It is 1184 BC, and two crucial events are taking place: the Argives are about to attack Troy in order to bring Queen Helen back to Sparta, and the Hebrews have fled from Egypt.

Miriam and MenelausBut one night changes everything. It is the fateful event when the two groups meet in the desert, and King Menelaus of Sparta sees Miriam dancing there. On learning that her bother is Moses, the Hebrew leader, he decides that she would be a far better bride than his own Helen of Troy .. in beauty, in talent and, by all accounts, in virtue as well.

So he decides to let the Trojans have his former wife, while he takes Miriam for his own. Seeing the advantages in this alliance, Moses is happy to agree. The Argives and Hebrews are now allied against their long-time enemies, Troy and Egypt, making them the most powerful alliance in the known world.
The encounter is also celebrated in my own novel Miriam and Menelaus available at www.fictionwise.com

In 1917, on this day Senator Henry Cabot Lodge looked briefly over his letter, and reread his words

"- - - there may be no sufficiently flagrant case of the destruction of an American ship and American lives to compel war - -".

For a moment he hesitated. Was that coming on too strong? To express a positive hope that American sailors and passengers be killed was getting near the knuckle. Even Colonel Roosevelt had never gone so far.

Chapter of Accidents; How Bryan Returned From The DeadOn the other hand, why not? He believed that war with Germany was necessary, and accepting war involved accepting casualties. What matter if some of them were incurred before the declaration of war rather than after? They were all dying in the same cause, and stopping German autocracy was a worthwhile one. So be it.

He signed the letter and put it in the envelope¹.

***

Part 3 of a new story by Mike StoneThe atmosphere in Washington grew hotter by the day. Particular excitement focused on the choice of a new Secretary of State, to take over when Bryan became Vice-President in March. Passions were so high that serious questions were raised as to whether any nominee could be confirmed. A strong isolationist would run into ferocious opposition from the War Hawks, while anyone acceptable to them was likely to be unacceptable to the other side. And someone in the middle could well be rejected by both. In the end, Marshall avoided this humiliation by appointing Senator Oscar Underwood of Alabama, trusting that partisanship would not lead the Senators to turn on one of their own. The tactic worked, though with far more nays than were usual for such a routine vote. The appointment had been supported by Bryan, but political wiseacres were betting that the victory would be his last, and that once buried in the Vice Presidency, his influence would rapidly decline.

***

Lodge opened Colonel Roosevelt's letter of reply. A grim smile crossed his features as he read it "It is clear that Bryan and Marshall are yellow all over in the presence of danger, either physically or morally, and will accept any insult or injury at the hands of a fighting man. Of course, it costs them nothing if the insult or injury is to the country, because I don't believe they are capable of understanding what the words, 'pride of country' mean. - - - as for La Follette, he is an unhung traitor, and if the war should come, he ought to be hung - -". I shall say as much in my next speech and let them sue me if they dare²"

Lodge nodded to himself in agreement. As TR was fond of putting it, the Administration's attitude was akin to that of a man whose wife had been insulted in the street, considering the matter unimportant as long as the insulters didn't actually come into the house to do it. They were a total bunch of eunuchs. No, his original letter hadn't gone too far at all.

***

Count Bernstorff stared blankly into space, stunned by the news.

How could this have happened? He recalled the sense of foreboding with which he had first learned of this treaty with Mexico, and how vital that the Americans should not learn of it. Yet now they had learned. Somehow (Now? Betrayal? A broken code?) British Intelligence had obtained a copy - and at once given it to the anglophile US Ambassador. It would inflame opinion from coast to coast. And the foreign Minister hadn't even had the sense to deny it. Even if not everyone believed him, that might have blunted the impact to some extent. But to openly admit that it was genuine - - -.

Bernstorff wondered if it would be more dignified to ask for his passports now, rather than wait for the Americans to make the decision for him. But of course he could not without authority from Berlin. He could only sit helplessly by as events rolled inexorably on.

***

Monday, March 5, was bitterly cold. The formalities of inauguration duly took place, and after a few words the President headed back indoors. The brevity of his speech attracted some comment. Was he unwell? Or had he been unable to come up with anything that would not antagonise one faction or another? One thing alone was certain. He could not sit on the fence for any length of time. He had to choose a side, and there was less and less doubt in most minds as to which side it would have to be.

[to be concluded]

In 1284, with the conquest of the castle at Rhuddlan after a long siege and the reuniting of northern Wales, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd made his announcement atop its keep that Wales shall be heretofore joined under a king.

Statute of Rhuddlan Creates Welsh Kingdom The proclamation further outlined boundaries of the kingdom, expected loyalties, a legal base, and a summons of the princes and lords of Wales to meet at conference for the choosing of the king. The meeting was largely a diplomatic measure as Llywelyn's victories over England at the head of his army, by far the largest in Wales, firmly established his position as the first king, as did his being the grandson of Llywelyn the Great, who had been king over Wales in all but name through his treaties and battles.

A new story by Jeff ProvineThe announcement came after years of struggle in the second uprising of the Welsh people against England. Initially, the two nations had lived alongside one another in the general peace of feudal Britain. Treaties were established with the English King Henry III, who kept Welsh princes hostage in the Tower of London as part of typical medieval agreements. When the captive Dafydd ap Llywelyn died from a fall while trying to escape in 1244, the Welsh declared war to make a stronger stance. Henry agreed to it at the Treaty of Woodstock, and then Llywelyn went about confirming his supremacy and expanding his control. During the English Second Barons' War in 1263, Llywelyn joined with Simon de Montefort, Earl of Leicester and Chester, against the king, taking advantage of the turmoil to establish his position.

For further establishment (as well as what is historically believed to be a true romance), Llywelyn married de Montefort's daughter Eleanor. The marriage was done by proxy in 1275, the same year Llywelyn refused to attend a call to Chester from Edward, son of Henry and now king of England. Edward was also Eleanor's cousin and took exception to the marriage. He kidnapped her by mercenary-pirates, went to war with Llywelyn as a rebel, and gained considerable control over Wales in the resulting Treaty of Aberconwy.

In the 1280s, however, the Welsh lords began to chafe under the foreign rule of Edward. He had built an "iron ring" of castles through Wales using the most advanced designs of the day and seized a great deal of land. Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Llywelyn's brother, initiated the fighting with an attack at Hawarden and a siege of Rhuddlan in 1282, the same year Llywelyn's wife would die while giving birth to their daughter Gwenllian. Revolt spread through Wales, and Llywelyn defeated the occupying English force at the Battle of Moel-y-don, again affirming his leadership.

Llywelyn then marched south, rounding up support from the southern Welsh who had once been his opponents and friends of the English king. Now, but for a few spies and traitors, they were for him. He was nearly killed while separated from the main force on December 11, 1282, but Llywelyn managed to escape capture and spread word about the brigands who had killed much of his party, including clergy. The south rallied to Llywelyn's cause, and even the armies led by King Edward were beaten back from Wales in repeated campaigns during 1283.

Unified, the Welsh stood as a significant political force. Edward was forced to recognize peace by insistence of the Pope and turned his attention toward potential crusades and, in 1296, conquest of the Scots, which, too, he would lose. Llywelyn had no heirs other than Gwenllian, who married into southern Welsh nobility. The royal line passed to Llywelyn's brother Dafydd, then to Dafydd's eldest Llywelyn II. England would be weakened in the Thirty-Four Years' War in France, while Scotland would grow powerful as Robert the Bruce became king and his brother Edward managed to unite Ireland. The ruling houses would grow intertwined with Wales until it was torn apart in wars during the Reformation.

As the Industrial Revolution took hold of Europe, England would again take precedence among the nations of the British Islands with its wealth of coal and iron. Gaining economic superiority, it would come to dominate the other nations, setting the stage for renewed revolts as the ideals of nationalism and socialism took root and flourished.

In 1915, the motion picture BIRTH OF A NATION was released after almost a year in production. Its director, David Wark Griffith, the son of a CS calvary officer who grew up in modest circumstances, predicted that the most popular film that could shown in the United States and the Confederate States would be an account of how the two countries came to be rivals.

Birth of a NationGriffith and his film makers and actors staged most of the movie in the Canadian province of Ontario. The gray "Confederate" uniforms were more accurately a dirty white, not gray, and the cinematagrapher of the film would recall that the costumes of the Northerners was more usually brown than blue.

The highlight of the first half hour of the movie was the enactment of Pickett's Charge (on what appears to be a potato field). For the first time in recorded fable, General Lo Armistead is shown standing atop a federal cannon. his hat stuck on the top of his upraised sword, gesturing heroically towards the now fleeing foe. (In fact, Armistead was gutshot when he reached the guns and died in a doctor's hut the next day).

According to the plot, an honest but poor couple have been divided by the war. Reflection on the plight of that couple causes Jeff Davis of the Confederacy and Abraham Lincoln of the Union to realize that harmony across the border is best for both people, and the movie ends with an open air wedding ceremony of the young couple which is mutually conducted by Robert E. Lee and U.S. Grant.

Contemporary journalism records that Confederate President Woodrow Wilson said the movie was like writing history with lightning. United States President Henry Cabot Lodge criticized the movie's insinuation that the South had militarily thrashed the North on the third day of Gettysburg.

Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford starred in the sequel, BONDS OF BROTHERHOOD (1922), in which Yanks and Southrons are depicted as natural lovers during the First World War. The box office was poor in large measure due to the outbreak of the Japanese- Confederate War over a canal in Central America in 1923 and 1924.

In 2010, Michael Foot, the British Prime Minister that declared Unilateral Nuclear Disarment (UND) died in Hampstead, London on this day aged 96.

What the Labour Party is all aboutBorn in Plymouth in 1913, he studied at Oxford University before taking a job as a shipping clerk in Liverpool; his experiences of poverty in that city transformed him into a life-long socialist.

Foot joined the Labour Party and first stood for parliament at the age of 22 in the 1935 general election, when he contested Monmouth. During this election Foot criticised the Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin, for seeking rearmament. In his election address Foot contended that "the armaments race in Europe must be stopped now". He also supported unilateral disarmament, after multilateral disarmament talks at Geneva had broken down in 1933. He was thrown out of the Parliamentary Labour Party for two years because he opposed increases in defence spending.

"Michael Foot led Britain during the grimmest, darkest hour in its modern history" ~ Neil KinnockElected in 1945 he did not enter the front bench of the Labour Party until the Wilson and Callaghan Governments of the nineteen seventies. Upon assuming the leadership in 1980, he led the party into the successful campaign of 1983 in which he defeated Margaret Thatcher who was still reeling from Britain's military humiliation in the Falkland Islands. That event, coupled with Americas escalation of the Cold War created a new consensus for UND. And what began with mother's protests at Greenham Common, and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) peace rallies led by Foot and Monsignor Bruce Kent flourished into a popular movement. Soon enough, Britain would play a very different role on the world stage, paving for the way for his successor Bryan Gould, and Princess Diane to achieve an international ban on land mines in 1999.

Colleague Tony Benn paid tribute to Foot's legacy saying that "he was what the Labour Party was all about"

In 1925, the US Congress authorized the Mount Rushmore National Memorial Commission on this day. Three hundred and fifty local miners and quarrymen began work in 1927, taking a staggering fourteen years to complete this vast project.

"America will march along that skyline"The originator of the idea was the historian Doane Robinson whose simple purpose was to promote tourism in South Dakota. Robinson persuaded sculptor Gutzon Borglum (pictured) to travel to the Black Hills region to ensure that the carving could be accomplished. Borglum had been involved in sculpting the Confederate Memorial Carving, a massive bas-relief memorial to Confederate leaders on Stone Mountain in Georgia. He chose the grand location of Mount Rushmore because it faced southeast and enjoyed maximum exposure to the sun.

The result was a towering monument to the rich ethnicity of the United States. Because although Borglum owned the artistic vision, the choice of carvings was very much down to President Charles Curtis, himself of Native American heritage being part Kaw. He insisted that Washington, Douglass and Lincoln were juxtaposed by Samoset of the Permaquid tribe and Squanto of the Pawtuxet tribes. Which was only fitting because the Pilgrim fathers gave those two most famous of Americans credit for their very survival during the first two winters at Plymouth Colony, a historical fact recognised by the first deliverance day, first celebrated at Thanksgiving Colony in the brave year 1621.

In 1877, on this day the Electoral Commission adjourned after final agreement on a series of compromises which included a change to US Presidential succession such that Congress came before Cabinet and Senate as senior House came first.

RutherfraudIt was the conclusion to one of the most disputed and controversial presidential elections in American history, an informal, unwritten deal that was widely regarded as the second "corrupt bargain". But certainly "Rutherfraud" as it was known ended Congressional ("Radical") Reconstruction.

But the true significance of this change was revealed thirty-five years later when an anarchist detonated a bomb that killed both President Taft and his VP. His successor Augustus O. Bacon received the Democratic Nomination, but lost the General Election of 1912 to Teddy Roosevelt who brought the US into the Great War after the sinking of the Lusitania.

In 1940, on this day the sovereign governments of Norway and Sweden granted transit rights which authorized a British-French Corps to disembark at the Norwegian port of Narvik and support Finland via Sweden while securing supply routes along the way.

Allied Military Intervention in the Winter WarIn reality the actual prospect of Allied forces fighting the Red Army in the snow was quite ephemeral. Because the diplomatic exchange of these official requests masked a covert feint devised by the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill. His secret plan was for the vast majority of the 135,000 men sent to aid the Finns to occupy the Swedish iron ore fields that were supplying Nazi Germany. Nevertheless, upon hearing of the plan Adolf Hitler stated that should Allied troops enter Sweden, Germany would invade.

Of course the allied strategy of neutralising enemy resources had been fixed right at the beginning of the war with the fateful decision to bomb Azerbaijan's oil fields. And that military reaction to the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact led inevitably to the Russians joining the Axis.

Doubtless the Swedish Cabinet's approval of the transit rights request was relucantly given upon the threat of a similiar strike. Yet for all its obvious geographical disadvantages, a Scandinavian theatre clash would enable the Allies to strike a blow of military authority with their considerable air and sea power. And perhaps a military stalemate that starved the Axis of strategic resources might lead to a peace settlement on more favourable terms. But as things turned out, the Winter War was merely an interlude between the Phony War and the Phony Peace. This was the infinitely more complex situation inherited by the incoming British Prime Minister when Neville Chamberlain died on 9th November 1940.
This article is part of our Resource War thread..

In 2004, Steve Jobs, founder of the hugely successful Apple computer firm, underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer.

Steve Jobs Lives
A new article by Eric LippsJobs had been diagnosed with the disease in October 2003, but had at first resisted scheduling surgery, preferring to try alternative, "natural" remedies first rather than undergo an operation to remove the tumor. He had finally been persuaded to employ conventional medicine after doctors advised him that his tumor was continuing to grow.

In February 2004, Jobs announced to Apple Inc. employees that he had decided to undergo surgery for his cancer and had been assured his chances of recovery were good.

Following the operation, a pancreaticoduodenectomy - a procedure consisting of removal of the distal half of the stomach (antrectomy), the gall bladder and its cystic duct (cholecystectomy), the common bile duct (choledochectomy), the head of the pancreas, duodenum, proximal jejunum, and regional lymph nodes, followed by reconstruction to allow digestive juices to flow normally and food to pass into the duodenum?Jobs, at his own insistence, did not receive either chemotherapy or radiation treatment. Although optimistic that his surgery had removed all of his pancreatic tumor, Jobs' doctors continued to monitor his condition. On March 2, 2009, Jobs the five-year anniversary of his operation, Jobs held a press conference at Apple corporate headquarters to announce that he remained cancer-free and that in his physicians' opinion he could be considered cured. Apple's stock price spiked following this announcement.

As of November 2011, Jobs remained active as Apple CEO.

In 1793, on this day the 19th-century Virginian statesman Samuel Houston was born on his family's plantation near Timber Ridge Church in Rockbridge County.

Birth of Governor Samuel HoustonDesperately needing to leave his considerable debt behind, the elder Samuel Houston decided to move the family to the frontier when his fifth born son was fourteen years old. Tragically, his father died shortly after patenting land in East Tennessee. And his widow Elizabeth decided it was too risky to move their five sons and three daughters to the new state.

Fifty-five years later Houston did become the resident of a new frontier state but at a time when the Union itself faced similiar heartbreaking decisions on a national scale.

Delegates of the second Wheeling Conventions elected Houston to serve as the first governor of the key Civil War border state of West Virginia, which alongside Nevada, was one of only two states formed during the American Civil War.

On condition that a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted in its constitution, Abraham Lincoln admitted West Virginia into the Union. The President's declaration promoted an immediate response; General John D. Imboden, with five thousand Confederates overran a considerable portion of the state.

In a desperate last stand, Governor Houston called upon West Virginians to defend the Union-occupied City of Alexandria. Down to the last man, if necessary.

In 1969, due to a delay with fuel transfer, a Soviet patrol on Damansky Island (known as Zhenbao Island to the Chinese) stumbled across a would-be Chinese ambush beginning to move out.

Sino-Soviet War Begins The Soviets counter-ambushed the Chinese, killing dozens. Cries for revenge spread over China, prompting Mao Zedong to declare war and storm the disputed territory on March 15. Initial Chinese casualties were high, but the far eastern Soviet stations ran out of munitions and found themselves overwhelmed by May.

The beginning of the altercation could be traced back to 1964, when Mao Zedong, leader of Communist China for over a decade, mentioned during a meeting with socialist Japanese that Tsarist Russia had taken valuable lands from the Chinese in unfair, century-old treaties. Even excluding eastern Siberia, Kamchatka, and other regions that had become all but fully Russian, there were several disputed areas along key rivers, most notably the Ussuri River, where Russia had claimed islands that normal shipping lane agreements would have given to China. Mao's statement spread, and tensions escalated along the 2,738 mile border.

A new story by Jeff ProvineWith an initial Soviet victory at Zhenbao sparking the anger that had been brewing for five years since Mao's comments, the Chinese called for vengeance against decades of unfair treatment. China mobilized, as did the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev. With successes in the east, the Chinese launched a western campaign across the disputed Pamir Mountains, where a vague border had been established at the ridge of the Sarikol Range. The invasion proved costly, and the Soviets successfully held Tajikistan. While a tactical defeat, the draw of materiel to Tajikistan allowed for further gains in the east as China marched to the Sea of Okhotsk.

Brezhnev contemplated using the USSR's massive nuclear stockpile against the Chinese, sending out similar diplomatic feelers toward the United States as the US had done earlier in the 1960s in potential attacks against Chinese nuclear weapons sites. The administration of President Richard Nixon made its stance clear that conflict could never again escalate to the point of nuclear war, and that either side that launched first would suffer an immediate declaration of war by the United States. Battles through the summer had gone too far to turn away from fighting, and now Brezhnev was forced to follow the same "limited warfare" as the United States had seen in Korea and, concurrently, in Vietnam.

Although officially neutral, the US seemed to side more with the Chinese. As backroom deals went through, the war in Vietnam transformed from a stalemate to a ceasefire. Communist supplies had been cut from both the Soviet Union and China as they were needed for their own fighting, and leader Ho Chi Minh had died only months after the Sino-Soviet War began, leaving followers without strong connections. The nation was eventually divided peaceably between the Communist north and Capitalist south, action for which US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger would win a Nobel Peace Prize.

Meanwhile, war between the Soviets and Chinese would drag on through the 1970s. Mongolia and Afghanistan became forced staging grounds between the two powers and suffered heavy civilian casualties. The United States continued to back China, supplying aid in a lend-lease program while never officially outraging the Soviet Union. After a decade of siege and counter-siege, the two nations began to call for an end to the seemingly unwinnable war. In the Treaty of Tashkent in 1982, the war officially ended, though fighting had quieted for some time. Russians had taken their fill of combat and rations, and the seeds of revolt were planted. Brezhnev left office that November, and his successor Yuri Andropov died in February of 1984, prompting revolution rather than instating another General Secretary.

China had become a very different nation by the end of the war. Mao Zedong had died in 1976, and his successors grew close to the Americans for their continuing support. The increase of comfort with capitalism started new economic freedom as well as an influx of American culture. While still carrying a powerful and centralized government, free elections were encouraged through the 1980s, building a new era of prosperity and growth.

The real winner of the war proved to be the United States, whose economy flourished with Chinese repayments of debts as well as in new markets in Eastern Europe where the Soviet collapse created a power-vacuum ready to be filled with blue jeans and McDonald's.

In 1779, on this day at Morristown the First Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army George Washington was shot dead by his most gifted and dependable subordinate, the American Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene.
Watch the Youtube Clip

Crime PassionalEarlier in the evening, Greene had been sent on a wild goose chase, a secret mission behind enemy lines in Philadelphia. It was so urgent, General Washington had said, that he had to leave camp that night without even saying goodbye to Kitty who was preparing to attend a party with her husband.

However shortly after departing, his horse had grown lame, and Greene was forced to abandon the mission and return to Morristown. Upon his unexpected return, he immediately discovered that at the party, his wife and the Commander had danced for three and a half-hours with each other without stopping. Suspicious, he searched the camp, eventually discovering that the pair had headed to the matresses in pursuit of their own secret mission behind enemy lines.

In 2009, on this day the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland Gordon Brown arrived in Washington D.C. for his first audience with President Barack Obama.

United People of the WorldWith an enormous amount of speculation surrounding the state visit, international news agencies reported "All eyes will be watching to see how they get on. Will stern, reticent Gordon gel with avuncular, articulate Barack? Will the two emerge equals, or will one call the shots?".

A small, but deliberate pun since Union-British relations had been ruptured for more than one hundred and fifty years by the Trent Affair. Because on November 8, 1861, the USS San Jacinto, commanded by Union Captain Charles Wilkes, intercepted the British mail packet Trent and removed two Confederate diplomats, James Mason and John Slidell.

The envoys were bound for Great Britain and France to press the Confederacy's case for diplomatic recognition by Europe. Whilst the Trent never reached Great Britain, the mission nevertheless succeeded. Because the reaction in the United States was enthusiastically in support of the capture despite the questionable legality of the act. In the Confederate States, the hope was that diplomatic recognition by Britain of the Confederacy, and ultimately, Southern independence would follow, which it surely did. And in Great Britain, the public expressed outrage at this apparent insult to their national honour. The British government demanded an apology and the release of the prisoners while it took steps to strengthen its military forces in Canada and in the Atlantic. After several weeks of tension, the issue exploded into war when the Lincoln administration refused to release the envoys and avowed Captain Wilkes' actions.

No formal apology was issued until 2001. And now the early signs of renewed British-Union relations were thrown into jeopardy once again by an explosive development of civil rights - the election of the first African-American President, Barack Obama.
Click to watch the inauguration ball

Of course the issue of equality existed at many levels. Significantly, President Obama had met with his Canadian counterpart, Prime Minister Stephen Harper before Gordon Brown, and this diplomatic gesture was considered in some quarters to be a snub to the British.

One group of people that had even stronger feelings on the matter were the unreconstructed Confederate leadership in the City of Richmond, VA. In point of fact the conversation at the other "White House [of the Confederacy]" had hardly moved on from the tribute evening for Stevie Wonder on February 23rd.
Click to watch Obama's speech

In particular, the Confederate leadership had taken great exception to Wonder's "politicized" acceptance speech believing its many references had stepped way beyond the appropriate boundaries of a musical award ~

"But what's really exciting for me today is that we truly have lived to see a time where America has a chance to again live up to the greatness that it deserves to be seen and known as, through the love and the caring and the commitment of a president, as in our president, Barack Obama. [APPLAUSE] It's exciting 'cause I know my children will be able to say, 'I was born when there was the first African American president. Yeah, I can do that too!' But not only can they do that, but all children of all various ethnicities understand that they can speak in truth. They can talk about loving and caring about this country. They can talk about being a united people of the United States of America. They can live that dream that Dr. King talked about so long ago. And if those in this country and throughout the world - you can put down your spirits of hate and open up your hearts to receive God's ever commitment of love, then we can be a united people of the world. If we can think that big, and feel that strong, then I believe, as is said to me by my God, impossible is unacceptable. We don't know the miracles that will be bestown on us because of that. "

The timings of the visits from Stevie Wonder and Gordon Brown could be considered unfortunate. Yet few disagreed that a miracle was needed to set things back on track. And only a few optimists held out hope that Mr Brown could initiate substantive dialogue between the three parties, and open a new chapter in UK-USA-CSA bilateral relations.

In 2000, Marlon Brando completes a day's work dubbing lines for certain scenes involving Robert DeNiro as Don Vito Corleone in the new Godfather film.

The Godfather Part IV, RebootIt is a role DeNiro reprises from the 1974 sequel, in which he played a younger version of the same character famously portrayed by Brando in the 1972 original.

Director Francis Coppola had read reports for the last several months that Brando, 76, was bitterly disappointed Coppola had not asked him to reprise the role of Vito in The Godfather Part IV, in flashback scenes set in the early mid- to late-1930s that detail the rise of the Corleone crime family in New York. however, Coopola decided early in the pre-production process that he was not keen on dealing with Brando's erratic nature on set as he did last in Apocalypse Now - and though Brando is noted as being robust for his age, the director thought the idea he would play Vito in his 40s to be faintly ridiculous.

However, it is DeNiro that is keen to suggests Brando perhaps dub some of DeNiro's own lines in his distinctive whispery tones for the sake of continuity and when DeNiro feels he didn't quite succeed in imitating Brando's Oscar-winning preformance from the first film. DeNiro's true reasons for allowing this is that he is keen to get Brando to agree to play a role in heist film The Score, currently starring DeNiro and Steve Buscemi.

Though Brando recieves a pricely sum for his services, Coppola stops short of giving into his demand for a star billing in the gangster sequel for just a few recorded lines and he instead gets a 'Very Special Thanks To' mention at the very end of the film's credits.

In 1841, the Second American Insurrection [against the British Empire] ends with the capture of the last of its leaders, "provisional president" John Calhoun.

Calhoun CapturedThe South Carolina native is arrested in East Florida while attempting to take passage aboard a ship bound for Cuba. He will be executed for treason a month later.

Disorganized rebel bands will continue to operate throughout the formerly slaveholding South for years, often under banners based on the so-called "Eagle and Stars" adopted as the flag of the "United Commonwealths of America" declared by the rebels. This emblem featured an eagle with wings outspread, one claw clutching a set of arrows and the other an olive branch, surrounded by a wreath of stars, one for each commonwealth of the Union, on a blue field.

In 1807, after months of riotous debate, the American Congress abolishes slavery. Northern representatives joined with a surprisingly large number of southern politicians to pass the Writ of Emancipation.

Writ of EmancipationThe origin of the Great Writ was actually just an attempt to stop the traffic in slaves from Africa, but the abolitionists found enough sympathizers to pass much more comprehensive legislation.

President Thomas Jefferson (pictured), himself a southerner and slave-owner, signed the bill into law, saying, "Today, we finally acknowledge the noble sentiments that we spoke of in the Constitution; today, all men are equal under the law, at last".

A new article by Robbie TaylorIt was thought by many of his contemporaries that Jefferson had a slave lover who had influenced his decision, and indeed, after leaving office, Jefferson married a former slave who was his dead wife's half-sister.

As to the Great Writ itself, although the southern leadership had considered slavery to be of little importance to their region, hundreds of slave-owners felt that it was an attack on them, personally. Minor rebellions flared in the south for decades as the former slave-owners attempted to take their revenge on the US for what they perceived as a usurpation of their sovereignty, and pockets of slavery existed until the 1840's before the government could finally track them all down.

In 1836, on this day in Agua Dulce Creek, Coahuila y Tejas Province, the sun was gradually creeping over the far hilltops, but it wasn't likely to obscure the vision of the waiting cavalry.

Bienvenidos a California!The leading dragoon shifted slightly in his saddle, so that the branch of a tree shaded his eyes from the slowly brightening rays. But the light of the sun had an advantage- on the road winding past the base of the gently sloping hill, the Texans were clearly visible.

Fifty-one, fifty-two, fifty-three men, marching with little order down the road. Fifty-three rebel Texans on the road, fifty-three men in contempt of the laws of the land and of their superiors. The dragoon's lip curled. He ran his fingers along the handle of his sabre, stroking the cold metal and then slowly tightening his grip around it. The rest of his company was similarly waiting, men and horses tense before the coming uproar, awaiting one thing only.

A sudden bugle sounded two harsh cries, each echoed in the valley by a Texan voice:
"Mexicans!"
"Ambush!"

The dragoon spurred his black horse forward, and with a great sweep of his hand drew his long, steel sabre, which flashed red in the early sunlight as it hissed round in front of him. He lowered the point of the blade, steadying his hand despite the jarring motion as his horse, among forty others, pressed down the slope, and aimed the sword directly at his target- the one Texan he could see wearing a dark blue soldier's uniform. Those riders to his right and left recognised their captain's signal from the corner of their eyes, and knew what he meant. The Texan commander was his kill.

The victim was hurriedly trying to bring about some semblance of order among his men, pressing them to form firing lines and bring down some the onrushing horses before they were upon them, but to little avail. Fifty yards, forty, thirty, twenty, ten.

In a vicious, scything arc the dragoon slashed his sabre into the first Texan in his path, a grizzled-looking man in a mud-stained white shirt. The blade slit a neat line around the base of the man's neck and he dropped his rifle, clutching instead at the newly-opened wound, which was already beginning to tinge his shirt a different colour. A second man swung the heavy butt of a gun towards the horseman, who slid neatly in his saddle leaving the weapon to fly harmlessly past, and flicked his better weapon back with a twist of the wrist, catching the rebel across the face with its razor-sharp point. He fell with a cry that mixed surprise and pain, it was left to the onrushing Mexican horses to finish the job their captain had started.

A article from "The Golden Nation" by DerKaizerTaking the reins with his sword-hand, the dragoon reached from his side for a long-barrelled, sleek, black pistol and drew in his horse, who reared high to halt its gallop. The rider lowered his gun at one of the few Texans who had managed to get a shot off- a boy surely not yet of age who was hurriedly trying to reload the weapon with fumbling hands- one crack from the pistol, and he fell. A guttural roar from his right side caused the dragoon to twist in his saddle, to see a bearded man rushing at him holding a bayonet high in both hands. But the attacker was too far away, and his target's reflexes too fast. The bullet caught him near his left shoulder, and he, too, fell. This was not a challenge, this was target practice.

Replacing his pistol in its holster, he turned his horse swiftly and kicked her on towards the rising sun, to where the soldier stood. This was no amateur. He had felled a dragoon to the right of the captain on the charge with his rifle, and now held a pistol and a finely-crafted sword in his hand. A man worth killing.

"Senor!" He called, in a passable English accent. "Will you do me the honour?"

The soldier understood him, he dropped his pistol and raised the sabre in his right hand. The dragoon once again reigned in his mount and vaulted easily from the saddle with a practiced air, likewise with sabre in hand.

The Texan lunged, and his adversary twisted on the spot, neatly dodging the attack, and beating the other's back with the flat of his blade- this was not the killing blow, he was merely chastising his opponent for so pedestrian an effort. The Texan brought his sword down in a great blow, and the dragoon raised his blade in turn, and with a resounding clash the two weapons met, sending a shuddering blow down each hand. The dragoon slid away, ducking under a rapid swipe from his opponent, and jabbed him under the arm, tearing the blue sleeve and the skin underneath. The victim growled in anger and pulled himself free, lunging again and again failing to meet his mark- but this time the dragoon's attack was met with the Texan's sword and the two parted again.

Now the dragoon darted forwards with a lunge of his own, and though the Texan parried he flicked his wrist rapidly- more rapidly than his opponent had anticipated, and caught him in the sword-hand. The Texan dropped his weapon with a howl of pain and anger, blood streaming down his hand, and as he looked up at his opponent he caught the dragoon's boot in his face, and fell onto his back. The point of his adversary's sabre hovered above his face.

"I thank you, senor, an honourable display.". Came the Spanish voice.
"Honourable?" Spat the Texan in pain. "Call an ambush honourable? You're all the same- cheating Mexican.".
"Californian, actually". Replied the dragoon with a smile, and drove the sabre downwards.
The whole alternate history is available at Paradox Plaza.

It is March 1, 1932, .. and the nation is stunned to learn that Charles Lindbergh's infant son has been kidnapped.
An installment from the Happy Endings thread

Happy Endings Part 24
Lindy is Lucky AgainEveryone breathes sigh of relief when the child is returned unharmed, after the ransom is paid. He later grows up to be as skilled a pilot as his father .. and that is saying a great deal, since "Lucky Lindy" is well known for having flown non-stop across the Atlantic in 1927, at age 25.

After the kidnapping, he is more famous than ever .. and more in demand as a speaker on the future of air-plane flight. It will, he believes, include a larger role for air combat in wartime, and urges America to prepare for any conflict that may come. His warnings grow increasingly serious as Germany starts to re-arm.

In 1827, it was rather a chance meeting that brought the German professor Friedrich Eduard Beneke together with Rosmerta Howl from Carmarthen.
This post was written by Dirk Puehl the highly recommended author of #onthisday #history Google+ posts.

Beneke, Welsh WizardDirk Puehl writes - The former had just returned to Berlin after years of disfavour for speaking out against mighty Hegel, the latter visited the Prußian capital in the wake of "Pickwick" Fürst von Pückler-Muskau.

The Welsh adventureß was an infrequent guest in the famous Salon of Rahel Varnhagen where she and Beneke became acquainted during a soiree. A lengthy discussion together with the famous Romantic poet Ludwig Tieck ensued, with Beneke lecturing his position of metaphysics, Tieck adding the sense of wonder and magic while Rosmerta introduced the professor and the poet to Iolo Morganwg's theory of concentric rings of existence emerging from the old Celtic Otherworld, the Annwn, then a pet theory of the Welsh revival circles.

Whether the unfamiliar theory and ancient lore or the charms of Rosmerta Howl captivated Beneke's interest is open to debate. While Tieck perpetuated the meeting in his novel "The Scholar" ("Der Gelehrte"), Beneke began to study history, language and customs of the old Gauls and Britons with a vengeance. He studied Brythonic languages together with Friedrich Rückert who was equally captivated by the topic and began to estrange his Berlin students beyond anti-Hegelian positions with highly theoretical deliberations on other and spirit-worlds as well as metempsychosis.

Beneke finally lost his chair at the Berlin University of the Arts in 1832 and returned to Göttingen to earn a meagre living as lecturer, since the late 1830s as assistant of the Princeps mathematicorum Carl Friedfrich Gauß, he even published a paper on "Paraxial Approximation and the Wisdom of the Ancients" and was noted especially in students' anecdotes for sudden appearances and disappearances in and from improbable places.

Beneke was in correspondence with quite a few members of the Gwyneddigion Society on the inheritance of Iolo Morganwg who had died in 1826 as well as the whereabouts of Rosmerta Howl until he finally met with William Owen Pughe and others in London in 1835. How he made the journey from Göttingen to there with almost no means to speak of remains a mystery. The discußions followed up the topics of the surviving correspondence, about the Welsh fairies, the Tylwyth Teg, fairy paths, the Annwn and, of course, Rosmerta. He finally met her in Camarthen in 1836 and returned to Göttingen a year later after a prolonged but undocumented sojourn in the historical region of Brycheiniog in Southern Wales.

His unexpected reappearance in the German university town saw him not only obviously financially independent but in even more frequent meetings with Gauß without giving lectures anymore. Beneke resettled to a lonely manor in the nearby Harz mountain range where he continüd his studies in utmost privacy. He was rumoured to have been seen in various European towns and ancient locations from Spain, France and Bohemia and even Central Turkey to Scotland and Ireland until he finally disappeared on March 1st, 1854 on the island of Anglesey. His body was discovered in June 1856, floating in a Berlin Canal, without any obvious reasons for his death.