Formula One champ kidnapped


Year
1958
Month Day
February 23

On February 23, 1958, five-time Formula One champion Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina is kidnapped in Cuba by a group of Fidel Castro’s rebels.

Fangio was taken from his Havana hotel the day before the Cuba Grand Prix, an event intended to showcase the island nation. He was released unharmed several hours after the race. The kidnapping was intended to bring international embarrassment to Cuban President Fulgencio Batista, whose government Castro would overthrow on January 1, 1959.

In addition to Fangio’s kidnapping, the Cuba Grand Prix was marred by tragedy when a Cuban driver named Armando Garcia Cifuentes lost control of his car on an oil-slicked part of the street course and plowed into a crowd on onlookers. Seven people were killed and dozens more injured. The crash led to immediate speculation that Castro’s followers had sabotaged the course by coating it with oil; however, it was later believed that a broken oil line in a car driven by Argentina’s Roberto Mieres was the cause of the slick spot.

The kidnapping incident occurred at the end of Juan Manuel Fangio’s storied career. Fangio, who was born on June 24, 1911, in Balcarce, Argentina, quit school at the age of 11 to work as a mechanic’s assistant and as a young man raced “souped-up passenger cars on the unpaved roads of South America,” according to his 1995 obituary in The New York Times. After modern Formula One racing began in 1950, Fangio collected his first world championship in 1951. He repeated this feat in 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. Fangio left racing in 1958, stating that the cars had become too fast and dangerous. According to the Times: “That he survived to enjoy his wealth despite racing in an era without seat belts and fire-retardant uniforms was a credit to his skills, the cars he drove and no small measure of luck.”

Fangio died in Buenos Aires at the age of 84 on July 17, 1995. His record of five Formula One world titles stood until 2003, when Germany’s Michael Schumacher won his sixth world championship (Schumacher retired in 2006 with a total of seven world titles).

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Friedrich von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge


Year
1778
Month Day
February 23

Friedrich Wilhelm Rudolf Gerhard August, Freiherr von Steuben, a Prussian military officer, arrives at General George Washington’s encampment at Valley Forge on February 23, 1778 and commences training soldiers in close-order drill, instilling new confidence and discipline in the demoralized Continental Army.

Baron von Steuben, as he is better known, was the son of a military engineer and became a Prussian officer himself at the age of 17. He served with distinction and was quickly promoted from infantry to Frederick the Great’s General Staff. In 1763, at age 33 and with the rank of captain, he was discharged for unknown reasons. His title of freiherr, or baron, came with his subsequent post as chamberlain (or palace manager) to the petty court of Hohenzollern-Hechingen in Swabia, or the southwestern Holy Roman Empire, in what is now Baden-Wuerrtemberg. Employed by an indebted prince, von Steuben searched for more lucrative employment in foreign armies. The French minister of war recommended von Steuben to Benjamin Franklin as a resource to the Continental Army in 1777. Franklin in turn passed on word of Steuben’s availability to Washington, and by February 23, 1778, he was among the desperate Continentals camped at Valley Forge.

READ MORE: George Washington’s Tent: The First Oval Office

Von Steuben, who did not speak English, drafted a drill manual in French, which Alexander Hamilton and Nathanael Greene then translated into English. The Prussian drill techniques he shared were far more advanced than those of other European armies, let alone those of the ragtag Patriots. The ego-crushing methods of modern boot camp were practiced among the shoeless soldiers of Valley Forge with remarkable efficacy. Most important for 18th-century battle was an efficient method of firing and reloading weapons, which von Steuben forced the Patriots to practice until it became second nature.

Before von Steuben’s arrival, colonial American soldiers were notorious for their slovenly camp conditions. Von Steuben insisted on reorganization to establish basic hygiene. He demanded that kitchens and latrines be put on opposite sides of the camp, with latrines facing a downhill slope. (Just having latrines was novelty to the Continental troops who were accustomed to living among their own filth.)

On the merit of his efforts at Valley Forge, Washington recommended that von Steuben be named inspector general of the Continental Army; Congress complied. In this capacity, von Steuben propagated his methods throughout the Patriot forces by circulating his Blue Book, entitled Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States.

READ MORE: Winter at Valley Forge: George Washington’s Most Dismal Christmas Ever

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