May 23 (A Double)

1533 - Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer declared Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon void, and his marriage to Anne Boleyn legal.

Not only did Henry upset the Pope by directly challenging his spiritual authority, but he pissed off Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (Catherine’s nephew). Amazingly, he got away with it...Charles didn't have anywhere near enough naval forces to invade England, plus he had enormous problems of his own in the German states (HRE) on his eastern flank from the Ottomans.

As a result, England's place in history was in the process of changing - leaving the Catholic sphere of influence and entering the Protestant...Not just entering it, but leading it.

1618 – The Defenestration of Prague: Three opponents of the Reformation were thrown through a window.

Normally this would be an uneventful act, but it was the spark which ignited the 30-Years War.

The war started as a battle between Protestants and Catholics, and was fought primarily in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire, but eventually spread to include every major power in Europe and the New World...As such, it isn’t a stretch to consider the 30-Years War as the first World War.

1864 - The Battle of North Anna, Virginia: U.S. Civil War.  Union General Ulysses Grant attempted to outflank Robert E. Lee.

This was one of the few times Grant tried to get cute and outmaneuver Lee - he failed miserably.

Grant learned very quickly that Lee was his tactical superior, and after this battle rarely strayed from the strategy of driving straight ahead to cause as many Confederate casualties as possible...A strategy which couldn’t fail as long as Grant followed it to its natural conclusion - a rule he followed from here out.

1945 - Nazi official Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany:  WWII.

An unjust death if there ever was one...The Chicken Farmer deserved to die a long-drawn, painful death, and allowing him to go on his own terms was a crime.

1958 - Mao Tse Tung began China's 'Great Leap Forward.'

The Great Leap Forward was a plan to increase China’s industrial production, through the use of its massive amount of cheap (slave) labor...Like many of Mao’s ‘movements’ it closely resembled a bowel movement, and resulted in the death of millions of Chinese.

1960 - Israeli agents captured Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

After 15-years of living on the run, the S.S. Obersturmbannfuhrer was caught...Thankfully, unlike Himmler, justice was served at the hands of the Jews he previously aimed to slaughter.

1994 - Funeral services were held at Arlington National Cemetery for former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

I don’t mean to be a hater, and I have nothing against Jackie or JFK, but the whole Kennedy landmark at Arlington is disgusting...There are over 260,000 buried at this most honored American cemetery and there is no way the Kennedy’s should hold any honor over any other person interred there.

1997 - Iranians elected a moderate president, Mohammad Khatami, over hard-liners in the ruling Muslim clergy.

Khatami isn’t a moderate by any means, but everything is relative. And never forget, Iran is ruled by Ali Khamenei - the Supreme Leader...The role of the president is a figure-head at best, who serves at the whim of Khamenei.