Prussian Military Weather Disaster Leads To Invention....

[Weather-history]

In May 1842, thunderstorms broke out during military exercise manoeuvres near the Prussian city of Koninsberg result in scores of troops being injured or killed by lightning.

King Frederick William IV of Prussia was so shocked by what had happened that he ordered the Prussian Military Academy in Berlin to investigate how such a tragedy could be avoided in future.

In October of 1842, the Academy reported to the King that lightning conductors were the best and obvious solution but that they should be portable and therefore it was concluded that they should be fixed to the helmets of the soldiers.

In 1877, the great German Chancellor Bismarck himself in an address to the Prussian Military Academy

"...one of the proudest Prussian military achievements was the development of the portable lightning conductor for the fighting soldier on the battlefield..."

And so that is how the German helmet (pickelhaube) got its spike.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Mr_Data

[Michael Winston]

....and a Happy April 1st to you too, Mr. Data!

Regards,

Mike.

[jethro]

:lol:

Good effort Mr. D

[Weather-history]

You know good old Bismarck did wear his portable lightning conductor with pride

[Roo]

And so that is how the German helmet (pickelhaube) got its spike.

And I thought it was to aid with opening coconuts when on foreign expeditions.....

You live and learn, eh?

[cheeky_monkey]

i knew it was an april fool in the 1st line..when you mispelt koenigsberg...koninsberg...school boy error.

[Weather-history]

i knew it was an april fool in the 1st line..when you mispelt koenigsberg...koninsberg...school boy error.

Its actually spelt Konigsberg without an e! With umlaut over the o

Edited April 1, 2009 by Mr_Data

[flagpole]

i knew it was an april fool in the 1st line..when you mispelt koenigsberg...koninsberg...school boy error.

So spelling errors equal April Fools jokes? Well that's done for half the posts on here then.

[cheeky_monkey]

Its actually spelt Konigsberg without an e! With umlaut over the o

we dont have umlauts on the key board..so without it, it is spelt with an e thats is how it is pronounced in german..academic really as it is now part of russia and called kaliningrad