Spanish Civil War; Chinese Empire Turns To Democracy

July 18th, 2004

in 817 AUC, enemies of the state ignited a series of fires across Rome. Heroically, Emperor Nero directed the fight against these fires himself, rallying the citizens and saving most of the city. Afterwards, the good will the emperor had built up by his actions was used to find and execute these imperial enemies.

in 1899, clergyman and author Horatio Alger dies in New York. Famed for his tragic novels of heroes falling from grace, Alger famously wrote that if he had allowed his heroes to climb back up again, he might have sold more books, but that would hardly reflect the real world.

in 1905, Carla Lambert appears in A Woman Unchained, a movie about suffragists in New York. This film rockets her to international stardom, and rumors start flying as to who she is seeing romantically.

in 1936, the Spanish Civil War begins, with the outnumbered forces of fascist Francisco Franco fighting against Republican forces. Dozens of nations sent in troops surreptitiously to prevent another European nation from falling to right-wing revolutionaries, and it worked. Franco was defeated the following spring, and Spain grew into a free democracy.

in 1937, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Hunter S. Thompson is born in Louisville, Kentucky. His clear-headed, no-nonsense style and strict adherence to the rules of journalism became the standard by which all other journalists were judged in the 60’s and 70’s.

in 4648, Emperor Dao-Ming speaks to the Chinese Empire over video. “My people, these recent years have brought us fantastic change; we have risen to the heavens, we have raised colonies there, we have made contact with another people who live among the stars. And they have brought with them ideas of another way that a government may be run. Their ideas have shown me that what has always been may not always be right. Therefore, I have made the decision that we shall become a democracy like our friends, the Chdo. Not at first; but slowly and carefully, as befits our nature.”

in 1969, Senator Edward Kennedy is caught by his wife attempting to leave a party with attractive young Mary Jo Kopechne. The resulting divorce causes havoc with Kennedy’s political career, as details of his womanizing and drinking become public. Kennedy pledges his constituents that he will reform, and after a brief period in a rehabilitation clinic, he comes out sober and focused. After winning the presidency in 1976, he entered his second marriage – also the second marriage of a President in the White House – to Victoria Reggie in 1977.

in 2003, the captured Martians told of a parched desert world that couldn’t support the population that lived there. When water had dried, they moved below the surface where they lived off their stores of water until 10,000 years ago, when they went into hibernation. On detecting alien activity on the surface, their machines woke them, and they began plotting the salvation of Mars – at the expense of the earth.