This month in History...

C

Cypress

Well-known member
January 1, 1863 AD - The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the states rebelling against the Union.

January 11, 49 BC: Julius Caesar Crosses the Rubicon - Julius Caesar was known as a decisive general. When he chose to step forward, cross the Rubicon, and march on Rome with nothing but a single legion, this was one of the riskiest decisions in military history. Ultimately, it resulted in one of the most rewarding accomplishments: the rise of the Roman Empire (source credit: Professor Gregory Aldrete, University of Wisconsin)

January 17, 1961 AD: Dwight D. Eisenhower warns the nation about the increasing power of the military-industrial complex. His remarks, issued during a televised farewell address to the American people, were particularly significant since Ike had famously served the nation as military commander of the Allied forces during WWII. Eisenhower urged his successors to strike a balance between a strong national defense and diplomacy in dealing with the Soviet Union. He did not suggest arms reduction and in fact acknowledged that the bomb was an effective deterrent to nuclear war. However, cognizant that America’s peacetime defense policy had changed drastically since his military career, Eisenhower expressed concerns about the growing influence of what he termed the military-industrial complex. (source credit: History.com)

January 17, 1912 AD: Britain’s polar explorers led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott reach the South Pole – only to find the Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s expedition had beaten him by a month.
 
J,

January historical trivia pertaining to Trump: the largest inauguration crowd ever on January 20, 2017. According to Trump, anyway.

That assumes Trump wasn't lying his ass off.
 
Cypress said:
January 1, 1863 AD - The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the states rebelling against the Union.

January 11, 49 BC: Julius Caesar Crosses the Rubicon - Julius Caesar was known as a decisive general. When he chose to step forward, cross the Rubicon, and march on Rome with nothing but a single legion, this was one of the riskiest decisions in military history. Ultimately, it resulted in one of the most rewarding accomplishments: the rise of the Roman Empire (source credit: Professor Gregory Aldrete, University of Wisconsin)

January 17, 1961 AD: Dwight D. Eisenhower warns the nation about the increasing power of the military-industrial complex. His remarks, issued during a televised farewell address to the American people, were particularly significant since Ike had famously served the nation as military commander of the Allied forces during WWII. Eisenhower urged his successors to strike a balance between a strong national defense and diplomacy in dealing with the Soviet Union. He did not suggest arms reduction and in fact acknowledged that the bomb was an effective deterrent to nuclear war. However, cognizant that America’s peacetime defense policy had changed drastically since his military career, Eisenhower expressed concerns about the growing influence of what he termed the military-industrial complex. (source credit: History.com)

January 17, 1912 AD: Britain’s polar explorers led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott reach the South Pole – only to find the Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s expedition had beaten him by a month.
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There is an irony there, Ike's military industrial complex theme was then intellectualized in C. Wright Mills power elite concept that partially contributed to the radical movements of the 1960's. What gained recognition with Ike became the antithesis of the exact establishment that created him, guess you could say Ike was the father of the New Left. I said irony
 
archives said:
There is an irony there, Ike's military industrial complex theme was then intellectualized in C. Wright Mills power elite concept that partially contributed to the radical movements of the 1960's. What gained recognition with Ike became the antithesis of the exact establishment that created him, guess you could say Ike was the father of the New Left. I said irony
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Its really weird how true statemen like Teddy Roosevelt and Ike are almost persona non grata in the modern Republican Party, while Donald Trump, Sara Palin, George Dumbya Bush, and Bedtime for Bonzo are held out as the heroes, the role models of movement conservatism.
 
Cypress said:
Its really weird how true statemen like Teddy Roosevelt and Ike are almost persona non grata in the modern Republican Party, while Donald Trump, Sara Palin, George Dumbya Bush, and Bedtime for Bonzo are held out as the heroes, the role models of movement conservatism.
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Ike and TR represented a moderate GOP who still had conservative principles, minus the social, cultural, or religious populism you see today in the GOP. They are pre Goldwater, and today would be RINOs
 
Cypress said:
January 1, 1863 AD - The Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in the states rebelling against the Union.

January 11, 49 BC: Julius Caesar Crosses the Rubicon - Julius Caesar was known as a decisive general. When he chose to step forward, cross the Rubicon, and march on Rome with nothing but a single legion, this was one of the riskiest decisions in military history. Ultimately, it resulted in one of the most rewarding accomplishments: the rise of the Roman Empire (source credit: Professor Gregory Aldrete, University of Wisconsin)

January 17, 1961 AD: Dwight D. Eisenhower warns the nation about the increasing power of the military-industrial complex. His remarks, issued during a televised farewell address to the American people, were particularly significant since Ike had famously served the nation as military commander of the Allied forces during WWII. Eisenhower urged his successors to strike a balance between a strong national defense and diplomacy in dealing with the Soviet Union. He did not suggest arms reduction and in fact acknowledged that the bomb was an effective deterrent to nuclear war. However, cognizant that America’s peacetime defense policy had changed drastically since his military career, Eisenhower expressed concerns about the growing influence of what he termed the military-industrial complex. (source credit: History.com)

January 17, 1912 AD: Britain’s polar explorers led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott reach the South Pole – only to find the Norwegian Roald Amundsen’s expedition had beaten him by a month.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't call the crossing of the Rubicon a rewarding accomplishment.
 
Threedee said:
I wouldn't call the crossing of the Rubicon a rewarding accomplishment.
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Neither would I, it was awkward sounding and wasn't the right word to capture the historical significance, but it was the words used on the course syllabus I cut and pasted from. Crossing the Rubicon certainly was a very consequential and iconic event in historical antiquity.

I only learned a few months ago where the idiomatic expression "crossing the Rubicon" (aka, no turning back) came from, and I suspect most journalists, writers, and authors who use the expression don't have a clue about its origins. I sure didn't!
 
archives said:
Ike and TR represented a moderate GOP who still had conservative principles, minus the social, cultural, or religious populism you see today in the GOP. They are pre Goldwater, and today would be RINOs
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Today’s Republicans aren’t the same as Republicans of the 1910’s and neither are today’s Democrats. Times definitely change.
 
Cypress said:
Its really weird how true statemen like Teddy Roosevelt and Ike are almost persona non grata in the modern Republican Party, while Donald Trump, Sara Palin, George Dumbya Bush, and Bedtime for Bonzo are held out as the heroes, the role models of movement conservatism.
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I think you're being a tad harsh on old Dutch. I think his most significant accomplishments were diplomatic. Say what you want to about Reagan but in the end he got shit done and executed the end game on the Soviet Empire. He didn't "Win the Cold War" as Conservatives with a small c claim but he made significant contributions to the end game and his largest contributions were diplomatic. He refused to take excuses from the State Department and ordered them to cooperate with their Soviet Counterparts to make things happen.
 
Threedee said:
I wouldn't call the crossing of the Rubicon a rewarding accomplishment.
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Maybe...but it certainly was audacious and risky. Not even Caesar anticipated the Senate panicking and leaving Rome. One has to wonder if Pompey had stayed in Rome and waited till he recieved reliable intelligence of Caesars disposition. Cause if he had he could have stomped his foot and put around a half a dozen legions in the field against Caesar and Caesar would have had to retreat back into Cisalpine Gaul and be branded an Enemy of the State (Hostis) or gone down to military defeat.

There were several times during Caesar Civil War against the Senate where Caesar took huge risks, probably should have lost but improbably won. Crossing the Rubicon was one. The Battle of Dyrrhachium was another. Had Pompey had properly followed up on that victory against Caesar history would consider Pompey Rome's greatest General and First Emperor.

Those were just two examples of where Caesar benefited greatly from pure dumb luck.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Maybe...but it certainly was audacious and risky. Not even Caesar anticipated the Senate panicking and leaving Rome. One has to wonder if Pompey had stayed in Rome and waited till he recieved reliable intelligence of Caesars disposition. Cause if he had he could have stomped his foot and put around a half a dozen legions in the field against Caesar and Caesar would have had to retreat back into Cisalpine Gaul and be branded an Enemy of the State (Hostis) or gone down to military defeat.

There were several times during Caesar Civil War against the Senate where Caesar took huge risks, probably should have lost but improbably won. Crossing the Rubicon was one. The Battle of Dyrrhachium was another. Had Pompey had properly followed up on that victory against Caesar history would consider Pompey Rome's greatest General and First Emperor.

Those were just two examples of where Caesar benefited greatly from pure dumb luck.
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I remain ambiguous about the legacy of Julius Caesar. I have heard more than a few academics claim Caesar is the most important and consequential person after Jesus of Nazareth to the arc of western history.

I can see how the establishment of the Empire and the down fall of the Republic, for whatever downsides it had, basically set western civilization on its trajectory for the next two millennium.

As for his strategic military abilities, it is interesting for you to note how much luck was involved. The conquest of Gaul can certainly be attributed as one of the most consequential events of Roman history. But history is always written by the victors, eh? Caesar was undoubtedly decisive and bold, but through the murky rear view of 2,000 years we can never be entirely certain of how much sheer blind luck and good fortune were involved.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I think you're being a tad harsh on old Dutch. I think his most significant accomplishments were diplomatic. Say what you want to about Reagan but in the end he got shit done and executed the end game on the Soviet Empire. He didn't "Win the Cold War" as Conservatives with a small c claim but he made significant contributions to the end game and his largest contributions were diplomatic. He refused to take excuses from the State Department and ordered them to cooperate with their Soviet Counterparts to make things happen.
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I believe as the decades pass, Reagan's legacy is being tarnished as a more realistic view on his tenure occurs, and the mythology is deconstructed.

I also think Jimmy Carter's legacy is looking incrementally better in hindsight.

Reagan ran a criminal administration, that lied to congress, illegally funded a civil war, and covertly gave high tech American weapons to the Iranian mullahs.

That is not even mentioning the damage Reagan did to the economy and the American middle class through union busting and trickedown economic schemes.

You know one thing positive I can about Bedtime for Bonzo? He seemed to realize that Gorbechev was a different kind of Soviet leader, and Reagan seemed to have a genuine interest in working with Gorby to wind down the nuclear arms race. And I give him credit for that because I can remember most the rightwing wanted to continue the arms race, and they were mad at Reagan from compromising with Gorby.
 
Cypress said:
I remain ambiguous about the legacy of Julius Caesar. I have heard more than a few academics claim Caesar is the most important and consequential person after Jesus of Nazareth to the arc of western history.

I can see how the establishment of the Empire and the down fall of the Republic, for whatever downsides it had, basically set western civilization on its trajectory for the next two millennium.

As for his strategic military abilities, it is interesting for you to note how much luck was involved. The conquest of Gaul can certainly be attributed as one of the most consequential events of Roman history. But history is always written by the victors, eh? Caesar was undoubtedly decisive and bold, but through the murky rear view of 2,000 years we can never be entirely certain of how much sheer blind luck and good fortune were involved.
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Well that's just it. Caesar documented his accomplishments in commentaries, which were just as much political propaganda as they were dispatches from the war front. They have survived down through history to this day and have contributed greatly to his historical impact and legacy where as some of his contemporaries who's accomplishments were as significiant, take Sulla for example. His commentaries and autobiography did not survive antiquity and much of what we know about Sulla comes from secondary sources where as we have a great deal of primary source material on Caesar....who wrote most of it. LOL
 
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