Aug 12 30 BC - Cleopatra Commits Suicide

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day  ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

When you have spent your life wearing a beard, murdering your sisters, marrying your brother and taking baths in milk while going through Roman leaders like most people go through sandals, you are never going to bow out quietly and Cleopatra was a drama queen to the end.
Not for her jumping off a pyramid or throwing herself in front of a chariot, she got a poisonous snake to bite her on the breast after her boyfriend, Mark Anthony, fell on his sword, literally.
A warning, if one was needed, that inbreeding and being a bit of a slapper with a fancy for men in togas never ends well.  

Aug 11 1885 - $100,000 Raised For French Present

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

To some the French giving the United States the Statue of Liberty symbolises the alliance between the two countries, the torch enlightening the World and freedom from slavery, oppression, and tyranny but to others it's a 93m, 225 tonne knock off of a couple of statues they already have standing around in Paris.
What is funny is that the French handed the statue over and it cost the United States $100,000 for the pedestal to stand it on in New York harbour.
Finally, after nine years of having the statue laying around in parts in different parts of the country, the Americans have now raised the money to build the pedestal to put France's present on.  
I guess when the French said they was sending over someone with a 35 foot waist and a 4 foot nose they were expecting Pierre Leroux.
Certainly would have been cheaper so maybe just ask for some onions next time France want to offer a present.

Aug 10 1972 - Meteorite Grazes Earths Atmosphere

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

Far out the kids may be saying but what certainly wasn't far out was the 1kg meteorite that grazed past our planet today.
The massive ball of ice travelling at 34,000 mph came within 37 miles of the Earth's surface which in astrological terms is feeling the wind as the bullet passes by the side of your head.
Creating a double sonic boom as it entered the atmosphere above Canada, the solar visitor took 100 seconds to leave the atmosphere again and was measured at approximately 3m across, Scientists have said that if it had not entered at such a grazing angle, this meteoroid would have lost all its velocity in the upper atmosphere and would have ending in an air burst with any remnants then striking the Earth at terminal velocity.
As the whole solar system is one big game of billiards with things hitting each other all the time, maybe it would be wise for the boffins to develop some sort of early meteorite detection system so the first thing we know about it is when we wake up and wonder where Scotland has gone and whom put that massive ball of steaming rock in it's place. 

Aug 9 1815 - Napoleon Exiled To St Helena

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

To make a war last 100 years you must really dislike your enemy and when it comes to the French and the Brits, we really don't get along.
Ever since the stinky cheese eaters discovered boats, they have been bothering us Brits with their pantaloons and stupid frilly shirt cuffs but no more because we have not only captured their main man and chief stuipid hat wearer, but we are sending him off to St Helena where he can only breath his garlic smelling breath over turtles and the occasional fish.
After ravaging most of Europe, Napoleon is now aboard The Northumberland and on his way to the Atlantic Island to spend the rest of his days entertaining the 3 natives with tales of how his letter to his brother regarding his wifes affair was intercepted by the British and published in all the newspapers with much ridicule. 
A sad sight as the once gallant and proud leader left Britain on his long journey, half the man that he once was which is very impressive considering he was only half the size of a man in the first place.
Au Revoir Napoleon.

Aug 8 1955 - Fidel Castro forms July 26th Movement

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

Luckily not too many leaders take the Fulgencio Batista views of elections, which is when you are about to lose one, you lead a military coup and declare yourself El Presidente.
Just as fortunate is that not many follow the Batista's corrupt business practises of ruling his countrymen by negotiating lucrative contracts with the mafia to run drug, gambling and prostitution businesses.
Throw in torture, public executions and a death toll of up to 20,000 Cubans, Batista is not what you would call a benevolent leader.
On the horizon though, through the throng of anti-Batista demonstrations and student riots is a group of bearded rebels led by Fidel Castro with a plan to overthrow the dictator and who call themselves the '26th of July Movement'.
Not the most inspirational name i agree but the two Castro brothers (Fidel and Raul) and 80 of their closest friends are determined to form a guerrilla force to overthrow the corrupt and murderous Batista and instill their own Socialist Revolution.
As feeling is running high against Batista, it may be a case of the Castro's having to move quick before someone else forcibly deposes him but between know and then, i would suggest giving the name another go.

Aug 7 1961 - Gherman Titov Circles Earth

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

The United States Space Agency called it 'an important technical achievement' which seems particular underwhelming as the USSR have taken Space Exploration to another level with Major Gherman Titov spending the whole day in orbit over the Earth aboard his Vostok II spacecraft. 
Information from Moscow say he is due to land tomorrow morning after completing 20 orbits around the globe.
Humans have taken another stride towards dreams of man landing on the moon and setting up bases to use as a launchpad for Mars and spreading out across our Solar System and beyond.
Just four months after the USSR launched the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space and with the USA having already sent an astronaut skywards, this is a wonderful time for people like me who look up to the night sky and wonder.
If only they were not on opposite sides, the USSR and Americans could achieve so much more if they combined their talents or at the very least they could stop the confusion and decide if it is Cosmonaut (universe traveller) or Astronaut (star traveller).  

Aug 6 1945 - Atom Bomb dropped on Hiroshima

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

Such is the overwhelming relief and jubilation that the killing fields of Europe have fallen silent, we can forget that the fighting continues in the Pacific.
The news is that Japan are negotiating with the Soviets regarding an end to the fighting which makes it even more shocking that America have not only developed a weapon of mass destruction like the Atomic bomb, but used it today on the heavily populated city of Hiroshima.
Initial reports are of tens of thousands of deaths but this was a civilian city with a population of 350,000 so the death toll is expected to raise alarmingly.
While tales of Japanese brutality and mistreatment of prisoners is widely known, why America chose a civilian city with no military significance and why the weapon was not used against a military target is open to speculation.
They did not even need to slay so many innocent people, a show of strength on one of the uninhabited islands with a warning that this could be one of your cities next time would have achieved the same reaction from the Japanese if this was their aim.
To drop such a horrific weapon and kill so many civilians when the Japanese were negotiating an end to hostilities stinks of America wanting to impress the Soviets, to lay down a marker that they are the top dogs now and they have the Atomic Bomb to prove it.    
The only silver lining is that the devastating accounts coming from Hiroshima is so shocking and the death toll so huge, that hopefully, nobody will ever be reckless enough to use them ever again.

Aug 5 1846 - Oregon Divided Between US & Britain

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

You do wonder sometimes if hanging onto our colonies in America is worth all the trouble. The Oregon problem has raised its ugly head again with the Americans still squabbling with us over it 30 odd years later.
A bit sneaky of us to agree that settlers would decide who it rightly belongs to and then shuffle in hundreds of British settlers but then it was equally sneaky of them to do the same thing.
With no French support in the case of another war, President Polk is keeping a civil lid on things (the British gunships off the American coast helps of course) and as we are reliant on American wheat, Prime Minister Peel is also being ever so polite and British about it all.
Slicing the Oregon territory at the 49th parallel is probably the most diplomatic way to sort it out once and for all but the fairest way would be to ask the 50,000 indigenous population whose actual land it is who they want to have it, if either of us.
I think the answer would be a resounding 'you can both bugger off and leave us in peace' amidst much coughing and spluttering from whatever disease we have inflicted upon them this time.

Aug 4 1914 - Britain Declares War on Germany

A post taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then without hindsight or knowledge of how it ended.

August 4th - The saying is that War is young men sent to die fighting old men's battles and this latest one isn't going to be any different.
It was inevitable after all the posturing and threats that we would be going to war with someone, it seemed we have been gearing up to it for years and it's Germany and the Austria-Hungarians that Prime Minister Herbert Asquith today announced we are at war with from 11pm.
The danger was always that with two great power blocks, Britain, Russia and France on one side and Germany and the Austria-Hungarians on the other, that the game of brinkmanship would go too far and actually start a war and the tipping point seems to have been the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo which led to a frightening chain of events that ended a few weeks later with Britain declaring war on Germany.
So now we are at war but not because we are defending our own country, it is in defence of Belgium because of an alliance.
We don't need to be involved, we can sit it out and our own young men need not die in order to fight against
the cousin of our own King George V, the grandson of Queen Victoria.
Let the old men fight it out themselves, leave us to get on with our own lives because while our fathers, uncles
and brothers are dying, the old men who began the whole thing will be the ones in the safest seats at home.   

Away But FOAB Keeps Going

President Obama has admitted that US crossed the line and tortured people and a man makes the ultimate protest against Lloyd's bank by defecating in the middle of the banks floor.
Throw in Israel and Gaza and the continuing actions to isolate Russia, the English topping the Commonwealth Games medal table and the Ebola outbreak, the next few weeks would have been some interesting times for a blogger but not for this one because this blog will be left on automatic until the end of August as i go off on holiday.
What i have done is write some blog posts and put them on schedule to post themselves everyday from the 4th until the 25th August.
The posts are taking real life incidents from this day in history and my view of them as if they were happening today and what my honest view would have been then on that day ignoring hindsight or knowledge of how it ended which wasn't easy, the temptation to make some smart alec quip about future events meant quite a few rewrites.
Unfortunately, from August 4 to Aug 25 wasn't the most exciting time in World history but posts include the first and second World Wars, Ancient Egypt, the Russian Revolution, several deaths of famous figures and moments in the Space Race.
It might all go horribly wrong and i will hold my hand up for any historical inaccuracies but if the Blogger scheduling works as it should, the posts will go up each day until i return on the 26th.
Hope everyone has a good summer and see you all at the other end of August.