January 26

1699 - The Treaty of Carlowitz was signed: Venice, Poland, Austria and the Ottoman Empire.

This wasn't the end of the Ottoman Empire by any stretch, but it was the beginning of the end for the Ottomans as a great power in Central and Southeast European affairs...It was also a strengthening of the Habsburg monarchy in these same regions.

We can never know for certain, but I'm betting the people in these parts of Europe hated their new Austrian overlords as much as the Turks.

1340 - English King Edward III proclaimed himself King of France.

Never forget, the English kings at this time were successors of William the Conqueror - Duke of Normandy - and felt they had a rightful claim to much of France...Edward felt it was all of France.

The French put an end to this silliness, however by winning the Hundred Years' War:  1337-1453.

1784 - In a letter to his daughter, Benjamin Franklin expressed unhappiness over the choice of the eagle as the symbol of America. His personal preference was the turkey.

I like Ol’ Ben, but am so glad we don’t have a damn turkey for our national symbol.

1934 - Nazi Germany and Poland signed a ten-year non-aggression pact.

Amazingly the Nazi’s actually got half way through this agreement before they broke it...I don’t think anyone else got nearly this far.

1942 - The first American Expeditionary Force to go to Europe during World War II went ashore in Northern Ireland:  WWII.

Our troops went out to save the world...I have often wondered if the Euros would have sent their troops to the Western Hemisphere to do the same. I doubt it.

1943 - Soviet troops defeated all but 12,000 Germans trapped at Stalingrad, and freed three of the main railways:  WWII.

Hitler should've never insisted on capturing Stalingrad (or Leningrad). There was no need to invest this city, and it made much more sense to reduced it to rubble and push on...Stalingrad would have died on its own over time due to starvation, disease or chaos. Forcing the city to fight for its survival allowed Stalin to keep the city of his name alive, and eventually led to the destruction of the German 6th Army.

1998 - President Bill Clinton forcefully, and with anger, denied having an affair with a White House intern, telling reporters, "I want to say one thing to the American people...I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Clinton also said he "never told anybody to lie."

What a joker, and not for the BlewClinsky Affair.

Historically, Clinton’s presidency will be defined by the debasement of American society, and the global proliferation of nuclear and missile material and technology (China, N. Korea, Pakistan, and who knows who else)...And lets not forget he passed on a chance to apprehend Bin Laden, who was all but handed over to him by Sudan. But Billy didn't think it was necessary to accept this gift.

1999 - German Chancellor Schroeder abandoned an ambitious timetable for the planned shutdown of nuclear power plants.

I will never understand why the Germans are insisting on destroying their nuclear power plant structure…Nuclear power is the way of the future, and it is also extremely clean for the environment.

I guess they’d rather burn dirty coal and oil for power, and remain dependant of the Ruskies and Middle East for their energy demands...Or maybe they're looking at re-enlisting the Jews as a cheap energy source.