October 19

202 B.C. – The Battle of Zama:  Rome v. Carthage.

The Battle of Zama is one of the five most important battles in Western history, fought between two of the super-powers of the ancient World, and was the decisive battle of the Second Punic War.

Prior to Zama, Rome was in dire straits, losing just about every battle in Europe against Hannibal...Hannibal kicked the Romans around for years, but had no ability to force a siege of the Roman walls, which made it impossible for him to defeat Rome.

The Romans realized they couldn’t defeat Hannibal in the open battlefield, so they put together an army led by Scipio Africanus to invade Carthage...The Carthaginians were caught completely off-guard, and Hannibal was unable to get back to Zama in time to change the outcome of the battle.

As a result, Carthage was forever weakened, and never powerful enough to threaten Rome again. A fact which destined the West to a Roman Civilization instead of a possible Carthaginian one.

439 - The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, conquered Carthage in North Africa.

North Africa was an important part of the Roman Empire, but the decline of the region began its slide from the West (not just from Rome, but from Western Civilization) with this event...The Vandals and other Germanic people held it for awhile, and the Byzantines for another short period until the Muslims conquered North Africa in the 7th Century - removing North Africa from the sphere of Western Civilization; forever lessening its standing from what it had previously been.

1448 - Ottoman Sultan Murat II defeated Hungarian General Janos Hunyadi at Kosovo, Serbia.

The Ottoman Empire was growing by leaps and bounds, and this victory gave them virtual control of the Balkans, and an invasion route into Central Europe.

That said, the Serbs lost the battle, but never quit fighting the war, which continues to this day.

1453 - The Hundred Years War ended:  England v. France.

The Hundred Years War was actually 116-years long, not 100, and was the result of over 400-years of French, English, Viking, and Norman confrontations.

The result of the war was the end of English territorial claims in France, and is noted as the ‘end of chivalry,’ with the increased use of standing armies, the longbow and gunpowder.

1812 - Napoleon Bonaparte began the retreat of his Grande Armie from Moscow.

The Emperor invaded Russia with 500,000 of his finest troops...He returned to France with around 20,000.

Napoleon was bested by 'General Winter' and the Russian's willingness to suffer, beginning a string of losses for the brilliant commander...Fortunately, the next great European tyrant (Hitler) made the same mistake.

1926 - The Russian Politburo expelled Leon Trotsky and his followers.

Stalin took firm control of the Soviet Union, and tossed his greatest political nemesis out on his ass...Then Uncle Joe spent the next 15-years searching for him all over the globe - for elimination.

1951 - President Truman signed an act formally ending the state of war with Germany:  WWII.

The war ended in 1945, but the state of war ended six years later...This is important to remember in our current and future wars.

2005 - Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of murder and torture as his long-awaited trial began with the one-time dictator arguing about the legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards.

Who knows how many Saddam tortured, but we know he killed a million or so...No big deal, I guess.

September 26

1414 - The export of gunpowder from England was prohibited.

Every era has seen the hope of banning weapons technology and keeping them in the hands of those who have them...And every era has seen these efforts fail.

War is a constant in the human condition, and the human desire to procure the means of making war are stronger than those to stop war.
 
The Clausewitz-Pero Corollary
Clausewitz: “War is the continuation of Politics by other means."
Pero: “Politics is the continuation of War by other means.”

Clausewitz was correct, but he had the ordering wrong.  War came first, and is a natural human instinct...Politics is the civilized method of warfare. Even when it is barely civil.

1371 - The Battle of Maritsa.

Another in the long process of the Turks overwhelming the Balkans, defeating the Serbians.

Had it not been for the Crusaders and the Habsburg Empire, the Ottomans might have overwhelmed all of Europe.

1580 - Sir Francis Drake returned to England with a shipload of loot from the Spanish after the first successful circumnavigation of the globe by an Englishman.

Drake was a great naval commander...And an even greater pirate.

1789 - Thomas Jefferson was appointed America's first Secretary of State; John Jay the first Chief Justice of the United States; Samuel Osgood the first Postmaster-General; and Edmund Jennings Randolph the first Attorney General.

The young nation was evolving, and luckily had many brilliant, fertile minds to choose from.

Thank God the modern-day idiots weren't around back then, or the ‘American Experiment’ would have blown up in the lab.

1913 - The first boat was raised in the locks of the Panama Canal.

The world shrunk with this event...No longer would commerce have to travel to the tip of South America (a terribly dangerous trip, due to weather patterns) to get to and from Europe and Africa to the U.S. West Coast or the Orient.

This event also greatly reduced the importance of the South American countries bypassed due to the Canal crossing (Brazil, Chile, etc.)

1941 - Nazis slaughtered about 34,000 Jews in Kiev:  WWII.

34,000 in 24 hours = 1,400+/hour = 23+/minute.

An impressive day for the 'Master Race Killing Machine'...Especially considering this was before the 'Final Solution' perfected the gassing/oven technique.

1960 - The first televised debate between presidential candidates Richard Nixon and John Kennedy took place.

Kennedy looked and sounded great...Nixon looked like a sweaty corpse, and sounded like Hell.

Needless to say, this event went a long way in JFK getting elected...That and the Mob, of course.

July 28

1914 - Austria declared war on Serbia, marking the start of World War I.

The First World War, the Great War, the War of the Nations and the War to End All Wars...The first three of those names are reasonable, but the last one is a cruel joke.

Sadly, WWI led to over 15,000,000 civilian and battle deaths...Even more sadly, it didn’t come to a conclusive finish, and another 40,000,000+ deaths and the destruction of most of Europe and much of Asia followed in the 1930's and 1940's.

As a result, the peace treaty which ended the war was nothing more than the establishment of a ‘phony peace’ and a path towards WWII.

1588 - The Spanish Armada set sail to overthrow England's Queen Elizabeth I.

Two days till one of the most important naval battles in history...And it didn’t turn out well for the Grande y Felicissima Armada - "large and most fortunate fleet".

1794 - Maximilien Robespierre was guillotined. Known as 'The Incorruptible,' he launched the French Revolution's 'Reign of Terror.'

I guess this is a perfect example of the old saying: "Those who live by the sword (guillotine), die by the sword (guillotine)."

1866 - The metric system was authorized for the standardization of weights and measures throughout the United States.

I’m a traditionalist, but the metric system is so superior to the U.S. Customary Unit System...Any time a system of 10’s can be used it should, and our current system is almost impossible to memorize.

For once I will give it to the Euros - we should change 100%.

1868 - The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, establishing citizenship for American blacks and guaranteeing due process of law, was ratified.

The 14th is one of the most important Amendments, even though many question its legitimacy because it was forced on the Southern states as a prerequisite to rejoin the Union...Such are the spoils of war. The Southerners made their bed, and this was a condition of getting out of it.

Unfortunately,  much legal gymnastics has been done by the Left to pursue their radical agenda through the bastardization of this amendment.

1931 - The U.S. Congress established 'The Star-Spangled Banner' as the national anthem.

What a brilliant song:

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

I’m sure you are familiar with this portion of the song, but there are three other parts...Click here to see the lyrics, hear the tune and read a history of the Star Spangled Banner.

1943 - President Franklin Roosevelt announced the end of coffee rationing:  WWII.

Whoa!!! Can you imagine if the president did this in our time? I can already see the ACLU(seless) running wild, complaining about civil rights being trampled on.

Psychos.

1945 - The U.S. Senate ratified the United Nations Charter.

The U.N. is the most corrupt, unethical, crooked entity in the world, and the U.S. is it's major benefactor...Which makes us guilty by association.

1995 - A jury in Union, South Carolina, rejected the death penalty for Susan Smith, sentencing her instead to life in prison for drowning her two young sons. She will be eligible for parole after 30-years.

1. This mother strapped her kids into a car, locked the doors and rolled them into a lake to die by asphyxiation due to drowning...Is there a worse way to die?

2. Senator Ted Kennedy (the Duke of Chappaquiddick Bay) did more or less the same thing (only one victim, though), but received little more than a few months probation...Mrs. Smith should have appealed to get double what Teddy got.

3. Had Susan Smith executed her children before they were born there would have been no consequences for her...So she decided to perform a post-term abortion?!?! Either way you have dead kids, but who are we to deny her the 'right to choose' to kill them?

All kidding aside, THIS PATHETIC BITCH KILLED HER CHILDREN!!! The worst crime imaginable...And she didn't even do it in a quick, 'humane' way. They suffered and had to think through their deaths and wonder why their MOMMY was doing it to them.

Susan Smith deserved the death penalty, and justice was screwed by the decision to give her life in prison - with an opportunity for parole.

Here's hoping justice is eventually served at the hands of a shank-wielding bull dyke in the pen.

July 23

1532 - A Turkish invasion forced Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to agree to peace with his Protestant enemies.

The role of the Turks in the success of the Protestant Reformation isn’t given enough credit for the success of the Reformation...If Charles didn’t have to fight constant battles with the Ottomans - guarding his eastern flank - it is much less likely he would have been outmaneuvered (politically, economically, and militarily) by his European enemies.

1914 - Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the killing of Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb assassin.

The tinder-box was about to blow and the world soon witnessed the greatest war to that time.

1979 - Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini, who overthrew the Shah of Iran and made the country a theocracy, laid down the law on music. He said, "Music is no different from opium. Music affects the human mind in a way that makes people think of nothing but music and sensual matters."

What a bizarre edict, but nothing out of the norm for this bizarre man. Plus, it was almost directly from the Koran itself.

Unfortunately, Khomeini's importance on the Islamist movement is huge, and the world is paying dearly for allowing such a man - and ideology - to take power in Iran.

1990 - President GHW Bush announced his choice of Judge David Souter of New Hampshire to succeed retiring Justice William J. Brennan on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ugh!!! Bush had good intentions, but Souter turned out to be one of the most Liberal voices on the Supreme Court...Which is why it's important to remember the Rule of Good Intentions:  'The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intentions.'