The truth about Caligula is hard to come by, contemporary sources are few and universally hostile. It is widely held that he was insane, although the term had no objective value at the time and was often based on the shape of the subject's head and other irrelevancies. But after a life-threatening illness early in his reign he learned that he was the absolute master of Rome, and absolute master was what he wanted to be. He slept with every woman that appealed to him, including all three of his sisters, and more than a few men. He was 29, and had ruled for only three years and ten months, when his body was left in a pool of blood by a group of assassins.
An unhappy reign began in England and France, but at nine months it's unlikely that Henry VI knew there had been a change. He spent his adult life trying to hold onto his two realms, lost both, and was murdered. In London today is the anniversary of the first killing by Jack the Ripper. There were two earlier unsolved murders, but this was the first that matched the full profile, and the first the most famous serial killer of all time took credit for.
During the prelude to World War II, Franklin Roosevelt signed the first of a series of Neutrality Acts. It sounded like a good idea, but together with the changes over the next four years it gave Hitler and Mussolini the green light. Near the end of the war, an officer who was known for tactics and motion came up against an obstacle in the sand of Egypt.
1422 - Henry VI became king of England and France at the age of nine months. His reign included the capture of Jeanne Darc when he was six and the start of the Wars of the Roses, but he wasn't in control of much of it.
1842 - Established in 1830 as the Depot of Charts and Instruments but prohibited at that time from establishing an observatory, on this day the construction of the US Naval Observatory was authorized by an act of Congress. The original building was erected on the hill north of where the Lincoln Memorial was eventually built.
1888 - The body of Mary Ann 'Polly' Nichols, aged 42, married with 5 children was found at Bucks Row, off the Whitechapel Road in London at 3:40 am. Hers was the first of five cases involving East End prostitutes, killed with growing ferocity with a knife, and attributed to Jack the Ripper. No suspect was ever clearly implicated.
1935 - US President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act of 1935, the primary content of which read, "upon the outbreak or during the progress of war between, or among, two or more foreign states, the President shall proclaim such fact, and it shall thereafter be unlawful to export arms, ammunition, or implements of war to any port of such belligerent states."
1942 - The four-day Battle of Alam el Halfa begins, with Field Marshal Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps as well equipped as ever but still unable to break through British positions. After this loss Rommel, the "Desert Fox," correctly forecast the Second El Alemein as a "battle without hope."
Independence Day, Trinidad and Tobago - Marks independence and membership in the Commonwealth on 31 August 1962, as well as the 1976 constitution creating the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (even though that happened on 1 August).
12
- Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Roman politician - Born at
Antium (modern Anzio) to Germanicus (Augustus' adopted grandson) and Agrippina
(Augustus' granddaughter), nephew to Tiberius. Accompanied parents on
military campaigns dressed as a soldier, wearing the hobnailed half-boot
called caliga - the troops gave him the name Caligula or "little boot."
Father died suspiciously in 19, relations with Tiberius grew hostile,
was sent to live with his great grandmother Livia in 27, his grandmother
Antonia in 29. Summoned in 31 to join Tiberius in his retreat on Capri,
where the emperor felt safe from assassination, sharing incredible luxury,
sadism, and sexuality. When Tiberius died 16 March 37 leaving Gaius and
a cousin joint heirs to the throne, Gaius had the will overturned and
became sole emperor. Gaius had no training or administrative experience
at all, he had no tact, and he was but 25 ears old. First few months ruled
generously, probably under influence of Antonia who died in May, and was
wildly popular but promptly emptied the treasury Tiberius had built up.
Attended a wedding and took the bride himself, divorcing her within days.
(He married three more times during his reign.) After an illness of two
months late that year, became vicious, killing or driving to suicide those
he suspected of disloyalty, dragging spectators off benches to fight in
the arena when the condemned were too few. Built a bridge over a series
of boats three miles across the Bay of Naples to prove his mastery of
the sea, rode his horse over it while wearing the breastplate of Alexander
the Great. Draped his horse, Incitatus, in jeweled necklaces, kept him
in a marble stable, and nominated him to the Senate. Finally brought down
by his Praetorian Guard, probably with support in the Senate and possible
encouragement from his successor, Claudius, on 24 January 41.
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great
moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
- Dante Alighieri
The mob is the mother of tyrants.
- Laertius Diogenes
Any excuse will serve a tyrant.
- Aesop
When people have no other tyrant, their own public opinion becomes one.
- Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton
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