In 1754, on this day the British Colonel Banastre Tarleton (pictured) better known variously as "Bloody Ban", "The Butcher", "The Green Dragoon" was born in the City of Liverpool. He was the fourth of seven children born to the merchant, ship owner and slave trader, John Tarleton of Liverpool, who served as Mayor of Liverpool and had extensive trading links with Britain's American colonies. An article from the American Heroes thread

Jefferson killed in the Tragedy at CharlottesvilleIn December 1775, he sailed from Cork as a volunteer to North America where rebellion had recently broken out triggering the American Revolutionary War. Six years later he marched with Cornwallis into Virginia.

Tarleton undertook a series of small expeditions while in Virginia. Among them was the notorious raid on Charlottesville, where he captured Governor Thomas Jefferson who had been attending a meeting of the Virginia legislature. Out of a sense of British fair play, the Assembly building was burnt down and Jefferson shot by Redcoats. But of course hate begats hate and the British derived no absolutely no advantage from the brutal field execution of the enlightened genius who drafted the Declaration of Independence. And Tarleton himself was killed by American soldiers after the surrender at Yorktown.

At the suggestion of President Aaron Burr, in 1801 a monument to Jefferson was built next to a reconstruction of the Assembly building. In 1830, upon her ascension to the throne, Queen Charlotte paid a State visit to pray for the victims of the American revolution. But in a sense it was unnecessary to commemorate his sacrifice. Because in her diary that evening, Her Majesty noted that it was as if Jefferson was in the next room the whole time.

In 1689, on this day Viscount John Graham of Claverhouse (Bonnie Dundee) led the Jacobite rebels to a second glorious victory at the the Battle of Dunkeld (Blàr Dhùn Chaillinn).

Battle of Dunkeld
Article written by Ed & Jared MyersAfter King James fled the country the English Parliament had offered the throne to William of Orange and his wife Mary (the Protestant daughter of James to whom William owed his claim to the throne).

A convention held in Edinburgh decided that the Scottish government would pledge loyalty to William, but a number of the Highland clans opposed this decision, and their leader was Bonnie Dundee.

He raised the royal standard on Dundee Law, and left for the Highlands to raise the army that would triumph over the Covenanter cause at Killiecrankie and then Dunkeld.

In 1937, on this day a Secret Gospel authored by the brother of King Jesus was discovered in the Transjordan.

DogmaThe apocrypha described a prophetic warning at the outset of the Jewish War in 66 CE. The narratives then documents how the third "Bishop" (Vice Regent) Prince Judas Iscariot led a depleted, scattered community of followers out of mortal danger.

Their destination was Pella in Transjordania where they re-established a Gentile-Pauline Church. This forced relocation explained the loss of central importance of the Jerusalem Church which now moved the Christian centre of gravity to Rome.

The discovery meant that those same authorities in the Vatican were now presented with difficult questions about the historical accuracy of an archetypical traitor. Of course the rehabilitation of Judas was an explosive issue much larger than the legacy of one disciple. And Rome's Axis partner faced a direct challenge to the false Nazi assertion that worldwide Jewry was an unexpungeable evil tracing its history back to Judas' betrayal of Jesus.

In 1831, on this day at midnight Nat Turner and his trusted followers arose and marched out of their quarters. They went from plantation to plantation further, freeing other slaves as they went.

Nat Turner Begins his Slave ExodusNat Turner, born October 2, 1800, in southern Virginia, was a bright slave who had repeatedly received visions from God command his life. When he had run away from his master at the age of 23, he returned having had a vision showing him to do so. A new story by Jeff ProvineA persuasive speaker, Nat often gave services for a black Baptist congregation, earning him the nickname "The Prophet". In 1828, he received one of his most powerful visions. He described the experience, which was written later in a book by his lawyer Thomas Gray as hearing "a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first ". It struck him that he was to lead a great insurrection to bring down the machine of slavery.

A solar eclipse in February of 1831 showed him that the time for his rebellion had come. While he and his fellow conspirators had planned to liberate themselves on July 4th, illness and logistics had delayed them. On August 13, atmospheric interference (which could have been debris from the recent eruption of Mount Saint Helens) made the sun appear a rich bluish-green. Nat realized that his first interpretation of overtaking of the whites was not what he was meant to do; that was why the insurrection was unable to take place on the fourth of July. Instead, he was looking for a land of blue water and greenery to match the vision. Otherwise, the sun would have been blood red.

Seeking guidance, Nat remembered the story of Moses and his exodus to the land of milk and honey. The fight against the serpents of the desert had merely slowed down the Israelites, much like the whites had kept back the black slaves. Fashioning a rough copper snake and attaching it to a rod matching that of Moses, Nat put forth his plan to lead his people out of bondage. He chose the direction of Northwest, across the mountains and Ohio valley toward the Great Lakes, perhaps even to Canada.

At midnight on August 21, he and his trusted followers arose and marched out of their quarters. They went from plantation to plantation further, freeing other slaves as they went. For protection, the slaves carried with them knives and axes, though a few had firearms. At Nat's direction, the slaves fought back only when whites tried to stop the growing army of slaves. Several white masters were left beaten, but none were killed (some later died of injuries).

For two days, the slave revolt grew until a white militia was organized and place roadblocks in the way of the singing, marching slaves who sought their freedom. Nat halted his people and attempted to preach at the whites, though only a few words could be heard over the jeering. Someone opened fire, missing Nat, but causing panic in both crowds. The armed blacks charged, overwhelming the outnumbered whites, who dispersed after a brief struggle. Swearing revenge, the whites spread the word that the blacks had attacked so that US Army troops were called up throughout Virginia.

The slaves crossed the Shenandoah Valley into western Virginia before the Army caught up with them. Artillery, horsemen, and eight hundred infantry (many of whom had come from as far away as Norfolk, where the USS Natchez and the USS Warren were anchored) attacked the camps of the slaves, and the exodus was stopped. Dozens of slaves were killed, hundreds returned to their masters. A few, including Nat Turner, managed to evade capture in the wilderness. Most of those escaped into Ohio, but Nat turned back, realizing that even Moses had not been able to go into the holy land. Instead, he returned to call for the release of his people who had been captured.

The call was answered by immediate arrest. Nat was convicted as a murderer in a well publicized trial that approached a kangaroo court. He was hanged, flayed, beheaded, and quartered, the archaic punishment for treason, which inflamed abolitionists throughout the United States. Several small slave revolts sparked through the South, but they were quickly put down.

More effective was the writing of Nat's lawyer, Thomas Gray. His book gave the firsthand account of Nat's exodus, including descriptions of life under slavery. It spread even across the Atlantic, where it became a bestseller among the abolitionists of Britain. The intelligence of black men was proven, and, after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, Britain began putting diplomatic and economic pressure on the United States to do the same.

The South struggled to shake its black badge of slavery led by President Andrew Jackson and wealthy slave owners. However, the damage had been done to its reputation, and increasing pressure not to buy slave goods caused economic depression. Southerners called for relief from the Federal government, which was enabled through President Polk's signing of the Manumission Act of 1846, freeing the slaves and giving compensated value for each slave. After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, many of these African Americans moved westward in what modern scholars call the Southern Exodus, recalling thought of Turner's Exodus.

Despite the end of slavery in the United States, racial tensions have continued even to the point of attempted secession of the New Mexico territory that caused the short American Civil War in the 1880s. Along with Native Americans, Asian Americans, and other minorities, it would be another century before leaders were able to establish equal rights under law.

In 1858, at the first Illinois Senatorial debate held on this day at Ottawa, Abraham Lincoln declared that his opponent Stephen A. Douglas "cares not whether slavery is voted down or voted up," and that, [in the words of Henry Clay], he would "blow out the moral lights around us" and eradicate the love of liberty.

A Slip, not a FallBy the time that the seventh debate had been held at Alton on October 15th, it was clear that Lincoln had lost the argument. Not only would Douglas cruise to victory in the Senate race, he would pursue the same logical argument in his successful bid for the Presidency two years later. Yet the voters of Illinois would experience some doubt during the secession crisis. By then Lincoln had occupied the vacant seat, a lonely voice in the Senate arguing against Douglas's "Richmond Compromise".

That compromise would leave unanswered the questioned posed to Douglas by Lincoln at Ottawa, namely ~ "[because all men were created equal], how can you deprive a negro of that equality which God and the Declaration of Independence awards to him?".The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself, "It's a slip and not a fall".

For Lincoln, self-actualisation was a very personal matter. He had suffered from deep depression for many years. The nagging doubt that he had failed to make his mark would ultimately drive him to suicide in 1864.

Nevertheless his upbeat attitude to the future of the Union was deeply philosophical. Whilst considering the "Richmond Compromise" a setback (which he blamed upon a lack of national leadership), it was in his own remarkable words, "a slip, not a fall".

In 2004, the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States closed with the issuing of two staff monographs to complement the public report from July 22. The public report including the following statement on page 344: "The Gore Commission's Report, having thoroughly canvassed available expertise in and outside of government, did not mention suicide hijackings or the use of aircraft as weapons". This harsh judgement of foresight made reference to the oversight and execution of Executive Order 13015, which established the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security of 1996.

Executive Order 13015Often called the Gore Commission in recognition that Gore was the chairman, that work group operated for six months, from August 1996 until February of 1997, when it issued its final report.

Gore's commission were mandated to provide to the President "a strategy designed to improve aviation safety and security ". Intended or not, the Commission had given the 2004 Presidential Election to the Republican Party.

	In 1951, on this day India invaded Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani shelling of Indian villages along the Indo-Pakistani border; each country blamed the other for the annihilation of most of its major cities, not knowing that those cities had actually been destroyed by multiple impacts of fragments from the late planet Zyra.

	On this day in 1944, American troops in France liberated Orleans.

On this day in 1973, Cowboys first-string quarterback Craig Morton injured his throwing arm during a preseason team workout; the injury would sideline him for more than two months. As a result, Morton's backup Roger Staubach would be the starting QB for Dallas when the Cowboys opened their 1973 NFL season.

	On this day in 1969, serial killer Jay Sebring struck again, fatally stabbing a CHP motorcycle cop.
Jay Sebring

In 1994, aging acid rocker John Denver, stoned and drunk, plowed his Porsche into a tree, killing himself. He had been on a comeback, having played a few major tours in the 90's due to younger acts remaking his old hits.

In 4684, the Chinese Empire was rocked by a huge earthquake around the Himalayas. Hundreds were killed amid the first true test of the new, democratic China - Emperor Chou En-Lai dispatched aid for the citizens and troops to restore order. The disaster proved that democratic processes worked well - people were assisted without the need for martial law.

In 1968, after a flirtation with communism known as the Red Summer, Czechoslovakia was invaded by fascist troops to bring them back in line with the White governments of Western Europe. The move was roundly denounced by the Soviet States of America, which sent several planes to assist the Czechs, but who didn't feel moved enough to bring any further aid, which might have sparked a war in Europe.

In 1911, a priceless treasure was taken from public view forever when the Mona Lisa, DaVinci's masterpiece, was stolen from the Louvre. Though much suspicion fell on a guard who disappeared the same day, neither he nor the painting were ever seen again. One can only hope that the maestro's most famous work is suitably appreciated by whatever thief currently possesses it.

In 1892, seismic and volcanic activity returned to normal levels; the surviving members of the Bandai group were feted as world saviors. At the Congress of Nations, though, the Executive Committee began a meeting in which they discussed the possibility of scaling back the use of Mlosh technology on earth.

In 11-15-3-9-13, the Pueblo, allies of Oezteca, fought off an invasion on their northeastern frontier by pale-skinned barbarians. The barbarians claimed that they were fleeing an empire across the Eastern Ocean that enslaved their kind. The Pueblo sent word to Emperor Intlitlatl that this foreign empire might pose a danger to their land.

In 1942, soldiers of a Gebirgsjager (Mountain Troop) division were annihialated as they attempted to install a Nazi flag atop the Elbrus Mountain in the western Caucasus mountains. Myth held that here Zeus had chained Prometheus, the titan who stole fire from the Gods and gave it to ancient man. An eagle by the name of Ethon would pick at his liver; it would grow back each day and the eagle would eat it again. It was no myth.

Special to 'The Alternate History Page.' ~ Wednesday, August 21st 1940. Reliable sources inside unoccupied Vichy France report the sortie of the French combined fleet, at dawn, from Toulon Harbour. Their destination is unknown.

In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII had issued the papal bull 'Desiring with supreme ardor' (Summis desiderantes affectibus) in response to the request of Dominican Inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger for explicit authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany, after they were refused assistance by the local ecclesiastical authorities. Kramer and Sprenger set Summis desiderantes affectibus as the preface for their encyclical 'The Hammer of Witches' (Malleus Maleficarum), which was printed two years later.

The encyclical recognized the existence of witches and gave full papal approval for the Inquisition to move against witches and gave permission to do whatever necessary to get rid of them. The Catholic Encyclopedia emphasises the importance attached to the encyclical in the context of the ensuing witch hunts as 'altogether unnecessary.' Some scholars view the bull as 'unnecessarily political,' motivated by jurisdictional disputes between the local German Catholic priests and those of the Inquisition who answered more directly to the pope.The encyclical is often viewed opening the door for the bloody witchhunts that ensued for centuries. By March 1907, the authors of the Catholic Encyclopedia set out to give 'authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine'. This of course meant de-emphasising the witchhunts, blaming the actions on authorised elements of the inquisition, local German Catholic Priests etc. These absences had been inadvertenly revealad in the 1922 supplement to the Encyclopedia which was also in the public domain. As of 2007 the Supplement has not been placed on-line. Kevin Knight had seen to detail as a result of his discoveries during the publishing of the 1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia on the Internet.

In 1966, Ronnie Harran, the booker from the Sunset Strip Whisky a Go-Go club terminated the Doors' contract. On this particular evening, vocalist Jim Morrison didn't show up for the first set. The band played without him, with Manzarek and the others handling the vocals, but Whisky co-owner Phil Tanzini was furious and demanded Morrison was fired.

In 1916, on this fateful day GOP Governor Hiram Johnson offered his full support to Presidential Nominee Charles Evans Hughes.
A variant installment to Mike Stone's Mr Hughes Goes to War thread.

Mr Hughes Goes to War: Part 3 based on an idea by Mike StoneDuring Hughes State visit in July, Johnson had been fully occupied with his Senatorial race. But when he swung through the state a month later, a meeting could have easily have been scheduled. Yet it wasn't, and the two men only sat down because of a curious accident - they were both staying in the Virginia Hotel in Long Beach at the same time.

In these more intimate settings, it was possible for the two politicians to informally settle their differences, and as a result Hughes received a major boost to his campaign. The true significance of that support was not fully recognized until November, when he carried the state by less than one thousand votes [1]. As a result, Woodrow Wilson narrowly failed in his attempt to become the first Democrat to win a second consecutive term since Andrew Jackson. And his campaign promise to keep America out of the war had been eliminated by a chance meeting in a Californian hotel [2].

In 636, on this day the combined armies of the Byzantine Empire and Ghassanid Kingdom defeated Muslim forces of the Rashidun Caliphate in a major battle fought near the Yarmouk River, south-east of the Sea of Galilee. Correctly anticipating that Khalid ibn al-Walid was a fine cavalry commander who would make imaginative use of his scarce resources, the Armenian Commander-in-Chief Prince Vahan successfully managed to deal with the mounted force, countering with his own Byzantine horse and also using the sizable advantage of his armies effectively.

Famous Byzantine Victory at the Battle of YarmoukThis famous Byzantine victory was a personal triumph for the Emperor Heraclius who had recognized the rapid advance of Islam into the Christian Levan and sent a massive expedition in order to check the Muslim advance and to recover lost territory. It was a huge risk for Heraclius who took the bold decision to draw military resources away from the defence of the Empire's main granary in Egypt (this commitment gave Vahan a decisive 10:1 numerical advantage). The basis of the Emperor's calculations was that the Arab armies were still very dependant on being successful in battle in order to reward auxiliary followers with levies. He correctly assumed that ongoing defeats would eventually lead to a collapse of the war effort and the Arabs withdrawing from the region. But of course this required the triumph at Yarmouk to be followed up on with more Byzantine and Persian victories.

In 1940, addressing the House of Commons on the eve of the German invasion of Great Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said that the Royal Navy had dramatically improved the Allied situation after several months of monumental victories for the Nazis.
Listen to the "The Few" Speech

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"Not long after the Fall of France, Göering's Luftwaffe had swept Fighter Command's Spitfires and Hurricanes from the skies. And so the decisive phase of the Battle of Britain would be waged not by dashing heroes in a flying service but by sailors performing their job anonymously in the depths of a ships engine room or shell room never knowing what happened if they got blown up. Nevertheless the expectation that only a handful of heroic sailors could save the islands from invasion provoked outrage from the phenomenally brave and skilled young men of the RAF Fighter Command, a truly international force which comprised servicemen from Poland, New Zealand, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Australia, Belgium, South Africa, France, Ireland, America, Jamaica, the British Mandate of Palestine and Southern Rhodesia. A glimpse at a multicultural Britain that would never be.

From a purely military perspective, the destruction of early warning radar stations followed by huge loss of pilots would severely constrain the war-time role of the RAF. Even though Churchill would dismiss calls to absorb the RAF into the Fleet Air Arm, the Fighter Command would be forced to pick and choose their battles. However, the RAF had been successful insofar as they had created a supreme overconfidence in Hitler and GroßAdmiral Raeder. And therein lie the danger of Churchill's under-recognition. Because much more significant than that intra-service rivalry was the formation of the mindset that the British alone had defeated the hitherto unstoppable Nazi war machine. One unintended consequence of the Royal Navy's triumph was a peacetime decision Churchill took eight years later in relation to immigration.

In 1948, an advertisement appeared in a Jamaican newspaper offering cheap transport on the Empire Windrush for anybody who wanted to come and work in the UK. At that time, there were no immigration restrictions for citizens of one part of the British Empire moving to another part, and the response was immediate and overwhelming, including the calypso musicians Lord Kitchener and Lord Beginner alongside sixty Polish women displaced during the Second World War. The impending departure of the ship prompted complaints from some Members of Parliament and Churchill ensured that it never sailed.

In 1991, on this day the signing of the "New Union Treaty" by eight newly independent republics effectively dissolved the Soviet Union replacing it with a Federation with a common president, foreign policy, and military.

Future CountryThe ceremony was a personal triumph for Mikhail Gorbachev who for six long years had laboured to salvage and reform the Soviet state in order to avert a complete collapse of central government function. Launched at the Communist Party Congress of July 1990 as the logical successor to the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR, the model of a less centralized federal system was a potential solution to the region's increasing ethnic problems.

Another perhaps more immediate problem was the political rivalry between Gorbachev, and Boris Yeltsin who only two months earlier had been elected to the newly created post of president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with 57% of the vote, becoming the first democratically elected leader of Russia in history. For the past eight weeks, Gorbachev had been unable to fulfil domestic executive function, increasingly focusing on foreign affairs and the signing of the "New Union Treaty".

The establishment's determined efforts to forestall the rise of Yeltsin had caused a bitter animosity between the two men. And so the original issue of whether the die hard Soviets would permit Gorbachev to see out his programme of perestrokia was superseded by a new question. Was the new dual power structure of Union and Russian Presidents inherently unstable, or even if it was stable would personal rivalry prevent the new model from working effectively?

That very evening Gorbachev found out the answers to those questions when he was informed that Yeltin had been placed under house arrest by the KGB. To be continued..

In 3796, on this eleventh day of Elul the noble Zealot Yəhû'dah (Judas Iscariot) was secretly executed by Roman soldiers at the Potter's Field known as Akeldama which is located outside the city walls of Jerusalem.

Field of BloodYeshua the peace-loving individual from Nazareth who officially led the rebel group had been proposing inaction ever since they arrived in the city.

Inevitably, deep frustration had set in and before too long several rebels had begun pushing for vigourous political action. The most outspoken individual was actually the treasurer of the group, a war-like character by the name of Yehuda from a place in Judah called Kerioth.

Determined to move the group forward, he paid thirty pieces of silver to the Temple Guard Malchus to request a clandestine meeting with the Sanhedrin. News of his betrayal fired Yeshua into activity, and the subsequent overthrow of the Roman authorities ensured that Yeshuda would forever be remembered as the iconic figure who symbolised the zealot-like courage of the Jews.

In 2003, on this day the junior United States Senator for Texas George W. Bush declared his intention to enter the race for the White House and challenge his Republican colleague, the 43rd President John S. McCain.

Senator BushDue to the bloody consquences of September 11th McCain had been expecting a hard fought battle for the nomination. Having declared War on Terrorism, Arab countries responded by forming an alliance - the Jihad Allied Organization - and proclaimed a world-wide Jihad against the US, its allies, and the Buddhist countries in Eastern Asia. By mid 2003, the war had spread towards the US, Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Indonesia, China, France, and Great Britain.

The strength of Bush's candidacy rested upon the enthusiastic support of the religious right who had enabled him to beat Phil Gramm in 1996. He had turned away from his family after an unsuccessful bid for the Governorship just two years before.

In 2004, on this day the British newspaper Guardian, as part of a series of articles commemorating the thirthieth anniversary of Harold Wilson's assassination, published an investigative report which provided the first definitive evidence the assassins had ties to MI-6.

Thirtieth AnniversaryThis disclosure touched off a firestorm of political controversy in Britain; when a follow-up story revealed the conspirators had gotten assistance from certain CIA officers stationed in Europe at the time of Wilson's death, it sparked an imbroglio in U.S.-British relations the likes of which hadn't been seen since the Suez Crisis in 1956. In response to the uproar, then-prime minister Tony Blair ordered a full-scale government inquiry into the assassination conspiracy and dismissed a number of MI-6 officials suspected to have abetted the conspirators in covering up their actions.

A new post from the Necessary Evil Thread by Chris OakleyThe Blair government's inquiry panel would publish its findings in October of 2005; those findings would serve as the basis for further investigations by Blair's successors Gordon Brown and David Cameron and the enactment of a series of reforms aimed at strengthening civilian control of Britain's counterintelligence services. These events in turn paved the way for a final resolution of the mystery surrounding the death of the chief conspirator, known to his cohorts as "Oarsman", and the arrest of three other conspirators in the summer of 2009.

In 1858, one of the most important biological and philosophical ideas of modern society was published on this day in the "The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London". In this work, "The Father of Evolution" Alfred Russel Wallace (pictured) outlined his ideas of the environment acting as a government for the directed control of the transmutation of species, an idea already old by the mid-nineteenth century.

Wallace's Theory of Environmental Government PublishedThe body of the paper was presented while Wallace was away from London, still observing nature in Borneo, by biologists Charles Lyell and Joseph Hooker and had been recommended by Wallace's friend Charles Darwin, another biologist who died of scarlet fever just before the presentation.

The paper was not immediately recognized as significant, in fact it was said by Dublin's Professor Haughton that "all that was new in them was false, and what was true was old". Despite the lack of immediate recognition, Wallace continued to determine speciation by means of "natural selection", a term he borrowed from the late Darwin. He bundled data from his experiments and observations over decades to argue against the alternate view of "sexual selection" and instead explore the effects of environment on survival. In 1889, he published On the Origin of Species, a work that combined his biological data with many of his Spiritualist beliefs. The theory was expanded to include humans in The Origin of Human Races and the Antiquity of Man Deduced from the Theory of "Natural Selection". Though derided by biologists such as Hooker, other biologists such as Lyell picked up the ideas, which were to work their way into the public's general understanding of the world.

Taking into account the influence of nature, people were able to understand much of the social psychology that plagued poor living conditions. However, with such non-adaptive mental phenomena as music, mathematics, and art, it was proven that men were more than just advanced animals. The "the unseen universe of Spirit" (which was embraced as the Christian God, though has become more general in modern times) agreed with the story of Creation: cellular life on Day 3 (Genesis 1:10), animals on Day 5 and 6 (Genesis 1:20-25), and consciousness in higher animals (Genesis 1:26). Combining the two, science joined with religion to persuade the mind of man toward creating a beneficial governing environment for all humanity. On the political and economic front, many would also find similar ideals in the writings of the philosopher Marx, but the idea of communism would be superseded.

Social activists (one of whom was Wallace himself) campaigned for engineered societies to free the spirit of man rather than restrict it or sharpen the species by point of the lesser-known theory of eugenics. In the reshaping of Europe in the 1920s and the economic turmoil of the 1930s, many countries found their chances. Wallacism (a form of democratic socialism) rebuilt Germany, pervaded America and British beyond Progressivism, and served as the basis for revolution in Italy, Spain, and elsewhere. The Soviet Union under Stalin's rule put down several Wallacist uprisings while Japan continued its hold on regimented Imperialism.

With the Pacific War from December 1941 to May 1944, propaganda and public sentiment would shift Wallacism into a demand for paternalism. Recalling Woodrow Wilson's words that "the world must be made safe for democracy," the Allies launched into a campaign to organize the "world environment" through the United Nations, formed after the Soviet Liberation of 1955-60. Enforced immunizations, guaranteed resource development and management, and environmental resettling camps for offenders (called by many as "brainwashing" camps) became required throughout the globe.

Though naysayers exist, high standards of living and technological development are proof that the Human Spirit is triumphing through Evolution.

In 1974, on this day British prime minister Harold Wilson was found dead on a beach in Great Britain's Scilly Isles, victim of a gunshot wound to the skull.

Liquidation by Chris OakleyInitial press reports described his death as a suicide brought on by depression over the failure of his economic policiies, but investigation by Scotland Yard detectives soon turned up evidence the late prime minister had in fact been murdered by unknown assailants; within two days of Wilson's demise a nationwide manhunt for the suspected killer or killers was on. What wasn't known as the time -- and wouldn't be known for another three decades -- was that Wilson had been assassinated by rogue MI-6 agents who'd recently learned he was spying for the KGB and decided to liquidate him before he could escape to the Soviet Union.

When the truth about Wilson's murder finally came to light in a Guardian investigative report published on the 30-year anniversary of his death, it touched off a political firestorm which rocked the British government to its core and prompted new prime minister Tony Blair to order a full-scale inquiry into the Wilson assassination. Scores of MI-6 officials were forced to resign as a result of the ensuing scandal and a dozen more arrested on suspicion of having played a role in the assassination conspiracy. The controversy even touched intelligence agencies on the other side of the Atlantic, as the CIA's European section was found to have provided the final confirmation Wilson was working for the Soviets.

In 1939, on this day Gauleiter Albert Forster received the necessary security guarantees from the British Government to protect his West Prussian constituents from the imminent threat of Polish aggression.Sopot Incident leads to War
The Free City of Danzig was an autonomous Baltic port and city-state established on January 10, 1920, in accordance with the terms of Part III Section XI of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, which split it off from Germany along with other German territories. It was placed under League of Nations protection, with special economic-related rights reserved for Poland.
The Free City was to be represented abroad by Poland and forced to be in a customs union with it. The railway line that connected the Free City with newly created Poland was administered by Poland. Similarly, the Westerplatte (until then a city beach), was also given to Poland, which created a military post within the city's harbour.
Trouble was 95% of population were German-speakers, yet German inhabitants lost their German nationality with the creation of the Free City. It became clear almost at once that the overwhelming German majority population of the Free State resented the concessions which had been made to Poland and their dismemberment from Germany.
In May 1933, the Nazi Party under Forster won the local elections in the city. However, they received 57 percent of the vote, less than the two-thirds required by the League of Nations to change the Constitution of the Free City of Danzig.
League of Nations' High Commissioner Professor Burckhardt found, by 1939, his position as absolute arbiter in the endless disputes almost untenable. On September 1st, Polish soldiers destroyed the border checkpoint in Sopot; the British Government's declaration on war on the Republic of Poland and her Russian allies followed within twenty-four hours.

On this day in 2002, the U.S. Congress approved a multi-million dollar aid package for the Iraqi provisional government to expedite the next stage of post-MN15 impact recovery efforts in and around Baghdad.	Asteriod Strike
	hits Iraq

Flag of	On this day in 1970, Israeli fighter jets bombed Black September camps in Syria in retaliation for the previous day's rocket attack. This air strike marked the beginning of an armed standoff between Israel and Syria that would reach its grim climax two years later with the 1972 October War.
Syria

On this day in 1968, a major breakthrough was made in the Paris cease-fire negotiations to end the war in Vietnam; Le Duc Tho, the chief North Vietnamese delegate at the talks, submitted an offer to withdraw Vietnamese Communist forces from South Vietnam within 90 days of the signing of a peace pact between the Communist regime in Hanoi and the US-backed Saigon government.
	Le Duc Tho

The concession was in part triggered by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting loss of a major source of support for the North Vietnamese war effort.

	In 1951, the Soviet state news agency TASS reported CPSU general secretary Joseph Stalin had been arrested by the NKVD for what were described as "actions detrimental to the best interests of the Soviet people". Western intelligence analysts quickly concluded the arrest was part of a power struggle within the Kremlin elite.
Josef Stalin

In 1944, Leon Trotsky, Russian sympathizer of the Greater Zionist Resistance, is killed by stormtroopers as he attempts to assassinate Heinrich Himmler, security chief of the German Underground. Trotsky had been recruited by Astrid Pflaume herself, back in the 20's, and had been successful on many other missions; his luck simply failed him this day.

In 1960, on this day thousands of mourners gathered at St. Patrick's Cathedral to pay their final respects to the late Casey Stengel; the funeral procession from St. Patrick's to Stengel's gravesite passed the ruins of Yankee Stadium along the way.
	Casey Stengel

St. Patrick's, one of New York's oldest churches and one of the few buildings in Manhattan to survive the Jamaica Bay hurricane relatively intact, would later became a spiritual and social rallying point for New Yorkers in their efforts to heal the psychological wounds the storm had inflicted on them.

	On this day in 1919, former pitcher-turned-gambler "Sleepy" Bill Burns and one of his associates, ex-featherweight boxing champion Abe Attell, approached Detroit Tigers slugger Ty Cobb about the possibility of his participating in a scheme by Burns, Attell, and New York bookmaking kingpin Arnold Rothstein to fix the 1919 World Series. Cobb's reaction was quick, blunt, and emphatically negative: he ripped into Burns and Attell with an obscenity-laden tirade, then pulled a gun and threatened to kill both men if they ever approached him again.
Ty Cobb

	On this day in 1971, the Los Angeles NBC affiliate KNBC-TV went off the air for good.

On this day in 1982, Jimmy Valiant beat NWA television champion George 'The Animal' Steele in a non-title bout at an NWA live card in Waycross, Georgia and thereby earned a rematch with Steele for the belt at the NWA's next PPV event, Starrcade '82.
	Jimmy Valiant

	On this day in 1944, Allied advance units reached the outskirts of Namur.

On this day in 1941, the Soviet Union's already dire military situation took a sharp turn for the worse as the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Siberia. The invasion came less than an hour after the Japanese ambassador in Moscow informed Soviet foreign minister Vycheslav Molotov that Japan was unilaterally terminating the non-aggression pact it had signed with the USSR just over four months earlier.

US President	In 1990, President Jack Kemp denounces both Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and Saddam's attempt to use captured Westerners as hostages to force acceptance of his annexation of that country. He warns that 'the United States does not yield to blackmail, and does not negotiate with kidnappers,' and states that unless the Westerners held in Kuwait are released immediately and Iraq withdraws its forces from that country, there will be 'the gravest of consequences.'
Jack Kemp

On Aug. 25, backing up President Kemp's warning, the UN Security Council authorizes the use of force in support of the trade boycott against Iraq.

In 1984, the Republican national convention opens at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas. Three days later, Senator Robert Dole of Kansas receives the party's nomination for president. In his acceptance speech, he announces he has chosen New York Rep. Jack Kemp as his running-mate. Dole's choice of Kemp is more strategic than based on personal chemistry between the two men. As a Midwesterner, Dole believes he needs Kemp as a connection to the GOP's wealthy 'Eastern establishment.' The choice, however, alienates the party's Western wing, which had been pushing for Bush.	Nominee
	Bob Dole

	On this day in 1953, a combined Soviet-Chinese military tribunal found People's Liberation Army general Lin Bao guilty of treason and sentenced him to death by firing squad. General Lin had been arrested shortly after Mao Zedong's assassination on suspicion of having deep connections to the assassins.

In 1956, the Republican National Convention opens at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Eisenhower, once expected to secure renomination in a walk, instead faces powerful opposition from backers of Joe McCarthy. The Senator's insurgent campaign for the nomination has won numerous victories in the primaries, particularly in the South, where Ike has been vilified for appointing Earl Warren to head the Supreme Court and for refusing to publicly condemn the Warren Court's ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education.

In 1992, intimate photographs of the Duchess of York and a Texan businessman, John Bryan, were published in a tabloid newspaper. The pictures, run by the Daily Mirror over 10 pages, show a topless Duchess of York and Mr Bryan embracing by a swimming pool in the south of France. Other photographs appear to show Mr Bryan kissing the duchess' foot. The duchess is currently separated from her husband Prince Andrew. A divorce petition has been presented on the grounds of low libido.

In 1992, Iraq exected a British man for what it called 'illegal entry' into the country. Paul Ride, a journalist from east London, was working in Kuwait before he disappeared two months ago. Last week the Red Cross tracked Mr Ride, 33, to a jail cell in Baghdad. Western governments have been ridiculed in the Middle East since American Ambassador April Glaspie communicated their tacit acceptance of the invasion of Kuwait.

In 1970, the England soccer captain, Bobby Moore, was convicted stealing an emerald bracelet in a trial in Colombia. It is now unlikely he will participate in the World Cup, a major blow to the English team's bid to defend the title they won in London four years ago.

In 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez of Beverly Hills, California, were shot and killed by Michael Walters, a drifter who had come to the house for a handout. The Menendez' sons, Lyle and Eric, wrestled the intruder to the ground, but tragically too late to save their parents. In the struggle, Walters' gun went off and killed him, wounding Lyle at the same time. The brothers' heroic story was made into a TV movie, starring real-life brothers Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen.

In 1890, Howard P. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He spent little of his life there, as he roamed the world in search of adventures, making his living writing novels and short stories. He practically invented the genre of the horror story, giving it such life and power that his work was in demand the world over. He died at the age of 72, falling in an attempt to climb Mount Everest.