Timeline for When and where did “First against the wall…” originate?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 30 at 21:26 | history | bounty ended | Dan Bron | ||
| Jan 27 at 22:39 | comment | added | Sven Yargs | John Furley, In and Out of Paris During the Commune (1872) includes this seemingly relevant phrasing: "For instance, I was one day at the Place Vendôme when a woman drew a revolver and fired at an officer. She was immediately placed against a wall and shot." I wouldn't be surprised if similar phrases turned up from even earlier sources. | |
| Jan 24 at 20:56 | comment | added | Tinfoil Hat | The places our workman against the wall text appears in 1919 (not 1940; in that 1940 publication, the 1919 text is referenced in the appendix). | |
| Jan 24 at 7:35 | comment | added | Xanne | The Romanovs were shot in a house in Yekaterinburg. | |
| Jan 24 at 7:31 | comment | added | Xanne | The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, where (possibly) Al Capone’s men shot seven members of the rival gang who were literally lined up against a wall, may be a contributing event. | |
| Jan 23 at 22:37 | comment | added | Dan Bron | Splendid job, wonderful material, I am particularly pleased by your second find. Spot on! Now we might push back the date a couple decades more, but I think that still just nails our perp at the[fomenting, depending on how far we push it back] 1917 Russian Revolution. Now I do wonder at what point it crystalized into a ready-made phrase or idiom! | |
| Jan 23 at 22:07 | history | answered | TaliesinMerlin | CC BY-SA 4.0 |