June 24 (A Triple)

217 B.C. – The Battle of Lake Trasimeno: Hannibal defeated the Romans at Lake Trasimeno in the Second Punic War.

Another victory for Hannibal on his way to Rome.

The battle was a slaughter, with the Romans suffering about 15,000 losses, compared to barely any for Hannibal...As a result of this loss, Rome was left virtually defenseless, except for its powerful city walls - but Hannibal had no means of successfully overcoming these walls.

So, Hannibal ravaged Italy, continued to crush any Roman army he met in the field, and destroyed Rome's Italian allies...His inability to seize Rome, however, eventually proved fatal for the Carthaginians. Which also proved pivotal for Western Civilization.

1917 - The Russian Black Sea fleet mutinied at Sevastopol:  WWI.

The Revolution was up and down at the time, but this mutiny gave the communists a fighting force behind its political and anarchist goals...The Black Sea Fleet was of huge importance in the next year.

For the same reasons it was so important to the Revolution, it also had to be eliminated once Lenin assumed control.

1966 - The 'Period of the Great-Power Peace in Europe' exceeded that following WWI.

Many will say 'whoopty-doo,' but this would be those who don't understand history.

For the better part of the past 2000-years Europe rarely went through any extended period of peace, and this 20-year period is truly exceptional...Of course those other years didn’t have the American super-power around to broker the peace, which has been the overriding factor in the world being in a relative truce due to the ‘Pax Americana': The 'American Peace.'

It should be noted this period of relative peace is now in its 53rd year.

1314 - The Battle of Bannockburn: The forces of Scotland's King Robert the Bruce defeated the English.

The English had a 3-1 advantage in manpower, and the dominant weapon of the period (longbow), but couldn’t overwhelm the defending forces of Robert the Bruce...As a result, the Scots were able to reestablish their independence, and the English lost their best chance to militarily force a union of the two nations into a united Britain.

FYI: I’m proud to say my family surname is descended from the 'Clan Bruce.'

1497 - The first recorded sighting of North America by a European took place when explorer John Cabot, on a voyage for England, spotted land, probably in present-day Canada.

At the time this land was considered much less valuable than that found by the Spanish and Portuguese, an opinion which proved to be infinitely shortsighted.

1509 - Henry VIII was crowned King of England.

England was in for a wild ride, and its social, religious and military history was soon turned upside down...Henry took six wives, separated England from the Roman Church, challenged the Holy Roman Emperor, united England and Wales, dissolved the monasteries, and since he didn't produce a male heir he left the kingdom in an extended period of chaos over his succession.

1793 - The first republican constitution in France was adopted.

From 1793-present the French have had five different systems of government (none of which has been worth a damn)...In this same period of time the U.S. has had one!!!

The French have been anything but stable, and have taken a thorough military ass kicking on at least three occasions during this time...So, the next time you hear people talk of French brilliance make sure to remind them of the joke they have been for the past 200+ years.

1948 - The Soviets began a blockade of Berlin, stopping all land traffic and food from entering the city from West Germany.

The Soviets were playing games and Truman reacted beautifully with the Berlin Airlift, flying in more than two million tons of supplies over the next year...This was round one of the Cold War, which was relatively COLD. And the 'Good Guys' won.