In 1782, on this day Martin Van Buren was born in Kinderhook, New York.

Birth of Two Non-Consecutive Term President Martin Van BurenHe served two, non-consecutive terms as the eighth (1837-1841) tenth (1845-1849) President of the United States (he beat Democrat rival James K Polk to the nomination). And before his presidency, he was the eighth Vice President (1833-1837) and the tenth Secretary of State, under Andrew Jackson (1829-1831).

Van Buren was a key organizer of the Democratic Party, a dominant figure in the Second Party System, and the first president not of British or Irish descent-his family was Dutch. He was the first president to be born a United States citizen, his predecessors having been born British subjects before the American Revolution. He is also the only president not to have spoken English as his first language, having grown up speaking Dutch, and the first president from New York.

In 1757, on this day Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine triumphed at the Battle of Leuthen. Frederick II of Prussia was killed in the fighting.

Disaster at LeuthenThe Four Year's War, in Europe, began on 29th August 1756 when Prussian king Frederick II, having recently signed an alliance with Great Britain, invaded the German nation of Saxony in a move designed to pre-empt an Austro-French invasion of Silesia. The Prussian army won a series of battles against the Austro-Saxon forces, eventually culminating in the surrender of Saxony. The invasion of Saxony however was viewed negatively in the rest of Europe and soon Austria was joined by France and Russia in the war against Prussia. Great Britain joined their Prussian allies, and began sending aid to the Prussians as well as deploying an army under the Duke of Cumberland to Hannover.

Elsewhere in the world the colonial superpowers, Britain and France, battled against each other. In North America the conflict had begun two years ago, and had been going poorly for the British. The French continued to enjoy success, repelling various British assaults into Canada and into Louisiana. The French and their Indian allies maintained the upper hand against the British and the colonials and were even able to seize the British base at Fort Oswego. In India the conflict was known as the Third Carnatic War.

Meanwhile in Europe, Frederick II invaded Austrian Bohemia in attempt to knock Austria out of the war, as the Russians invaded East Prussia. The Prussian advance into Bohemia however was dealt a blow with defeat at the Battle of Kolin on June 18th 1757 and Fredrick was forced to withdraw back into Prussia. Meanwhile the French had moved west and attacked Hannover defeating the Duke of Cumberland's forces at the Battle of Hastenbeck, which resulted in the Convention of Klosterzeven and the surrender of Hannover and Cumberland's forces. The Prussian victory at the Battle of Rossbach however gave the Prussians hope that they could survive. Tragedy however followed shortly after with the surprise death of Frederick II following a fall from his horse and the subsequently decisive Austrian victory at the Battle of Leuthen. Frederick's heir apparent was his nephew the thirteen year old Frederick William. The sudden death of the king threw the Prussian government into a state of chaos.

The Prussian army that had been crushed at Leuthen withdrew north in disarray where it was again defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Crossen in February 1758. This defeat resulted in the complete destruction of the Prussian Army. This, in addition to the Russian advances in the East and the French successes in the west caused the Prussian government, still in disarray, to ask for an armistice, which was accepted in early May 1758. Article continues at Disaster at Leuthen

In 1945, on this day Musa Qasab (pictured) [1] the first Jewish Grand Vizier of Persia was born in the city of Yazd in the Shir Kuh valley. His family brought him to Tehran when he was an infant.

Birth of Musa QasabAlthough he was the first ethnic Jew to be given the absolute power of attorney by the Shahanshah ("King of Kings"), Reza Pahlavi there was a historic precedent for such an appointment. Because Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, had serving as Vizier to the Egyptian Pharaoh.

In 1839, on this day 18th President of the United States, General George Armstrong Custer was born in New Rumley, Ohio.

American Heroes 3:
Triumph of "The Morning Star"During 1876 the problem of choosing a candidate to fill the boots of outgoing President Ulysses S. Grant appeared to be miraculously solved by the fortuitous arrival of George Armstrong Custer on the floor of the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis.

Positively beaming with the euphoria of his spectacular victory at the Little Big Horn, the "Morning Star" was very much a chip off the old block. A shameless self-promoter with a track record of show-boating, he was a genocidal, centennial poster boy for foolish men to rally around. Dripping with Indian blood, he too was an inhuman butcher devoid of respect for human life. Incredibly, his administration would make Grant's look good by comparison.

Only later during his impeachment trial would the grisly truth emerge amongst other evidence of malfeasance, corruption and deception.

One insight that the more cynical convention delegates had long suspected. Amongst a political generation that had fought the Civil War, those fomer servicemen had queried the logic of a three pronged attack which made no military sense. Because surely a concentration of forces was the best tactic for defeating a large hostile army ferociously defending its native homeland? At least until it was revealed that Custer and Major Marcus Reno had ordered their loyalist troopers to indiscriminately slaughter the helpless women and children in the village of White Deer, none of whom were committed Democrats voters anyway.

In 1921, threatened with a renewal of "terrible and immediate war" by British Prime Minister David Lloyd George if they failed to sign the Treaty at once, Irish delegates terminated negotiations at 22 Hans Place and returned to Dublin to consult the cabinet according to their instructions.

A terrible and immediate warAs the principal Irish revolutionary leader, Michael Collins was fully aware that his direct participation in the negotiations had been life-threatening; his explicit approval of an Irish Free State would mean "signing his own death warrant" whereas rejection would lead to arrest and execution by the British. In his diary that evening Winston Churchill would note that "Michael Collins rose up looking as if he was going to shoot someone, preferably himself. In all my life, I have never seen so much passion and suffering in restraint".

However Lloyd-George recalled that "From the very outset of our conversations [in June 1921] I told you that we looked to Ireland to own allegiance to the Throne, and to make her future as a member of the British Commonwealth. That was the basis of our proposals, and we cannot alter it. The status which you now claim in advance for your delegates is, in effect, a repudiation of that basis. I am prepared to meet your delegates as I met you in July, in the capacity of 'chosen spokesmen' for your people, to discuss the association of Ireland with the British Commonwealth".

Collins and Griffiths had sensed disunity and perhaps even design and intent when Éamon de Valera sent Irish plenipotentiaries rather than attend in person. As the self-styled President of the Government of the Republic of Ireland, he would probably reject the Treaty whereas Collins once identified could no longer continue as he had. Also, it appeared unlikely that a consensus would form around the controversial sanctioning of a twenty-six county Dominion within the Empire, and the creation of a statelet (Northern Ireland) comprising the other six counties under the British Crown. And therefore Collins was presented with a stark choice between a continuation of the War of Independence, or a Civil War. Although many feared that rejection of the Treaty would postpone any form of independence for a generation, Collins sensed otherwise because even The Times had also turned against the Irish war, saying in an editorial as early as 1919, "We deplore the fact that the authority of the British name in Ireland has come to rest upon military power".

In 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart stared wildly around the oak-paneled drawing room of Exeter House,wondering how he could be hearing such madness spoken in the most elegant mansion in Derby.

In Which His Royal Highness Charles Edward Stuart Receives Aid from an Unexpected Source"What reason have I to give orders, if they are not obeyed?" he demanded, fists clenched beside his tartan kilt. "You all plan to betray me!"

His commander, Lord George Murray, patiently repeated what the Prince already knew only too well. His supporters in England had not risen in any great numbers to join his Scottish invasion. Only a few, like Sir Francis Townley, had answered his call.

"They will join us when we advance on London," the Prince urged.

"We must go back to Scotland where our friends are and make our stand there," Lord George repeated calmly, as though speaking to an unreasonable child.

Prince Charles turned to Ranald MacGregor, "You were the first one to follow me. You said that you would come with me to London, even if we were the only two who went there".

Ran MacGregor nodded his shaggy red-brown head. "Aye, and I say it again," the young Highland chief proclaimed, his devotion showing clearly in his eyes. They were all the more compelling because they matched his thatch of hair. Stubborn determination showed just as clearly in the long, hard chin jutting forward from his square, wind-burned face.

An excerpt from the Jackie Rose's e-book Prince Charlie's Witch"Your Royal Highness is right, and these others are daft to oppose you," he said. Seeing that the others were listening, Ran MacGregor pressed on.

"What need we of English followers? Our men are fighting over who will be the first to have his sword sharpened in time for the march on London. All we need are your good Highlanders".

Reluctantly he added, with a nod at Captain Francis O'Neill, "and your loyal Irish regiments from France to help us".

The Irishman bowed and smiled in ironic thanks. Standing with his back to the fire on that raw December day, he seemed like a dandy in his fine red wool uniform with its shining emerald satin lining, among the Highland men in their tartan kilts. His smile was as deceptive as his dandified airs. It was warm and genial, while his blue eyes glittered like ice against his dark, hard, handsome, black-Irish face.

"And is there any English army that can stand against good Scottish and Irish men together, and them fighting for their rightful Prince?"

"The Irish were ever brave fighters but they cannot change the facts," Lord Elcho retorted. "The fact is, if we march on London, we will be in Newgate Prison within the week".

"And if we retreat to Scotland-" with growing desperation, the Prince began his reply.

A frantic female voice from outside interrupted him.

"I have ridden straight from London with news for the Prince!"

Ran flung the door open. Glenmoriston MacGregors were on guard that night. Once their young laird had welcomed the stranger, they would never have dreamed of trying to stop her.

Racing through the doorway, the girl stumbled on her skirts, as though unaccustomed to their length and weight. She jerked them shockingly high above her booted ankles and ran resolutely on, until she stood surrounded by the Prince's men. Her resolution failed her then, and she stared at them helplessly, as though frozen by wonder.

She was already frozen by the cold. Her lips were literally blue with the chill. Snowflakes clung to her long golden curls, which were a tangled mass peeking from beneath the hood of her russet wool cloak. The cold had also turned her pink-and-white Highland complexion into a rough red, just as Ran and the Prince had had their fair skins burned by the sun. Her numb hands struggled in vain to remove riding gloves that seemed frozen to her fingers.

The Prince drew her gloves off gently and gave her his own kerchief to dry her hands. Leading her to the marble mantel, he waited as patiently as he could for the heat to reach her.

"What news do you bring us, lass?" he asked kindly, as her violent shivering started to subside.

Her lips were returning to their normal pink, but she still seemed unable to answer. Instead, she stared down at her hand in his, as though that were the most wonderful sight in the world.

The Prince was used to seeing that look of awe on young ladies' faces-first in Scotland, now here in England as well, when they crowded the streets to see him. Her accent told him that she came from the American Colonies, and he was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had fair admirers so far away.

But if she did have any news, this was no time for feminine vapors. He hoped that she would not suddenly shriek and faint, as so many other young ladies had done at the touch of his hand.

"Go on, lass," he said, smiling encouragement at her. "What news have you for us?"

Still, she stared up at him in amazement, from great brown eyes that seemed much too large for her heart-shaped little face, giving her the look of a wild woodland creature.

Then she turned his gaze to his companions. They all seemed to amaze her-Lord George Murray, Ranald MacGregor, Lord Elcho, Francis O'Neill-but always, she turned back to Bonnie Prince Charlie himself, as the most astonishing sight of all.

Her eyes were almost level with most of their own. Taller than almost any other woman they had ever seen, she stood nearly as high as Murray and O'Neill. Only MacGregor and the Prince himself towered above her, and they stood over six feet.

As she continued to stare at Prince Charles, his interest gave way to impatience. She had come to him just as the other girls did, he decided irritably. She merely wanted to judge for herself if he really was as bonnie as they said, with his broad shoulders, his compelling brown eyes and his lion's mane of red-gold curls.

"She only wanted to see you, as all the lassies do," Lord George snapped, unpleasantly echoing the Prince's thoughts. "Well, Miss, you may see him tonight, at the public reception". He reached for her shoulder to put her out of the room.

The pressure of his hand stung her into frantic action. She pulled sharply away from his grip.

"Never mind the public reception, you can't stay here that long," she cried.

Once the words had started, there was no stopping them. They came tumbling out in a torrent, racing over each other in their rush to be heard.

"You must leave at once for London," she exclaimed. "It lies open before you".

Lord George parted his lips to object, but she raced heedlessly on.

"The banks are shut, the shops are closed, the streets are empty!" she cried. "No army stands between you and the capital. Cumberland is in the West, Wade is in the East, they could never intercept you if you head straight south right now".

Even more urgently, she rushed on, "Above all, you must not think of retreating back to the Scottish Highlands. Your enemies will follow you there, and you will be trapped and destroyed. You must not give them time to grow stronger".

Seeing Lord Elcho violently shaking his head, she added with frantic urgency, "Your time is now. Right now! King George-German Georgie the Usurper-has his yacht loaded and ready to take him back to Hanover".

She noted the annoyance on Lord George's womanish face. He could tell that the Prince was listening to her, so he demanded angrily, "Why should we believe you, Girl, when you could be a spy or a madwoman? We can't change our plans for your ravings!"

"Then change them for this!" From her cloak pocket, she produced a flintlock pistol and pressed it into Murray's side. To read a brief summary and enjoy another excerpt (reporting on the really enchanted evening that the victorious Prince Charlie shares with two famous London actresses), go to Extasy Books and search for Prince Charlie's Witch under the author's name, Jackie Rose.

In 1791, on this day Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart pulled through. The life of one of the greatest composers in all of history was nearly cut short by fever when he was 35 years old.

Mozart Pulls Through Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was working on his Requiem for some time, and his death might have left it unfinished, depriving the world of one of its most incredible pieces of groundbreaking music. At the request of his wife, he put aside his work and focused on overcoming his "military fever" (believed to be acute rheumatic fever). After his fever broke in the night of December 4, Mozart began to return to work, much as he had done his entire life.

The compositions of Mozart date back to 1761, when five-year-old Wolfgang composed small pieces on the clavier that his father wrote down for him. Throughout his years traveling, serving in the court at Salzburg, visiting Paris, and eventually settling in Vienna, Mozart would produce hundreds of pieces of music of uncanny variety: symphonies, concertos for nearly every instrument, chamber music, serenades, divertimenti, marches, dances, masses, sonatas, operas, arias, canons, and works that cannot easily be classified, especially those of later in his life. As he worked in Vienna, he also gained great influence, eventually living comfortably though never achieving great financial wealth. Musicians like S?ssmayr, van Swieten, Salieri, Haydn, and, most significantly, Haydn's pupil Ludwig van Beethoven all counted him as competitor and friend through his lifetime. The young Beethoven had reportedly come to Vienna to study with Mozart but had ended under the tutorship of Haydn.

A new story by Jeff ProvineAfter Mozart's recovery, he finished his Requiem, which would finally establish his fortune as the Catholic Church encouraged its use throughout Europe and the world. He made another return to opera, and his works were quickly picked up for performance as his name spread. Around 1800, he decided that he no longer needed to work for money and became bold in his musical experimentation. For several years, he would dazzle the salons of Europe in improvisational competitions, often with the younger Beethoven, who seemed the only pianist who could match and challenge him. This knowledge that he could not dominate Beethoven completely by piano forte is said to have led Mozart into his exploration of other instruments, specifically the glass armonica. The two would try to outdo one another through the rest of Mozart's life, many speculating that Beethoven's twelve symphonies were made better through the competition.

Reportedly, Mozart had learned of the spinning armonica during his time in Paris, when its creator Benjamin Franklin was also there as ambassador from the rebelling American colonies. Though it is unknown whether the two had met, by 1805, Mozart began a personal quest to push out the piano forte in favor of the armonica. His influence may be questionable, but it is evident that the armonica had taken its place at the forefront of music as every family of note had one in its drawing room by the mid-nineteenth century.

Mozart's music continued to become "erratic" as his life progressed. He sought influences from the folk dances of Europe. In the 1820s, he took up partnerships with the young musicians of Vienna to discover new ways of creating music. Noted for his sponsorship of Johann Strauss and Joseph Lanner in their formalization of the waltz, the aged Mozart was quoted as saying, "Oh, to have been born forty years later!"

While his eagerness never left him, Mozart fell ill with fever again in 1825 and died in January of 1826. His funeral was attended by thousands in Vienna, and many historians credit his vibrant use of popular music as one of the leading causes of the push for civil liberties in the 1830s.

In 1930, on this day in Berlin the German architect Albert Speer (pictured) was introduced to the Bohemian watercolour painter, Adolf Schicklegruber.

How Hitler Rebuilt Berlin A Jewish bastard's son, Schicklegruber had arrived in the city accompanied by other enlightened individuals who also sought to disrupt a political rally organized by the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Afterwards, at a coffee shop the conversation naturally turned to the popular desire to restore the glory of Germany.

A shared interest in architecture provided the common language necessary to nurture the original concept of "Germania". Developed over the next three years, this classical vision of a miniature city based on the grandeur of Rome would later be adopted as the model (pictured) for the 1936 Olympic Village in Berlin.

On the eve of World War Two, Schicklegruber would paint a memorable watercolour of the African-American athlete Jesse Owens proudly wearing his gold medals in front of the "Great Hall".

In 2002, on this day at Capital Hill the Washington elite paid tribute to Strom Thurmond on occasion of the former US President's hundredth birthday.

Dark warning of a problem avoided"I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And because the rest of the country followed our lead, we didn't suffer all those problems over all these years, either". Trent Lott said at the party. " The Senate Minority Leader was of course making reference to "those problems" articulated with chilling clarity in a 1948 campaign speech in which Thurmond had said "I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the n-expletive race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches".

Thurmond was not alone in voicing the concerns of white supremacists. Because events in South Africa were moving very much in the same direction with the implementation of apartheid following the National Party's victory at the 1948 election. And on a subsequent state visit to Washington, Prime Minister Daniel Malan would find in Thurmond an American politican with a markedly similiar outlook on segregation. Both politicans viewed history through the prism of the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation Click to watch the trailer of Birth of a Nation with events since reconstruction threatening the status quo, secured only by the activities of loyalists such as the Klan.

The party included an unexpected guest named Essie Mae Washington-Williams and it would be fair to say that some discordant views were expressed. Whilst Thurmond might not welcome the so-called n-expletive race in white people's theaters, swimming pools, homes and churches it would appear that he did not exclude them from the bedroom. Because 78-year old Washington-Williams publicly revealed that she was Thurmond's daughter, born to a black maid, Carrie "Tunch" Butler (pictured) when Butler was 16 and Thurmond was 22. At the time of Washington-Williams's conception, Carrie was only 15 years old, leading many to believe that she was a victim of statutory rape by Thurmond in the least.

After Thurmond's death in 2003 the whole truth would emerge. Thurmond only agreed to meet Washington-Williams when she was 16. He helped pay her way through college and later paid her sums of money in cash or, through a nephew, checks. Though Thurmond never publicly acknowledged Washington-Williams when he was alive, he continued to support her financially. These payments extended well into her adult life. Washington-Williams has stated that she had not previously revealed she was Thurmond's daughter during his lifetime because it "wasn't to the advantage of either one of us" The Thurmond family publicly acknowledged her parentage. Many close friends and staff members had long suspected this to have been the case, stating that Thurmond had always taken a great amount of interest in Washington-Williams and that she was granted a degree of access to the former President more appropriate to a family member than to a member of the public.

In 1972, President Richard Milhous Nixon appoints the former 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy (pictured), as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland. Nixon Appoints Irish Ambassador by Gerry Shannon

It is an appointment that barely surprises anyone, Kennedy was long rumoured to be keen for the role following his visit to his ancestral home in 1963 during his sole term. (Kennedy relinquished the Presidency to his Vice-President Lyndon Baines Johnson in early 1964 due to serious health concerns).

In a statement to the press, Kennedy said: "Though Ireland is not country I was born in, it is the one I hold dearest in my heart. It will be both a tremendous honor and privilege to to serve both countries in the utmost capacity, I am deeply grateful for President-elect Nixon for this opportunity".

The irony of his praise for Nixon is noted by many in the press, given their close election battle in 1960 - and Kennedy's gratefulness was later seen during his support for Nixon during the Watergate crisis.

In his memoir The Education of a Public Man: My Life and Politics, Hubert Humphrey, the defeated Democratic candidate of 1968, would say he had it on "good authority" Kennedy believed Nixon would win the election, and as such, Nixon promised him the post if Kennedy made barely any campaign appearances on behalf of Humphrey. (It was then-rumoured Kennedy was bitter Humphrey defeated his brother, Robert, in the bitterly-fought Democratic primaries).

Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline bring tremendous glamour to Irish public life, residing in the American embassy in Dublin but his unprecendented nine-year tenure is best remembered for Kennedy bringing his brilliant diplomatic skills to the table during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. His willingness to engage politicians and representatives of parliamilitaries on both sides draws praise from all quarters, and only heightens the worldwide perception of Kennedy as a peace-maker.

With the Irish peace process having been cemented with the passing of the historic Anglo-Irish Agreement, many rightfully feel it is Kennedy's achievements during that turbulant era that inspired - and ultimately led to - lasting peace and the permanent ceasefire of terrorist activities that remains in place today.

In 1676, at the Battle of Lund, the Swedish Army paid the price for King Charles XI's tragically mistaken tactic of concentrating exclusively on the Danish Cavalry.

Pyrrhic Danish Victory at the Battle of LundBut because the French and Dutch had already declared war, it was far too late for the invading Danes to build upon the victory in Scania, Southern Sweden.

The Danish army of about 12,300 was under the personal command of 31-year-old King Christian V of Denmark and aided by General Carl von Arensdorff, and the Swedish army, which numbered about 8,000, was commanded by Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt and the 21-year-old Swedish king Charles XI.

In 1745, on this historic day of the the second Jacobite Rising, the Young Pretender Charles Edward Stewart's army reached Derby just one hundred thirty miles from London.

Jacobite Army occupies DerbyThe audacious Jacobite plan was to gather both momentum and support as they marched south to link up with an invading French army. And fortune was on their side from the outset. One hundred miles off Lizard Point in Cornwall, the Doutelle and Elisabeth had been intercepted by the 64-gun warship HMS Lion. But because the Admiralty was unsure of Charles' planned landing the Royal Naval Officers had mistakenly assumed that the two French ships were bound for North America.

The Jacobite standard was raised by a gathering of Highland clansmen at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands. Victories then followed at Prestonpans near Edinburgh and then across the border at Carlisle. By December, the Jacobite Army had reached the east midlands town of Derby, just one hundred miles from the capital city of London. By the time that they crossed the Swarkestone Bridge on December 6th, British divisions were finally being recalled from Flanders, but the Hanoverian Royal Family had already made up their own minds. Because George II was already packing his bags and planning to flee to the Continent. Incredibly, many of Charles' commanders wanted to quit as well. They had chosen this historic moment to call for a retreat back to to Scotland, but fortunately the Young Pretender chose to ignore them and the rest is history.

In 1783, no sooner had the British Army marched out of New York City than the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army was proclaimed King Washington.

All Hail King WashingtonOfficers celebrated at the Fraunces Tavern while the Governor was quietly arrested.

Because of the unsettled back-pay for the Continental Army, there was in the ranks absolutely no stomach for civilian government by the Continental Congress. And the truth was that the choices had narrowed to an Army takeover versus unpaid compensation for the men who had brought American into existence as an independent and sovereign nation.

It was an act that came as very little surprise aristocratic Europe. Nevertheless, King George III called Washington "the greatest character of the age" of his dastardly conversion from Republican to despotic monarch.

Of course many patriots feared that an Army takeover was a killer blow for liberty, and events were soon to prove them right. During the heavy-handed response to the Whiskey Rebellion, he saw fit to personally lead an army to Western Pennsylvania where he was killed in action. But during the next two centuries, historians took a more measured view of his executions actions, and the result was a consensual decision to recognize his unquestionable military accomplishments during the War of Independence. Finally, in 1976 he was partially restored by his posthumous appointment to the grade of General of the Armies. The appointment was by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 and approved by the President of the Republic, Ronald Reagan.

In 1956, under the diplomatic leadership of the British Government and other European neutral countries a truce was brokered between the Egyptian, French and Israeli Governments.

Conjoined Crisis Part 3
Suez Truce BrokeredThe result was the creation of a demilitarized zone under Egyptian civil administration but secured by British led troops/police in the Canal Zone and in the Delta around the French bridgehead at Alexandria. But unfortunatately, the subsequent peace conference was a acriminious failure and the UN/Commonwealth force remained in place as a buffer between the three warring states and their infrastructure assets.

Nevertheless, the truce itself was a boost to British prestige throughout the Middle East, greeted by wild crowds cheering in front of the British embassies in Baghdad, Amman and other regional capitals. Of course Mr Eden's role in the dispute was shaped by the events of the Hungarian Uprising, a desperate situation that was consuming diplomatic energies whilst the Suez Canal Crisis was being quietly defused. And of course the United Kingdom was deeply involved, after offered refuge to Premier Imre Nagy at the British Embassy in Budapest. An article from the Conjoined Crisis thread..

In 1952, in a somewhat rare weather phenomenon, an anticyclone formed over London during the bitter cold of the late winter.

Weather Settles to Spawn the Great Smog Panic in London Something like an inverted hurricane, the anticyclone is a clockwise (counter-clockwise in the southern hemisphere) rotation of winds around a high pressure region above a cold pocket. Inside, air becomes even colder and typically drier with clear skies, though it can also produce heavy fog as surface relative humidity increases. The lack of internal wind compounds gasses that would typically escape, which became the key to creating a nightmarish weather condition that plagued London for five days.

As the anticyclone settled over London, most citizens thought little more of the colder weather than an annoyance. They heaped more coal onto their furnaces and turned on lights, which meant more electricity from the coal-power plants around London. As the fires continued, the windless low pressure system did not let the smoke escape, and pollutants like carbon soot, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur dioxide began to thicken the growing fog. By December 5, visibility was reduced to a few yards.

A new story by Jeff ProvineEven though it was a thick, smoky fog, Londoners did not raise concern quickly. The old days of "pea soupers" (fogs as metaphorically as thick as pea soup, sometimes even green-tinted fog from industrial pollutants in the nineteenth century) were not far in the past, and London had always been known for its fog. Children were released from school as "parents were advised not to risk letting their children get lost on the way to school," according to Prime Minister Ken Livingstone, who experienced the Great Smog as a boy. Above-ground traffic came to a standstill, ending all public transport outside of the Underground. Even ambulance services were halted, forcing the ill to get to hospital on their own.

Somewhere amid the haze, a rumor started that the smog was poisonous. It was in fact poisonous, due to its composition of pollutants, but most had fair air quality within their homes and wore handkerchiefs over their mouths and noses when they went out. Young children and people with respiratory problems were the few to face real danger. However, as people saw more and more deaths (estimates calculate that 4,000 more people died than usual), panic began to strike. People attempted to flee their homes, overloading the Underground until it too broke down and was unfixable in the dense fog.

As December 6 and 7 rolled on, the fog became denser. In some places, visibility decreased to less than a foot, making walkers outside unable to see their feet or even their hands with arms outstretched. Smoky fog seeped into buildings where it could, and the panic turned to all-out chaos. Rioters smashed into shops initially looting survival gear and then, after it became obvious police were unable to respond, anything of value. Fires broke out, adding to the smog and sense of Armageddon. As reporters and what newspapers were able to continue to print spread word of the madness, riots spread further.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill called in aid from the armed forces who were able to communicate by radio but unable to react to one another outside of a few yards. They attempted to canvas the city, but resources were stretched too thin to alleviate much of the rioting and damage. Primarily, the soldiers assisted in evacuating the city, a sight not seen since the days of the Blitz, escorting civilians onto special slow-moving trains bound for the North and Southwest.

Finally on December 9, the anticyclone dissipated, and the fog lifted from the scarred remains. An estimated 8,000 more people died due to respiratory complications, and commerce in the city was limited for weeks during cleanup. The government launched into numerous studies on the problems of low-grade coal fires and began legislation promoting paraffin heaters and then electric. Further actions led to the Clean Air Act of 1956, much improving restrictions on pollutants. Meanwhile, other studies questioned the impact of media on spreading the panic. The Conservative government put into effect new regulations managing the emotional coverage of news in times of emergency, reestablishing review boards similar to those during the counterespionage days of WWII.

Although rarely taken into play, numerous fines were handed out for reports on the battles between Mods and Rockers during Whitsun weekend in 1964, giving ironic government support to the youth subcultures as media portrayed them as folk devils.

In 2006, on this day in the Capital City of Sitka, forty-two year old Sarah Louise Palin was sworn in as Head of State, becoming not only the youngest, but also the only woman and American born Alaskan to assume the Presidency. The centerpiece of her economic stimulus package included a commitment to sign the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

President Palin (of Alaska)Born in Sandpoint, Idaho, Palin's election signalled a new focus on the Americas which had become increasingly inevitable since the collapse of the Soviet Union fifteen years before when the new country had gained its independence. Ironically, the USSR's predecessor state, the Russian Empire had considered selling the territory on at least two separate occassions.

Following negotiations with representatives of the Federal Government, on April 9^th 1867, the US Senate rejected ratification ridiculing the purchase as "Seward's folly", "Seward's icebox", and Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden" because it was believed foolhardy to spend so much money on the remote region. The purchase was briefly considered once again during 1905 when the Federal Government played a formal role in negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War. The Tsar was desperate to refill the coffers of the exchequer due to the expenses of the disasterous conflict, but his agents were unable to interest the Federal Government in a purchase of Russian America.

In a light hearted moment of privacy after the NAFTA signing ceremony in Washington, Palin joked to fellow Conservative politician John McCain that had her parents not moved to Wasilla whilst she was an infant, perhaps she, and not Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal would have been chosen as Vice President.
This article is a part of the Sitka thread.

In 1915, the launching of the so-called Peace Ship marked the beginning of the end of the first phase of the Great European War.

Originally derided as a pacifist pipe dream, the Peace Ship gained enormous prestige when Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan (pictured), known to be a vocal advocate of a peaceful settlement, agreed to go along, bringing with him the prestige and presumably the authority of the Wilson Administration.Peace Ship

Wilson would make that explicit on Dec. 7, when, in a formal address to Congress, he announced, "Secretary Bryan is traveling with the full approval of this administration. It is my earnest hope that he and his companions will succeed in their endeavor. The governments of the belligerent nations, some of whom have applied extraordinary pressure against this nation in hopes of securing our participation in the conflict as their military allies" --clearly a reference to Britain, which had begun impounding U.S. ships in order to prevent them from trading with Germany and Austria--"must understand that the United States desires peace above all, and certainly above armed involvement in a conflict not of our choosing".

Wilson's speech electrified the nation, and would precipitate an open break with a top adviser, Col. Edward House, who under the influence of British diplomats had been pushing the President to take a pro-Entente stance. Protesting that he was as committed to peace as was Secretary Bryan, House objected strenuously to Wilson's newly militant neutralism.

The presence of Bryan aboard the so-called "Peace Ship" would prove decisive. The other members of the peace delegation were respected figures in their own right, but none had the personal prestige of the three-time Democratic candidate for president and current Secretary of State. With him on their side, the peace delegates were able to persuade the major warring powers to send delegates to their conference in Stockholm.

The resulting treaty, concluded after months of wrangling on June 6, essentially called for a return to the status quo ante bellum. There were minor adjustments: the disputed territory of Alsace-Lorraine, for example, was placed under joint Franco-German trusteeship with the promise of further negotiations aimed at granting its inhabitants the right to choose whether to join France or Germany or seek independence, and a commission was appointed to consider the independence claims of Serbia as well, whose nationalists had helped ignite the conflict by assassinating the heir to the Austro-Hungarian imperial throne in August 1914. However, for the most part, the belligerents were required simply to withdraw to their prewar borders and (with the agreed-on exceptions) recognize one another's preexisting territorial claims.

The armistice destabilized Europe, cutting the ground out from under revolutionary movements which had been gathering steam in Russia, Germany and Italy. But that stability had been exposed by the bloody conflict as perilously precarious. The European order which had prevailed with minor disruptions from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 until Sarajevo was, it was clear, nearing its end, one way or another.

And there were plenty of ambitious men who had their own ideas about what should replace it. Neither France nor Germany was truly satisfied with the resolution of the Alsace-Lorraine problem, nor was Germany happy to remain second to Britain as a maritime power. Japan resented the terms of the postwar Washington Naval Conference, held in the summer of 1918,¹ which set Tokyo's quota of major warships below that of the other major powers, more or less explicitly because the Japanese were not white; at the same time, the Japanese dreamed of expanding their holdings in mainland Asia beyond Korea, which they had occupied in 1910. Both Germany and Italy had ambitions in Africa. Even Turkey's Sultan Mehmet VI dreamed of reviving his decrepit realm through new territorial acquisitions in North Africa.² Russia's Tsar Nicholas II, meanwhile, schemed to expand his own empire at the expense of that of the Turks.

The stage was set for a second round of fighting among the imperial powers. And if the experience of the first round was any guide, the second would be a terror. The European war of 1914-'16 had seen the introduction of airplanes, zeppelins, motorized armored vehicles and poison gas as weapons oif war. Who could say what would follow them?

In 1945, the U.S. Senate rejected United States membership in the United Nations by a vote of 49 to 47.Senate Rejects UN Membership by Eric Lipps

Opponents were a coalition of isolationist Democrats and Republicans, many of whom regarded the UN as the beginning of a 'socialist one-world government.'

A particular sticking point was the presence of the Soviet Union on the UN Security Council, where the Communist nation would possess the same veto power as the U.S. (if it joined), Britain, France and Chiang Kai-shek's embattled Chinese government.

Proponents of U.S. membership warned that staying out risked dooming the UN to the same powerlessness as the League of Nations, which without the United States had neither the physical force nor the moral authority to restrain the belligerence of the rising fascist powers of Italy, Germany and Japan.

Their predictions would be proven true five years later, when the Communist-ruled nation of North Korea attacked South Korea. The Soviets used their veto power to derail a Security Council resolution calling for United Nations military intervention, and by the time the United States had mobilized for unilateral action, Seoul had fallen to a North Korean army backed up by a million troops from the People's Republic of China, which had been declared by Mao Tse-Tung in 1949 after his defeat of Chiang's forces.

In 183 BC, on this day Consul for life and Dictator Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (pictured) died in the "ungrateful" city of Rome [1].

Scipio Africanus, Dictator for LifeA famous Roman General, he had become a living legend by defeating Hannibal and the Carthaginians at the Battle of Zama.

The Scipiones, as his supported were known, insisted that he was the man to lead the Empire despite the opposition of his enemies and widespread ingratitude of the citizenry. But instead he planned to retire from politics by hand-picking a suitable successor Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the Elder, but when he died [2] Scipio was forced to take the purple.

He ruled until his suspiciously premature death aged fifty-three, almost certainly the result of poisoning or suicide for unknown causes.

In 1980, on this day the British Fascist Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats died in Mayfair, London [1]. Within the family and among intimate friends, he was always called "Tom".

The Death of Blackshirt TomHe was a Member of Parliament for Harrow from 1918 to 1924 and for Smethwick from 1926 to 1931, as well as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Labour Government of 1929-1931. He resigned due to his disagreement with the Labour Government's unemployment policy.

Disappointed by the two main parties in British politics, he founded the New Party in 1931. Arguing for elections based on class lines rather than geographical location, the New Party was unpopular until the full effects of the Great Depression hit England. Mosley's ranks swelled with the unemployed, and he was elected Prime Minister in 1932.

He made common cause with continental fascists Mussolini of Italy, Franco of Spain and Hitler of Germany during his premiership, but where they are all gone by the end of the decade, Mosley's rule of Britain has only begun.

In 311 AD, on this day Diocletian expired in Aspalathos, one of the few Emperors of the third and fourth centuries to die naturally.

Hedges of the Night
Article written by Ed, Scott Palter & Jeff ProvineGaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus was born into slavery in Salona, an ancient Illyrian Delmati city in the Roman Province of Dalmatia. From freedman he rose steadily through the ranks of the military, serving in Gaul before the appointment as Dux Moesiae, cavalry commander of forces on the lower Danube. After the deaths of Carus and his son Numerian on campaign in Persia, Diocletian was proclaimed Emperor. The title was also claimed by Carus' other surviving son, Carinus, but Diocletian defeated him in the Battle of the Margus. With his accession to power, Diocletian ended the Crisis of the Third Century.

Diocletian appointed fellow officer Maximian Augustus his senior co-emperor in 285. He delegated further on 1 March 293, appointing Galerius and Constantius as Caesars, junior co-emperors. Under this "Tetrarchy", or "rule of four", each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the Empire. Diocletian secured the Empire's borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 285 and 299, the Alamanni in 288, and usurpers in Egypt between 297 and 298. Galerius, aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully against Sassanid Persia, the Empire's traditional enemy. In 299 he sacked their capital, Ctesiphon. he led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favorable peace.

His life experience provided Diocletian with a broad understanding of the operation of the power structures in the Roman Empire. And from his lowly birth status grew the germ of a compelling vision for meritocracy that would secure the future. Clearly to survive the centuries, the Empire needed to devolve into a symbiotic grouping of self-sustaining admnistrative provinces which could draw from local resources (the Rhine and Danube had the good recruiting grounds, whereas the East and to a lesser extent Italy/Africa had the money). But such a structure was always vulnerable to a powerful general whose ambition was to rule the whole Empire.

The answer to this conundrum was the progression of offices under which a Count of Britain picked in York by two Caesars and two Augusti could rise to higher order roles in Trier, Antioch, the Danube and finally Rome. As a further safeguard against dictatorship, Diocletian introduced a formal separation of powers, with a strong Senate and controls to keep the Praetorian Guard in check. It was these "hedges of the night" that would sustain the rule of four in the long centuries to come, preventing the civilized world from plunging into a dark age.

In 1826, on this day US President George B. McClellan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Birth of "Little Mac" by Eric LippsHe was assassinated by a Unionist sympathiser who burst into the Presidential box whilst he and his wife were watching the aptly named play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's theatre in Washington, D.C.

McClellan, though loyal to the Union, was notorious for overestimating the strength of Confederate military power and, as President, had sought a negotiated peace rather than a triumph of arms he seemed to believe impossible.

Acting as general-in-chief, and also Army of the Potomac his Peninsula Campaign in 1862 ended in failure, with retreats from attacks by General Robert E. Lee's smaller army and an unfulfilled plan to seize the Confederate capital of Richmond. Later his performance at the bloody Battle of Antietam blunted Lee's invasion of Maryland, but allowed Lee to eke out a precarious tactical draw and avoid destruction, despite being outnumbered. As a result, McClellan's leadership skills during battles were questioned by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, who eventually removed him from command, before he entered the political fray and won the 1864 election.

In 1829, on this day the seventeenth President of the United States, George Brinton McClellan (pictured) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of a prominent surgical ophthalmologist, Dr. George McClellan (1796-1847), the founder of Jefferson Medical College.

George B. McClellan
17th US President"Little Mac" (as he was known) was the grandson of Revolutionary War general Samuel McClellan of Woodstock, Connecticut. He first attended the University of Pennsylvania in 1840 at age thirteen, resigning himself to the study of law. After two years, he changed his goal to military service. With the assistance of his father's letter to President John Tyler, young George was accepted at the United States Military Academy in 1842, the academy having waived its normal minimum age of sixteen. It was an early warning signal of a "golden boy" being rushed into a position of ultimate responsibility that he was not quite ready for.

During the American Civil War, he organized the famous Army of the Potomac and served briefly (November 1861 to March 1862) as the general-in-chief of the Union Army. Out-generalled by the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Robert E. Lee, he was eventually removed him from command, first as general-in-chief, then from the Army of the Potomac. Yet he remained one of the most popular of that army's commanders with its soldiers, who felt that he had their morale and well-being as paramount concerns. Perhaps in the final analysis he was merely a victim of youthful inexperience, because after all Lee was nearly twice his age. Or, as his detractors argued, he lacked the "3am" courage of his ultimate successor, "the butcher" Ulysses S. Grant.

Nevertheless, two years later, the war continued to rage and Lincoln's prospects of re-election had receded sharply. And during the fall of that terrible year, Atlanta held out, and the Confederates won at Cedar Creek and his fate was sealed. Ironically, his opponent was McClellan who won with the support of Peace Democrats like Clement Vallandigham and Fernando Wood who planned to cash in their chips once the McClellan administration took office. Even more strangely, McClellan was a reluctant candidate who was not personally in favour of a peace settlement¹. And in fact the military situation disguised an imminent Confederate collapse.

Both candidates clearly saw how close to defeat the rebels really were, understanding that the situation called for a pressed military assault during the remaining five months of Lincoln's Presidency. And sure enough General Sherman was duly ordered to take the Confederate Capital of Richmond in a no holds barred assault. The only question now was whether a lame duck President could muster the necessary authority to seize victory before the inauguration day. Or whether the Confederates could pull off an assassination or perhaps kidnap that would curtail his term of office.

In 1971, on this day the Islamic Republic of Sindhustan invaded the Punjab.

Land of the PureThe risk of this type of conflict had been fully recognized by Anglo-Indian planners twenty-five years before, but the future potential for border dispute had been considered of secondary importance to the primary threat of sectarian violence immediately after the dissolution of the British Raj. And so they chose to adopt the "Iqbal Plan" which was conceived in 1930 by the leader of the All-India Muslim League Allama Muhammed Iqbal.

This particular implementation of the two-nation theory led to the formation of non-contiguous Muslim States in the north-west and south-east of the Indian sub-continent. The need for large-scale population displacement upon Independence was avoided. But an immediate and largely unanticipated setback was that the machinery of government passed into the hands of the Hindustan Republic, and as a result, the British under the command of Sir Douglas Gracey retained control of the army and security forces until 1951.

The leadership of great statesmen was desperately required to move forward from this malformation, but tragically the man best suited to do so, Mohammed Jinnah died of tuberculosis and lung cancer just one month after independence. Although Jinnah had been encouraged to return to India by Iqbal, he had almost immediately began to promote an alternative two-nation theory. He proposed a "hard partition" resulting in a new secular state called Pakistan, a name devised in 1933 by Choudhary Rahmat Ali as an acronym of Punjab (P), Afghan (a), Kashmir (k), Sindh (s) and Balochistan (tan) and based upon the persian word "Pakstan" meaning "land of the pure".

Chronic instability problems from the beginning ensured that those six areas soon became independent states. But the situation radically changed in 1979 with the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. The region was flushed with a huge influx of American arms and money. And the eventual defeat of the Red Army led to a renewed appetite for building a Fort of Islam.

In 1839, in another critical moment of failure of famed States Rights advocate Abraham Lincoln, his application to practice law at the federal level was dismissed, possibly due to finagling from Democratic opponents.

Abraham Lincoln Fails his Admission to the US Circuit Court The grounds for refusal were based in his fiery rhetoric and several challenges of his character, giving examples from his history of scatological humor and rough story telling. Lincoln could not deny these remarks and attempted a defense on First Amendment Free Speech, but he would soon give up as he fell into one of his "melancholies" (believed to be what modern psychologists would call clinical depression).

Lincoln's life had been fraught with hardships. Born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky in 1809, young Lincoln was the son of Thomas Lincoln, who had become a wealthy and respectable man in the real estate business until he was wiped out in 1816 due to court cases over a faulty title. They moved to Indiana, a state where slavery was banned, and tragedy struck again as milk sickness (tremetol poisoning) took Lincoln's mother. Frontier life was hard, and the Lincolns moved westward again to Illinois to a new homestead. Lincoln left home and worked on a river barge before returning and starting a store that would ultimately fail. After losing a political campaign in 1832 and serving as a captain in the Black Hawk War, Lincoln finally found his path as an orator and lawyer.

A new story by Jeff ProvineHe was famously self-educated, stating, "I studied with nobody". Instead, Lincoln read Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England, the Revised Statutes of Indiana, the Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution while working as a secretary and surveyor in New Salem, Illinois. In 1834, along with his legal firm, he successfully began his career with the Illinois General Assembly as a Whig, following his hero Henry Clay, whose American System ideals he had begun to follow passionately. As a Whig, he would be firmly for investment in infrastructure to improve the nation, voting for projects such as the Illinois and Michigan Canal to connect Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River, roads, and railroads. With the Panic of 1837, however, the projects became bankrupt and Illinois was "littered with unfinished roads and partially dug canals" while its bonds tumbled in value. Lincoln suggested making up the money by Illinois purchasing federal land and selling it for a profit to private citizens, which the federal government refused. These disappointments by federalism would later impact his philosophy of state self-dependence.

Just as his career seemed to be on the proper path, Lincoln's subtly failing strength as a Whig became a stumbling block blamed for costing him the ability to argue cases in the US Circuit Court. His world collapsed as he settled into depression, even skipping offers by John Todd Stuart, a war buddy and benefactor who had inspired Lincoln to take up law, to meet his cousin Mary Todd. Eventually the two would meet and even marry, though they once broke their engagement due to second thoughts. During this time, Lincoln determined his ideas on independence and voluntary mass-agreements, like marriage, and he focused on local items for his legal practice and political career supporting federalism as less important.

In 1847, Lincoln advanced to the federal level as a representative in the US House. He argued bitterly against the Mexican-American War (disgusted with calls for the glories of war, which he called an "attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood") and reaffirmed his "free soil" stance on slavery saying, "the Congress of the United States has the power, under the constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia; but that power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of the people of said District" while still denouncing the evils of slave-holding. He was rewarded with his support during the election of Zachary Taylor with an offering to be governor of the new Oregon Territory, but Lincoln declined, wanting to stay close to his home of Illinois.

Lincoln spent the next decade working to support his home state, running unsuccessfully in the 1858 Senate campaign but becoming famous after his publication of speeches in the Douglas-Lincoln Debates, including "I believe this government can endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will be divided". He was proven wrong with the secession of the South after the narrow 1860 election of William H. Seward. During the Civil War, Lincoln argued for the rights of Southerners but agreed that a violation of the agreement of Union had taken place. He begrudgingly supported military action and rose significantly to the Illinois Senate, where his aid bills laid groundwork for military planning in decades to come.

After the war and the assassination of Seward, Lincoln became a powerful voice on Reconstruction and the necessity to return the South to normalcy, including the return of many rights. Gathering support from other wings of the Republicans and even former supporters of Douglas as well as revealing much of the corruption of victory-profiteers, Lincoln challenged and would eventually overthrow the Radical Republicans even though he had agreed with them on many anti-slavery issues before. Eventually, Lincoln's fair-mindedness and disgust of corruption would get him elected President of the United States in 1868. Due to his deteriorating health and the increasing mental illness of his wife, Lincoln would retire from politics at the end of his term, though he had already set a new precedent for the United States with regional interest and a successful plurality of political parties. Many scholars would say this disjointedness did much to limit federal power that could have alleviated social woes in the next century's Great Depression.

In 1976, discovering that the leader of the Semitic-African Resistance Nesta Robert (Bob) Marley was playing soccer with street kids, agents of the New Reich surrounded a house on Hope Road in Kingston Jamaica, but the children got in the way of the ambush and somehow "Tuff Gong" managed to escape with minor injuries to the arm and chest..

Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Tuff Gong makes his escapeAfter the Neo-Nazi Conquest of Europe, the Greater Zionist Resistance had reformed into the Semitic-African Resistance. Marley's almost unique background made him a perfect choice for the leadership of this new organization. In fact he suffered acute racial prejudice as a youth, because of his mixed racial origins and faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life.

His father Norval Sinclair Marley was a caucasian-Jamaican of Syrian-Jewish-English descent who had served in the Royal Marines prior to the world-wide collapse of the British Empire. "I have to run like a fugitive to save the life I live. I'm gonna be Iron like a Lion in Zion"
Click to watch the videoA plantation overseer, he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then eighteen years old before dying of a heart attack in 1955 at age sixty.

Thrown into poverty as a street child, Marley had almost died of starvation in Trench Town. But he survived to lead the fightback as the indefatigable succcessor that Winston Churchill could never have imagined.

And in a sign that perhaps the tide was turning, a Nazi TV Broadcast was interrupted by the great Yahman who quietly made a calm assurance that "Everything is going to be alright".
Part one of the novel can be downloaded here and continues as a thread on this site.

In 2009, Hollywood Director Ruben Fleischer announced a $1m dollar award for the first movie-goer who correctly guessed the identity of "Patient Zero" in the comedy thriller "Zombieland" which was released on this day in Australia.
Click to watch the Movie Trailer on Youtube

Who was Patient Zero in the Zombie Apocalypse?An early connection is the odd reappearance of "Victim in Bathroom" (played by Mike White) who later in the movie is scammed by Wichita and Little Rock at the "Gas and Gulp". These events are mirrored by Columbus who narrates the origin of the Zombie Apocalypse by explaining that some months before, patient zero took a bite of an infected burger at a Gas Gulp, also the location of the opening scene in Garland, TX.

When Columbus checks the washroom door, and the zombie (picture) chases him across the car lot, it becomes apparent that the Gas and Gulp at Garland is the epicentre of the Zombie Apocalypse and the mystery is solved.

In 1963, on this day US President John F. Kennedy (pictured) announced that an additional five thousand military advisors would be deployed in Vietnam during early January. By the end of the year Saigon had received $500 million in military aid.A Quick Business Trip

Mr Kennedy had recently returned from a campaign tour of the southern states during which he had held a private meeting with former Vice President Richard M. Nixon. White House staff were quick to dismiss a suggested connection between the meeting and the announcement.

As had been reported openly in the Dallas Times Herald, by coincidence Mr Nixon had conveniently been in Dallas on the 21st November for a quick business trip. A young marine named Lee Oswald had delivered Mr Nixon's gracious invitation and the President had been only too pleased to accept.