March 10, 241 BC - Carthagian Fleet Victorious at Aegates Islands

The Roman Republic had expanded its control throughout Italy by conquest and forced treaties to create a potent confederation.  Sicily, just beyond the tip of southern Italy, lay as a foreign land ruled by tyrants from powerful Syracuse and smaller cities in alliance with the Mediterranean naval power Carthage.  The Greek king Pyrrhus attempted to carve out an empire in Southern Italy and Sicily, but the allied efforts of the Romans and Carthaginians managed to defeat him.  In the wake of the war, mercenaries left behind in Sicily called Mamertines ("Sons of Mars") seized the northeastern city of Messana and sparked a war with Syracuse.  The Mamertines called for aid from both Carthage and Rome hoping to secure themselves, but instead they caused the two superpowers to declare war upon one another in 264 BC.

The Romans were expert warriors in the field, and they landed their legions at Messana to begin a siege against Syracuse.  The Carthaginians, meanwhile, maintained their navy and depended on holding a few key fortresses on the island with a small mercenary force to ensure control of the island.  When the Romans stormed Syracuse, however, and caused it to switch sides, the Carthaginians lost their historical grip on the island.  A relief force arrived to stop the Roman advance as they besieged Agrigentum, but the Carthaginians were stolidly defeated in the resulting battle.  Meanwhile, the Romans adapted themselves to naval warfare, creating the corvus, a spiked plank that could grip enemy ships and allow foot soldiers to overwhelm opposing sailors.  At the Battle of Mylae in 260 BC, the Romans shocked and defeated the Carthaginian fleet.  The Carthaginian commander, Hannibal, was seized by his men and crucified for incompetence.

Over the next five years, Rome continued to advance, even raiding Africa itself.  In 255, the Carthaginians hired Spartan general Xanthippus, who drove off the Romans at Tunis.  The fleeing Roman ships were devastated in a sudden storm, wiping out the victorious Roman fleet.  Still invigorated, the Romans built a new fleet of some 140 ships and continued to roll across Sicily until another storm destroyed that fleet, too.  Storms destroyed ship after ship and raids on Africa proved ineffectual, stalling any great advantage of Roman naval superiority.  The corvus was blamed and abandoned.

In 249 BC at Drepana, the war turned toward the good of Carthage.  They won an overwhelming naval victory by pinning the Romans against the shore, and the newly arrived infantry general Hamilcar Barca ended Roman advantages on land.  For years, Sicily would become a stalemate with sieges and counter-sieges giving neither empire a chance for a victory in the field.

In 244 BC, seeing the war with Rome as an unnecessary drain on the public wealth, Carthaginian leader Hanno the Great (who had earned his epithet with victories in Africa) pushed to decrease the navy.  There had not been a naval battle in years, and most of the assembly agreed with him.  As Carthage minimized its fleet, Rome determined in 242 to build up a new force and besiege the ports in Sicily that kept Barca in supply.

Carthage responded in haste by rebuilding their fleet.  While most concerned themselves more about the number of ships involved, equating numerical might to victory, it became clear that the ships were undermanned.  The two fleets met at the Aegates Islands as Carthaginian commander Hanno (not to be confused with Hanno the Great) was en route to relieve Barca's fortresses.  Seeing the stripped-down Roman fleet had left its sails on shore and relying fully on rowers, Hanno recalled his defeats at Agrigentum and Cape Ecnomus and the Romans' impressive use of maneuverability.  Using the favorable wind, Hanno ordered his fleet to feign retreat.  The Romans, ready for final victory, gave pursuit.  After several miles, when the Roman rowers became exhausted, the Carthaginians turned back with fresh rowers and annihilated the Roman fleet by ramming and fire ships.

Victory celebrations rang through Carthage, but word also trickled back about the grand promises Hamilcar had made to keep the mercenary army from rebelling.  They had largely gone unpaid, living on rations and visions of great wealth from conquests.  The years of stalemate had taken a toll, and already Hamilcar had to put down revolts.  It became clear to the assembly that even taking a draw in the war would have severe consequences.

Hanno the Great’s antiwar faction capitulated, and Carthage began to launch raids on the Italian coast to incite revolt from among the newly conquered Etrurians in the north and Greek city-states in the south.  Rome found itself in a pincer as well as cut off from Sicily, which slid back under Carthaginian influence as mercenaries won their prizes.  Worried about security at home, the Romans finally agreed to a truce with Carthage and returned to solidifying their control over the Italian peninsula.

Wars in the next years with Illyricum and Gaul caused expansion northward and east across the Adriatic Sea.  Rome became embroiled with another Mediterranean power, Macedon, in wars through the second century BC that eventually gave Rome control over Greece.  Carthage, meanwhile, continued to expand into Iberia and southward along Africa’s western coast with their mighty navy and managed to avoid being pulled into the Roman-Macedonian conflicts.  The two empires continued side-by-side until inevitable disputes arose over Gaul as Romans expanded past the Alps.

The Second Punic War (121-70 BC) would again see drawn-out sieges and bids for naval superiority with the Romans at last achieving domination over the western Mediterranean in addition to conquests in the east by the general Sulla in the 80s.  The war proved a solidifying force for the Republic, whose heroes exhibited humility as well as glory.  Necessity cleansed the bureaucracies, and Rome became effective at ruling its provinces.  After the war, a younger set of would-be heroes, Crassus and his general Caesar, would march on Germania in a disastrous campaign in 54 BC.  Largely the Republic wished for peace under leaders such as the military-minded Pompey, civic Cicero, and philosopher Cato.  Centuries later, the peace would end as Germanic and Celtic hordes sacked and broke up the empire.

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In reality, the Roman fleet destroyed the Carthaginians at the Aegates Islands.  Cut off from supply, Hamilcar was forced to sue for peace.  The terms were humiliating, and Carthage could not afford to pay its mercenaries, who revolted and nearly toppled the empire.  Hamilcar again defeated them and began a campaign to expand Carthaginian power in Iberia, creating a force that his son, Hannibal, would lead into Italy itself in the Second Punic War.  Eventually Rome defeated Carthage and then destroyed it fully in the Third Punic War (149-146 BC).

November 6, 1612 - Henry Frederick Recovers Fever

Proving once again a dashing hero, the eighteen-year-old Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, recovered from typhoid fever to great acclaim. The eldest son of King James I of England (VI of Scotland) had already made a name for himself as the handsome, athletic, witty, just, and inspiring next leader of the British Isles.

Henry had been born at Stirling Castle February 19, 1594, and spent his early years in Scotland under the care of the Earl of Mar. His father, James, had worried about the boy being too near his mother Anne of Denmark's Catholic tendencies and so placed Henry among staunch Protestants despite the division it caused in his marriage. In 1603, James was called to London to be crowned, and he brought his family south with him. As Henry grew, his father created an environment that, according to Sir Thomas Chaloner, was a "courtly college or a collegiate court." James himself acted as lecturer and wrote tracts for his son such as The True Law of Free Monarchies, which detailed James' understanding of monarchy as Heavenly mandated absolute rule.

At 11 years old, Henry entered Magdalen College at Oxford. There, he learned sportsmanship and became interested in politicking and the tactics of warfare. He also became fastidious in his Protestantism, even to the point of fining anyone who uttered a swear, for which an alms box was always on hand for forced contributions. His small court was required to attend church services, and Henry himself became entranced in in the steely argumentation of Calvinism, whose sermons seemed to say to him, "Sir, you must hear me diligently: you must have a care to observe what I say."

In his teen years, Henry began to break with his family. He did not care for his increasingly extravagent younger brother, Charles, who seemed to emulate his father's ideals of autocracy. Henry had already rejected many of his father's values, especially James' sense of royal spending. The two very nearly rose to blows when James admonished Henry for not being energetic on a hunt, and Henry lifted his cane to strike his father out of rage but instead rode away. Most of the hunting party followed after the ever-increasingly popular Henry and left his father behind with a few loyals.

At the age of 18, Henry became ill during a typhoid fever epidemic but managed to recover. Upon the death of his father in 1625, Henry ascended the throne of England as Henry IX and the throne of Scotland as Henry I. James had spent the last years of his reign bickering with Parliament, and Henry began his rule by establishing an effective chain of command as well as respecting the right to free speech within the Commons. He approved the sanctions against Catholics and encouraged the increasing Protestantism of the country. Henry had made good on an old teasing promise to make his younger brother Archbishop of Canterbury, though Charles would constantly be admonished for overspending and, in truth, become a whipping boy for the perceived problems of the Anglican Church. Gradually over Henry's tenure, the strength of bishops would decline to favor a more Presbyterian system as seen in Scotland.

While Henry's domains seemed peaceable enough (although a campaign through Ireland to pacify the Catholic population became necessary in 1650), issues in foreign policy took up the majority of his reign. His deep sense of Protestantism caused war with Spain, and he agreed with Parliament on using naval tactics to undercut their flow of income from colonies. Through the seventeenth century, English and Dutch Protestant navies would seize much of the Caribbean. Henry also attempted to become involved in the Dutch War of Independence and the Thirty Years' War in the Germanies (especially since he married a Protestant German princess and his sister married Frederick V, Elector Palatine), but advisers such as Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell encouraged him not to become tied up with the Continent.  Instead, Henry focused on empire-building, as had been the dreams of Sir Walter Raleigh, whom Henry deeply admired and considered a friend.  Henry fought bitterly with his father over the execution of Raleigh in 1618 after an illegal attack on a Spanish outpost, but the opinion of Spain's ambassador won out.  He never forgave his father.

Following Raleigh's ideals, Henry widely encouraged settlement in the New World.  Not only did his fleets seize islands from Spain, but he also created new colonies along the northern coast of South America and dispatched explorers and colonists to affirm English control of the Mississippi.  His policies set precedent for colonial taxation through the Ship Tax, and taxation was reaffirmed in the next century by referrenda from the American colonies, who requested and were granted seats in Parliament.


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In reality, Henry Frederick died at the age of 18, and his younger brother Charles ascended the throne in 1625.  Charles bickered with Parliament, eventually leading to the English Civil War and his own beheading in 1649.

September 30, 1938 - Talks Implode at Munich

After the successful Anschluss in April of 1938 where Austria "linked-up" with Germany, Hitler began making pushes further eastward.  He ordered Konrad Henlein, leader of the Nazi Party's extension into Czechoslovakia, the Sudeten German Party, to begin rabble-rousing to create a facade for seizing the next area on his list.  President of Czechoslovakia Edvard Beneš refused to roll over and began mobilization of his country for war.  Hitler reacted by ordering his generals to accelerate war-preparations for an invasion no later than October 1.

France and the United Kingdom, meanwhile, were increasingly wary of Hitler.  French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier felt Hitler wanted "a domination of the Continent in comparison with which the ambitions of Napoleon were feeble."  He describe Hitler's policy of expansion, "Today it is the turn of Czechoslovakia. Tomorrow it will be the turn of Poland and Romania. When Germany has obtained the oil and wheat it needs, she will turn on the West. Certainly we must multiply our efforts to avoid war. But that will not be obtained unless Great Britain and France stick together, intervening in Prague for new concessions but declaring at the same time that they will safeguard the independence of Czechoslovakia. If, on the contrary, the Western Powers capitulate again they will only precipitate the war they wish to avoid."

On September 15, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to Hitler's home for a private meeting.  Hitler quickly became antagonistic, accusing Chamberlain of threats.  Chamberlain, in exasperation, asked, "Why did I come over here to waste my time?"  The three-hour negotiations accomplished nothing more than proving Hitler's firm stance that the Sudetenland have self-determination (which, coincidentally, would join it to Germany).

Shortly after Chamberlain returned to London, Daladier met with the British government to create an allied plan.  They eventually decided Hitler was right on the point of self-determination, granting him the lands where ethnic Germans were above 50% of the population, but also promising to secure independence for the rest of the state.  Czechoslovakia initially refused but at last agreed.  Hitler, however, only added new demands upon his first being met.  He announced that he would invade September 28.

Beneš began preparations for war using Czechoslovakia's extensive modern frontier defenses.  The Soviet Union vowed to join in support, but Beneš wanted, and needed, the West.  At last Daladier began to press for a firm stand and prompted Chamberlain (whose policies of peace were clearly breaking down) to hand over the reins of diplomacy on the Sudetenland issue.  In a last-ditch effort to save Europe from another war, the leaders met at Munich for talks that eventually turned into yelling matches as the suddenly aggressive Daladier backed by a resolute Chamberlain refused to be pushed by Hitler's "childishness."  Daladier and Chamberlain returned to their home countries and spoke of the failure of diplomacy.

On October 2, Hitler's forces began to move into the Sudetenland, beginning World War II.  The Germans became embroiled with the Czechoslovakians, and plans to invade France and the Low Countries were postponed.  Poland attempted neutrality but was soon strong-armed by the Franco-Polish and Anglo-Polish alliances established in 1921 as well as a new eastern alliance led by the USSR, already substantially mobilized in preparation for the Winter War with Finland. Hitler quickly declared war on Poland, and Soviet and German armies met in the divided country. There, the Germans turned the Soviets (who were still recovering from Stalin's Great Purge of officers in 1937) and began an invasion of Russia itself.  The sheer numbers of Soviet troops and the will of the people eventually stalled the German invasion through Stalin's government-in-exile in Siberia.

Meanwhile, the West was given some respite to mobilize their countries and contain Germany and its Italian allies.  The Second World War proved brutal, but one could only imagine what Hitler would have done with another year's worth of preparation.  By the end, the expeditionary forces of Britain and France successfully invaded Germany from the west, and the rebuilding of Eastern Europe began in 1944.


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In reality, Daladier gave Chamberlain the leading role in negotiations.  Chamberlain returned triumphant after the signing of the Munich Pact and gave his "Peace in Our Time" speech.  Upon Daladier's return to France, he was surprised to be greeted by cheering, about which he muttered, "Oh, the fools."

September 24, 1869 - Grant Holds onto Federal Gold

The great expense of the Civil War and Reconstruction had prompted the federal government to pay expenses with bonds backed by credit alone.  With such patriotic times, the public had no worry trusting the government to repay the bonds with gold upon maturity, solidifying not only the government's books but also its good name.

Speculators, however, saw a chance to make off with millions of dollars in the market.  James Fisk and Jay Gould led a group of investors in cornering the gold market, buying up every ounce they could collect.  The price of gold shot up, topping a 30% increase in less than a year.  Meanwhile, Fisk and Gould came into contact with Abel Corbin, President Ulysses Grant's brother-in-law, who took them into Grant's social circle.  There, they argued against sale of federal gold (saving it for rainy days and continuing the controversial use of greenbacks), planting the seeds of thought into Grant's head.  Corbin, meanwhile, brought in Daniel Butterfield, a former general, as a suggested assistant to the Treasury.  Grant agreed to his appointment, and Butterfield promised to give advance word of the inevitable sale.

According to biographers, Grant became wary of the issue of gold sometime around September 20.  Initially, he was outraged by men attempting to profit out of the shadows, but Corbin (who himself was deeply invested in gold) convinced the President that it would be for good.  The businessmen could use the money to invest and diversify, which would help the general economy by building more infrastructure and capital.  The wealth would "trickle down", and it would help the average American overall by providing jobs and wider markets.  Grant begrudgingly and bewilderedly agreed.

Speculators made millions by selling just before the announcement of the huge federal sale.  By the time the gold was sold, the government earned a significantly smaller amount than they would have and was forced to sell more to make the dollar-benchmark set.  Word gradually went out about the sale and enraged the populace.  Already fed up with the paternal system of back-patting among engrained Republicans as well as the "moiety" through which bureaucrats became wealthy, such as Tax Commission Officer Chester A. Arthur of New York making a salary of $10,000 while receiving upwards of $50,000 from kickbacks and trimming underling's salaries for granting choice assignments.

Scandal rocked the Republican Party, and an investigation led by Congressman James A. Garfield of Ohio indicted the president.  Grant resigned, and the new President Schuyler Colfax prompted Congress to dismantle the political corruption known as the "Era of Good Stealings."


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In reality, when Grant learned of the gold speculation, he ordered $4 million worth of gold sold out of the US Treasury.  The price of gold plummeted in minutes on what became known as Black Friday, Sept 24, 1869.  Investors in the plot, such as Corbin, lost whole fortuntes.  Fisk and Gould, however, escaped unscathed, as would many in what Twain nicknamed "The Gilded Age."

September 7, 1695 - Piracy Ends India-UK Relations

Henry Every, captain of the Fancy (formerly Charles II), and his crew of pirates raided the Indian Ocean after mutinying against England's ally, Spain. After a year of good hauls, Every joined up with other pirates to prey on the pilgrimage fleet of Grand Mughal Aurangzeb. There he took the greatest prize in pirating history: the Ganj-i-Sawai treasure ship, valued at between £325,000 and £600,000 (over $100,000,000 in 2011) in gold, silver, and gemstones. After seizing the great wealth, Every and his crew disappeared into history with only twenty-four ever being captured.

Also on board was "something more pleasing than jewels", believed to be Aurangzeb's daughter. She, too, was taken with rumors claiming she went willingly with the daring pirate captain. Aurangzeb was furious and announced an end to the treaties and trade that had grown up with the British East India Company. Despite Company efforts to pay the insured amount for the lost ship, Mughal forces marched on Bombay and chased the English out of India.

With an enormous market at stake, the East India Company made efforts to strike back into India, but Aurangzeb turned to another European power, France. Frenchman Francois Bernier had served as his physician for twelve years, and the Mughal offered the new vacuum in Bombay to the French East India Company, which happily seized profits and ended the expansive British control there.  As Mughal power began to fade in the eighteenth century, French domination expanded.

The British, meanwhile, began to focus more on holdings in the Caribbean and expanding into further markets in the Pacific such as China and Japan, which were opened by force. Colonies continued to trade hands with war, but India remained under French influence and served as a conduit to expand French colonial control into the Middle East and Southeast Asia.


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In reality, though the East India Company had records suggesting a relative of Aurangzeb was on board the Ganj-i-Sawai, there is no solid evidence as to it being his daughter. He later agreed to the East India Company's apologies (agents pleaded prostrate before the emperor) and £600,000 repayment. The Company battled with French influence for decades as Mughal power waned, eventually coming to control India as the jewel of the British Empire.

June 29, 626 – Avars Storm Constantinople

Following the fall of Rome to the Visigoths, Constantinople took up the mantle of Roman Empire and again established rule through the Mediterranean under the emperor Justinian (527-565). Such a massive empire again proved unwieldy, and Justinian had to install massive bureaucracy to achieve the continuation of his empire. While maintaining order, the bureaucracy was also incredibly expensive, which ironically created unrest as the populace grew weary of heavy taxes despite the wealth of empire. Emperor Maurice (582-602) created cost-saving measures whenever possible, such as refusing in 598 to pay ransom to the Avar Khaganate for thousands of Byzantine prisoners-of-war. The result was the soldiers being slaughtered, but the coffers of the Empire remaining full. In 602 as another measure, he ordered the army to make winter quarters on the frontier north of the Danube rather than march home. This action caused the army to rebel and march on Constantinople, dragging Maurice out of sanctuary in a monastery to execute him. Their leader Phocas was installed the new emperor.

Although popular, Phocas proved unable to defend the empire. In the north, the Avars and their Slavic allies overwhelmed the Balkan territories. In the east, Governor Narses of Mesopotamia incited a rebellion against Phocas' rule. When Phocas sent an army to put him down, Narses sought aid from Khosrau II, emperor of the Sassanid Persians, who was pleased to attack the weakened Byzantines. The Persians defeated the Byzantine army sent against them and began conquering through Armenia and Asia Minor. In 610, Heraclius, the Exarch (“regional governor”) of Africa, overthrew the now very unpopular Phocas and tried to make peace. The Persians denied him and continued conquering the Levant and Egypt. Heraclius assembled expeditionary forces to counterattack in northern Asia Minor and then left Constantinople in 624 to campaign in the Caucasus.

The Avars continued their sweep across the Balkans to the capital itself with some eighty thousand men and siege equipment with the goal of wiping out the Byzantines altogether. An army twelve thousand strong and featuring cavalry defended the city, but it was the bureaucracy who managed life there. A bureaucrat named John determined that food the coming siege was of crucial value and began work to maintain the bread supply. He moved to cancel the free bread ration for the imperial guard (who had ample money of their own to spend) and enacted that overall bread prices be increased from three to eight folles to ensure none was wasted. On May 14 and 15, people gathered at the Great Church and chanted in protest. The local governing body under Bonos discussed what to do and ultimately decided that austerity must be retained in the face of the oncoming barbarians. After days of protest, the government sent loyal soldiers to chase away the chanters. Rioting began, and soon the city was set aflame. Order was restored at times, but the populace proved unresponsive even to zealous religious appeals. In the end, most of the citizenry abandoned the city and fled by sea in convoys to avoid attack Persians. City bureaucrats attempted to stop the retreat with control of the sea walls, but defenses were sabotaged by the people hoping to escape.

When the Avars arrived on June 29, few soldiers were left loyal to Byzantium. A short battle followed, and, despite superior defensive technology with its walls, the Avars broke into Constantinople. Barbarians looted what remained of the city and burned the rest, ending what had been a key position of trade in the known world. Heraclius found himself without a capital, and his allies lost all confidence. He began an overall evacuation to Africa and established himself there, though the empire continued to crumble with Visigoths seizing lands to the west in Spain. The Persians and the Avars reached agreement on a border along the Hellespont, giving both access to trade there while making it a dangerous haven for pirates on the newly unprotected strait.

Although victorious over their Byzantine rival, the Sassanids soon found themselves overwhelmed by the Arab Empire that grew up following the spread of Islam in the 630s and 640s. It eclipsed Zoroastrianism and spread through Africa to Spain, India, and northward to become the principal religion of the Huns and Rus. Charlemagne maintained Christendom in central Europe, and the Scandinavian nations joined as well. Western Europe continued as a marginal corner of the world with trade centering on the vast holdings of the Caliphates. Eventually European explorers seeking a westward route around the Muslim monopoly discovered the New World, which brought a new age of empire upon the out-of-the-way continent.

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In reality, the government removed John (who earned the name “Seismos” or “Earthquake”) and instead worked to reinforce the spirit of the Constantinopolitans to stand against the heathen hordes. After a short siege that summer, the Avars “lacked the technology and the patience to take the city” (Walter Kaegi) and gave up when they deemed Heraclius' victories divinely inspired. Heraclius defeated the Persians and established Byzantine security, which was reaffirmed by the Crusades against the Turks beginning in 1095. Constantinople would not be conquered until 1453.

June 28, 1519 – Frederick the Wise Elected Holy Roman Emperor

After the death of Archduke of Austria, King of the Romans, and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in January of 1519, many of his titles went directly by inheritance to his Habsburg grandson Charles V. The title emperor, however, would be given by decision of the seven elector-princes of the Germans, Albert of Mainz; Richard von Greiffenklau zu Vollrads of Trier; Hermann of Wied of Cologne; Frederick III of Saxony; Joachim I of Brandenburg; Louis V, Elector Palatine; and Louis II Jagiellon, King of Bohemia. Charles was most obvious choice as brother-in-law to Louis of Bohemia, but others were nervous about too much power being placed in one man's hands. Along with his grandfather's titles, Charles had also recently inherited the title “King of Spain”, which he ruled alongside his mother, Joanna the Mad of Castile.

Francis I of France also wished to hold the powerful title, rejoining lands that had all once been Carolingian. Francis and Charles were bitter rivals since a French victory at the Battle of Marignano the year before brought the twenty-one-year-old Francis to the forefront of European politics. The two began a bribing war for votes, which made some electors all the more nervous.

The suggestion of eliminating outside influence arose, and Frederick II of Saxony (called "the Wise") was offered the election.  The task would be monumental and place him at the forefront of politics among much wealthier and more powerful figures, but Frederick determined it to be the right path and agreed.  To the dismay of Francis and Charles both, Frederick was elected.

Problems quickly arose in the empire. The knights of Rhineland rebelled, using Protestant rhetoric to rally their people against the growing "new money" as Feudalism began to break down.  Frederick met with the knights and created the Diet of the Germans to address issues.  The Diet was proven successful as the communistic Peasants' War was put down and undercut by expanding religious freedom to the growing factions of Protestants.  Germany became a powerful center to the new Europe, but would eventually be torn apart into its smaller kingdoms due to religious strife.