On June 22, 1476, the army of Charles the Bold [1] invaded Switzerland. Their first engagement was the Battle of Morat which was fought about 30 kilometers from Bern. The successive Burgundian invasions were successfully repelled by the pike tactics of the well-trained and organized Swiss militias.
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June 22, 1633: Galileo Galilei [2] was coerced by Pope Gregory XV to recant his belief in heliocentrism–that the Earth orbits the Sun. The Vatican did not concede that it was wrong until October 31, 1992.
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And on June 22, 1848, the Barnburners (an anti-slavery party) nominated Martin Van Buren [3] for President.
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My e-mail inbox has been full of queries from readers about the USAF bomber strikes on Iranian nuclear weapons development sites. Folks want to know if this might mean WW3. For some articles on that topic, see our June 19th Odds ‘n Sods column [4]. There could indeed be some escalation. There is certainly the risk of an Iranian sub-critical “dirty bomb” being detonated, most likely at an American container seaport. And there is a heightened risk of cyber attacks and sleeper cells attacking in American cities, and at critical infrastructure sites all across the country. Be vigilant and be armed, folks! – JWR
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Today’s short feature article is a guest piece by our friend Hubert Moolman. It is not part of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest [5].
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More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 119 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail [6] us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics [7]. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.