Saturday, May 10, 2008

Today In History: War of Conquest.

On this date in 1940, in the middle of World War Two, a great big belligerent nation invaded a tiny neutral country with hardly any armed forces.

No, I 'm not talking about Germany and Luxembourg, although that happened on the same day. I'm talking about the British invasion of Iceland on May 10, 1940.

In July of 1941, the British withdrew their troops, leaving the occupation of Iceland to the neutral (wink, wink) United States.
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10 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:42 PM, May 10, 2008

    Bad link - trim the %10

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  2. Tam1:06 PM, May 10, 2008

    Than Kyew!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous2:08 PM, May 10, 2008

    frelsi um aldar og!


    (http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/IcelOnline/IcelOnlineHome.html)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chuck Pergiel2:58 PM, May 10, 2008

    I like a little history, but you tell the most bizarre tales. First it's the ancient Egyptians and now it's Iceland. I wonder what's next?

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  5. Anonymous5:19 PM, May 10, 2008

    Wow, talk about an operation that could be taught in war colleges as the definition of half-arsed... but successful.

    I love the linked wiki, where some annoyed icelander took the rifle away from british soldier, dropped a cigarete down it in disgust, and threw the gun back to him - and told him not to hurt himself. (And then a British officer came over and reamed out the soldier.)

    Can you imagine if someon did that to a US soldier today? - I hate to say it, but suspect the US troups would be a lot more unpleasantly agressive.

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  6. Anonymous6:30 PM, May 10, 2008

    I was guessing Finland as I read the first sentence, but it turns out the Winter War started in 1939...

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  7. Tam6:51 PM, May 10, 2008

    ...and Finland was hardly unarmed.

    Although I now have three of their rifles.

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  8. phlegmfatale11:40 PM, May 10, 2008

    Does this make us related to Bjork?

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  9. Anonymous2:06 AM, May 11, 2008

    "On this date in 1940, in the middle of World War Two, a great big belligerent nation invaded a tiny neutral country with hardly any armed forces."

    Holland?

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  10. staghounds10:37 PM, May 11, 2008

    Not roughing up or killing an unarmed civilian who was angry that his country was being invaded shows a lot more good sense that would an "unpleasantly aggressive" response.

    Isn't Iceland's parliament the oldest continually operating elected legislature on the planet?

    And, Phlegm, it's alright to be related to Bjork. Just don't wear the outfits.

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