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.