28 JANUARY

“SLAUGHTER ALL THE MEN” [ 29 June 1857 ] On this day in 1857, Colonel James Neill ordered his redcoats on a mission of bloody retribution against an Indian village suspected of harbouring mutineers,  insisting that “the village of Mullagu and neighbourhood be destroyed – slaughter all the men – take no prisoners,” adding “all…

REDCOATS SHOOT DEAD FIVE BOSTONIANS WHO HAD BEEN HURLING SNOWBALLS [ 5 March 1770 ] The anniversary is commemorated every year with an annual reenactment in Boston, Massachusetts, but is virtually forgotten in Britain. CABINET ‘MAD KEEN TO LAND BRITISH TROOPS SOMEWHERE’ [ 5 March 1956 ] On 5 March 1956, ministers were briefed at number…

BRITISH AND FRENCH IN SECRET AGREEMENT TO DIVIDE THE MIDDLE EAST [ 3 January 1916 ] Today in 1916, during the First World War, a line was drawn on the map from Acre on the coast of Palestine to Kirkuk in northern Iraq, dividing much of the Middle East into what were planned as post-war…

MACMILLAN PRAISES DICTATOR DIEM 7 May 1962 – Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote a personal letter to President Ngô Dình Diệm, the dictator of South Vietnam, lauding his murderous regime. “We have viewed with admiration the way in which your government and people have resisted” attempts to “overthrow the freely established regime in South Vietnam,”…

INDIAN SOLDIERS REFUSE ORDERS TO USE CARTRIDGES GREASED WITH PIG AND COW FAT [ 24 April 1857 ] On 24 April 1857, eighty five Indian soldiers of the Third Bengal Light Cavalry stationed at Meerut, a town 40 miles north east of Delhi, refused orders to use cartridges covered by paper greased with pig and…

3 July 1937 – During a speech to his constituents at Wanstead, Churchill reminded the crowd of his then well known admiration for fascism. “If I had been an Italian,” he confessed, “I should have been on Mussolini’s side fifteen years ago when he rescued his country from the horrible fate of sinking into violent…