On the 5th November 1854 a smaller British and (yes) French army beat off an assault by the Russians at Inkerman in the Crimea. It was known as “The Soldier’s Battle” as men fought small engagements due to poor visibility in dense fog.
The Russians had massed 32000 men on the Allied flank and headed for the 2700 man 2nd Division, commanded today by the aggressive Pennefather. Instead of falling back in the face of superior numbers, he advanced. The British had their rifles to thank this day as they took a terrible toll on the musket armed Russian Infantry, who were hemmed in by the valley’s bottle neck shape. The British 2nd Division pushed the Russians back onto their reinforcements and should have been routed by the Russians’ numbers, but the fog and the British Light Division saved them. Three successive Russian commanders were killed in this engagement.
The Russians other 15000 men approached and assailed the Sandbag Battery, but they were routed by 300 British defenders vaulting the wall, blunting the lead Battalions, who were then attacked in the flank. More Russian attacks ensured the Battery exchanged hands several times.
The British 4th Division was not as lucky. Arriving on the field, its flanking move was itself flanked and its commander, Cathcart, killed. This enabled the Russians to advance, but not for long. They were soon driven off by French units arriving from their camps and made no more headway.
The battle was lost and they had to withdraw.
This was the last time the Russians tried to defeat the Allied troops in the field. Despite this reverse, however, the Russian attack had seriously stalled the Allies from capturing Sevastopol. They had to instead, spend one harsh winter on the heights overlooking the city, before it fell in September of 1855.
The British suffered 2573 casualties, the French 1800 and the Russians 11959.
The Spanish Inquisition is established today in 1483
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Today, the 17th October, in 1483 Pope Sixtus IV issued a Bull creating the Spanish Inquisition. At its head, as Grand Inquisitor, was a 63 year old Dominican monk, called Torquemada. It was originally designed to root out faking conversos, or converts from Judaism or Islam to Christianity. The joint King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, feared their nation was rife with them.
For 15 terrible years, Torquemada tortured and burnt heretics at the stake. Soon it was not just used to seek out heretics, but also blasphemers, sodomites, usurers and sorcerers.
Three tortures used were toca, where water was forced down the throat, garrucha, where the wrists were tied behind the back and then the victim was lifted by them then dropped, so dislocating limbs and a form of rack, known as the potro. About 2000 were burnt at the stake in his 15 years.
Torquemada died aged 78. The Inquisition lasted another 336 years; this despite Sixtus’ trying to calm its Grand Inquisitor, with another Papal Bull denouncing its violence. -
NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!
So thanks for telling us about them. :-D
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The number of victims of Inquisition is always too exagarrated. It is simply a mith and a part of a plan of demonizing the Catholic Church.
Pope John Paul II publicly judged any crime done by any catholic in our history, especially when coming from the Church institutions, as was the (Spanish) Inquisition. Many devout catholics were victims of that wrong policy and that is something that most be said too.
So it was anti-catholic behaviour in it`s nature no matter it was organized by (some)catholics.
As for the satanization of the Spanish Empire and the Catholic Church of that time (coming mostly from protestant/anglican circles) it is just enough to see the number of Indigenous people in Latin (catholic) and Anglo America (protestant) and U can see that in Latin America the Indigenous nation survived and they form 10, 15 or 50 % of population in those countries today.
In USA they form 0.something.
It is enough to see everything but the mith about Indian Genocide by evil catholics and nice protestants expanding in North America is simply that, a mith.
Of course there were many crimes done by catholics in that period (as in any other by any religious group) but it needs to be put in realistic measures and not in some miths about ˝genocides˝ against some poor people in which few thousand people were killed. It is horrible crime, but it is not genocide.
As for the Indians in USA well it is ethnic cleansing at least, with some elements of genocide that are visible.
But to be honest the Indian population of entire American continent (including USA) was barbaric, ruthless, number of killings and rapes was terrible, (Mel Gibson - Apocalypto , U can see it well here, how ruthless these people were).
The greatest rate of rape in the USA today is in the Indian camps. More or less their treatment of women and children is horrible, but they are constantly defending themselves with the ˝victim of genocide˝ argument.
Something similar is here in Europe with Roma people, but slightly different.
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To me your comment is tasteless Amon-Sul.
Nobody blamed anybody and the Topic started as a reminder on what happend that day a few hundreds of years ago. -
And my comment is just a reminder to what did not happened and what did conserning that period.
Avoid it, if it hurts U ;)
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I will.
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So, you’re saying The Inquisition isn’t still going strong?
Along with the Burners of Forbidden Books?
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