascent in Great Britain in September 1784, unless we assign this honour to J. Tytler (' Balloon' Tytler), who seems to have made two short ascents from Edinburgh in the preceding month; Blanchard, who, along with the American Dr. Jeffries, first crossed the Channel from Dover to Calais, in January 1785; Garnerin, who first descended by a parachute from a balloon in October 1797; and Gay Lussac, who reached the height of 23,000 feet in September 1804.
In 1836 a balloon carrying Messrs. Green, Holland, and Mason traversed the 500 miles between London and Weilburg in Nassau in eighteen hours. In 1859 Mr. J. Wise, the chief of American aeronauts, accompanied by several others, rose from New York, and landed, after a flight of 1150 miles, in twenty hours. In September 1862, the renowned aeronaut, Mr. Glaisher, accompanied by a Mr. Coxwell, made an ascent from Wolverhampton, and reached the estimated elevation of 37,000 feet, or 7 miles, a height far greater than any other then attained, if it can be depended on as exactly ascertained. But the aeronauts were for a time in great peril, Mr. Glaisher having become insensible, and Mr. Coxwell having his hands so severely frozen that he was unable to pull the valve for descent, and was compelled to use his teeth. Early aeronauts were clearly unaware of the thinning of the atmosphere and dramatic reduction in temperature with altitude. It is claimed that the first greatest really authentic height-35,000 feet-was attained by two German aeronauts at Berlin in 1901. The most daring early attempt at an aerial voyage was that of the Swede, Andree, who, with two companions in 1897 ascended from Spitzbergen in hopes of reaching the North Pole, their fate remaining unknown.
All the features of the ordinary balloon as now used are more or less due to Professor Charles, already mentioned. Early balloons were usually a large pear-shaped bag, made of pliable silk cloth, covered with a varnish of caoutchouc dissolved in oil of turpentine to render it air-tight. The ordinary size ranged from 20 to 30 feet in equatorialdiameter, with a proportionate height, but balloons of far greater dimensions were also constructed. A car, or basket, generally of wicker-work, supported by a network which extends over the balloon, contained the aeronaut; and a valve, usually placed near the top, and to which is attached a string reaching the car, gave him the power of allowing the gas to escape, whereby the balloon lowered at pleasure. A quantity of sand ballast in small bags was usually taken, and when the balloon tended to descend too far sand was thrown out and it rose again. The guide-rope, a long and heavy rope trailing over the ground, was sometimes used when the country was such that no serious damage would result from its trailing. The principle of this device was that as the balloon tended to rise it must lift more of the rope off the ground, while when the balloon sunk it was relieved of so much weight, and thus it tended to float at one level above the ground.
The problem of how to steer or propel a balloon in a desired horizontal direction was an early issue and numerous attempts at producing navigable balloons were made at the start of the 20th century. In a navigable balloon to be propelled through the air by some kind of motor, against the wind if necessary, the familiar balloon shape was departed from as quite unsuitable, and the 'air-ship' usually of an elongated form and more or less cylindrical or cigar-shaped adopted. A design still used a hundred years later.
Balloons of a fish or cigar shape, floated by gas, and propelled by a screw driven by a dynamo-electric machine, and steered by a large rudder, made several ascents in Paris in 1884 and 1885; and being generally able to return to the starting-point, at the time it was claimed for them that they had settled the question of balloon steerage, but it was several years before the matter was settled. The names of CountZeppelin and M. SantosDumont became well known in connection with such balloons. In 1897-1900 the former constructed a huge cylindrical air-ship of great length, with parabolic ends, divided into a number of separate chambers filled with hydrogen gas and these enclosed in an outer air balloon, the whole being braced and made rigid by an aluminium framework, and the means of propulsion being screws driven by Daimler petrol motors and fixed to the longitudinal axis of the air-ship. The success of this great structure, even after various improvements were introduced, appears to have been only partial, and want of sufficient funds brought operations to a stop for a while. M. SantosDumont constructed several navigable balloons, and one of them was so successful at Paris in 1901 as to gain a prize of 100,000 francs. On this occasion his airship made the journey from St. Cloud to the Eiffel Tower and back again, a distance of about 9.5 miles, in half an hour. M.M. Lebaudy of Paris also made some very successful trips with a dirigible balloon ; that is, one that can be steered or directed-to some extent at least.
In 1903-4 a large air-ship was constructed by Dr. F. A. Barton at Alexandra Park, London. This structure had a bamboo framework suspended below it, connected with which was the propelling machinery, two engines each of 4.7 ihp, driving a series of fans, there being a large square sail serving as a rudder. In 1905 an improved form of this air-ship was experimented with, the name Barton-Rawson air-ship, 'designed for the War Office', later being given to it. In this form it consisted of a silkballoon 180 feet long and 40 in diameter, with a bamboo car 127 ft. long and 18 ft. high, carrying a 50-horsepower motor at either end driving four propellers 7 ft. in diameter and revolving at a high speed, the total weight being about 14,000 lbs. Ascents made in July 1905 were not very successful, the air-ship driving with the wind and being unable to take a course of its own. The British War Office expressed its readiness to give an order for an air-ship on certain conditions, one being that it must be able to turn in a circle of 100 yards radius.
Besides balloons, which are lighter than a corresponding volume of air, and air-ships depending on the same principle, various apparatus were constructed for aerialnavigation that are heavier than the air at the start of the 20th century at a time when the feasibility of attaining success with such was supported by the flight of birds, many of which are decidedly heavy compared with their expanse of wing. Some of these apparatus were intended more for gliding or soaring through the air than for actual flight, having somewhat the nature of a huge bird with outstretched wings, beneath which a man attached himself, and on springing from a height gradually descends to the bottom - an idea revisited some years later for the hang-glider.
The kite, or structures on the same principle, were much experimented with, and it was found considerable weights can be raised and carried in this way. The kite rises in the air if drawn along by its string, and if instead of drawing it along a propeller is fitted to drive it through the air it ought to ascend in the same manner. Hence the invention of the aeroplane, which shows a large flat surface contrived to float nearly horizontally in the air, but with the front edge very slightly raised, so that in being propelled rapidly along it receives the pressure of the air on the under side, the air thus tending to counteract the force of gravity. Sir H. S. Maxim in 1894 constructed a huge machine with main and several subsidiary aeroplanes, propelled by two large screws driven by steam-engines of 300 hp, and able to rise with a great weight. As a model, at least, Prof. Langley's aerodrome had some success, flying through the air a distance of three-quarters of a mile. It had two rigid pairs of wings about 12 ft. in width, with large screw-propellers between them driven by a small steam-engine. Aviation is the term applied to attempts at flight otherwise than by balloons.
Manned balloons were successfully used for taking meteorological and military observation from the end of the 19th century. The latter class of balloons were usually 'captive' balloons - balloons that are kept by a rope from going farther than is desired, and that can be drawn back at will. Their use was only really suited for fairly calm weather and in certain circumstances. The balloon may have had a telephone connection with the earth below. There was a balloon service in the British army, the duties falling upon the Royal Engineers. Since about 1900 small captive and other balloons have sent up for purely scientific purposes, unaccompanied by any person, but provided with self-recording thermometers, barometers, etc., by which valuable facts have been ascertained. Some of these early balloons reached heights of 60,000 or 70,000 feet. During the siege of Paris in 1870-71 over sixty persons (including Gambetta) and innumerable letters left the city in balloons. Research Aeronautics
Blood-money is the compensation by a homicide to the next of kin of the person slain, securing the offender and his relatives against subsequent retaliation; once common in Scandinavian and Teutonic countries, and still a custom among the Arabs. The term is also applied to money earned by laying or supporting a charge implying peril to the life of an accused person. Research Blood-Money
The Pelican Brief is a thriller starring Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, John Heard and Tony Goldwyn in a story about a law student who finds herself in mortal peril after speculating as to the identity of an assassin who has shot two American Supreme Court Judges. The Pelican Brief was directed by Alan J Pakula in 1993. Research The Pelican Brief
The USS Peril was an American Admirable Class minesweeper of 625 tons displacement launched in 1943. The USS Peril was powered by diesel engines providing a top speed of 14.5 knots and carried a complement of 104. She was armed with one 3 inch dual-purpose gun and four 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. Research Peril
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Abbreviations
Research Cincinnatus
