Daily history

Good morning,




Quote of the day:

“Enjoy when you can and endure when you must.”

Johann Von Goethe



A few days ago I sent y’all a vignette about the Battle of Thermopylae in eastern Greece. In spite of the heroics by the Spartans, the Persians did eventually prevail and went through Greece burning, raping and pillaging. They did not prevail in the long run and here is why. It was because of two battles. One by sea and another was a land battle…here they are:



                          Salamis


                      A sea battle



After the defeat of the Greeks at Thermopylae, the Persian army marched almost unopposed and began the razing of many of the city-states in Greece including Athens. Earlier the Athenians began evacuating to the Salamis peninsula across the Sardonic Gulf from Athens. Following the Persian army was the Persian navy of about 750 ships. The only way for the Athenians not to be captured or cut off was to prevent the Persians from blockading Salamis. The Greeks assembled about 378 triremes (warships) to combat the 750 ships in the Persian fleet. The Persians were lured into a small estuary in a light wind with the Athenians slowly retreating. The Persians did not learn a damned thing at Marathon. The Greeks do not withdraw unless they have a mission in mind, especially if Spartans are involved. After a while the wind began to freshen and blew the Persian ships right at the Greeks. The Greeks were not interested in fighting ship-to-ship as the Persians; they use their larger and slower ships as nothing more than platforms for their infantry and catapults of “Greek fire”. Greek fire is mentioned in many manuscripts throughout the ancient world. No one knows exactly what it was but Herodotus tells us that is was probably a mixture of tar and naphtha, poured into a clay jar and set afire then launched toward the enemy by catapults. The burning tar sticks to nearly everything it touches and since all the ships were made of wood, the fire was deadly. If that didn’t work, they would throw grappling hooks to the enemy ships and send the wild-eyed Spartan hoplites aboard the enemy ships to take care of business with spear and sword. The Greeks knew that the winds would increase and from what direction and set up for the Persian to be blown right into their laps. The retreat was just a delaying tactic waiting on the winds to come, and come they did. The Persians finally figured out what the Greeks were up to and tried to retreat but the prevailing wind prevented it. Before the battle was joined, King Xerxes set a chair out on a bluff overlooking the battle site and watched as over 200 of his ships were destroyed or sunk. After this, Xerxes boarded one of his ships and sailed his young ass back to Persia. It is thought by many historians that this was the most important military victories in history because it prevented a Persian presence in Europe. The next major battle was a land battle, see below.



                           Plataea


          The final defeat of the Persians


                           in Greece



After Salamis Persian King Xerxes returns to Persia and leaves his military commander Mardonius in command of a reinforced army of 300,000 to oversee their captured lands. Mardonius met with the Athenian leaders and offered them autonomous government and Persian aid in rebuilding Athens that had been partially destroyed. The Athenians refused and the destruction of Athens was completed. Athens sent emissaries to Sparta and told them what had happened and warned them against the possibility of Athens and the Persians making peace and what a threat that would be for Sparta, remembering the Peloponnesian wars between Athena and Sparta. The Spartans were reluctant at first but saw the light eventually and realized the possible threat. The Spartans and the Athenians got together once again and summoned help from the other city-states in kicking these illegal aliens out of southern Greece. They eventually gathered a force of 110,000 to combat the 300,000 Persians. The difference here was that 38,700 of the Greek army were Spartan hoplites or Greek professional soldiers, recognized as the meanest and most capable warriors on the planet and this was the largest group of them ever assembled. The combined armies were commanded by the veteran Pausanias. After hearing about the consolidation of the Greeks, and especially about the hoplites, Mardonius completed the razing of Athens and covered the rubble with earth, and then withdrew to the Asopus River where he fortified his position. The Athenians sent 8,000 and joined with a Spartan force along with many smaller city-states and established a base in hilly terrain where Persian cavalry would be ineffective. Mardonius sent a cavalry unit anyway under the command of Masistius to see if a cavalry attack was possible. He found out that the hilly terrain did indeed neutralize the cavalry and Masistius was killed early on and the rest of the cavalry retreated. Finally the two armies spread out and lined up for a massed attack. Pausanias put the Spartans of the left flank and the Athenians on the right flank with the other city-states in the middle. The Persians used heavy wooden shields while the Greeks used heavy bronze ones. At the onset of the battle the Persians unleash a maelstrom of arrows which made the Greeks cover up and they kept this up for an extended period. Eventually the center of the Greek lines got fed up and attacked which forced the Spartans and the Athenians to attack also and they succeeded in an envelopment. Once the combined forces of the Spartans and Athenians met in the middle it was all over for the Persians. The slaughter was total. Out of the original 300,000, there were a group of 40,000 Persians refused to join in the battle because they did not like Mardonius’ tactics. That left 260,000 Persians actively engaged. From this number, only 43,000 Persians survived to head home. The number of casualties for the Greeks was 1,340. That’s right folks, there were over 220,000 corpses left on the field. The surviving Persians were not out of the woods yet. They were picked off a few at a time all the way back to the Hellespont and on into Asia Minor. That was the end of the illegal aliens in southern Greece.



Quotable quotes:



“Behind every successful man there are a lot of unsuccessful years.” Bill Brown



“Behind every man is a woman, with absolutely nothing to wear” James Stewart



“I am not a vegetarian but I eat animals that are.” Groucho Marx



When asked how many husbands she has had, Zsa Zsa Gabor said “You mean other than my own?”



“I have been accused of vulgarity. I say bullsh-t to that.” Mel Brooks



“A study shows that men are hit by lightening four times as many times as women and it is usually after saying “I’ll call you.” Jay Leno





Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow


This date in history   September 23



1779    Earlier Scottish born John Paul Jones came to America as a cabin boy aboard a cargo ship. He lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia for while with his brother who had a business there. He went back to sea as a deckhand and eventually an officer aboard slave and cargo ships and proved to be a capable seaman. He killed a shipmate during a mutiny attempt and went back to America just before the start of the American Revolutionary War. The American colonies began organizing a fleet of naval warships and Jones was recruited and given the rank of Lieutenant and given command of the USS Bonhomme Richard. On this date John Paul Jones engaged the British warships HMS Serapis and the smaller HMS Countess of Scarborough off the east coast of England. It was a furious battle and after while the commander of the Serapis signaled Jones asking if he was ready to “strike his colors” meaning surrender. Jones signaled back the immortal phrase “I have not yet begun to fight” and battle resumed with even more ferocity. An hour or two later both the Serapis and the Countess “struck their colors” and surrendered to Jones. The next morning Jones transferred his flag to the Serapis and soon after the Bonhomme Richard sank. This was not the only victory for Jones; he was instrumental in the suppression of the British Fleet in the Bahamas and the Chesapeake Bay. Jones was revered by the French but for some strange reason his was not thought of as well in America. Jones moved to France and was caught up in the throes of the French Revolution in 1789. He died of an unknown cause in France and was buried in an unmarked grave when he was 45 years old. Later on the United States Ambassador to France had Jones disinterred and his remains were brought to America aboard a warship. He was re-buried in a crypt of honor on the grounds of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. On occasion the crypt is included in ceremonies and when it is opened there is a United States Marine Honor Guard standing by.



1806    On this afternoon the Lewis and Clark expedition rounded the last bend in the Missouri River before reaching the intersection with the Mississippi and are within sight of the docks and piers of Saint Louis, Missouri. The “Corps of Discovery” had begun three years before and most had thought that the whole crew had been wiped out since they had been gone so long. But fortunately they had lost only one crewman and they lost him through illness, he was not killed. The expedition had been ordered by President Thomas Jefferson who wanted to know what the United States had gained in the Louisiana Purchase and the Missouri River basin was the best avenue. The expedition wintered the first year near a known Indian village in South Dakota. The next spring the expedition shoved off heading upstream into unknown territory. When they departed, Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal “This is the most exciting day of my life.” It would have been the same for me. What an adventure it would have been.



1863    A few days before US General Rosecrans had his ass handed to him by the Confederate Army at the Battle of Chickamauga. The Yankees retreated into Chattanooga, Tennessee and were quickly surrounded. The US had suffered 16,000 casualties in a very short period of time. In Washington President Abraham Lincoln held a conference with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to try to work something out because the US army in Chattanooga was in serious danger of annihilation. Most experts stated that it would take at least a month get an army there to relieve them because there was no other US armies close by. Lincoln and Stanton decided to pull US General Joseph Hooker’s Corp from the vicinity of Virginia and send them to relieve the troops in Chattanooga. But the difference here was one thing, the telegraph. Hooker commandeered whatever railroads he needed and the telegraph messages preceded his arrival and gave him and his army top priority. Hooker was able to move his army, including the animals, equipment and artillery to Chattanooga and depots in Alabama in a week and was able to break the Confederate siege and save the troops.



1875    On this date the 15 year old “Billy the Kid” was arrested for the first time. As a joke a friend of Billy’s stole a bag of clothes from a Chinese laundry and gave it to Billy to hide for him. Bill was literally caught “holding the bag” by a Silver City policeman and threw him in jail for two days. It was during this time that Billy discovered that he just could not handle being caged. Using his small size to an advantage, he shinnied up the chimney and escaped. I have read that Billy was about 5’-2” and about 120 pounds. It was not long before he was in Lincoln County, New Mexico deeply involved in a range war. It was during this combat that he sharpened his skills with a gun and being unmoved by killing another man. I think we all know what eventually happened to Billy.



Born today:



480BC    Greek playwright Euripides. He said “Talk sense to a fool and he will call you foolish.” I think we all know some of them.



1863    US writer Mary Eliza Terrell. She said “The chasm between the principles on which the nation was founded, in which it still professes to believe, and those which are daily practiced under the protection of the flag, yawn wide and deep.” Hey Mary, nothing has changed from that day to this.



1970    US Singer Ani DeFranco. She said “I had rather be able to look at myself in the bathroom mirror than be rich and famous.” I wonder if Bill Gates looks at himself every morning.”



Died today:



1943    US writer Elinor Glyn. She said “Romance is the glamour that turns everyday dust into a golden haze.” I wonder what romance feels like anymore.



1925    US Journalist Carl Rowan. He said “There are no embarrassing questions, only embarrassing answers.” OK, Carl, here is a question. Where is Natalee Holloway?



          Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow