Truman's Manure

Harry Truman made a speech at the Washington Garden Club. He praised the ladies for the good "manure" that used to fertilize the flowers. One of them asked Harry's wife, Bess if she could make him stop using such a vulgar word as "manure", especially since he was the President of the United States. She replied, "Heavens no. It took me 25 years to get him to say 'manure.'"

France's Wars: Gaul 58-51 BC

Did you ever notice that in almost every great war in history, France has been involved in some way? Here’s an example: Julius Caesar's Conquest of Gaul.

Summary: Julius Caesar conquered Gaul (the Roman’s term for the lands now France). His legions also raided into Brittania (England) and crossed the Rhine River (into Germany.

Background: Barbarians from north of the Alps had raided the Italian peninsula for centuries. By the middle of the 1st. century bc, Rome had expanded it’s holdings up to the mountain range. The area east of the range was falling under Roman control. In Rome, Julius Caesar had formed an alliance with Pompey and Crassus. Caesar’s part of the empire was north Italy (Cisalpine Gaul) and that part beyond the mountains that Rome controlled (Transalpine Gaul).

Meanwhile, barbarians in the German area were invading Gaul. A tribe allies with Rome asked Caesar for help.

Major Players:
. 1) France:Tribes of Gaul, facing invasions from other barbarian tribes from Germany and from the Romans

. 2) Other Countries:Rome, which by this time had become the major power in the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Germanic and Swiss tribes from the German area, and the Celtic tribes in Britannia.

. 3) The Leaders:Julius Caesar, heavily in debt and needing conquests for money and glory to further his political position in Rome. Vercingtorix, who lead all the Gallic tribes in a rebellion against the Roman conquerors and gave Caesar his most desperate fight at Alesia.

Narrative: Caesar crossed the Alps and defeated the Germanic barbarian invasion of Gaul or 58 bc. In 57 bc, he defeated the most important of the Gallic tribes in the Belgium area. The other important tribes submitted to Rome and Caesar announced that Gaul was conquered. An unprecedented 15 day celebration was voted in Rome.

Revolts of various tribes and actions against the Germanic tribes occupied the middle period of the war. He conquered southwestern Gaul in 56 bc. In 55 bc, he answered raids from Germany by building a bridge across the Rhine in a matter of days, marching his army across it and devastating the area beyond. In 54 bc he crossed the Channel and raided Britannia. The following year, he crossed the Rhine again. With both the Britains and the Germans cowed, he and Rome both felt that Gaul was good and conquered and free from external troublemaking.

Vercingtorix struck in 53 bc, bring the war to its final and its most desperate phase. All Gaul rebelled against Rome. Caesar was defeated at the town that is the modern Clermont, besieged Vercingtorix in Alesia but was surrounded himself. Only the superior engineering skills and superior discipline saved the Roman army. When Vercingtorix’s forces inside Caesar’s lines were starved out, the Gallic War was at last over but for the mopping up.

Pictured is Vercingetorix's surrender to Caesar after the Siege of Alesia in 52 BC.

Aftermath: Caesar wrote memoirs of the wars. These books ranks among the best military literature of history. Afterwards, he led portions of his army back into Italy where he crossed the Rubicon River in 49 and began the Roman Civil War. Gaul remained a Roman Province until the fall of the empire.

For Further Reading:

Caesar's Commentaries
Wikipedia

---

Master List

Next War

March History Blog Carnival

The March Carnival is up. This month's theme is diversity around the world. Here we learn that just after Black History Month (February) comes Women's History Month (March). Does this politically correct history ever stop?

Sumeria

Blogging Will Durant’s History of Civilization

Written history is at least six thousand years old. During half this period the center of human affairs, so far as they are now known to us, was the Near East.

These people occupied the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley in modern Iraq and may have developed the first civilization with agriculture, commerce, and writing thousands of years ago. Durant considers them the first civilization of history because they left written records behind.

The names of the city-states carry a special ring today: Akkad, Lagash, Ur – are these the last audio we have of their forgotten language?

About 2800 bc, a king, Sargon, conquered all of Sumeria and then the fertile crescent of land to the Mediterranean Sea. How could he have ruled such a vast territory? It was either with a very light hand or a higher level of administration than we normally associate with primitive civilizations. I suspect that the Sumerians advanced closer to classical civilization (e.g. Greece, Rome) than we are used to thinking.

Sumeria gets 20 pages in Durant.

Durant's Brief Outline

1. The Historical Background
   
2. Economic Life
   
3. Government
   
4. Religeon and Morality
   
5. Letters and Arts
   

- From Book One, The Near East, Chapter VII. Sumeria.

---

I believe that this series is one of the great works of modern history literature. Its material is essential knowledge.

Menelaos Leaves Egypt

Previously in Herodotus

119. And Menelaos having come to Egypt and having sailed up to Memphis, told the truth of these matters, and not only found great entertainment, but also received Helen unhurt, and all his own wealth besides. Then however, after he had been thus dealt with, Menelaos showed himself ungrateful to the Egyptians; for when he set forth to sail away, contrary winds detained him, and as this condition of things lasted long, he devised an impious deed; for he took two children of natives and made sacrifice of them. After this, when it was known that he had done so, he became abhorred, and being pursued he escaped and got away in his ships to Libya; but whither he went besides after this, the Egyptians were not able to tell. Of these things they said that they found out part by inquiries, and the rest, namely that which happened in their own land, they related from sure and certain knowledge.

- Herodotus, Book II

More Information: Egypt, Herodotus's Book.

Wisdom from the Past 2/28/11

An aim in life is the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands, but in the heart itself.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

More about Robert Louis Stevenson

Randolph and Jennie

- Another installment in my series
CHURCHILL’S WORLD
Stories of the world during the time Winston Churchill lived in it: 1874 to 1965.

The families much disapproved of Winston’s parent’s marriage. Randolph was the son of the Duke of Marlborough. Jennie was the daughter of a New York investor. However, Randolph and Jennie found the perfect move to force their hand and they were married in Paris on April 15, 1874. The Marlboroughs were not there. Seven months later, Winston Churchill was born.

---

This series consists of short summaries for passages from the book that I am writing. Graphic is that of another Churchill book that I really like.

Other Installments of this series (in progress).