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On December 9th, 1315, the Swiss Woudsteden renewed their Eternal Covenant. (Eidgenossenschaft or Oath Commonwealth). According to Wikipedia: “[Eidgenossenschaft] means “oath commonwealth” or “oath alliance”, in reference to the “eternal pacts” formed between the Eight Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy of the late medieval period. In Swiss historiography, this relates most notably to the Rütlischwur (Rütli Oath) between the three founding cantons Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, which traditionally dates to 1307. In modern usage, Eidgenossenschaft is the German term used as an equivalent to “Confederation” in the official name of Switzerland, Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft (rendered, respectively, as Confédération suisse and Confederazione svizzera in French and Italian).

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December 9, 1854: Alfred Tennyson‘s poem “Charge of the Light Brigade”, written at Farringford, was published in The Examiner.

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December 9th, 1914 was the birthday of Maximo Guillermo “Max” Manus. He passed away in 1996. His exploits are fairly accurately shown in the 2008 movie Max Manus: Man of War.

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Today’s feature article was written by JWR.

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We need more entries for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $978,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail 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. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

On December 8th, 1864, James Clerk Maxwell‘s paper “A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field” was first read by the Royal Society in London. (It was published by the Royal Society in 1865.)

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December 8th, 1880: 5,000 armed Boers gathered in Paardekraal, South Africa.

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Today also marks the birthday of Eli Whitney, (1765–1825) the inventor of the labor-saving cotton gin, several firearms, and dozens of other mechanical devices. He was the first to demonstrate the advantages of fully interchangeable parts in firearms manufacture.

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Today’s feature is by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

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We need more entries for the nonfiction writing contest.  Send ’em in!

On this day in 1941 — also a Sunday — Japanese bombers launched a surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, precipitating the entry of the United States into World War II.

On the same day, Adolf Hitler issued his Night and Fog (“Nacht und Nebel”) Decree, a secret order for the arrest and execution of “persons endangering German security.”

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On December 7, 1972, American astronaut Eugene Andrew Cernan commanded the last crewed flight to the Moon, effectively ending the Apollo program.

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On Dec. 7, 1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

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Today’s feature article is by JWR.

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We need entries for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $978,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail 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. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

On December 6, 1884, an aluminum capstone was set atop the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.. (In the 1880s, aluminum was still rare and considered precious.) At 555 feet, this made it the tallest man-made structure in the world, overtaking Cologne Cathedral.

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December 6, 1534: Quito, Ecuador, was founded by Spanish colonists on the ruins of an Incan city.

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And on December 6, 1917, the French munitions cargo ship SS Mont Blanc collided with Norwegian SS Imo in the harbor of Halifax, Canada. The resulting explosion killed at least 1,700 and injured more than 9,000 people. This event has been gauged as the world’s largest pre-atomic explosion.

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Today’s feature article is a re-post from our friend and fellow American Redoubt resident Brandon Smith. He is the editor of the free Alt-Market.us website and the by-subscription newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch. Both publications are well worth reading.

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We need some entries for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $978,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail 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. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.