Paracelsus (#64)

Background

Phillip von Hohenheim, also known as Paracelsus, was born in Switzerland on the 11th of November 1493, the son of a German chemist. When he was 16, Paracelsus went to stude medecine at the University of Basel. By 1516, Paracelsus had gained his doctorate from the University of Ferrara.

Work

As a physician, Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals as forms of medicine, and often found himself in disagreement with traditional medical books. Paracelsus's arrogance led to him being kicked out of the University of Basel's staff and out of the city of Basel. Paracelsus wandered Europe in search of knowledge. He would take old manuscripts and revise them. In 1536, Paracelsus published Die grosse Wundartznei, which helped Paracelsus to regain some fame. 

Paracelsus was known for burning traditional medical manuscripts, and many attributed this to his upbringing as a Lutheran. Paracelsus rejected the idea, saying that himself and Luther both have their own ideas and each is simply defending them, though their ideas are quite different.

Paracelsus is famous for his idea that the celestial bodies, the different metals, and the different human organs are connected, and along with being a physician, Paracelsus was an alchemist. Along with being a physician and alchemist, Paracelsus was also one of the first to experiment with psychotherapy and is known by many as the father of toxicology.

The End

At the age of 47, in the year 1541, Paracelsus died of natural causes and was buried in  Salzburg. Paracelsus is on our list for being an outstanding figure of both medicine and alchemy during the same time.

The Sack of Rome (August 24th)

In the fifth century AD, Rome was in quite a bit of trouble. Barbarian tribes around the Roman Empire were starting to get stronger. The Huns attacked from the East, and the Visigoths attacked from the North. Eventually, Roman Emperor, Theodosius I, had to sign a treaty with the Visigoths. The Visigoths all became Roman citizens and fought as part of the Roman army. Alaric I, the King of the Visigoths, rode along with Theodosius, riding into battle against the Goths and the Huns, but all this changed when Theodosius died.

After Theodosius died, the peace between the Romans and the Visigoths quickly disintegrated, leading to the the top general, Flavius Stilicho, chasing the Visigoths out of Italy. When Eastern Roman Emperor Arcadius died, Honorius, the Western Emperor, decided to go to Rome. Stilicho forbade his leaving Rome and suggested that he go instead. Rumors spread that Stilicho wanted to put his own son on the throne. Olympius, a Roman politician, staged a mutiny within the army and convinced Honorius that Stilicho was a threat.

Stilicho was soon executed, and the Roman Army was soon in chaos.Much violence broke out against the slaves and barbarian soldiers residing in Italy. Many of the persecuted people fled from Italy and sided with Alaric. Alaric's army grew by several thousand, and he was soon able to attack Rome.

In 408, the Visigoths attacked the great city of Rome, and starvation and diseases rapidly spread through the city. Alaric was given 5,000 pounds of gold and 30,000 pounds of silver along with silk and pepper in order to stop the siege.

Encouraged by Pope Innocent I, Honorius decided to make an alliance with the Visigoths. When Alaric demanded the title of Magister Militium, Honorius refused and sent Alaric an insulting letter. When Alaric intercepted a force of soldiers being secretly brought into Rome, he was furious and laid siege to Rome once more.When starvation returned, the Roman Senate surrendered again, and Alaric pressured them to appoint a new military leader.

When a treaty was almost reached between Honorius and Alaric, a Gothic commander allied with Honorius attacked Alaric. Alaric defeated the Gothic raiders and traveled to Rome, laying siege to the city for a third time. On August 24, 410, slavesopened Romes gate and Visigoths looted the city for three days.

This was the first time Rome had been sacked in 800 years, and it showed Rome's growing weakness and vulnerability. The eternal city was falling. In less than seventy years from the sacking of Rome, the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, would be dethroned.

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 Salem Witch Trials (August 19th)

In the colony of Massachusetts, many believed in the supernatural. The majority of people in Massachusetts were Puritans, who had a strong belief of the work of Satan, demons, and evil spirits in the world. The idea of a person using these supernatural beings became known as dark magic, and the practice of dark magic was known as witchcraft.

Witchcraft and dark magic was used to explain bad crops, strange sounds, and many other bad occurrences. In 1692, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, who were 9 and 11 years old respectively, began to have fits . They began to scream, throw things across the room, crawl under furniture, and contort themselves into peculiar positions. The doctor, William Griggs, found no physical evidence of ailment, but soon, many other women in the town began experiencing similar symptoms.

Soon, several women were arrested for using witchcraft to afflict the young women. These accused "witches" were Sarah Good, a homeless beggar, Sara Osborne, a woman who didn't attend church, and Tituba, an African slave. These women were the first to be sent to jail for witchcraft. Over the next four years, many more women were arrested for witchcraft.

On August 19, 1692, the first six "witches" were executed in Salem. The witch hunt spread across Puritan Massachusetts, and dozens of women were arrested, and a total of twelve women were executed as witches.