Annie Oakley (#60)

Background

Phoebe Ann Moses was born on August 13, 1860 near Woodland, Ohio. She was the daughter of Susan Wise and Jacob Moses, the sixth child in a family of Quaker farmers. In 1866, Jacob Moses died of pneumonia and overexposure to freezing weather, leaving his family in a state of poverty.

Phoebe Ann, or Annie, began to hunt at the age of eight to support her mother and her sibling and became known for her hunting skills, but in 1870, Annie was sent to the Darke County Infirmary where she was taught to sew and decorate. She was then sent to a local family to help care for their infant son. Instead of this, Annie was forced to do many of the chores around the house and was put through both mental and physical abuse. This family, known by Annie referred to as "the wolves", didn't even give any the money she was due for her services.

In 1872, Annie returned to her family and continued to hunt for money and by the age of 15, she had paid off the mortgage on her mother's farm.

Shooting Career

On Thanksgiving Day 1875, the Baughman and Butler shooting act was being performed in Cincinnati. Marksman Francis E. Butler placed a $100 bet with hotel owner Jack Frost that he, Butler, could beat any local shooter in a competition. Frost arranged for Butler to compete with the then 15-year-old Annie. On the 25th shot of the match, Butler missed his shot, losing the match and the bet. He began courting Annie soon afterwards and married her on August 23, 1876.

Annie and Butler began to perform together, and Annie took the name "Oakley" after the neighborhood that they lived in. In 1885, Annie and Butler joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Because she was an excellent shooter but only stood 5 feet tall, Sitting Bull referred to her as "Watanya Cicilla", or Little Sure Shot, which would become her name in public advertisements. When the show went to Europe, Annie performed for Queen Victoria, King Umberto I of Italy, PResident Marie Francois Sadi Carnot of France. She had such good aim that, at his request, Annie was able to shoot the ashes off a cigarette held by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Some say that if Annie had missed and hit Wilhelm instead, she might have stopped WWI from happening.

During her time as a sharpshooter, Annie fought for women's rights, saying that women should be allowed in the military and should be taught how to use a gun. It is estimated that in her lifetime, Annie taught 15,000 women how to use a gun.

The End

In 1901, Annie was hurt in a train accident which left her in temporary paralysis that was fixed after five spinal operations. In 1902, Annie left the Wild West Show and began a career in acting, though she continued to set records in shooting until 1922. On November 3,1926, Annie died of pernicious anemia. Annie is on our list for overcoming both height and gender barriers and becoming one of the greatest sharpshooters the world has ever scene.

The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (August 23rd)

In 1939, Adolf Hitler was preparing Germany for war. Hitler's first target was Poland. Unfortunately, Poland was protected by both France and Britain, and if the two powers of Western Europe entered the war, the Soviet Union, the major power of the East, might also enter the war. In World War I, Germany had also learned the consequences of fighting a two-front war, so Hitler sought to keep the U.S.S.R. from fighting.

On August 14, 1939, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyaaheslav Molotov, the Foreighn Ministers of Germany and the U.S.S.R., respectively, met in Moscow to arrange the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.

Publicly, the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was an agreement that Germany and Germany would not attack each other, but Ribbentrop and Molotov also included a secret protocol to the pact.

In the secret protocol, the Soviet Union would not attack when Germany invaded Poland, and in return, Germany would give the Baltic States and part of Poland to the Soviet Union. Even after World War II ended, the very existence of the protocol was denied by the Soviet Union until 1989.

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland, and the Soviet Union did nothing. Britain declared war on Germany two days later. The Non-Aggression Pact allowed Hitler to take Poland and fight the France and Britain without Stalin's intervention. The pact stayed in effect until June 22, 1941, when Hitler made a surprise attack on the Soviet Union, bringing Stalin into World War II.

Alvin York (#72)

Background

Alvin Cullum York was born on December 13, 1887 was born in a log cabin in Pall Mall, Tennessee, the third of eleven children born to Mary Brooks and William York. William York worked as a farmer and a blacksmith, and the family collected its own wood and made their own clothing. Alvin York only attended school for nine months because his father wanted him to help run the farm and hunt game. In 1911, William York died, and because Alvin was he oldest sibling still in the country, he supported the family as a logger and as a railroad worker. During this time, he gained a reputation as an alcoholic and as a fighter. This continued until 1915, when he converted to Christianity. He joined the Church of Christ in Christian Union, which was opposed to all forms of violence.

World War I

Because of his religious views, York was worried when the United States entered World War I in 1917. York, like all other men between the ages of 21 and 31, was forced to sign up for the draft. On his draft form, there was a question that read "Do you claim exemption from draft?", and York responded by writing "Yes. Don't want to fight." His claim was denied. He was drafted into the United States Army and served in Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Infantry Division at Camp Gordon, Georgia. Other soldiers convinced York of the morality of the war, and York became convinced that God would keep him safe.

Medal of Honor

Under the command of Sergeant Bernard Early, Cpl. York and seventeen others went behind German lines to take out the machine guns. The group made their way to the German headquarters, capturing a large group of German soldiers, but while dealing with the prisoners, the group was showered with machine gun fire. Nine soldiers were killed, including Sergeant Early. This left York in charge of the remaining seven U.S. soldiers. He told his men to get undercover, then York worked his way to the German machine guns. The machine guns began open firing at York, who returned fire with his rifle. Even though there were over 30 Germans on duty around the machine guns, York picked them off, one by one. When six Germans charged him with bayonets, he drew his Colt automatic pistol and shot all the soldiers before they reached him. After emptying his pistol while trying to hit York, German First Lieutenant Paul Jurgen Vollmer offered to surrender the unit to York, who accepted. York and his seven men marched back to American lines with 132 German prisoners. York was honored with the American  Distinguished Service Cross, the Medal of Honor, the French Croix de Guerre and Legion of Honor, and the Italian Croce di Guerra al Merito.

The End

York's story was relatively unknown until 1919, when his story was published by George Patullo in the Saturday Evening Post, which made him an American hero. He died on September 2, 1964 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Over the course of his life, he received over fifty decorations. Alvin York is on our list because he has one of the most epic war stories of all time. He is a true hero of the battlefield.

#20 Rasputin

Like with the explorers, I have made a list of the most influential assassinations in history on a worldwide scale.

20 Rasputin
Grigory Yefimovich Novykh (c.1865-1916) was better known as Rasputin, meaning 'dissolute'. Although we do not know when Rasputin was born, we do know that he was first heard of in the Russian court around 1903. He was said to be a monk from Siberia who could heal the sick and accurately predict drought. In December of 1903, he appeared in the religious academy in St. Petersburg. Rasputin was known by some royal members already, including the Grand Duke Nicholas, whose dog Rasputin was said to have healed, and Grand Duchess Militsa, who introduced Rasputin to the royal palace to see if he could cure the tsar's son, Alexis, a chronic hemophiliac. Although the royal doctors were very suspicious, Rasputin seemed to have a healing affect every time the son had internal or external bleeding. Rasputin later admitted to a friend that the cure he used was a combination of hypnosis, Siberian drugs, and willpower. Rasputin used his position in the royal household to gain influence over the Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsarina Alexandra. He referred to the royal couple as fellow peasants, which Nicholas II was fine with, but the rest of the Russian nobles saw as an outrage. When government ministers tried to complain about Rasputin's behavior. Even the Metropolitan of Russia, the country's leading churchman, complained, but was told that the imperial family's affairs were none of his business. Rasputin was being kept safe by the tsarina's adoration for him. When WW1 broke out, Rasputin deeply opposed the war, but his drunkenness, sexual promiscuity, and willingness to accept bribes kept his reputation from getting any better. By 1915, almost all new ministers needed Rasputin's approval and Rasputin was known to yell at the prime minister. Rasputin, at one point in the war, wanted to go and bless the troops before they fought, but Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander-in-chief (who was once a supporter of Rasputin) threatened to hang Rasputin if he showed up. This threat caused Rasputin to tell the tsar that the army would fail unless the tsar personally led the army. Tsar Nicholas II decided to go to battle, and while he was away, Rasputin convinced Tsarina Alexandra to fill all government and military offices with Rasputin's handpicked candidates. On the battle field in 1916, all Russian troops were retreating except for the army of General Brusilov, and Russia's economy was in ruins. It was as Russia retreated that the Russian ministers finally stood up against Rasputin. Led by Prince Felix Yusupov, a noble who attended Oxford and was to marry the tsar's niece, a group of ministers and nobles plotted against Rasputin. The prince invited Rasputin to his house to meet his wife, who was not there. While Rasputin was at the house, the prince fed him poisoned cakes and wine in the cellar while the rest of the conspirators waited upstairs. After seeing that the poison had no effect on Rasputin, Yusupov gathered the other conspirators and the group went back to the cellar and shot Rasputin in the chest at point blank range. After pronouncing the body dead, some of the conspirators went home, while the rest discussed what they should do next from the main room of the house. When the prince went down to check on Rasputin, Rasputin opened his eyes, grabbed the princes throught and ripped of Yusupov's shoulder piece before the prince ran back up the stairs. The conspirators heard Rasputin climb up the stairs, and as he came through the door, shot him two more times. As he was lying on the floor, the assassins found that Rasputin had not died, but was still breathing with one eye open. The prince then grabbed a metal press and beat it against Rasputin's head until the assassins took Rasputin down to the river and threw it in, but Rasputin didn't drown. When his body was found three days later, an autopsy showed that Rasputin had died of hypothermia. After being buried by the tsar on January 3rd of 1917, but was dug up again a month later during a revolution, and his body was burned in a bonfire. Yusupov was never arrested or tried, and later wrote an account of the plot while in exile. Rasputin's death was not very important, other than the fact that it freed the royal family from his power, but this death is very entertaining and drawn out.

Information From...
ASSASSINATED!
By Steven PArissien