August 2

216 B.C. – The Battle of Cannae: Second Punic War.  Hannibal crushed a Roman Army at Cannae, Italy.

Hannibal routed the Romans, making superb use of the terrain, his elephants and executing a perfect 'double envelopment' in one of the most famous battles in history.

How overwhelming were the Carthaginians in this battle? Hannibal had significantly less troops (the Romans had one of the largest field armies they ever sent out to battle), but handed the Romans almost 70,000 casualties, compared to less than 20,000 of his own.

That said, Hannibal won battles, but like many great invaders he was unable to conquer Rome...As a result, the Romans eventually destroyed and ended Carthaginian civilization - literally.

1776 - The Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4th, was actually signed by members of the Continental Congress:  American Revolutionary War.

I bet you thought the declaration was signed on July 4th...It isn’t important when they ‘formally’ signed the document. It is important when they declared their intentions, which was July 4th.

1802 - Napoleon declared himself 'Consul for Life.'

He only kept this title for a year and a half before taking an even bigger leap, naming himself Emperor.

1934 - Adolf Hitler declared himself Fuhrer (leader) of Germany, and the German Armed Forces swore a 'Holy Oath' to Hitler personally.

1. It’s wasn't chance that Hitler picked this day (same as Napoleon crowning himself emperor).

2. Many have tried to wash away the sins of the German Army when it comes to Hitler and his crazy Nazis, but it must be noted there would have been no Fuhrer without their loyalty to him...History should not be kind to the Wehrmacht on this issue, in which they had every opportunity to depose of - instead of empowering - the madman.

1939 - Albert Einstein signed his famous letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging the American government to support research toward an atomic bomb. After the bombing of Hiroshima, Einstein stated, "I could burn my fingers that I wrote that first letter to Roosevelt."

Einstein’s quote is very famous, and extremely short-sighted...The Germans were the dominant scientific nation of the time, and there was no way to know the Allies would defeat them before they created their own atomic weapon.

And there is little doubt Hitler would have made much more horrific, and frequent, use of such a weapon...Same with the Japanese if they had the opportunity.

Einstein was a math and physics genius, but his moral compass was short circuited.

1964 - The Pentagon reported the first of two attacks on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin:  Vietnam War.

Was it a fake report? Maybe...Was the war inevitable either way? The U.S. had an official doctrine of 'containing communism,' so war was going to happen either way.

1983 - The U.S. House of Representatives voted 338-90 to designate the third Monday in January a federal holiday in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This should have been Civil Rights Day...There were too many who had a large roll in the process to give it to one person, even though MLK was the logical choice if they insisted on naming it after a specific person.

1990 - Iraq invaded Kuwait, seizing control of the oil-rich emirate. President GHW Bush condemned the incursion as an act of "naked aggression."

Today’s Democrats claim the second war with Iraq was wrong, but the first one was proper because the 'international community' agreed with it.

Lets look back: Only ten Democrat Senators voted to back Bush in 1991...The same double-talking SOB’s voted against the first, just as they did in the second - even though, after the fact, they claim they supported the first.

SOB's indeed!