On this day in 64 AD, Rome burned.
Nero (shown here sporting an absolutely fabulous
set of dundrearies), who was emperor at the time,
most assuredly did not play a fiddle, as they weren’t
invented until at least a thousand years later.
It was said by Suetonius and Cassius Dio
that Nero sang the "Sack of Ilium" in
stage costume while the city burned.
However, Tacitus' account has Nero in
Antium at the time of the fire; he said
that Nero playing his lyre and singing
while the city burned was only rumor.
According to Tacitus, upon hearing news
of the fire, Nero rushed back to Rome to
organize a relief effort, which he paid for
from his own funds. After the fire, Nero
opened his palaces to provide shelter for
the homeless, and arranged for food
supplies to be delivered in order to
prevent starvation among the survivors.
In the wake of the fire, he made a new
urban development plan. Houses after
the fire were spaced out, built in brick,
and faced by porticos on wide roads.
Nero also built a new palace complex known as the Domus Aurea in an area cleared by the fire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orTqqL4C0ok
On this day in 1290, King Edward I
issued the Edict of Expulsion, expelling
all Jews from England. Lasting for the
rest of the Middle Ages, it would be
over 350 years until it was formally
overturned in 1656. The edict was
not an isolated incident, but the
culmination of over 200 years of
conflict on the matters of usury.
On this day in 1863, the first formal African American military
unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully
assaulted Confederate-held Battery Wagner in South Carolina.
The charge was futile, and their losses were horrendous; but,
as seen in the film Glory, their valiant fighting proved
the "worth" of African American soldiers during the war.
The 54th and five other regiments took part in an hour of brutal
hand-to-hand combat. Out of 5,000 men, 1,515 were casualties,
including all of the (white) officers. The Confederate losses were
estimated at 147.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRjKhrwM4ms&feature=related
Personally, I fail to see anything "glorious" about a propaganda campaign
designed to show African Americans that they were worthy of becoming
cannon fodder, cogs in the poorly-laid plans of incompetent white men.
Despite the "glory" to be found in a mass grave on a beach in South Carolina,
African American troops would still be struggling to prove their "worth" in World
War II and beyond.
On this day in 1925, Adolf Hitler published
Mein Kampf.
The manifesto, which is rife with grammatical errors and the
insane ideology which brought the world to the edge of ruin,
was originally intended by its author to be entitled "Viereinhalb
Jahre [des Kampfes] gegen Lüge, Dummheit und Feigheit" (Four
and a Half Years [of Fighting] Against Lies, Stupidity and Cowardice).
By the time Hitler took leadership of Germany, he was able to
boast that Mein Kampf had the largest world-wide sales of any
book except the Bible. A special edition of the book called Das
Hochzeitsausgabe (Wedding Edition), in a slipcase with the
seal of the province embossed in gold onto a parchment-like
cover, was given to each newlywed German couple, and another
called Tornister-Ausgabe was released by the post office for
parents and partners to send to loved ones at the front.
Copies of the once omnipresent book were hard to find in 1945.
Germans hurriedly burned them or buried them, perhaps so they
could claim ignorance of Hitler's evil agenda. In fact, his racist
worldview and plans for world domination were all there for
everyone to see, two decades before he put them into action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ImbBPOM0lc
On this night in 1969, After a party on Chappaquiddick Island,
Senator Ted Kennedy drove an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge
into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne,
died.
Born This Day:
1906: Clifford Odets
1918: Nelson Mandela
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3NJwyzFlTE
1921: Richard Leacock
1929: Screamin' Jay Hawkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNO0BfBecc
1937: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, who said:
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile
and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our
acts together: Not necessarily to Win, but mainly
to keep from Losing Completely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIyWkinCsMs
1941: Lonnie Mack
Died This Day:
1988: Nico (with the Velvet Underground)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ype6Hw_Hmjo
1954: Machine Gun Kelly, who died in Leavenworth on his 59th birthday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq-6wpl4VuE
