Following the Swiss victory in the Burgundian Wars, tensions between the cantons increased over the distribution of spoils of war. In 1481 they were on the bring of war between each other, but a mysterious advice from a hermit named Nicholas of Flüe brought peace! How? I explain.
Nicholas of Flüe used to be a brave soldier. He married when he was 30 and his wife gave him 10 children. However at the age of 50 he received a vision of a lily eaten by a horse which he interpreted as a call for giving up on worldly life completely, and he became a hermit!
Little is known about this part of his life other than as hermit he was greatly respected for his wisdom and piety. Called "brother Klaus", he was held in immensely high regard in Swiss cantons and beyond, people from across Europe came to seek advice from him!
So when in 1481 the Swiss cantons were at the brink of war and the Confederacy was about to fall apart, they sought advice from brother Klaus! A priest named Heini Amgrund visited this man of great wisdom and received counsel from him for the leaders of Swiss cantons.
Heini Amgrund returned to the Swiss Diet called Tagsatzung and delivered to them the wise words of counsel from Nicholas of Flüe. They listened to Nicholas' message and followed his advice. The delegates immediately reached a compromise. All the quarrels were put aside!
What was the advice that this myserious brother Klaus gave them? We will never know because it remains a secret to this day! We only have letters of gratitude from the cantons of Bern and Solothurn left. It will always be a mystery.
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This is the Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen made in 1937.
I was always fascinated with this car.
It's crazy how in 1938 this car recorded a speed of 432.7 km/h (268.9 mph). This remained the fastest ever officially timed speed on a public road until broken in 2017.
The record was set by German driver Rudolf Caracciola who drove this car on the Reichs-Autobahn A5 between Frankfurt and Darmstadt on 28 January 1938.
This reflected the obsession with breaking records and showcasing industrial prowess of nations at the time.
The onlookers who observed the spectacle of a car racing at astonishing 432.7 km/h past them also noted the brutal boom of the side spewing exhaust stacks as the silver car hurtled past.
It must have been an incredible spectacle to witness!
Hussite war wagons proved so effective that within 100 years this tactic spread from Bohemia all the way to India!
In 1526 Mughal Emperor Babur employed war wagons to win the First Battle of Panipat.
A short thread on how this style of warfare spread over the world. 🧵
The tactic of "wagenburg" (wagon fort) was adopted in the Hussite Wars (1419-1434) by the Hussites, a religious movement which fought armies of crusader knights from all over Europe.
The use of such war wagons enabled them to withstand the cavalry charges of armored knights.
The purpose of these war wagons was not just to present an obstacle for the cavalry but also to give handgunners protection to fire their weapons at the enemy.
The main weakness of handguns at the time was the long reloading time, during which handgunners were vulnerable.
There was a scene in the movie Lord of the Rings where they light signal fires to warn of an attack.
But this is how the defense system of Habsburg lands actually worked against the Ottoman threat!
A network of bonfires was in place to warn people of incoming Ottoman raids. 🧵
In the Lord of the Rings these are called the Beacon-hills of Gondor.
They are permanently manned stations across the hills where great fireplaces are kept in the state of readiness.
In this manner, people all over the kingdom can be informed of an attack quickly.
People might think this is something that belongs to the fictional world, but in 15-16th centuries the Habsburgs actually established a similar system like this.
The mountainous regions of Carniola and Styria offered many good strategic positions!
In 1927 Benito Mussolini ordered to drain the Lake Nemi south of Rome to recover the wrecks of the Nemi ships, two large pleasure barges built under the reign of the Roman emperor Caligula.
Unfortunately the remains of the ships were destroyed by fire in 1944 during WWII.
It is speculated that Nemi ships were elaborate floating palaces, with mosaic floors, heating and plumbing, baths, galleries and saloons, as well as a large variety of vines and fruit trees, similar to other Caligula's galleys described by Suetonius!
Lake Nemi is a volcanic lake which was popular by wealthy Romans due to clean air and uncontaminated water and cooler temperatures during the hot summer months.