Learning Skills

Article of the day for August 27, 2020 is Operation PBFortune . Operation PBFortune was a covert United States operation to overthrow the democratically elected Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz (pictured) in 1952. The operation was planned by the Central Intelligence Agency and authorized by President Harry Truman. It was motivated by US fears that Árbenz was being influenced by communists, and lobbied for by the United Fruit Company. The operation was planned with the support of Anastasio Somoza García, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo and Marcos Pérez Jiménez, the dictators of Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, respectively. The plan involved providing weapons to the exiled Guatemalan military officer Carlos Castillo Armas, who was to lead an invasion from Nicaragua. US secretary of state Dean Acheson became concerned that the coup attempt would damage the image of the US and terminated the operation. Two years later, another covert CIA action, Operation PBSuccess, toppled ...

By BY LALEH KHADIVI from NYT Books https://ift.tt/2YBHUJW

With a high of 73F and a low of 65F.

By BY JENNIFER SZALAI from NYT Books https://ift.tt/31t0ypa

By BY ALEX MARSHALL from NYT Books https://ift.tt/2YCCRZx

Article of the day for August 26, 2020 is Battle of Crécy . The Battle of Crécy was fought on 26 August 1346 in north-east France during the Hundred Years' War. It resulted in a victory for a greatly outnumbered English army led by King Edward III over the French led by King Philip VI and heavy loss of life among the French. The English prepared a defensive position on a hillside near Crécy-en-Ponthieu. After the French mercenary crossbowmen were routed by English longbowmen, French cavalry made repeated charges. They had to force their way uphill over muddy ground across pits dug by the English, while taking heavy casualties from the longbowmen. The ensuing hand-to-hand combat against the English men-at-arms was described as "murderous, without pity, cruel, and very horrible". The French charges continued late into the night, all with the same fierce fighting, until the French were repulsed. The battle established the effectiveness of the longbow as a dominant wea...

By BY PARUL SEHGAL from NYT Books https://ift.tt/2EtlqUm