Hyborian Chronicles

The South's "favorite son", quite possibly the best battlefield general of the Confederacy (outside of Robert E. Lee), should also be remembered for one other remarkable accomplishment, besides the whoopin' he gave the Yankees during the American Civil War.

A relatively obscure fact pertaining to Stonewall is that he founded the first Sunday school for blacks. Yes, this man who fought for his beloved Virginia; a state thrown into the cause of state rights vs. federal rights, which was fueled by the debate over slavery, was in fact breaking the law of Virginia, by creating the first Sunday school in Virginia for black children, and teaching them to read.

Though the law was not enforced to any harsh degree, Jackson's actions did raise a few eyebrows. Spectators who gathered around the Rev. Dr. D.S. White, who read Jackson's letters to the townfolk, were disappointed at not hearing much anticipated news from the battlefront,

but rather Jackson's inquiries about his Sunday School. Jackson would also send money in his letters to help support the school.

All this from a, god forbid, Southerner (and a General at that)? Weren't they fighting to keep slavery alive against the freedom forces of the North?

We can debate the causes of the American Civil War, and who was on the right side of the fence when the first shots were fired, until we're blue in the face.

A serious researcher though, could dig up some rather interesting facts about the men behind the names of the Civil War, whether Blue or Gray. The facts sometimes become obscured by the name.

All one has to do is research into Abraham Lincoln, and they will see what the differences between fact and fiction.

If you familiar with Harold Godwinson and his defeat at the hands of William the Conqueror in 1066, thus changing the shape of English and European history forever, then you are probably aware that a few days before the hisorical battle took place, Harold defeated the Viking invaders at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

Emphasis has been placed on Harold's defeat at the hands of William, and we need to understand that quite possibly the proceeding battle with the Northmen wore down the English to such a point, that they were successfully bested by the Normans.

What we know for fact is:

The Treaty of Versailles caused the collapse of the German economy, due in most part to the rigid demands of the French in payment of reparations. The French wanted a weakened German State; after invading German territory on at least seventeen different occasions in the mid 1800's, and after their defeat in the Franco- Prussian War, the French indirectly brought Otto v. Bismarck to power, who unified the German States, creating a potential economic and military powerhouse in Central Europe. It was in the French' best interests to secure a weakened German State, to obtain their ascendancy into a major world player once more. The Treaty seemed to be especially harsh towards the Germans, who were only one part of the Triple Alliance.

The Republic was flawed from the beginning. It was formed during a time of economic and political upheaval within the German States. Ideologies of the Left and Right fought for control of the government, and the German people, having been ruled by kings and generals since the formation of the first Reich under Charlemagne, were never exposed to the form of personal freedoms that brought about the French and American Revolutions. The Republic was utterly doomed to fail from it's founding.

The Fall of the Western Roman Empire was was precipitated by numerous causes. The sack of Rome by Alaric and the Visigoths in August 410CE may seem to some as the final blow dealt to the Western Empire, but one would have to look at the events of the past which led to the final demise of the Western Roman Empire, and the chaos in Europe that soon followed it.

When Augustus was declared Princeps (or ,first citizen), in 27BCE, the path to appointing successors was lined up for future emperors to use. As the appointment to the rank of Caesar and Augustus was passed from one family generation to the next (Julian, Claudian, Flavian, Antonian etc.), the seat of power in Rome was kept, for the most part, secure. After the death of Commodus in 192CE, the Empire began a rapid downward spiral into the illegal appointments of emperors, the usurpation of the throne by military generals, and even the purchase of the throne, which was auctioned to the highest bidder by the Praetorian Guard in 193CE(won by Didius Julianus). The highest seat of the Empire was an almost guaranteed death sentence for a usurper or lineage claimant.

The power struggles, the intrigues and murders, and the use of veteran legionaries to help a contender to the throne, instead of using them on the fragile frontiers of the Empire, contributed significantly to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Another contributing factor was the debasing of currency. At the time of Diocletian's Edict on Coinage(296CE), and The Edict on Maximum Prices(301CE), The Roman Empire was facing a serious financial crises. The debasing of currency by former usurpers who minted coins themselves caused rapid inflation and increased debt. Diocletian attempted to stop, or at least slow down the effects, by issuing new tax reformations, and dictating a price maximum, but not a fixed price, on over one thousand different goods. Though his edicts may have been in good faith, they did not help the financial crises, as Diocletian continued to mint coins, and the maximum price Edict was considered too low, and merchants either used the black market, or haggled for their goods. Roman coinage was not saved, and the financial crises deepened.
By the reign of Valens in 376CE, the Roman military was dangerously depleted of soldiers and veterans. The Visigoths, fleeing from the Huns, asked permission to be settled within the borders of the Roman Empire. Valens assented, seeing the Visigoths are prime recruits to strengthen the military.

When famine broke out in 377CE, Valnes refused aid to trhe settlers, which caused an open revolt. The Visigoths rampaged throughout the Balkans, and at the Battle of Andrianople in 378CE, the Roman forces were defeated, and the emperor Valens slain. The Visigoths had free reign over the Balkans, which opened the doorway for other barbarians to enter Roman territory, with virtually no one to resist them.

Finally, the Eastern section of the Roman Empire was the more luxurious and wealthier part of the Empire. From the time of Julius Caesar, military commanders and emperors set forth to conquer and plunder the riches of the East. By the time of the Tetrarchy of Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius and Galerius, the cities of the east were more favored as seats governing than of Rome herself. Constantine, the first ruler of the Byzantine (or the Eastern Roman) Empire, made Byzantium the capital of his domain. Though a few incursions into the Western Empire occurred, Constantine gave up, allowing the Western Roman Empire to eventually be sacked by Goths(410CE), and to have the Western rulers as appointed puppets of the Goths and other Germans, who were the actual rulers of the West after 410CE.

The Fall of the Western Empire led to chaos and uncertainty throughout Western Europe. As the Eastern Roman Empire held out for another thousand years, until their fall at the hands of the Turks, the Western Roman Empire had all but faded from the minds of the Western Europeans, until relative times of peace led to the revival of interest in the past that had so alluded them during the Middle Ages.

The downfall of the Aztec Empire was caused by two main contributing factors: the arrival of the Europeans, and the disease they brought with them. The Aztecs were unprepared for the type of technology the Spanish brought with them, jsut as their bodies were had no immunity system against diseases that the Europeans developed immunities, or at least a stronger resistance to, from centuries of contact with infected peoples.

When Hernan Cortes first arrived on the shores of what is now Mexico, the Aztecs were the dominating culture of Meso America. What peoples they did not conquer, they absorbed into their ever increasing sphere of influence. The altars of their gods needed blood; the conquered cultures of their surrounding empire provided that staple. Both a militaristic and religious society, the Aztecs performed ritual human sacrifices on captured enemies. Their living hearts were cut from their torsos with obsidian blades, as the priest raised it, still beating above his head. What the Aztecs were about to experience at the hands of the Spanish was their own sacrifice, and that of their culture.

Cortes and the Spanish first arrived on Mayan soil in the Yucatan Peninsula. There, they met a stranded Franciscan monk, who was fluent in both the Mayan and Aztec languages. He led Cortes, who along with his 600 soldiers, 15 horsemen, 15 cannon, and hundreds of allied native tribesmen marched on Cholula, the Aztecs second largest city. Cortes killed the nobility of the city, and razed it to the ground. His next stop was Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.
What gave the Spanish a military advantage were their equipment. A regular foot soldier, encased in a helmet, plate breastguard, wielding a 7 foot pike, in addition to his musket, must have been a fearsome sight to an Aztec warrior, clad in a loincloth, wielding a wooded club lined with spikes, or an obsidian blade. The Spanish would fire vollies of cannon shells into the city, and fire with muskets before engaging in hand to hand combat. The Aztecs could do little to protect themselvs against such attacks, and as their weapons caused little damage to well armored Spanish soldiers, their morale must have declined considerably.

Diseases, such as smallpox, were spread rapidly among the indiguous populous by infected Spanish soldiers. This caused catastrophic consequences on the conquered Aztecs. As the Spanish gained more and more influence, and installed puppet emperors of their own on the Aztec throne, another, unseen battle was being waged. Disease cut through the Meso-Americans, diminishing and changing their cultures forever