A prolonged period of conflict during which each side seeks to wear down the other by a series of small-scale actions.
War of attrition
Fact of the Day
The eighteenth-century evangelical preacher George Whitefield considered it a badge of honour that, along with rotten fruit, he might be pelted by 'pieces of dead cats'.
Quote of the Day
"It's ever been the British way, that we are powerless to expel foreigners, but puissant and bold when it comes to making civil war.
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~ Gildas (6th century)
On This Day
1316 Robert the Bruce's brother, Edward, defeats Edmund Butler at Ardscull, Co. Kildare.
1500 Spanish sailor Vincente Yáñez Pinzón became the first European to land in Brazil.
1765 Byron the poet's great uncle kills a man in a Pall Mall pub after an argument about wildlife management, and specifically who had more deer on his estate.
1788 The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, established the first colony in Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour).
1823 Edward Jenner, the pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, died of a stroke.
1871 The Rugby Football Union was formed in London, by an initial 21 clubs.
1905 Maria von Trapp was born in Vienna. Her story inspired the musical The Sound of Music.
1926 John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of live television.
1942 The first American forces arrive in Europe, landing in Northern Ireland, in preparation to fight in World War II.
1950 The Constitution of India came into force, which established the Republic of India.
1952 At least 20 people were killed and hundreds injured in anti-British riots in Cairo.
1982 The number of unemployed people in Britain rose above three million for the first time since the 1930s.