In 1841, after recovering from an illness believed to be pneumonia, US President William Henry Harrison announced a new policy on the issue of slavery in the federal territories. No new slaves could be born in the territories, but slaves could be brought in from existing slave states. The compromise alleviated the fears of abolitionists, primarily Northerners, about the direct expansion of slavery and brought great excitement to slave-holders, primarily Southerners, who gained a valuable new export. Harrison hoped it would be a transition into legalizing slavery overall in the territories, but it actually contributed to the end of slavery in America.

April 4, 1841 - Harrison Announces Slavery in TerritoriesHarrison was born in Virginia on February 9, 1773, the last president born before the Declaration of Independence. He was well educated at the Presbyterian Hampden-Sydney College, where he began to take part in the Great Revival sweeping the young nation. When word came that young William was beginning to participate in abolitionist meetings, his father put him into medical school in Philadelphia. Harrison disliked medicine and, upon his father's death, took Virginia Governor "Lighthorse Harry" Lee's advice to join Army.

Because of his rugged discipline and skill in command, Harrison quickly rose through the ranks. In 1795, while stationed in Ohio (then America's western frontier), Harrison eloped with Anna Symmes, and the two would have ten children together. According to historical study, Harrison also had six children through his slave Dilsia, all of whom were sold to avoid scandal as his career changed from the military to politics.

Harrison resigned as a lieutenant in 1797 and became the Secretary of the Northwest Territory, often acting as governor during the appointed official's long absences. Using his business of horse-breeding and the platform of cheaper land prices as encouragement for expansion in the territory, Harrison was elected to Congress in 1799. After Harrion's display of leadership in passing the Harrison Land Grant, President John Adams appointed him as Governor of the Indiana Territory. He worked to prove up the territory quickly and was granted the authority to make treaties with the local Indians. Many of Harrison's plans involved indentured servitude and the legalization of slavery in the territory, which would supply the manpower to improve the land all the sooner. As Indiana became increasingly abolitionist, Harrison's proposals for slavery were ended.

When the Shawnee under Tecumseh and his brother The Prophet began to create a confederation of tribes in 1810, Harrison came to national attention. Tecumseh argued that Harrison's treaties with the Miami people did not apply to the other tribes, meaning that Harrison had purchased substantially less land than the Treaty of Fort Wayne stated. Harrison disagreed, and Tecumseh threatened to kill anyone who settled the new land. War broke out, and, in 1811, Harrison defeated Tecumseh at Prophetstown near the Tippecanoe River, earning his nickname "Old Tippecanoe". The War of 1812 swiftly followed, and Harrison again defeated Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames alongside his British allies, defending the Ohio region from incursion.

After the war, Harrison's political career continued, including a stint as envoy to Gran Colombia, where he came into a feud with Simon Bolivar over freedom. He felt Bolivar would become a dictator over an anarchical people while Bolivar wrote, "The United States [seems] destined by Providence to plague America with torments in the name of freedom". In 1840, Harrison successfully campaigned to become president on the Whig ticket, creating many of the public relations activities used in politics today, include a jingle,

"Old Tip he wore a homespun coat, he had no ruffled shirt: wirt-wirt, But Matt he has the golden plate, and he's a little squirt: wirt-wirt!"

He portrayed himself as a poor frontiersman and his opponent Martin van Buren as a stodgy rich man, though Harrison himself had been born wealthy and continued to be so. Harrison also mastered reversing attempted attacks on his campaign. When the smear rumor spread that Harrison was an old coot who would "sit in his log cabin drinking hard cider" all day, he spread the image of himself as a man of the people, which became popular. Democrats also played on his age, nicknaming him "Granny Harrison". To show that he was still a fit man despite being 68, Harrison gave a two-hour inaugural address standing in the rain without a hat. He became ill afterward but proved himself in recovering and contributing to the Whig cause.

With Harrison as president, Henry Clay hoped to promote many of his ideals in the American System. Clay initially was overly forward, to which Harrison responded, "Mr. Clay, you forget that I am the President". Instead, Harrison and Daniel Webster controlled the Whigs and encouraged development of the West. Many of Clay's ideals did come into play such as the renewal of the National Bank and the funding of internal improvements such as roads and canals, but tariffs proved too divisive. Harrison championed Western settlement, including the expansion of slavery for rapid economic improvement.

His plan of importing slaves and freeing newborns as they came of age brought about the custom of transporting pregnant female slaves back to the South. The action was deemed barbaric (especially by Southern slave-owners whose own property would be more valuable if only they could produce slaves), and it became illegal to transport a slave "with child". Outcry arose over Congress legislating on "property", but political precedent was established as the Constitution regulated interstate commerce. As anti-slavery factions began to gain power in Washington, further control over the transport of slaves under interstate law was enacted such as health screenings. The acts culminated in the liberation of Dred Scott when his case was brought forth by another citizen in 1857.

With slavery increasingly restricted to local markets, a balloon in the slave economy began with the price of slaves skyrocketing to four and even six times the 1850s value. Investors eventually looked elsewhere, such as tenant farming, and the price collapsed. Slave-holders cried for government assistance, demanding that a public fund be created to liberate slaves by purchasing them, often for slightly more than market value. Democratic President Stephen Douglas did so with his Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, and, by 1866, slavery itself was put to an end.

In 2013, the secret justification for a joint American-Israeli Strike on Iran was openly revealed by a Wikileak publication of top secret diplomatic cables originating from the Confederate State Department in Richmond, VA.

Mullah-ed, Part 2 In which Rick Santorum drops the bomb for JesusThe national intelligence agency of Israel (Mossad) reported that Hezbollah had discovered the body of the unrisen Jesus in a Syrian grave marked with the unambigous inscription "I, Jospeph of Arimathaea, took the body of Jesus, the Nazarene, from the tomb where it was first laid and hid it in this place". Details of the location of the tomb were held by their Iranian sponsors.

Understanding that such a revelation (even if proven false) would be a prize to radical Islam, the Israeli Government had engaged with the sympathetic Confederate President Santorum who immediately set about building an alliance of the willing with his counterparts in the Two Americas. A secret plan was devised to destroy both sites. Santorum also received strong backing from a "Christian brother", his occasional ally the Confederate Governor of Texas (partly because thirty-five years before Rick Perry had been selected as a CSA observer on Operation Eagle Talon during his participation in the Future Leaders of America program). But despite their conviction in this compelling "inside" story, the outside story had remained un-changed, that the Iranian Government was close to achieving nuclear launch capability and needed to be stopped at all costs.
This article is part of the Two Americas thread. in the variant Mullah-ed, Part 1 God intervened to prevent the destruction of Iran's atomic research facilities.

In 1759, on this day in the town of Braintree on Massachusetts Bay, friends of the struggling lawyer John Adams burst into his drawing room just moments after his "Sweet Orlinda" Hannah Quincy had accepted his rash proposal of marriage.

Sweet OrlindaFor a brief moment he had forgotten his career and financial troubles, a customary lapse of judgement that Benjamin Franklin would later note in summing up Adam's character: "He means well for his country, is always an honest man, often a wise man, but sometimes, and in some things, absolutely out of his senses".

And despite his pivotal role at the very centre of events during the American Revolution, that character flaw would cruelly deny him the Vice Presidency twenty years later. Because in the final analysis, his brilliant legal mind was unsuited to the challenges of governance.

A manic depressive, Adams was overcome by despair and returned to Braintree to resume his career in law. But every dog has its day. Deep into his retirement, two delegates from the Hartford Convention rushed into his drawing room to offer him a second chance, to serve as the President of the New England Conferacy.

In 1958, Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato began a violent argument in Turner's house at 730 N. Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills. Fearing her mother's life was in danger, Turner's fourteen-year-old daughter, Cheryl [Crane], grabbed a kitchen knife and ran to Turner's defense.

Johnny Stompanato kills Sean ConneryMany theories abound as to what happened afterward, but it appears Crane stabbed Stompanato, killing him. The case quickly became a media sensation. It was later deemed a justifiable homicide at a coroner's inquest, at which Turner provided dramatic testimony. Some observers have said her testimony that day was the acting performance of her life...

A new post by David TennerLet's say that Stompanato shoots and kills Connery before Connery can take away the gun. Consequences? (I'm thinking here primarily of the consequences of a no-Sean-Connery world, but of course there may be consequences for Lana Turner as well, as Stompanato may be out for revenge on her--with the help of Mickey Cohen this could be accomplished even while Stompanato is in prison. Or if the killing of Connery takes place in a scuffle over the gun and Stompanato gets a relatively light sentence -- for manslaughter rather than murder--he could be a very dangerous man for her, even more than in OTL, once he has served his time...)

Who takes Connery's place in the James Bond movies from 1962 to 1967? Supposedly Ian Fleming originally preferred Roger Moore, but stories to that effect seem a bit suspect because they claim that Fleming had been impressed by seeing Moore as Simon Templar in The Saint -- yet "the series did not begin broadcasting in the United Kingdom until 4 October 1962 -- one day before the premiere of Dr. No, although it's possible that the show began filming before or around the film".

So if Connery isn't around and Moore doesn't get the role (and neither, I assume, will Fleming's alleged first-choice-even-before-Moore, David Niven) who does get it?

Incidentally, there is another POD for Connery being killed as a result of the Turner-Stompanato incident:

"Meanwhile, Connery had been hired by the Walt Disney organisation to play a supporting part in the fantasy tale Darby O'Gill And The Little People. The role required him to make his first visit to Tinseltown.

He checked into the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. One evening he received a call from one of the henchmen of Stompanato's associate Mickey Cohen. Cohen had heard of Connery's involvement with Turner and was set on taking revenge for his friend Stompanato's death.

The message delivered by Cohen's sidekick was simple:

Get out of town or a contract will be put on your life".

Connery, not one to be cowed by such threats, did, however, check out, and on the advice of Disney executives laid low at a small guesthouse outside LA as he waited for Cohen's temper to subside..".

Suppose Cohen's temper doesn't subside (at least not in time to spare Connery)?...The discussion continues at Google Groups

In 1968, on this day Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader and third-party presidential candidate, is assassinated at Lorraine Hotel, Memphis. King was struck by a single bullet fired from a rifle. The bullet travelled through the right side of his neck, smashing his throat and then going down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder.

Gerry Shannon's King Dies for "No Lost Cause"King had been nominated as the Reform Party candidate for the Presidency of the Confederate States, and had been in Memphis for a scheduled campaign appearance. Though he had been trailing far behind both the Conservative and Democratic-Republican candidates in the national polls, King had hoped to use his candidacy as a platform for his long-standing campaign of civil rights for African-Americans in the CSA.

Only coming five years after the assassination of CS President Lyndon Johnson, King's murder would have an even profounder effect on society. Riots ignited across the state capitals, not the least of which in Richmond, for several weeks. CS President John Connolly releases a statement, "Dr. King would often tell me our Confederacy was built on a Lost Cause, but I know he was content to die for what he regarded as a more noble one. A cause dedicated to love and peace towards his fellow man, black and white; and one that can only improve the lives of all of us living in these Confederate States".

On June 10, 1968, James Earl Ray, a fugitive from a Missouri prison, was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport, extradited to the Confederate States, and chared with the crime. On March 10th, 1969, Ray entered a plea of guilty and sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee state penitentiary. Following his incarceration, Ray would suddenly deny all charges and claim a mysterious individual named "Raoul" set him up; he would put forward this version of events until his death in 1998.

In 1841, US President William Henry Harrison got over a small cold he had contracted on his inaugural day.

Harrison Recovers From IllnessAlthough he had intended to show his stamina by remaining outdoors as much as possible, the bitter cold of the day had forced him to rethink that decision, otherwise the cold he caught might have been much worse.

Another of his decisions that might have deserved a rethink was the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo. Based on a story by Robbie TaylorWelcomed at the time as a skillfully negotiated settlement that avoided unnecessary conflict with Mexico, in some quarters the Treaty sparked fierce criticism that the guarantee of Texas as an independent state would create an obstacle to westward expansion.

To the dismay of Harrison, the frustrated supporters of a coast-to-coast vision were soon proven correct. Because the discovery of Gold in California ensured that for decades to come Mexico would retain a strategic long-term interest in the south-western region. And as the Mexicans had intended, Texas would serve as a buffer state with the US.

In 1882, Jesse James Flees Missouri. As famous outlaw Jesse James prepared his gang for another robbery, he noticed a picture frame was dusty. He climbed onto a chair and proceeded to dust and straighten it. Behind him, one of his gang members, Bob Ford, shot at him, narrowly missing his head. Infuriated, James jumped down the chair and threw it at Bob, who had already run out the kitchen door. James chased him into the streets of Saint Joseph, Missouri, firing several shots before mounting his horse and disappearing, riding east.

April 3, 1882 - Jesse James Flees MissouriJames' life had been one of hardship. He was born in 1847 to Baptist minister Robert S. and Zerelda James, who moved from Kentucky to Missouri and contributed to founding William Jewel College. Robert led the family to California during the 1849 Gold Rush to become ministers. He died there shortly after, leaving behind his widow, James, his older brother Frank, and his younger sister Susan. Zerelda remarried, but their new stepfather Benjamin Simms was cruel to the young boys. She divorced him and remarried again, this time to a soft-spoken man, Dr. Reuben Samuel, who left his practice to work the James farm.

While his home life became peaceful, the rest of the nation turned to war. The James-Samuels lived on the pro-Confederacy western part of Missouri, a border state that determined to stay with the Union. Locals formed militias known as "bushwackers" for those supporting secession and Unionist "jayhawkers", and the state became plagued with guerilla war. Frank James joined the war on the Confederate side, fighting at the Battle of Wilson's Creek before taking sick-leave. In 1863, Jayhawkers came to the farm hunting Frank. They tortured Samuel by hanging him before cutting him down and reportedly whipped Jesse. Jesse soon departed the farm to meet up with Frank, who had fought as part of Quantrill's Raiders before returning to Missouri. The two brothers participated in massacres, learning skills in surprise tactics and psychological warfare, such as scalping and killing those who surrendered. Jesse himself attempted to surrender near Lexington, Missouri, where he was shot in the chest and forced to sit out the rest of the war. He was nursed back to health by his cousin Zerelda "Zee" Mimms, whom he married in 1874.

A new article by Jeff ProvineAs the Civil War ended, the days of Reconstruction came. Confederates were banned from voting, preaching, and forming corporations. Many rebels continued the fight, operating as outlaws pulling robberies and harassing local government. Jesse and Frank fell in with the outlaws, joining a gang of brothers headed by fellow guerilla Cole Younger. The James-Younger gang became famous in December of 1869 when Jesse shot a bank cashier mistaking him for a former Union militia officer. The act of revenge on the Union and the James' larger-than-life escape put his name in the newspapers. While many dubbed them deplorable criminals, founder and editor of the Kansas City Times and former Confederate John Newman Edwards gave them a sense of heroism fighting the oppression of Reconstruction. He began publishing letters written by James, who claimed innocence and made argument for the right to resist tyrants.

For several years, the gang committed numerous robberies over half the country. As their fame grew, they were able to commit public robberies, even joking with fawning witnesses. Many considered them heroically fighting corruption, though they themselves never donated any of their income. The government attempted to crack down on them; Missouri Governor Thomas T. Crittenden stated in his inaugural address that their arrest was priority. Companies hired the Pinkerton Detectives to hunt the gang down, but the agent sent to the James farm was later discovered dead. In a shootout, Pinkertons killed several of the Youngers. A robbery gone wrong at the First National Bank of Northfield, Minnesota, and the following manhunt wiped out the Youngers while the Jameses disappeared.

Frank decided to give up the life of an outlaw, but Jesse formed up a new gang and began a new spree. This gang, however, did not have the cohesiveness of the ex-Confederates. Infighting occurred, and Jesse turned paranoid. He insisted that his two gangmembers, Charley and Bob Ford, move in with him. His paranoia proved right when Bob attempted to murder him and collect the governor's $5000 reward.

Soon after Jesse disappeared from St. Joe, Irish poet Oscar Wilde arrived in town looking for the famous outlaw. He had arrived in America that January and began an adventurous lecture tour on aestheticism. Wilde was disappointed but left word of where he could be reached. While drinking with miners in Leadville, Colorado, a man introduced himself as Jesse James. The two sat up late talking, discussing ethics and Wilde's famous quote "It's not whether I did it or not that's important, but whether people believed I did it" in comparison with James' "heroic" outlaw life. James seemed annoyed by Wilde's lack of conviction, but, upon Wilde's invitation to smuggle him and his family back to Europe, James agreed to travel with him.

James began his own lecture tour, visiting numerous cities in the United Kingdom as well as several countries on the Continent. He and Wilde conversed a number of times again, and James signed alongside Wilde on the petition put out by George Bernard Shaw to pardon the violent strikers at Chicago's Haymarket Riot in 1886. James noted to Wilde the importance of maintaining an unquestionable personal clout rather than depending on the law. Wilde himself was believed to have practiced the advice when his feud with the Marquess of Queensberry ended with a fistfight between the two.

In 1892, James finally returned to America. He had written to his brother Frank, who was living under an assumed name as a shoe salesman, and the two decided to come clean. After a fanfare trial, the two were acquitted. Jesse and Zee settled back on the farm, where their mother had been leading tours of the famous raid. His son, Jesse Edward James, studied law and became a prominent Missouri politician. James continued to write, dying in 1917 shortly after America's entry into World War I, for which he had campaigned vehemently as revenge on German u-boat attacks.

In AD 33, espying the enemy walking amongst the crowd the High Priest Caiaphas orders the Temple Guards to overpower the Roman Soldiers, release the Prophet and crucify Satan instead.

"All who live by the sword, shall die by the sword"It was the Temple Guard Malchus who finally revealed the web of deceit to the Council at the Via Dolorosa, so desperately close to the final execution place of the skulls at Golgotha.

Because during the arrest at Gethsemane, an overzealous disciple had chopped off his ear, but the Prophet had miraculously healed the wound. Driven to his knees by the truth of his final words ("All who live by the sword, shall die by the sword"), Malchus had played no further part in the arrest. Instead, he remained in prayer at the Garden whilst the Prophet was put in chains and dragged off to a mistrial.

"Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that's wise!" ~ SophoclesThe architect of that arrest, Judas Iscariot, witnessed the miscarriage of justice that followed, and at the last, finally understood that he had been utterly manipulated into his betrayal by Satan.

Refusing to accept that he was damned, he raced back to Gethsemane, convinced Malchus to return with him and reverse the sentence of the court.

They almost didn't make it.

In 1964, this day would mark the beginning of the Cultural Revolution with the celebrated Chinese poet Mao Zedong publishing his pocket-sized "Little Red Book" of verse.

Mao's Little Red BookBorn into a peasant family in 1893, Mao was denied the classic education which other middle class Englightenment figures enjoyed. And yet despite the crushing setback of poverty, he was nurtured with an abiding love of the classics of Chinese literature.

He was particularly fond of the great Chinese poets Tang and Song who fine-tuned the use of imagery as a literary device. The application of this model is revealed in one of his most famous poems "The Gods" which ends with the powerful image "Tears fly down from a great upturned bowl of rice". By alluding to the beheading of his wife and sister by the Chinest Nationalists during the 1930s, Mao exposes both his vulnerability and the immensity of the loss.

A new installment from the "Happy Hitler Artist" ThreadAnd yet the catalist for Mao's career in verse was a chance meeting with an obscure Vietnamese Poet. Because during his imprisonment in 1942, Nguyen Ai Qoc¹ redefined the device of imagery, famously telling Mao that "When the prison doors are open, the real dragon will fly out".

Many years later, Andy Warhol would transform Mao into a global icon. And Frederic Tuten wrote the brilliant Dadaesque novel, "The Adventures of Mao on the Long March" which was published in 1971.

In 1943, on this day Adolf Schicklegruber quit Walt Disney Studios following a furious row with the micro-managing and over-involved owner. In reality only one outcome was possible after the fifty-three year old cartoonist called Disney a fascist, racist, anti-semite and finally of being practically a Nazi, just like the over caricatured villian of their animated movie Der Fuehrer's Face. Click to view Donald Duck - Der Fuehrer's Face on Youtube

Practically a NaziWhilst the production of the anti-Nazi propaganda movie had certainly brought the best out in Schicklegruber, the reverse was true of Disney. During the shooting of the movie Schicklegruber sensed that Disney had an unhealthy admiration for the Fuehrer, Heinrich Himmler. In fact Schicklegruber had first started to suspect the truth during the pre-production of "The Wayward Canary" in 1932, in which Mickey Mouse is seen using a cigarette lighter with a swastika painted on the side.

Of course Schicklegruber had absolutely nothing but contempt for the Nazis and their monstrous anti-semitism. Because in 1907, Schicklegruber's mother had developed a life-threatening disease¹ and was cured by a Jewish doctor who served the poor, Dr. Edward Bloch.

Disney animator Art Babbitt heartily agreed, claiming his boss had a strong interest in, if not outright sympathy for, the Bund: "In the immediate years before we entered the War there was a small, but fiercely loyal, I suppose legal, following of the Nazi party . . . There were open meetings, anybody could attend and I wanted to see what was going on myself. On more than one occasion I observed Walt Disney and [Disney's lawyer] Gunther Lessing there, along with a lot of prominent Nazi-afflicted Hollywood personalities. Disney was going to meetings all the time. "

The German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose documentaries in the mid-30s had helped to glorify the Nazis, claimed that "after Kristallnacht in 1938, she approached every studio in Hollywood looking for work. No studio head would even screen her movies except Walt Disney. He told her he admired her work but if it became known that he was considering hiring her, it would damage his reputation".

By 1945, thoughts of the Disney Studio were but a distant echo, overtaken by the wave of popularity for the Wonderful World of Schicklegruber. Yet Disney made one final attempt to sink his erstwhile favourite cartoonist.

In 1947, during the early years of the Cold War, Disney testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he branded Adolf Schicklegruber, Herbert Sorrell, David Hilberman and William Pomerance, animators and labor union organizers, as Communist agitators. All four men denied the allegations. Disney also accused the Screen Actors Guild of being a Communist front, and charged that the 1941 strike was part of an organized Communist effort to gain influence in Hollywood.

Afterwards, Disney was to abandon children's cartoons altogether. During the mid-1950s, Disney produced a number of educational films on the space program in collaboration with NASA rocket designer Wernher von Braun (pictured): Man in Space and Man and the Moon in 1955, and Mars and Beyond in 1957.

In 2013, on this day Washington, D.C is laid waste by an asteroid.

The War on Extraterrestrials beginsThe Potomac region is quickly populated by alien life forms and the survivors of the blast are mutated into Zombies.

A decision to detonate thermonuclear weapons is quickly taken by VP Joe Biden. And although the capital is lost, the infected area is destroyed and the remainder of the country declared safe.

Biden led the nation in prayers, reflecting upon the loss of Barack Obama despite the fact that less is known about him than any other President in American history.

However when asteroids begin to strike other major US cities, it becomes apparent that the country is under direct attack by extra-terrestrials. Only later did it become clear that the attacks were actually being launched by the military-industrial complex.

In 1453, on this day the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II began the two-month, unsuccessful siege of Constantinople.

Constantinople Siege RaisedThe Tenth Crusade, led by united Christian forces directly under Pope Nicholas V gathered from a wide alliance of Venetian, German, and Genoese troops, broke the Siege on May 29th. It would serve as the crowning moment of Nicholas' impressive eight-year term as pope and herald a new age of military security in Christendom from outside threats. Dubbed the time of the "Third Rome", the triumph would mean the end of the Byzantine period and domination over the European Muslims.

Constantinople grew up from the humble Greek town of Byzantium when Emperor Constantine decided to shift his capital in 330 to escape Roman factions and intrigue as well as establishing quick connection to frontiers where barbarian threats could arise. The Byzantine Empire continued even after the fall of Rome to German invasion and grew wealthy by controlling the key point of trade between the West and East as well as the Bosporus, the only shipping route from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Despite centuries of decline since the golden age of Justinian where the Byzantines dominated an empire almost as large as Rome's had been, Constantinople continued to hang on as a crucial lynchpin of world trade and civilization.

Meanwhile, the world changed around stagnant Constantinople. The Orthodox Church broke with the western Rome due to differences such as the veneration of icons and, especially, attacks such as the sacking of the Church of Holy Wisdom in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade. The Byzantines lost control of Anatolia, which broke into various principalities, one of which was ruled by Osman I in 1299, who held a vision of an empire as a tree with roots spreading through three continents and leaves blotting out the sky. He defeated the Byzantines at Bapheus in 1302, which was the first display of the quick expansion of the Ottomans through Anatolia and then, under Mehmed I, into the Balkans (1413-1421). Though the growing Ottoman Empire was just a few miles from Constantinople, it would be more than a century before they could muster enough force to conquer the city, merely demand tribute. Upon taking the Ottoman throne in 1451 at age nineteen, Mehmed II immediately set upon building up his navy and preparing to take Constantinople. He finally arranged a force estimated at around 100,000 soldiers with some 320 ships and established a blockade and siege in April of 1453.

A new story by Jeff ProvineAppeals from Constantinople did not go unheard, however. Pope Nicholas V began to call for a crusade for the liberation of the Bosporus from the Ottomans. No king seemed willing to head the expedition, and so Nicholas volunteered himself, using unprecedented powers hinted at in the declarations of Papal supremacy in the Council of Constance in 1418. He still needed armies, which he could gather freely as the Western Schism finally ended with the resignation of Antipope Felix V in 1449. While he would gather great support from Spain, France, and the Italian States, his greatest ally came as Frederick III, King of Germany, whom he crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1450, on the condition that he aid in the pope's new crusade.

Just as the citizens of Constantinople were beginning to give up hope while seeing visions mysterious fogs darkened the city, a total lunar eclipse passed, and St. Elmo's fire was seen above the Church of Holy Wisdom, the Papal forces arrived. Winning the battle at sea, the crusaders cut off the Ottoman forces, who were in the midst of a final assault on Constantinople. The defenders held part of the city, and the Ottomans attempted to use defenses they had seized against the papal army. Eventually the Ottomans would be overwhelmed, and young Mehmed II would be killed in the fighting, which would rage for months to come as the crusaders stormed the rest of the Ottoman territories.

Rather than set the Byzantines up again, the territories were divided among the conquerors. Venice and Genoa received their outlying islands and sections of Greece while Frederick's empire expanded over much of the Balkans. Pope Nicholas would die in 1455, but he began the healing of the rift between Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy, which would be completed in a series of councils loosening strict dogma on political grounds. Nicholas's interest in humanism and the arts would be embraced, widening the Renaissance and establishing a new era of hierarchical unity through the Church, accepting reforms proposed out of Germany through men such as Luther and Calvin.

However, Nicholas's humanism would be notably prejudice in the religious superiority of Christendom. His expansion of slavery against "Saracens, Pagans and other enemies of Christ wherever they may be found" in the 1452 papal bull was meant originally to encourage conquest by Portuguese in Africa, but the rest of Christendom would seize the opportunity. A new world superpower increasingly centralized through the Holy Roman Empire and Holy League would sweep through the Middle East and North Africa in further crusades, wantonly conquering and eliminating other cultures for centuries until Enlightenment ideals of separating church and state sparked mass revolt.

In 1502, Arthur Tudor Survives. After decades of civil war, England's Wars of the Roses came to an end with Henry Tudor defeating Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. Henry, now Henry VII, dedicated his reign to securing the throne of England. He married Elizabeth of York, tying together the Lancasters and the Yorks to end the matter of supremacy and defeated anyone who continued to rebel. Henry also encouraged support from Wales by claiming Welsh descent. Most of all, he sought European recognition, which would legitimize his rule despite his being a questionable heir. Treaties ended war with France and called for Perpetual Peace with Scotland. He looked to the newly unified kingdoms of Castile and Aragon whose Ferdinand and Isabella were successfully driving the Moors out of Spain. In 1489, England and the Catholic Nobles signed the Treaty of Medina del Campo. Ferdinand and Isabella's youngest daughter, Catherine, would marry Henry's oldest son, Arthur.

April 2, 1502 - Arthur Tudor SurvivesArthur had been born September 20, 1486. His father had prophesied that Elizabeth's child would be a boy, whom he would name Arthur as he would bring about a new golden age for England. Henry arranged for the birth to be held at the capital, Winchester, which proved a bold and successful move. Arthur was estimated to be born prematurely but was strong. He was betrothed before his third birthday to Catherine, a few months older than he. Soon he was created Prince of Wales, coinciding with the birth of his sister Margaret, who would marry James IV of Scotland and secure England's northern border. Arthur grew up at Ludlow Castle in Wales under the guidance of tutors expert in politics, humanism, and science. Bernard André, the blind poet and biographer, ensured he thoroughly read the Greek and Latin Classics.

During his education, Arthur wrote letters to Catherine in formal, polite Latin, and she replied in kind. Arthur was quiet and reflective, much unlike his younger brother Henry, who preferred jousting to his clerical studies. After they were married in proxy in 1499, Arthur wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella that he would be "a true and loving husband" to Catherine. The two finally met and were married in November of 1501; Arthur said to his parents that he was pleased to "behold the face of [my] lovely bride". Despite his reservedness, Arthur commented to others before his wedding that that we was "lusty and amorous" and after, "Masters, it is a good pastime to have a wife".A new article by Jeff ProvineThe couple retired to Ludlow Castle, where Arthur continued his duties as Prince of Wales. A plague of "sweating sickness" struck the castle, including the royal couple. After a harrowing illness, Arthur pulled through, saying he owed much to the dutiful care of his wife. They had their first son, Edward, three years later. Henry VII, seeing that his line was continued, died at peace in 1509. Arthur's brother Henry, meanwhile, settled into his role in the Church, where he convinced his brother to pull away from Roman authority as the Catholic monarchs had done with their own Spanish Inquisition. The English Inquisition, while never granted great powers, served as a significant contributor to military science following Henry's creative interests.

Arthur, ever-sickly after his illness, died in 1522. Eighteen-year-old Edward VI became king and soon married Princess Renée of France, cousin and sister-in-law to King Francis I. Catherine dominated the court, causing Reformer Thomas Cromwell to note, "If not for her sex, she could have defied all the heroes of History". Catherine pushed Edward to prevent Protestantism from infecting England. After Catherine's death in 1533, Renée began to be suspected of being a Calvinist heretic. The English Inquisition interrogated her, bringing the matter of the Reformation to the forefront of English politics. Edward began to rein in the powers of the Inquisition, which caused his uncle Henry to appeal to Rome for Edward's dismissal. Locals, who had long been angered over the influence of foreigners (even to provoke a riot known as Evil May Day in 1517), were outraged, and more riots began. Finally Edward followed the lead of Scandinavian countries by severing the state church from Rome. Henry was removed from office, and Cromwell and Thomas Cranmer oversaw the transformation of England to a largely Protestant nation.

The action caused war with Catholic Spain during the reign of Edward's eldest son, Henry VIII. The two nations fought their wars abroad, not risking the investment of direct invasion by an armada. Civil war in Scotland in 1638 against its king Charles sparked invasion by the English to defend Protestant interests. Success there prompted England to contribute to the Eighty and Thirty Years' Wars on the Continent, but the expense proved too great and resulted in the loss of Scotland as well as Catholic Ireland by the beginning of the 1700s. After recuperating, England returned her attention to colonies abroad, carving out a massive empire in North America (between Scottish Canada, French Louisiana, and Spanish Mexico), India, and Africa, but always seemingly at a shortage of manpower.

As an end came to Colonialism, England reinvented her colonies into the Commonwealth, which proved to be a potent economic and defense network. Other colonial nations, such as the Netherlands, Portugal, and Scotland, whose advancements in industrial technology in the late 1700s brought it among world leaders, lost much of their clout as the empires became fully independent.

In 1865, on this day a telegram from General Robert E. Lee containing the stark warning "there is no more time, the Yankees are coming" prompted President Jefferson Davis to board a train, fleeing the Confederate Capital Richmond shortly before midnight.

Hung from a Sour Apple TreeBut there was no escape from the "Yankees", and on 10th May he was arrested at Irwinville in Irwin County, Georgia. Unfortunately for Davis, Lincoln's inaugural commitment to treat the defeated South "with malice toward none, with charity for all" had been rather overtaken by the sensational events that had transpired since his flight from Richmond. And in any case such warm words were somewhat imprecise in that Lincoln would never have considered the sentiment to extend to "the traitor" Jeff Davis even before the assassination attempt.

Because just two weeks after Davis train pulled out of Richmond, an officer on leave, Giles Nelson foiled an assassination attempt at the Ford Theatre. Nelson had noticed a suspicious character trying to sneak into the president's box and stopped him. After a brief struggle, he subdued the assassin, a Confederate agent John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln, decorating him later, called him "my personal saviour".

Details of a dastardly conspiracy would soon emerge. Not only would the evidence trace back directly to Jeff Davis, but it would also implicate the British Government who had been turning a blind eye to Confederate spies operating over the border in Canada. Cynics would later suggest that Lincoln had manipulated events in order to drive his own agenda, a further consolidation of federal powers to support the Hamiltonian "American System". Which fundamentally, didn't look much different in outlook from the British Empire that the Founding Fathers had defeated. And perhaps after all the hanging of Jeff Davis at Fort Monroe marked the bitter end of Virginian thought leadership in the new dictatorship of the United States.

In 1992, with the country focused to a man on the England team's successful bid for the European Football Championship, nine thousand kilometres away in the South Atlantic, the Malvinas celebrated ten years of re-unification with Argentina. Lacking the tactical nous of National Coach Graham Taylor, Her Majesty's Government had scored a spectacular own goal by upgrading the airport at Port Stanley following an invasion scare in 1977.

The Iron LadyAfter Argentine forces seized the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Commander-in-Chief General Galtieri wasted no time installing Exocet missile-armed French Super Ètendards jet aircraft at Port Stanley. And when Margaret Thatcher ordered a Task Force to be sent to recapture the Islands, the Admiralty was forced to admit to the Prime Minister that such a mission objective was impossible to achieve. The Royal Navy simply had insufficient aircraft carriers to defend the fleet from devastating jet aircraft attacks launched out of Port Stanley. Unwilling to accept the constraints of British seapower, Thatcher appealed to Ronald Reagan, making a formal request to lease aircraft carriers from the US Navy. In fact the US Government was willing to loan the carriers, but the planes and pilots were the stumbling block.

Not for the first time, it was absolutely impossible for an American President to overtly support British Imperialism no matter their own personal sympathies. Not only would the United States have "lost" South America, but the Federal Government would have been split in half because Secretary of State Alexander Haig was attempting to prevent a war by engaging diplomatically with Buenes Aires.

Hailed as a triumph for the "Iron Lady", President of Argentina Isabelle Peron, Thatcher's authority was destroyed. The Sun newspaper ran the derisory headline "Gotcha". Losing the 1983 election over the "Falklands Factor", her successor Michael Foot treated the reversal as a sharp lesson for the role of Britain on the world stage. In fact, the Incoming Prime Minister's only decisive intervention was to agree a a right of return for islanders codified in the British Nationality (Falkland Islands) Act 1983, under which British dependents were granted full citizenship.

Reagan's refusal to provide the planes and pilots would have significant long-term consequences. Because Foot had made a manifesto pledge to pursue unilateral disarmament. With the "Special Relationship" exposed as a sham, the US Government was forced to withdraw cruise missiles from Greenham Common Airforce base. Unshackled from her militaristic past, Britain was better placed to launch meaningful peace initiatives in the world. And in 1999, British Prime Minister Bryan Gould and Princess Diana Spencer would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their determined efforts to achieve a global ban on Land Mines.

In 1997, a century-long mystery was finally settled by the chance discovery of "the missing page" from Governor Sir George Simpson's journal at the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) Archives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Chasing the DollarThe mystery originated in 1841, when the President of the Russian America Company (RAC), Baron Ferdinand von Wrangel met with Simpson (pictured) to explore commerical opportunities in the fur trade. Negotiations about company activities in the north-west were unexpectedly productive, and Simpson discovered that he could use the RAC's established transportation and communication lines to make his away across Asia. And so began a trip across the world that would last precisely nineteen months and twenty-six days.

Simpson was much more than a knighted business man, he was a de facto viceregal representative for Queen Victoria. And as he travelled across Asia, he was welcomed as such, his hosts not failing to notice that his passport described him as "Governor". This title was somewhat confusing because Simpson was the Governor of the HBC. From 1670 to 1870, a territory in British North America known as Prince Rupert's Land, consisting of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, was legally owned by the HBC.

Simpson's account of the journey was held in the HBC Archives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. But at some point in the proceedings, a critical page went missing from the account. Trouble was Simpson and his secretary Edward Hopkins drowned on the final leg of the journey, shortly after disembarking from Hamburg. And the details of their visit to St Petersburg would be disputed for a century and half.

You see Simpson had discovered that the RAC had a vast historical fur-trading system in Russia, with markets in China and throughout Europe, a system that was much older and more established than the HBC's in Prince Rupert's Land (Prince Rupert was the first Governor of the HBC). The Russians simply knew things the British did not, and this interest had piqued Simpson's curiosity. Of course Czar Paul I had only incorporated the RAC in 1799, a hundred years behind the HBC. And thus when Simpson arrived in St Petersburg in September 1842, it is highly probably that he verbally agreed a super-merger between HBC, RAC and the Northwest Company with the Baron. Because such a merger made great business sense, combining Britain's more established presence in the north-west, with an economic hinterland plugged straight into Asia.

The premature death of Simpson made such an agreement a dead letter, and Prince Rupert's Land joined the Dominion of Canada in 1870. Yet Russian-British trade links moved ahead with a apace, so much so that the Czar's Government declined an opportunity to sell Russian America to the United States in 1884.

In 1836, on this day first reports of the fall of Washington-on-the-Brazos were received by President Andrew Jackson.

Fall of Washington-on-the-BrazosEver the cunning and crafty man, Santa Anna had bypassed the Alamo in order to catch the Texians by surprise. It was understood that both David G. Burnet and Sam Houston had perished in the brief struggle.

Of course Houston at least had the satisfaction of having wrung an unofficial approval from Jackson which he interpreted as a firm assurance of US intervention if need be. However neither man had imagined the Texian Revolution being crushed in such a decisive fashion. And so instead of a supporting intervention, Jackson now seriously considered a radical alternative: a broad invasion which would drive Hispanic influence out of the region. And impose unquestionable Anglo control on the land up to the Rio Grand.

Unbeknown to Messrs Bowie, Crockett and Travis, the defending forces at the Alamo Mission were now fighting for the Union. Whether those Union Forces arrived in time or not, it was an irrestistible opportunity for the Federal Government to forever burn itself into the fabric of the South.