Nancy Wake (#55)

Background

Nancy Grace Augusta Wake was born on August 30th, 1912 in Roseneath, Wellington, New Zealand. She was the youngest of six children in her family. Her family moved to North Sydney, Australia soon after her birth, but her father returned to New Zealand soon after that, leaving Nancy's mother to raise the six children.

While in Sydney, Wake attended the North Sydney Household Arts School, but at the age of 16, Wake ran away from and went to work as a nurse. Using 200 she inherited from her aunt, Wake travelled to New York and then to London, where she trained herself to be a journalist. Wake moved to Paris where she worked as a European correspondent for Heart newspapers. She experienced and reported on the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. In 1937, Wake met Henri Edmond Fiocca, whom she married in 1939.

World War Two

When Germany invaded France, Wake was living with her husband in Marseilles, and when France fell in 1940, Wake became a courier for the French Resistance and later joined the escape network of Captain Ian Garrow. Wake became so good at avoiding capture that the Gestapo referred to her as the White Mouse. The Resistance had to be careful when giving Wake missions because she was constantly in danger. The Gestapo had begun to tap her phone and intercept her male, and by 1943, Wake had become the Gestapo's most wanted person with a price of 5 million francs on her head. 

The escape network was betrayed by a spy in 1943 and Wake had to flee Marseille. Her husband remained behind and was captured, tortured, and executed. Wake was able to escape into Spain and return to Britain. Wake joined the Special Operations Executive in Britain and in 1944, she parachuted into the Auvergne, becominga liaison between London and a group of guerrilla fighters led by Henri Tardivat. She became instrumental in recruiting members to the guerrilla groups, and soon, Tardivat's army was 7,500 strong. Tardivat and Wake led missions throughout the war, taking on 22,000 soldiers with their 7,500. In the process, they caused 1,400 casualties while losing only 100 of their own men.

After the war, Wake recieved the George Medal, the United States Medal of Freedom, the Medaille de la Resistance, and the Croix de Guerre. It wasn't until after the war that she learned about her husbands capture and death. She worked at the British Air Ministry for several years before moving back to Australia to run for the 1949 federal election. She lost and moved back to London and resumed work for the Air Ministry. In 1957, she resigned and married RAF officer John Forward and the two moved to Australia.

The End

In 1997, Forward died and in 2001, Wake moved back to London. She stayed at several hotels where, although she did pay for her stay, much of her living costs were absorbed by the hotel. Wake died on August 7, 2011 of a chest infection at the age of 98. Nancy Wake is on our list because of her efforts in World War II and for making it to the top of the Gestapo's most wanted list.

Fahrenheit & Celsius (#57/#56)

Fahrenheit

Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born on May 24, 1686 in Danzig in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Fahrenheit came from a family of merchants, but in 1701, both of Fahrenheit's parents died from eating poisonous mushrooms. After this, Fahrenheit moved to Amsterdam to begin training to become a merchant himself.

While in Amsterdam, Fahrenheit became interested in natural science and began studying and experimenting in the field. Fahrenheit also began to travel throughout Northern and Central Europe. While travelling, Fahrenheit met many notable members of the scientific and Enlightenment communities, including Gottfried Leibniz, co-developer of infinitesimal calculus, and Ole Romer, who made the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.

In 1717, Fahrenheit settled in The Hague as a glassblower who specialized in making barometers, altimeters, and thermometers. Fahrenheit also lectured in chemistry in Amsterdam. In 1724, Fahrenheit created a scale to record temperature based on three points. These three points were the lowest point on the thermometer, or 0 Fahrenheit (F), the freezing point of water, or 32 F, and body temperature, which he calculated to be 96 F. The system was later changed so that the difference between the freezing and boiling points of water was exactly 180 F. 

Celsius

Anders Celsius was born on November 27, 1701 in Uppsala, Sweden. Unlike Fahrenheit, Celsius came from a family of scientists. Celsius's father and maternal grandfather were astronomers, and Celsius's paternal grandfather was a mathematician. Celsius studied at the Uppsala University and in 1730, Celsius became a professor there.

Celsius published many works in several fields of study. In one study conducted, he was the first to suggest that there was a connection between the appearance of the aurora borealis and changes in the magnetic field of the Earth, which was later proved to be correct. He also was part of the 1736 expedition to Lapland to measure the length of a degree along the meridian. This expedition, when compared to similar measurements from Peru, proved Isaac Newton's theory that the Earth was ellipsoid, rather than completely round, and flattened at the poles. Celsius was also one of the first people to measure the magnitude, or brightness, of certain stars, and, even with the equipment he used, Celsius was quite accurate.

Celsius is most famous for his creation of the temperature system that was named after him. Celsius understood that the boiling point of liquids was not simply dependent on heat but on pressure as well, so using a standard pressure (the pressure at sea-level), Celsius created a thermometer. At the standard pressure, the thermometer would read 100 Celsius (C) at water's melting point and 0 C at its boiling point. A year after his death, the system was reversed so the 0 C would be freezing and 100 C would be boiling.

The End

Fahrenheit died in The Hague on September 16, 1736 and is buried there at Cloister Church. Celsius died on April 25, 1744 of tuberculosis soon after co-founding the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Fahrenheit's system of temperature measurement was widely accepted throughout the world and is still used by the general population of the United States, Belize, and in parts of the United Kingdom and Canada. Celsius's system, when published, replaced Fahrenheit's system in all but the above stated regions. The Celsius system has also become the standard measurement system for the majority of scientific studies, and the Kelvin System is based off of that of Celsius. Fahrenheit and Celsius are on our list because they create the first systems to measure temperature without just say "It's cold." or "It's hot."

Annie Oakley (#60)

Background

Phoebe Ann Moses was born on August 13, 1860 near Woodland, Ohio. She was the daughter of Susan Wise and Jacob Moses, the sixth child in a family of Quaker farmers. In 1866, Jacob Moses died of pneumonia and overexposure to freezing weather, leaving his family in a state of poverty.

Phoebe Ann, or Annie, began to hunt at the age of eight to support her mother and her sibling and became known for her hunting skills, but in 1870, Annie was sent to the Darke County Infirmary where she was taught to sew and decorate. She was then sent to a local family to help care for their infant son. Instead of this, Annie was forced to do many of the chores around the house and was put through both mental and physical abuse. This family, known by Annie referred to as "the wolves", didn't even give any the money she was due for her services.

In 1872, Annie returned to her family and continued to hunt for money and by the age of 15, she had paid off the mortgage on her mother's farm.

Shooting Career

On Thanksgiving Day 1875, the Baughman and Butler shooting act was being performed in Cincinnati. Marksman Francis E. Butler placed a $100 bet with hotel owner Jack Frost that he, Butler, could beat any local shooter in a competition. Frost arranged for Butler to compete with the then 15-year-old Annie. On the 25th shot of the match, Butler missed his shot, losing the match and the bet. He began courting Annie soon afterwards and married her on August 23, 1876.

Annie and Butler began to perform together, and Annie took the name "Oakley" after the neighborhood that they lived in. In 1885, Annie and Butler joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Because she was an excellent shooter but only stood 5 feet tall, Sitting Bull referred to her as "Watanya Cicilla", or Little Sure Shot, which would become her name in public advertisements. When the show went to Europe, Annie performed for Queen Victoria, King Umberto I of Italy, PResident Marie Francois Sadi Carnot of France. She had such good aim that, at his request, Annie was able to shoot the ashes off a cigarette held by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. Some say that if Annie had missed and hit Wilhelm instead, she might have stopped WWI from happening.

During her time as a sharpshooter, Annie fought for women's rights, saying that women should be allowed in the military and should be taught how to use a gun. It is estimated that in her lifetime, Annie taught 15,000 women how to use a gun.

The End

In 1901, Annie was hurt in a train accident which left her in temporary paralysis that was fixed after five spinal operations. In 1902, Annie left the Wild West Show and began a career in acting, though she continued to set records in shooting until 1922. On November 3,1926, Annie died of pernicious anemia. Annie is on our list for overcoming both height and gender barriers and becoming one of the greatest sharpshooters the world has ever scene.

The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (August 23rd)

In 1939, Adolf Hitler was preparing Germany for war. Hitler's first target was Poland. Unfortunately, Poland was protected by both France and Britain, and if the two powers of Western Europe entered the war, the Soviet Union, the major power of the East, might also enter the war. In World War I, Germany had also learned the consequences of fighting a two-front war, so Hitler sought to keep the U.S.S.R. from fighting.

On August 14, 1939, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyaaheslav Molotov, the Foreighn Ministers of Germany and the U.S.S.R., respectively, met in Moscow to arrange the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.

Publicly, the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was an agreement that Germany and Germany would not attack each other, but Ribbentrop and Molotov also included a secret protocol to the pact.

In the secret protocol, the Soviet Union would not attack when Germany invaded Poland, and in return, Germany would give the Baltic States and part of Poland to the Soviet Union. Even after World War II ended, the very existence of the protocol was denied by the Soviet Union until 1989.

On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany attacked Poland, and the Soviet Union did nothing. Britain declared war on Germany two days later. The Non-Aggression Pact allowed Hitler to take Poland and fight the France and Britain without Stalin's intervention. The pact stayed in effect until June 22, 1941, when Hitler made a surprise attack on the Soviet Union, bringing Stalin into World War II.

The Death of Richard III (August 22nd)

In 1455, the War of the Roses broke out between two families in England: the Lancasters and the Yorks. The two families fought for the throne of England, and during the fight, most nobles in England took a side.

In 1483, Richard, Duke of York, was crowned as Richard the III of England after he usurped the throne from his twelve-year-old nephew, Edward V. The War of the Roses, however, was not over with the crowning of a York.

Richard was contested for the throne by Henry Tudor, the last remaining male member of the House of Lancaster. Because of this, Henry Tudor had the Lancaster family's strongest claim on the throne of England. Henry Tudor had gathered his forces in Frances, and then sailed his army to Milford Haven, Wales.

On August 21, 1485, twelve miles west of Leicester, on Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor's forces met Richard's in battle. Richard could have, for his army was of greater numbers, but at the last minute, several of his most important and powerful barons defected, giving Henry a decisive victory. Though he knew of his impending defeat, Richard is reported to have said, "I will not budge a foot. I will die king of England." Soon afterwards, Richard was unhorsed and killed, leaving Henry Tudor as Henry VII of England. Richard was only thirty-two years old and had been king for only two years when he died.

The Theft of the Mona Lisa (August 21st)

The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous pieces of artwork in history. It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1503. Ever since the Franco-Prussian War ended in 1871, the painting has been on display in the Louvre in France.

On August 21, 1911, the painting was stolen from the museum. Louis Beroud, a painter, noticed the missing painting and asked the head of the guards. The guards believed the painting was being photographed, but when it turned out that the photographers did not have the paintings, the Louvre shut down for a week and an investigation was begun.

Guillaume Apollinaire was arrested after coming under suspicion. Apollinaire, a French poet, had called for the Louvre to be burnt down. Apollinaire implicated that his friend, Pablo Picasso, had committed the crime, but both were later released. The painting was missing for almost two years before the thief was discovered.

Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian waiter working in Paris, had entered the Louvre during regular hours and hidden in a broom closet until the museum closed. He then took the painting and smuggled it out underneath his jacket. Peruggia was an Italian patriot and wanted the Mona Lisa, an Italian piece of art, to be displayed in an Italian museum. He was working with other to create forgeries of the painting to be sold in America, but Peruggia, who had been storing the painting in his apartment, got impatient and tried to sell the painting to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 1913. Peruggia was caught soon afterwards, and though he was sent to jail for six monthes, Peruggia was praised for his patriotism in Italy. The painting was exhibited throughout Italy and then was brought back to the Louvre, where it still resides today.

Leon Trotsky (#65, August 20th)

Background

Lev Davidovich Bronstein was born on Nobember 7, 1879, the son of a Jewish Farmer in what is now Ukraine. When Bronstein was eight, his parents sent him to school in Odessa. Bronstein stayed in Odessa until 1896, when he moved to Nikolayev for his final year of school. It was in Nickolayev that Bronstein learned the ideas of Marxism. Bronstein began meeting with political exiles and surrounding himself with other men with revolutionary ideas.

In 1897, Bronstein helped to found the South Russian Workers' Union, which got him arrested. To years later, Bronstein was put on trial and sent to Siberia. In Siberia, Bronstein met his first wife, Alexandra Lvovna, who was also in prison as a revolutionary. The two had two daughter's during Bronstein's stay in Siberia. Bronstein escaped prison in 1902, leaving his wife and two children behind. When forging a passport, Bronstein made a fake name, the name Leon Trotsky.

Under this name, Trotsky moved to London, where he met Vladmir Lenin, another revolutionary, and the two worked to founded the Social-Democrats' newspaper, Iskra. In 1903, Trotsky married his second wife, Natalia Ivanovna, with whom he had two more children.

Work in Russia

In 1905, when Bloody Sunday occured, Trotsk decided to return to Russia, where he wrote numerous pamphlets to encourage the overthrow of the Tsar's power. That same year, Trotsky led a revolution which failed. Trotsky was arrested and sent back to Siberia. In 1907, Trotsky escaped with a deer-pulled sleigh. Trotsky fled the country, living in cities throughout Europe and America. Trotsky was in New York when the Tsar was overthrown, and arrived back in Russia in May of 1917.

Trotsky became the leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution, officially joining the Bolshevik Party in August. Lenin would become the leader of the Soviet Union with Trotsky as his second-in-command. Trotsky negotiated the treaty with Germany to end the Soviet Union's involvement in World War I, and later, Trotsky became the leader of the Red Army.

Before Lenin died, he named Trotsky as his successor, but when Lenin died in 1924, Trotsky was politically outmaneuvered by Joseph Stalin, who pushed Trotsky out of politics and into exile, eventually forcing Trotsky to leave the Soviet Union all together.

The End

Trotsky traveled the globe, living in Turkey, France, and Norway. In 1936, Trotsky moved to Mexico. Trostky, in exile, began writing again, criticizing Stalin. Stalin accused Trotsky of a conspiracy against the Soviet Union. This began Stalin's Great Purge, where Stalin began eliminating all his political enemies. Trotsky was number one on Stalin's list. In May of 1940, Soviet agents machine-gunned Trotsky's house, but he was not killed. The Great Purge ended on August 20th, 1940, when Ramon Mercader hit Trotsky in the head with an ice pick. 

Trotsky is on our list for being one of the few leaders of the Soviet Union to stick to the Marxist ideals. Also, anybody who defies Stalin for as long as Trotsky did deserves recognition.

The Trans-Atlantic Balloon Flight (August 17th)

The use of hot air balloons for enjoyment has been around for hundreds of years, but hot air balloons, for the most part, have not been used for actual long-distance travel. This all changed in the year 1978.

In August of 1978, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman set out from Presque Isle, Maine in the hot air balloon, Double Eagle II. The plan was for the Double Eagle II to fly over Ireland, where Newman would hand glide out of the balloon over Shannon Airport while Abruzzo and Anderson flew the plane to France.

Unfortunately, the hand-glider was thrown overboard as ballast. The Double Eagle II still flew over Ireland, but was passed by so the group could make it to France. Authorities in France had closed Le Bourget Airfield to allow the balloon to land, but due to a lack of ballast, the pilots declined because the feared injuring anybody in the Paris suburbs if they flew too low.

On August 17th, 1978, the group landed in a barley field sixty miles from Paris. Once landed, the balloon was surrounded. The gondola was recovered, but the majority of the logs and charts were taken as souvenirs. The trip took 137 hours and six minutes to complete.

The Foundation of the Jesuit Order (August 15th)

Saint Ignatius of  Loyola was a soldier for the kingdom of Castile in what is now Spain. For many years, he fought Moors, helping to remove their presence from the Iberian Peninsula. In 1521, Ignatius had a leg broken and the other injured by a cannonball. While recovering, Ignatius read De Vita Christi by Ludolph of Saxony. This commentary on the Gospel gave Ignatius a better understanding of Christianity.

While recovering, Ignatius continued to read religious texts. After he was healed, Ignatius set his armor and weapons in front of the altar at a monastery. For a year, Ignatius lived in a cave, practicing self-denial and sacrifice. In 1523, Ignatius continued these practices while he visited the Holy Land.

Ignatius began to gain companions in his practice of sacrifice. Soon, he had six companions with him: Francis Xavier, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laynez, Nicholas Bobadilla, Peter Faber, and Simao Rodrigues. On August 15th, 1534, these seven men took apostolic vows and formed the Society of Jesus, which became better known as the Jesuit Order.

The Jesuit Order is engaged in evangelical and apostolic ministry. The path of sacrifice that Ignatius of Loyala used became a central part of the Jesuit Order. The Jesuits would sacrifice all they had to spread across the globe and educate people on the Gospel.

Ignatius of Loyala went on to become the Father General and leader of the Jesuits. St. Francis Xavier became famous in his own right for being one of the first people to visit Japan and evangelize to the people there. The Jesuit Order has continued to grow since its foundation and has spread out into 112  nations on six continents.

The Edict of Nantes (August 13th)

In the late 1500s, France was caught in the middle of its own Wars of Religion. The Protestant Reformation was sweeping across Europe, and France had been in the middle of the entire movement. Though the French crown remained Catholic, many French citizens were converting to Protestantism. This caused many riots, rebellions, violence, and wars within France.

During this period of time, Henry IV was the king of France. Henry IV was raised Protestant and only converted to Catholicism when he inherited the crown. Throughout his life, though, he remained sympathetic to the Protestant cause.

On August 13th, 1598, Henri IV signed the Edict of Nantes, which was meant to stop internal violence from religious differences. The Edict granted  certain privileges and protections to Protestants, but reaffirmed Catholicism as the established religion of France. The Edict ensured rights for Protestants within France and protected them from forces outside of France, including the Spanish Inquisition.

The Edict remained in effect until Louis XIV renounced it in 1685, declaring Protestantism illegal. This led to a mass exodus of almost 400,000 Protestants from France to England, Prussia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and South Africa. This took away many skilled workers from France, putting back France's economy. The rights given to Protestants in the Edict of Nantes were not reestablished until the Edict of Tolerance in 1787.

The First Transatlantic Message (August 5th)

In 1839, the first widely used telegraph was created by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone, which could, theoretically allow near-instantaneous communication across the entire world. The only problem with this worldwide communication network was the presence of oceans. To get a cable across the oceans, it would take massive amounts of money and international cooperation.

The idea had been supported by many, including Samuel Morse, and the concept had been proven when a cable was set between England and France, and later between two islands in Canada.

In 1853, the idea picked up enough momentum and a project to get a telegraph cable across the Atlantic was put in motion, led by Cyrus West Field and Charles Tilston Bright.

One problem that the project encountered was the money needed to make the cables. Each section  cable was made up of seven copper wires covered with three coats of gutta-percha leaves, tarred hemp, and eighteen groups of seven iron wires. The British government gave the project both subsidies and ships needed to complete the project, but Field also went to Congress to gain monetary support. Due to a large amount of anglophobes among congressmen, the subsidy bill passed in the Senate by a single vote and barely passed in the House of Representatives as well.

The first two attempts to carry the cable across the Atlantic both failed due to breaks in the cable, but the feat was attempted again one years later. In 1858, the HMS Agamemnon began laying the cable westward from the United Kingdom and the  USS Niagara did the same, making its way east from the United States. On this attempt, the two halves of the cable did not break and the cables were successfully spliced. An the entire cable was sent to the bottom of the ocean.

On August 6th 1858, Queen Victoria and United States President James Buchanan set each other greetings by telegraph, becoming the first people to use the Transatlantic telegraph.

The Request of Queen Philippa (August 4th)

In the year 1346, Edward III of England began a siege on the French port of Calais. Edward wanted to conquer France for England, but to do so, he needed a deep-water port to ferry troops and supplies from England to France. Calais was the perfect port for the job, it was a port close to England that was both large and fortified.

For months, the citizens of Calais resisted the English. After their supplies ran out, the citizens began to eat their dogs, then their horses, and then the cats and rats in the cities. Calais waited for French aid, but none came, so though their defenses withstood the English attacks, starvation forced the city to surrender.

The siege had lasted a total of eleven months, much to the annoyance of King Edward III. He was so annoyed, in fact, that he ordered  that the six most important men of Calais, known as the burghers, were brought before him, barefoot, wearing only their shirts, with ropes around their necks.

It is unclear what Edward was going to do to the burghers, but whatever he planned, it was not pleasant, but before he could do anything, his wife, Queen Philippa, stepped in. She is said to have knelt before the King and begged him to show mercy to the burghers. Edward was touched by his wife's actions, and the burghers were set free. This story was so moving, it inspired the sculptor Auguste Rodin to make a sculpture of the event. In the end, though the burghers were set free, Calais remained in English hands until the time of Mary Tudor.

The German Declaration of War on France (August 3rd)

On the August 3rd of 1914, Germany declared war on France, just two days after declaring war on Russia. Germany prepared to begin the Schlieffen plan, which mapped out Germany's actions in the two-front war against France and Russia.

Several hours later, France made its own declaration of war, and began moving troops into Alsace and Lorraine, provinces it had lost to Germany in the Franco-Prussian war.

This declaration of war on France turned Germany's war into a World War. Before declaring war on France, the war was just another conflict in the Balkans, but when France entered the arena, the world would be forced to join.

The Schlieffen plan called for German forces to invade France by passing through Belgium. Since 1939, France and Britain had guaranteed Belgium's neutrality in any wars, so when the plan to invade France was initiated, not only France would get involved, but Belgium, Britain, and any territories belonging to these nations, which, at this point, included India, Vietnam, parts of Africa, and even parts of China and the Pacific islands. At the time they were unaware, but this war would become the largest war the world had ever seen.

The Battle of the Nile (August 1st)

In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte left his fleet of seventeen French ships at the mouth of the Nile while he went on his campaign through Egypt. Close behind, Rear Admiral Horatio Nelson was preparing for an attack with five British men-o'-war.

On August 1st, a few hours before sunset, Nelson order his ships to attack by going in between French ships and firing on both sides. The French would fire back, but they were in danger of hitting their own ships as well due to overshooting their target.

When the Orient, the 120-gun French flagship, exploded, the battle was close to its end. In the end, the British captured or sank all but two of the French ships. About 10,000 French lives and 1,000 British lives were lost in the attack.

This battle was the turning point of the British naval campaign against the French, and when Nelson, realizing the importance of the battle, famously said, "Before this time tomorrow I shall have gained a peerage, or Westminster Abbey." Luckily for Nelson, he recieved the former and went down in history as the famous Lord Nelson.

Pepin the Short (#86)

Pepin the Short

Rise to Power

Pepin the Younger was born in the year 714 in what is now France. He was the son of Charles Martel, the Mayor of the Palace. As Mayor of the Palace, Martel ruled Francia (the kingdom of the Franks), but served the Merovingian kings. When Martel died in 741, he divided his seat as Mayor into two parts. Carloman, Martel's eldest son, became the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia, or Eastern Francia. Pepin was crowned as the Mayor of the Palace of Neustria, or Western Francia. Grifo, Pepin and Carloman's half-brother, did not inherit a position, so he demanded that he got a piece of land from his two half-brothers. Pepin and Carloman refused and imprisoned Grifo in a monastery. In 743, Carloman and Pepin officially acknowledged the king, Childeric III, as the king of Francia, but for an unknown reason, Carloman retired as Mayor four years later to become a monk. This left Pepin as the Mayor of the Palace for all of Francia. In 747, the same year that Carloman retired, Grifo escaped his prison and started a revolt against Pepin, which was completely destroyed by 753, when Grifo was killed in battle..

Becoming King

In 752, Pepin asked the Pope to depose of Childeric III, the king of Francia. Childeric was king, though he had no power. All the power rested with Pepin, the Mayor of the Palace. Pope Zachary, needing help to fight against the Lombards, agreed to Pepin's request, and Childeric was deposed. Pepin became the new king of Francia, starting the Carolingian dynasty. In 752, the archbishop of Mainz anointed Pepin, but in 754, Pope Stephen, Pope Zachary's successor, personally went to Paris to anoint Pepin as king. Along with anointing Pepin as the King of Francia, Stephen also gave Pepin the title of patricius Romanorum, or Patrician of Rome. 

Expansion

In return for anointing him, Pepin helped Stephen to fight of the Lombards. When Pepin defeated them, he forced the Lombard king Aistulf to return the land belonging to the Church. Pepin also expanded Francia, attacking Septimania, a region in southern France, taking it over by 759. When Waifer, the duke of Aquitaine, seized church lands in760, Pepin went to war with Aquitaine as well. This was the harshest war under Pepin's rule and Pepin had to burn everything in his path to inspire fear in Waifer. By 768, a pro-Frankish treaty was accepted by the Aquitanian nobles. 

The End

Pepin died in 768 at the age of 54. Pepin was interred in the church of Saint Denis. Pepin is in our book because he is almost always forgotten. His father, Charles Martel, and his son, Charlemagne, both earned more fame than Pepin even though it was Pepin that acquired the Frankish throne for the Carolingian dynasty. He also has the best description ever: The Short. Anybody who is called "The Short" is automatically awesome.

William Wallace (#96)

Background 

Sir William Wallace was born around the year AD 1272 as a minor member of the Scottish nobility. In 1286, King Alexander III of Scotland died after falling off his horse. Margaret, Maid of Norway, was the heir to the throne, but she became sick while on the voyage from Norway and died in Orkney. The lack of an heir led to "the Great Cause", a period of time in which several families claimed to be heir to the throne. With the threat of civil war, the Scottish nobility invited King Edward of England to arbitrate, though he insisted on being called Lord Paramount of Scotland. In November of 1292, John Balliol as found to have the strongest claim to the throne. King Edward reversed the rulings and summoned King John Balliol to stand before the English court as a common plaintiff. When Balliol refused, Edward stormed Berwick-upon-Tweed, a Scottish border town, defeating the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar in 1296. Edward forced Balliol to abdicate and instructed the almost 2,000 Scottish nobles to pay homage to the King of England. This attack by Edward began the First War of Scottish Independence.

Uprising and War

Wallace's first known act of revolt was in 1297, when he assassinated William de Heselrig, an English Sheriff. With the help of William the Hardy, Wallace raided Scone as well. Uprisings had taken place throughout Scotland, but most nobles were forced to submit at Irvine in July of 1297. Wallace and the noble, Andrew Moray, continued to rebel, joining forces in September of 1297 around the time of the siege of Dundee. Wallace and Moray, to put the odds in their favor, abandoned the ideas of chivalric warfare, strength in arms, and knightly combat. Instead, they used opportunistic tactics and strategic use of terrain. Moray and Wallace's first major victory was at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in September of 1297. In this battle, an English army, under the command of John de Warenne, tried to cross to the northern side of the Stirling bridge. The Scottish, waiting on the other side, were easily able to defend the northern side of the bridge from the English infantry. When the cavalry was sent in to aid the infantry, it was unable to get across the bridge due to all the retreating infantry men. When the battle was won,Moray and Wallace took the title of Guardians of the Kingdom of Scotland on behalf of King John Balliol, though Moray died later in 1297. The English attempted to draw Wallace out in the open by invading Edinburgh as well as several strategic castles. Wallace, using hit and run and scorched earth tactics, continued to elude the English until April of 1298 at the Battle of Falkirk. Wallace arranged his men into schiltrons, where they used spears, sharpened stakes,and shields to create a protective shell around them, but Welsh long bowman broke these schiltrons and English cavalry was able to break up groups of Scottish archers. The Scottish had a devastating defeat at the Battle of Falkrik, and even though Wallace survived, he gave up the title of Guardian of Scotland to Robert the Bruce and John Comyn of Badenoch. Wallace continued to play an essential role in the war, attempting to get support from King Philip IV of France as well as from Rome and Norway. 

The End

Wallace as able to elude the English until August of 1305, when John de Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward, turned Wallace over the English soldiers. Wallace was brought to London, where he was tired for treason. Wallace, in response to the charges, said, "I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject," implying that John Balliol was still Wallace's king. On August 1305, Wallace was stripped naked, dragged through London by a horse, then was hanged, drawn and quartered, and beheaded. His head as put on a pike on London Bridge. In 1328, the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton was signed, which ended the First Scottish War for Independence, established Scotland as a fully independent nation, and put Robert the Bruce on the throne of Scotland. William Wallace is on our list of important people because he was the victor, but not the victor. Like Joan of Arc, Wallace did not get to see the fruit of his labor and was even killed for his cause, but he stood up for his cause when nobody else could and played an essential role in the War of Scottish Independence.

Joan of Arc (#97)

Background

Joan of Arc was born in eastern France to a small French family in AD 1412. She was born in the height of the Hundred Years' War. The Hundred Years' War was a war mainly between England and France. Burgundy had sided with the British in the war, and together, England and Burgundy had taken over about half of France. At the time, the city of Orleans was the only thing   that was keeping England from invading the French heartland. Charles VII, the future king of France, known as Dauphin, was destined for the throne, and was to be crowned in Reims, but Reims was currently controlled by the English. In 1424, when Joan was about 12 years old, she said she saw visions of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret, who told her to drive out the English and bring Dauphin to Reims. 

Saving France

When she was 16, Joan through a series of personal connections, was able to get a private conference with Dauphin, predicting a military reversal during the Siege of Orleans. When her prediction came true, Dauphin sent her with reinforcements to Orleans, where Joan traveled with the army, dressed as a knight. After a background check to see if Joan of Arc was not a sorceress or whatnot, Dauphin tested her by sending her out into the thick of the Siege of Orleans. Though she was excluded from the war councils, Joan of Arc engaged the enemy in battle and is said to have worked during the Siege as a tactician and strategist. Soon, Orleans was free from the English siege, and Joan led troops upwards, capturing three fortresses in four days, taking an arrow wound to the neck in the process. This sudden victory led Dauphin to give Joan co-command of the army with Duke John II of Alencon. Joan made a series of victories, heading in a general direction towards Paris. The English put reinforcements in Paris to stop an attack, but instead, Joan attacked Reims, capturing it on June 29, 1429. Her series of victories had won her favor with much of the nobility, and her success in bringing Dauphin to his coronation in Reims led to Dauphin granting nobility to Joan's family.

The End

In May of 1430, Joan was helping out at a Burgundian siege of the French city of Compiegne. While her forces were attacking a Burgundian camp, she was captured and sold to the English. The English brought Joan to Rouen, the center of the English occupation government, where she was tried for heresy. She was found guilty of the charges, though some court functionaries later testified that the transcripts of the trial were altered in her disfavor and that several clerics at the trial were forced to serve, some even receiving death threats from the English. She was executed by burning on May 30, 1431. The Hundred Years' war came to an end in 1453, and in 1452, a nullification trial was authorized by Pope Callixtus to see if Joan was truly guilty of heresy. In 1456, she was declared innocent. Later, in 1920, she was canonized by Pope Benedict XV. Joan of Arc is on our list because she was one of the first women to lead a country militarily and is also one of the most famous religious and war heroes of Europe and the world.

Jean Lafitte (#102)

Background

Jean Lafitte was born around the year 1776 to a French family. Little is known about where he was born though, and theories on where he was born say that he could from St. Malo, Bordeaux, Orduna, or even Westchester, New York. Most agree, though, that Jean Lafitte worked with his brother, Pierre, who was either a privateer or smuggler. By 1806, Pierre's work had brought them to New Orleans, where Jean Lafitte would spend a large chunk of his career.

New Orleans

New Orleans had become part of the United States in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. New Orleans was a major trading port in the Caribbean, but their foothold in Caribbean trade was weakened by the Embargo Act of 1807. This Act said that American ships were no longer allowed to go into any foreign ports. This was a major problems with merchants who got their goods and supplies from European colonies in the Caribbean. This Act, though, opened up the door for smugglers, two of which were the Lafitte brothers. Jean Lafitte set up a smuggling business on the island of Barataria, which was located outside Barataria Bay, the home of New Orleans. Barataria was far from the United States naval base, which allowed Lafitte to smuggle in goods. Jean Lafitte, would receive and buy goods from smugglers, which he would then transport into New Orleans, where Jean's brother, Pierre, would put the goods on the legal market. Soon, though, the Lafitte brothers decided to become smugglers themselves, so they bought a schooner and hired Captain Trey cook. Soon, the Lafitte brothers had captured two more ships, the Dorada and the Petit Milan. With their small fleet, the Lafitte brothers were able to acquire goods and sell them at Barataria. Their smuggling did not sit well with the government, and the Lafitte brothers were captured and charged, but they posted bail and never showed up for the trial. Jean Lafitte acquired a letter of marque from Cartagena, which Lafitte used mainly as a reason to continue attacking ships. Louisiana's Governor Claiborne became fed up with Lafitte and offered a $500 dollar reward for him. He also attempted to raid Lafitte's camp at Barataria several times. 

War of 1812

When the United States declared war on Great Britain, Lafitte was approached by the British, offering him British citizenship and land in return for help in the war. Lafitte, however, refused, and decided to stay neutral as the war played out. In 1814, United States commodore Daniel Patterson attacked and took Barataria. Along with 80 captives, Patterson took eight of Lafitte's ships, though Lafitte escaped the raid alive. Lafitte reappeared when Andrew Jackson was preparing to defend New Orleans from the British in December of 1814. New Orleans had weak defenses and few soldiers, so Jackson met with Lafitte, offering to pardon Lafitte and his men if they helped to defend the city. Lafitte agreed, and suggested several of the battle strategies used in the fight. When British ships began firing on American lines in on the 28th of December, two of Lafitte's lieutenants led the artillery crews that repulsed the ships. After defeating the British, the United States government granted Jean, Pierre, and Lafitte's crew full pardon.

Galveston

Pierre and Jean Lafitte, in 1815 and 1816, acted as spies for the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence. Pierre would inform the Spanish from New Orleans, while Jean went to Galveston Island in Spanish Texas to capture it. In 1817, Lafitte captured the island and the Spanish allowed Lafitte to stay there if he gave weekly reports of the events that took place. Lafitte turned Galveston, like Barataria, into a smuggling base. Lafitte avoided conflict by continuing to report to the Spanish, but sailing under the Mexican flag. When the United States banned the slave trade, Lafitte found a loophole. Lafitte would capture slave ships from other countries. If Lafitte turned these slaves that he captured to the customs office, he could get half the profits from the sale of the slaves. After one of Lafitte's ships attacked an American merchant ship in 1821, the USS Enterprise came to remove Lafitte from the island. Lafitte agreed to leave Galveston without a fight, though he took an immense amount of treasure with him.

Cuba and Colombia

Lafitte continued to smuggle, but when the United States increased its patrols in the Caribbean, Lafitte was captured after he attacked an American ship. He escaped prison four months later. Lafitte moved his operation to Cuba, where he bribed local officials with a portion of the spoils. When Lafitte continued to attack Cuban ships, Cuba decided to ban sea raiding in 1822. Lafitte left Cuba and went to Colombia, who was hiring former privateers to be part of its navy. Lafitte was given a ship, the General Santander, and was authorized to attack Spanish ships. He raided Spanish shipping lanes for another year. 

The End

In February of 1823, Lafitte attacked two Spanish ships off the coast of the Honduras. The ships appeared to be merchant vessels in the cover of night, but they turned out to be two heavily armed warships. In the resulting battle, Lafitte is said to have been killed. He was buried at sea, receiving obituaries in newspapers both in Cartagena and Colombia, but not in the United States. Lafitte is on our list because he was one of the most infamous pirates ever to sail. Also, Lafitte and his men helped the United States to win one of its most important battles: the Battle of New Orleans. Without him, Jackson may not have succeeded in defeating the British. He was also on our list because he was the last great Caribbean pirate. By 1825, piracy in the Caribbean was all but completely eradicated. Lafitte succeeded in a world where the pirates were dying out. He was able to survive in a world when Spain, Britain, and the United States wanted him dead.

Vincent Van Gogh

Today in History:

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) was born in Zundert, The Netherlands and is considered one of the greatest painters of all time. As a young man, van Gogh was very interested in religion and helping the poor, and though he started studying theology in 1877, he dropped out a year later. After dropping out, van Gogh became a layman preacher in a mining region of Belgium. After 6 months, he was dismissed, though he went on without pay. It was in this region that he started producing charcoal sketches. 1n 1880, van Gogh took lessons from Anton Mauve at the Hague, due to the suggestion of his brother, Theo. Although these lessons helped van Gogh in his loose brush strokes and use of lighting, van Gogh favored dark-toned colors, unlike Mauve. Van Gogh's failed marriage proposal to his cousin and dismissal from the art academy of Antwerp drove van Gogh into depression. To try to help, Theo allowed van Gogh to move in with him, in Paris. In Paris, Vincent met painters such as Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. In Paris, van Gogh learned the technique known as pointillism, or use of small, colored dots that merge in the eyes of the beholder into a full picture. In 1888, van Gogh left Paris and moved to Arles, where he hoped to found an art colony. Paul Gauguin came to work with van Gogh for two months, where they painted much, but as time went on, there friendship deteriorated, and on Christmas Eve of 1888, van Gogh attacked Gauguin with a razor, and after failing to wound Gauguin, Van Gogh ran off, cut off his left earlobe and sent it to a prostitute friend of his. The next year, at his own request, van Gogh was admitted into a psychiatric center. He left the clinic a year later, and after a fit of painting activity, van Gogh shot himself in the Chest, dying two days later, at the age of 37. His work started to become famous at a large exhibition in Paris in 1901. His paintings, such as The Starry Night, his Self Portrait, and Dr. Paul Gachet, have become some of the most famous paintings of all time.

Information from...

http://www.biographyshelf.com/vincent_van_gogh_biography.html

and

http://www.vincentvangoghart.net/

Jose Rizal

Person of the Day:

Jose Rizal (1861-1896) is known by many as the national hero of the Philippines. Rizal was born in Calamba, Laguna as Jose Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda and was the seventh of 11 children. Rizal attended Ateneo Municipal de Manila, and graduated at the age of 16 with honors, taking a post-graduate course in land surveying. In 1878, Rizal enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas as a medical student, but quit the school because of discrimination against Filipino students by Dominican professors. In 1882, without informing his parents, Rizal left on a ship for Spain and enrolled at the Universidad Central de Madrid.In 1884, Rizal received his medical degree and graduated from the Philosophy and Letters department the next year. Inspired by the increasing blindness of his mother, Rizal went to the University of Paris and later to the University of Heidelberg to study ophthalmology. While on his travels of Europe and Asia, Rizal learned 22 different languages including Arabic, Chinese, Sanskrit, Latin, French, and English. Rizal hoped to secure political and social reforms for the Philippines, published works with nationalistic and revolutionary tendencies. In March of 1887, Rizal published Noli Me Tangere, a satirical novel on the arrogance and despotism of the Spanish clergy. In 1891, El Filibusterismo, the sequel to Noli Me Tangere, was published. These works and others provoked the Spanish officials in the Philippines into imprisoning Rizal in Fort Santiago in Manila. Rizal was exiled to Dapitain, on the island of Mindanao, for four years. During those four years, Rizal taught school and encouraged agricultural reform While on Dapiatn, Rizal met and fell in love with Josephine Braken, who brought her father to him for a cataract operation. When the two applied for a marriage

license, the Church denied the application due to Rizal's excommunication. The Philippine Revolution broke out in 1896. Rizal denounced the violence and received permission to travel to Cuba to tend to yellow fever victims. On the way, the Spanish arrested him, then took Rizal to Barcelona then Manila for trial. Tried by court martial, Rizal was charged with conspiracy, sedition, and rebellion. Although there was a lack of evidence, Rizal was given the death sentence. Rizal was allowed to marry Josephine two hours before his execution by a firing squad on December 30, 1896. He was 35 years old. Rizal's last literary work was a poem entitled Mi Ultimo Adios ("My Last Goodbye"). Spurred on by the death of Rizal, the Revolution continued until 1898, and with the help of the United States, the Philippines defeated the Spanish and declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898, creating the first democratic republic in Asia.

Infromation from..

http://asianhistory.about.com/od/profilesofasianleaders/p/joserizalbio.htm

and

http://www.joserizal.ph/bg01.html