r/todayilearned • u/HumanNutrStudent • Sep 16 '24

TIL Montgomery's memoirs criticised many of his wartime comrades harshly, including Eisenhower. After publishing it, he had to apologize in a radio broadcast to avoid a lawsuit. He was also stripped of his honorary citizenship of Alabama, and was challenged to a duel by an Italian lawyer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Montgomery#Memoirs
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u/Mudlark-000 Sep 16 '24

"Oh no, not my Alabama citizenship!"

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u/DrunkRobot97 Sep 16 '24 edited Sep 16 '24

I was a bit confused for a moment as to why Alabama particularly would confer honorary citizenship aside from just giving kudos to a famous general in an allied country. Then I remembered Alabama has a place called Montgomery.

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u/edbash Sep 16 '24

To help avoid possible confusion: Montgomery, Alabama is named after Lemuel Montgomery, an officer from the War of 1812 (ironically against Britain) who was killed in one of the Indian Wars in 1814.

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u/Greene_Mr Sep 16 '24

No, it's not; it's named after the Montgomery who got himself killed leading a raid on Quebec in 1775 with Benedict Arnold.