It is 1334 BC, and Pharaoh Akhenaten has just died without a son.

Happy Endings Part 19
Pharoah MosesHe is succeeded by Prince Moses, his sister's adopted child. Since Moses enthusiastically shared Akhenaten's new religious views,which replaced the old polytheism with a belief in Aten the One Sun God, the late Pharaoh had chosen his nephew for the throne.

The new Pharaoh Moses-aten continued to worship Aten while requiring his countrymen to do the same. Since the Hebrew slaves also worshipped one God, Moses set them free, knowing that they would be his most enthusiastic supporters. To make things simpler for these simple folks, he condensed the hundreds of Egyptian commandments down to a list of Ten.

And that is why the Faith of Aten is still followed throughout all of Egypt, and indeed the entire Middle East.

In 1895, on this day the thirty-seventh Vice President of the United States Christian Archibald Herter was born in Paris, France.

Birth of VP HerterHe previously served as fifth-ninth governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1957. During this controversial term of office, he famously appointed Republican candidate Henry Cabot Lodge to the Senate after a Democrat, thirty-seven year old John F. Kennedy was tragically killed by a Urinary track-infection surgery in October of 1954.

Of course President Eisenhowever might secretly have wished that such a malady would strike his hateful Vice President Richard M. Nixon. But instead as his own re-election neared, it became clear to him and his staffers that the President's fragile health was sufficiently weak as to seriously risk Nixon being ushered into office through succession. He offered Nixon his choice of cabinet post and replaced him on the ticket with Herter. Forced to choose, Nixon selected Defence, and alongside the CIA set about organizing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that would overthrow the Communist Regime in Cuba.

By 1854, as the nineteenth century showed the continued waning of the Ottoman Empire, the "Eastern Question" asked what to do with the "Sick Man of Europe". In its heyday, the empire ruled from the ancient Byzantine capital of Constantinople over lands stretching from the Balkans to Mesopotamia across North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.

March 28, 1854 - France and Britain join Eastern WarWhile the Ottomans seemed to maintain eternal war with Austria and Russia over influence in the Balkans, nations such as Spain and France pushed back its control to Tunisia. In 1832, the Greeks won their independence with aid from France, the United Kingdom, and, especially, Russia. The Ottomans faced further revolts from the Janissaries as well as a rebellion by Muhammad Ali, the Wali of Egypt. In the 1830s, Ali's wars secured independence for Egypt and Sudan and then marched outward, seizing Syria and Arabia. Ali was finally defeated by military action backing up the Convention of London, where the major powers of Europe agreed to make him hereditary ruler of Egypt in exchange for his conquered lands.

Another challenge to the Ottomans came when Napoleon III, newly upon the throne of France, gave a show of force and demanded to be made the defender of Christian citizens in empire. The Ottomans refused, citing the 1774 Treaty of Kücük Kaynarca with Russia, which named the Tsar the defender of Orthodox Christians, a position which had been used to step in on affairs involving Greece. Eventually the Ottomans caved to Napoleon's demands, inciting Nicholas I of Russia to move troops to the border on the Danube. When the sultan rejected (at Britain's advice) a new treaty granting Russia control of Orthodox as France had authority over Catholic Christianity, Nicholas invaded the Ottomans' Danubian provinces. After having ruled Russia for nearly thirty years, serving as the "Policeman of Europe" and aiding in the suppression of the Revolutions of 1848, Nicholas felt that he had earned the conquest.

The rest of Europe, however, convened at Vienna, hoping to find a diplomatic solution that did not contribute to the expansion of Russian power. On the surface, Nicholas agreed with their new treaty, but he began maneuvers under the table toward France, promising them North Africa in exchange for bringing down the Ottoman Empire. When the Sultan refused to agree to the ambiguous treaty set forth at Vienna, France marched out and joined the Russian cause. The other nations were shocked but realized that the time had come to solve the Eastern Question. Austria hurried to join the Russian alliance and secure influence on lands soon to be liberated in the Balkans. Prussia, with nothing to gain, maintained its neutrality. Britain alone stood alongside the Ottomans, attempting to maintain status quo in the Middle East.A new article by Jeff Provine

The Eastern War dragged on for three years, Alexander II succeeding his father in 1855. Despite the clear military advantage of the Franco-Russo-Austrian alliance, they were beleaguered by antiquated leadership. French forces liberated Egypt and then became cut off by British naval superiority in the Mediterranean. The British were able to shell French fortifications from sea, but could make no headway and faced humiliations such as the Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Tunis. In the Balkans, trains and telegraphy proved effective, but the masses of troops in movement brought unprecedented levels of disease. Photography enabled an explosion of war-journalism, which ultimately contributed to the disgust of the public. Britain suffered a "snowball riot" on January 21, 1855, when protesters threw snowballs and eventually had to be quelled by soldiers.

Due to the unpopularity of the war, Britain began discussing peace through Prussia as an arbiter for peace in 1856. The Ottoman Empire was shrunk to Asia Minor, and its many provinces became nation-states while Palestine was granted a special international protectorate status to preserve rights to Catholicism and Orthodoxy there. No sooner had the diplomats signed the documents than the industrialists swarmed into the region, attempting to dominate new markets. France with its heavy influence in Egypt had a head start in the Middle East and began construction on the lucrative Suez Canal as soon as the war was over. Britain reinforced relations with Persia as a buffer for its colonies in India. In the Balkans, the Austrians and Russians attempted to exert control over the new nations. When the Austro-Prussian War began in 1866, Russia and Italy contributed, tearing the empire apart much as had been done to the Ottomans. Italy affirmed itself with the Third War of Unification adding Venice, and Prussia formed a German Empire out of its German Confederation, seizing extensive lands from the fallen Austrians.

For two generations, enormous empires sprawled over Europe. France and Britain competed abroad while Germany and Russia divided Eastern Europe. New major world powers arose as Japan defeated Russia in the Pacific, and the United States made a tour of its Great White Fleet. The empires came to battle after the assassination of German Crown Prince William in 1914 by a secret society bent on ending exterior influence in the Balkans while he was touring Sarajevo. Germany invaded Serbia, Russia moved in to protect it, prompting its ally France to move on Germany. Britain came in as an ally against France, spreading the war over the globe. Eventually Germany defeated Russia, sparking a civil war that would lead to a new Communist regime, ideas which spread to France's many lost colonies and to France itself, creating a Second World which came into an ideological Cold War with the First.

In 1979, a broken cooling valve leads to the worst disaster in American history.

Three Mile IslandThe valve failed to let cooling water through at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, and the plant went into a severe meltdown, releasing radiation across the entire northeastern US and southeastern Canada. Thousands died from radiation poisoning, and thousands more became ill. The wind currents even brought the radiation to Washington DC, where dozens of members of Congress were killed, as well as President Carter. the worst disaster in American history.

Vice President Mondale (pictured), assuming the presidency, ordered an evacuation of the eastern seaboard. Canada went through similar struggles, with a huge chunk of its southeastern region bordering America becoming uninhabitable. Both countries soured on nuclear power after this, and Canada outlawed the alternate energy source, turning to solar and wind power to take its place. America took a downturn as it struggled to come back from this disaster. For the next few years, the federal government met in Kansas and struggled to deal with the millions of refugees from the east. Compared to this, the Great Depression was a minor socio-economic blip - President Mondale suspended elections and called for martial law in order to hold the nation together. the worst disaster in American history.

He ran the nation as a virtual dictator for the next 8 years, until the radiation levels dropped enough in the east to where it could be repopulated. The area around Three Mile Island is still uninhabitable, but portions of Pennsylvania were recovered, and life slowly returned to normal in America.

In 517 AD, on this day a Roman fleet sailed up the Severn and anchoured at Glaudium (aka Gloucester, a major route into Britain was by sea from the mediterranean and terminating at the Severn).

Battle of Camlann, Reboot Part #2 by Ed & Richard RoperRoman officers arrived at Cirinium; "Hail Caesar, Hail caesar, Hail Caesar".

Artorius was appointed Caesar of Britain by the East Roman Emperor. This action was the beginning of the restoration of the Western Empire, the great project of the emperor.

Arthur later retired to Avalon (aka Glasonbury Hill) - and his son rules as caesar and co-king of the Angles (an article on the Vortigern Studies site names him and says he returned as co-king of the Angles when they migrated as a nation).
This article is a continuation of Part 1.

In 1775, the ongoing American protests against British colonial rule escalated into armed rebellion as citizens of the town of Concord, Massachusetts exchanged gunfire with a detachment of British soldiers sent to arrest the leader of the local Brotherhood of Liberty chapter; when the skirmish ended just twelve minutes later three Americans, six British, and a Quebecois emigrant farmer were dead.

Double Jeopardy Part 7
Battle of ConcordThe Battle of Concord, as the engagement would later be known, marked the beginning of the American Revolution-- a war that would end over four years later with the United States becoming independent from Britain.

The British defeat in the Revolution marked a major turning point in the Crown's relations with its former subjects on American soil; forced to deal with the newly sovereign nation as an equal rather than simply as one of its dependents, Britain strived in the post-Revolutionary War era to create more cordial ties with America. Those efforts would turn out to be invaluable to the interests of both countries when another Anglo-French war erupted in the early 19th century.

In 1969, on this day the seventeenth Confederate President Dwight D. Eisenhower died of congestive heart failure. He was seventy-eight years old and had suffered health issues for over a decade.

Dwight Eisenhower
17^th Confederate President
March 4, 1951 - 1957Born in Texas during the administration of P.G.T Beauregard, "Ike" never moved to Kansas as in our time line. Instead, he grew up in Oklahoma.

Since West Point Military Academy is deep into Union territory, Eisenhower graduated from the premier military school in the CS - Virginia Military Institute. From there he would go on to become a General of the Army (5-star) in leading the CS forces in Europe during the Second World War. A new article from the "Two Americas" thread on Althistory WikiaAs a result of operations in the closing days of that war, the CS was able to "rescue" German rocket scientists who would later help the North American Allies (CS-US-Canada) in their efforts in what became known as the "Space Race" with the USSR.

As president, he pushed for troops to be sent to help the UN hold on to South Korea, but the CS Congress would not go along. When the US president asked for assistance in the mounting tensions in French Indochina, again, the CS Congress stood in the way. Both Korea and Vietnam would fall to the Communists.

In 1968, on this day Wilhelm Schoemann heard a knock on the door.

Protocols of the Elders of Zion by Robert A. TaylorThe knock on the door had that authoritative, threatening sound that could only have been perfected through years of using it to intimidate people. Wilhelm struggled up from his recliner, set down the paper he had been laboring through, (it was filled with more articles on how the verdammt Arabs were raising the price of gas, again, and it would probably be at least a dollar a gallon, now), and shuffled to the door. He was not a quick man, these days. The arthritis that had crippled his father was starting to creep over him, and he resented having to challenge it.
The knock was repeated.
Part one of the novel can be downloaded here and continues as a thread on this site.

In 1917, on this day American politician Cyrus Roberts Vance was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

Birth of SecDef Cyrus VanceScion of a famous family (he was the cousin and adoptive son of 1924 Democratic presidential candidate and lawyer John W. Davis) Vance was chosen to serve as general counsel of the Defense Department and then the Secretary of the Army during the John F. Kennedy administration. And he was Secretary when Army units were sent to northern Mississippi in 1962 to protect James Meredith and ensure that the court-ordered integration of the University of Mississippi took place.

As Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Lyndon Johnson, he first supported the Vietnam War but by the late 1960s changed his views and resigned from office advising the president to pull out of South Vietnam. In 1968 he served as a delegate to peace talks in Paris. In line to received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, he was the unexpected choice for Secretary of Defense when Hubert Humbprey took office as the 37th President of the United States.

His impact on policy was soon felt. Humphrey continued Johnson's bombings, but at the same time, US troops in Vietnam took a more defensive role. And the urgings of Secretary of State Clark Clifford and Secretary of Defense Vance prevented Humphrey from committing troops to an invasion of Cambodia and Laos. In the fall of 1970 peace was worked out in Paris without input from South Vietnam. The United States would withdrawal all their troops, accept 10 North Vietnamese divisions in South Vietnam and recognize the legitimacy of the PRG. Thieu came out against the treaty, accusing the US of selling him out. In a US backed political coup, Thieu was forced out of power and Duong Van Minh, who had been one of those who helped overthrow Diem, replaced him. Early 1971 had all members of the Vietnam War sign the Treaty of Paris, ending the US involvement in the Vietnam War.

In 1958, on this day Communist Party Leader Khrushchev was removed from office.

March 27, 1958 - Communist Party Leader Khrushchev RemovedFollowing the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, the Soviet Union came into a period of transition. Georgy Malenkov was the dictator's heir as Premier while Stalin's position as First Secretary of the Communist Party went to Nikita Khrushchev. Other positions were continued by their respective members of the Presidium, the highest committee in the SU. This separation of powers was defended when Minister of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beriya was arrested and executed in secret. Beriya had headed Soviet security with extensive powers and aided in the spread of Communism throughout Eastern Europe by the overthrow of governments. Rumors stated that Beriya was working toward a military coup in Moscow itself, and an alliance of Khrushchev and Malenkov managed to defeat him.

The balance of rule was short-lived, however, as both Malenkov and Khrushchev sought to expand their powers. Malenkov used his centralized government agencies to assert command while Khrushchev worked among the grassroots to encourage devotion from the people. Gradually, Khrushchev chipped away at Malenkov's powers, popularly opening the Kremlin to the public and creating the Virgin Lands Campaign to create new farmland in areas such as Siberia and Kazakhstan, which led to record harvests in 1956. Soon Khrushchev defeated Malenkov, organizing his removal and replacing him with Minister of Defense Nikolai Bulganin.A new article by Jeff Provine

Khrushchev began to institute further reforms and, in 1956 at the 20th Party Congress, gave his "Secret Speech". Point by point over the course of four hours, Khrushchev gave a description of Stalin's cruelty and abuse of power. He later recalled, "congress listened to me in silence. As the saying goes, you could have heard a pin drop". The initial speech was behind closed doors, although it was later repeated slowly to Eastern European leaders and finally published, though stamped "not for press". Stalin remained an icon, but his reputation was destroyed along with those who had supported him during the Great Purge. Outrage exploded on both sides, including four days of rioting in Stalin's homeland of Georgia. Most sentiment supported Khrushchev as a new leader for a new Soviet Union.

Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who had long served under Stalin, received much of the flack from Khrushchev's speech and was demoted. He joined with other conservatives such as Malenkov and Old Bolshevik Lazar Kaganovich, determined to knock Khrushchev out of power. They sought a political maneuver, arguing before the Central Committee to remove Khrushchev, but eventual discussion prompted them to ensure that they could remove him before acting. Molotov approached Premier Bulganin, who wavered and would not give total support as Khruschev controlled the public at large as well as the military under Minister of Defense Georgy Zhukov. Zhukov and Khrushchev had served together in the Ukraine, and Zhukov had begun the calls for reform and the ousting of Stalin's abuses even before the Secret Speech. Any action against Khrushchev would be opposed by Zhukov and, in turn, the military he controlled.

It was clear that their efforts would meet with at most partial success unless they ousted Zhukov. Now, rather than targeting the chairman himself, they began a plot to remove Zhukov from office. He had risen to great new heights, becoming the most decorated figure in the Soviet military. After a meeting of the Presidium in June of 1957 when the general was granted full membership in the Presidium, Molotov mentioned to Khrushchev that Zhukov's fame as Minister of Defense was likely to make him Premier, like Bulganin. Khrushchev became nervous about losing his engineered popularity due to the fall of Stalinism to Zhukov and began to orchestrate the general's removal, effectively making Khrushchev a conspirator in the plot against himself. That October, while visiting Albania, Zhukov was voted into forced retirement.

Khrushchev began pushing for military reform, attempting to undo Zhukov's policy of the political agencies of the military reporting to commanding officers before the Communist Party. The move lost him a great deal of support politically as it became evident he was consolidating power. By the beginning of spring the next year, the Presidium voted to remove him as they had Zhukov. Khrushchev was demoted to managing agricultural materials in the Ukraine, where he would live out the rest of his life.

With the conservatives back in control of the Soviet Union, they attempted to recast the nation away from Khrushchev's policies. The Virgin Lands Campaign began to fail, leading to a new campaign of improving production on existing land and increasing sophistication in communal farms. The use of tanks in Hungary in 1956 was seen as widely unpopular, and the USSR was saved from international scorn only by the timely seizure of the Suez Canal. Molotov set to work rebuilding the Soviet image, capitalizing on Russian advantages in the Space Race to encourage communist action in other countries as Colonialism ended. Relations with Mao's China improved, and gradually China, Mongolia, North Korea and later countries in Southwest Asia were inducted into the Warsaw Pact.

As Communism spread, the West became increasingly nervous. In 1960, an American U2 spy plane was shot down, but long talks at the Four Powers Summit enabled the East and West to divide up the world into agreed upon spheres of influence. The Cuban-Turkish Missile Crisis tested the agreement, which brought about suspicious but peaceful coexistence as both sides removed weapons from near the other's border. The twentieth century continued, and the Soviet economy stagnated under conservative rule and eventually gave way to introductions of minor capitalism through East Germany and Poland. Similar experiments went forward in China after the death of Mao. Liberalization proved to be beneficial for the Communist nations, who thrived while the economies of the West struggled to recuperate from the recessions of the 1970s. Massive expenditures in governments such as Britain and America proved beneficial for a time in the 1980s, but, by the 1990s, attention shifted to the Communists, who by 2010 were the world economic leaders as the West attempted to repay its massive tax capital.

In 1625, Charles the Last, the final British monarch, ascended to the throne of the United Kingdom of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Charles the LastCharles was deposed by Oliver Cromwell's forces in 1646, and despite several attempts to restore the monarchy over the next couple of decades, the people of the UK were never to follow a king or queen again.

Although Cromwell was followed by his son as Lord Protector of the Kingdom, Parliament began electing the Lord Protector in 1660 and the office was filled at the pleasure of the people from then on.

Other monarchies in Europe were disturbed by the loss of their British cousin, and financed many of the pretenders who tried to raise armies to retake the crown, but none were successful. Indeed, the agitators were sometimes toppled by British counter-espionage tactics - the French king fell in 1684, the Russian tsar was ousted in 1692, and the Swedish monarchy was replaced by a democracy in 1704. The rest of Europe's non-democratic governments gave up after the brutal execution of Sweden's nobility, and pretenders to the British Crown disappeared in the 18th century.

In 1939, on this day the whistleblowing codebreaker John Tolkien launched his glittering second career in modest style by taking an instructional course at the London Headquarters of the Government Code and Cypher School.

Master Codebreaker 1
by Ed & Jackie SpeelEarmarked as a codebreaker, he was asked in January whether he would be prepared to serve in the cryptographic department of the Foreign Office in the event of national emergency. He replied in the affirmative and, after completing the course, was informed in October that his services would be required full time. A £500-a-year offer was duly made, and he was asked to report for duty at Bletchley Park.

He began to work on the decryption of Ultra alongside a number of über smart Oxbridge fellows, most notably Alan Turing. A gregarious type from an older generation, he soon became a dominent influence on these younger geniuses. But the problem was that Tolkien was so much more than a master linguist, because between the wars he had developed a stark one-dimensional system of thinking when it came to really big picture morality issues. He was in fact no less than a historic figure of Churchillian stature, but with a moral compass.

Of course the idealistic staff at Bletchley Park really believed that their work could save lives by dramatically shortening the War. By then Tolkien had started to realise that Stalin was a far greater danger than Hitler. His apocalyptic vision imagined a far worse conflict after the current war was over. And he began to wonder whether the British guarantee of Polish Sovereignty could actually be honoured. These pipe-smoking reflections might not have mattered a great deal but fate intervened when Tolkien de-crypted a German transmission reporting the gruesome discovery at the Katyn Forest. Inevitably, he turned to Turing and together they made a momentous decision that changed the future: "Publish and be damned".

In 1746, Captain Francis O'Neill earnt honor in both victory and defeat after the Highland Uprising.

Hard Man
A teaser from Jackie Rose' novelIn real life, he shared in Bonnie Prince Charlie's defeat after the Highland Uprising. If the revolt had been successful, he would certainly have enjoyed the fruits of the victory. Presented here together, Rebel Rogue and Prince Charlie's Witch show these two alternative fates for this one "Hard Man" .. what actually happened and what might have been.

"Rebel Rogue" is a realistic historical romance, based on the true story of Captain O'Neill's adventures as a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle. In "Prince Charlie's Witch", a beautiful American time traveler changes the outcome and he rides triumphantly into London instead. A gallant, faithful hero in defeat, he becomes a charming, ruthless villain in victory .. but he's always an irresistible lover. I believe that this "hard man" will win your heart either way .. just as he won mine .. inspiring both these books and this dedication.
The full novel is available for download at the Extasy Books web site.

In 1981, on this day the new head of the FCC issued a directive to his staff that no new TV broadcast licenses would be issued in the VHF portion of the radio spectrum.

The Death of Commercial AM RadioThis covered TV station 2-13 in three separate portions of the band. Existing TV licenses would continue indefinitely on these frequencies but no new licenses would be issued and existing stations would be encouraged to migrate to the UHF frequencies of the band. As a second new rule FM radio stations would be permitted to broadcast on the same three VHF frequency ranges as the TV stations 2-13 wherever such stations would not conflict with existing TV stations. The new frequencies would be redefined as FM low (TV frequencies for 2-4), Extended FM (TV frequencies 5-6) and FM High (TV frequencies for 7-13). Each TV station takes up as much band width as 30 commercial FM stations so this rule change could have been seen as a purely money making scheme for the FCC, 360 radio stations would fill the new FM roster in place of the 12 TV stations. Japan was able to ship new FM radio's with the Extended FM frequencies immediately as those used for TV 5 & 6 in the USA were already used for commercial radio in Japan. Adding the Low and High FM bands to transistor radio's was a simple design change and new multi band radio's were on the market for Christmas 1981.

A new article by Allen W. McDonnellThe quadrupling of the FM radio frequencies by the Reagan Administration was the last straw in commercial AM broadcasting, with all the new slots available nobody was really interested in commercialy broadcasting AM signals in the band formerly reserved for that technology. In 1983 the AM band was formally declared an Amateur radio band and commercial traffic was no longer allowed, only low power privately held radios were licensed to use it. The Powerhouse AM stations like WJR Detroit and WGN Chicago gladly moved their broadcasts to the new Low FM band where AM stations had right of transfer under the 1983 regulations of the FCC. The Low FM band became the home of News/Talk Radio and NPR became the biggest owner of stations in that band. By the time of the September 11, 2001 attack's on the USA only a few TV stations still held licenses in the three FM bands and when the digital conversion took place in 2009 none were allowed to remain in the VHF spectrum. Commercial FM was far too big of a money maker for the FCC to be interfered with by the last three VHF stations in New York, Detroit and Saint Louis, they were required to move to the UHF band and the era of VHF TV ended at the time of the Digital Transition.

In 1919, on this day in Munich, Gottfried Feder was the main speaker at a meeting of the German Worker's Party (DAP).

Anschluss 1923 by John P. BraungartWhen he had finished speaking, a member of the audience stood up and suggested that Baveria should break away from Prussia and form a separate nation with Austria. Adolf Hitler, a young Army corporal who was there at the behest of Army Intelligence to observe the meeting, sprang up from the audience to rebut the argument. After the meeting, Drexler approached Hitler and thrust a booklet into his hand. It was entitled My Political Awakening and, according to Adolf Hitler's writing in his book Mein Kampf, it reflected much of what he had himself decided upon. Later the same day Adolf Hitler received a postcard telling him that he had been accepted for membership of what was at that time the German Workers' Party.

After some internal debate, he says, he decided to join. A year later, at Hitler's behest, Drexler changed the name of the Party to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbiterpartei or NSDAP).

By 1921, Adolf Hitler was rapidly becoming the undisputed leader of the Party. In the summer of that year he travelled to Berlin to address a meeting of German Nationalists from northern Germany. While he was away the other members of the Party Committee, led by Drexler, circulated as a pamphlet an indictment of Adolf Hitler, which accused him of seeking personal power without regard to other considerations. Hitler brought a libel suit and Drexler was forced to repudiate at a public meeting. He was thereafter moved to the purely symbolic position of honorary president, and left the Party in 1923.

Drexler was also a member of a völkisch political club for affluent members of Munich society known as the Thule Society. His membership in the NSDAP ended when it was temporarily outlawed in 1923 following the Beer Hall Putsch, in which Drexler had not taken part. In 1924 he was elected to the Bavarian state parliament for another party, in which he served as vice-president until 1928. He had no part in the NSDAP's refounding in 1925, and rejoined only after Hitler had come to power in 1933. He received the party's "Blood Order" in 1934 and was still occasionally used as a propaganda tool until about 1937, but was never again allowed any real power. He was largely forgotten by the time of his death.

In 1973, at the 45th Annual Academy Awards, actor Marlon Brando rejects his Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Godfather.

Brando Rejects Oscar by Gerry ShannonIn his stead, Brando sends author Bill Kaysing. Though the Academy will not allow him to read Brando's prepared speech, Kaysing is forced to improvise to his confused audience:

"Hello. My name is Bill Kaysing and I'm representing Marlon Brando this evening. Marlon Brando asked me to tell you, in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently - because of time - that he cannot accept this generous award.

And the reason for this being ... is the great 30-billion dollar lie forced on the American public. The moon landings. The American government has created the greatest hoax of all time, and we never landed on the moon ... and we must take action following the ending of the NASA space program last December. I hope I have not intruded on your time this evening, and I implore you to use your minds and power of free speech to force our leaders to tell the truth. The action we take now is our best hope for the future. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando".

Kaysing is booed and jeered by the audience, and reads Brando's entire prepared speech back-stage for the press. Kaysing then explains he and Brando are co-financing the publishing of Kaysing's forth-coming book, We Never Landed On The Moon: America's Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle - and it is this book that is widely credited for starting the moon hoax conspiracy movement.

Appearing moments later after Kaysing to present the award for Best Picture, actor Clint Eastwood quips to the audience: "I don't know if I should present this award on behalf of every kid who doesn't believe in Santa Clause".

When in 1610, the catholic Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II intervened in the War of the Jülich succession by occupying the small, but strategically located, protestant United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg it seemed that would be the fuse to light the keg.

The Defenestration of PragueEver since the reformation the German states had been a powder keg. Lutheranism was widespread, especially in the Northern states, while Calvinism had also gained a foothold, but many of the rulers as well as large parts of the population remained catholic. The Treaty of Augsburg had made Lutheranism legal, but had not resolved the underlying problems as it tied the religion of each territory to the religion of it's ruler.

A combined French-Dutch army was prepared to invade the United Duchies and oust Rudolf, who appealed to his kinsman Philip the Third the emperor of Spain. Philip, who had arranged a truce with the Dutch a year before reluctantly agreed that troops from the Southern Netherlands would come to come to Rudolf's aid.

In the event the invasion of the United Duchies was called off, because the French King Henry IV was assassinated in Paris.

In the meantime Rudolf had been increasingly marginalized by his own brother Matthias who, in the wake of the long and unsuccessful war against the Turks, had forced him to cede Austria and Hungary.

Seeking to maintain at least the Kingdom Bohemia, as well as his now largely ineffectual title as Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf nominated Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria as his heir. Hoping that Spanish backing would prevent Matthias from making a further move against him.

Apart from making many of the Habsburgs, with the possible exception of Ferdinand, unhappy the news also led to riots in Prague. When Rudolf used his army to suppress the riots his brother intervened and had him locked up and forced him to abdicate.

When Ferdinand sent his envoys to Prague they were however badly received, in fact they were thrown out the window (the so-called defenestration of Prague). Although still smarting from the slight by his brother Matthias was appalled by the insult to royal power and marched on Bohemia suppressing the revolt and installing Ferdinand as king.

The conflict served to further harden the divide between the Protestant Union and the Catholic League that had been formed in opposition. When Rudolf died the next year and Matthias became Holy Roman Emperor he started work on uniting the Habsburg lands by making Ferdinand the successor to his kingdoms.

When Ferdinand succeeded Matthias in 1619 he almost immediately went to war against Frederick V, the Elector Palatine and leader of the Protestant Union. Although there was virtually no pretext for this war Ferdinand had secured the support of Philip of Spain, for whom the Palatine would offer a direct road into the rebellious Netherlands, and the non-intervention of the Poles.

Although the members of the Protestant Union marshalled forces in support of the Palatine Frederick was quickly defeated by the Spanish Army of Flanders and Ferdinand's own not inconsiderable army. After subsequent defeats of the Army of Würtemberg and the Army of Brandenburg the power of the Protestant Union was broken and it's members defected in turn.

Although peace negotiations dragged on for several years Ferdinand was able to secure exceedingly favorable terms at the Treaty of Prague. He was crowned king of the Palatine abolishing the ancient title of Elector and his kingdoms were inexorably tied to the Title of Holy Roman Emperor. The defunct Protestant Union was also formally abolished.

While Ferdinand would not play any further role in the armed conflict his role was vital in the reconquest of the Netherlands. Allowing the Spanish to march reinforcements directly to the Dutch border and allowing simultaneous invasions from the South and the West.

Although Ferdinand would spent most of his effort on combating protestantism in the lands directly under his control, his real legacy was in strengthening the Holy Roman Empire. His successors would build on his work, steadily decreasing the number of German states and increasingly centralising control in the capital Prague. As the power of Spain waned the Empire increasingly became the dominant European power alongside France.

In 2011, on this day the demise of former President of the United States Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY) was announced. Her 1984 running mate Walter Mondale called her "a remarkable woman and a dear human being .. She was a pioneer in our country for justice for women and a more open society. She broke a lot of molds and it's a better country for what she did".

Former President Geraldine Ferraro diesShe was seventy-five and had been striving for years with blood cancer. The first female President, she was an inspiration to women's rights and liberals after she ended Reagan-omics after winning the 1988 election against George Bush.

Ferraro grew up in New York City and became a teacher and lawyer. She joined the Queens County District Attorney's Office in 1974, where she headed the new Special Victims Bureau that dealt with s*x crimes, child abuse, and domestic violence. She was elected to the House in 1978, where she rose rapidly in the party hierarchy while focusing on legislation to bring equity for women in the areas of wages, pensions, and retirement plans. In 1984, former Vice President and presidential candidate Walter Mondale selected Ferraro to be his running mate in the upcoming election.

She was an inspiration to her Community being the only Italian American to be a major-party national nominee in addition to being the first woman. And her Vice President, Mario Cuomo, served as President in her footsteps from 2001-2009. While he served longer, she had a much more positive impact.