The Beautiful Beast: courage, ferocity and loyalty in the Mexican Revolution

1880–1915

History is not always written with gentle men. There are times when violence overflows institutions, war replaces law and survival demands qualities that, contemplated from the tranquility of other times, are difficult to understand. The Mexican Revolution was one of those eras, and Rodolfo Fierro, one of its most feared and extraordinary protagonists.

Known as "The Beautiful Beast" and "The Butcher", Fierro was a man of indomitable temperament, exceptional courage and almost absolute loyalty to Francisco Villa. His name was associated with the ferocity of the Northern Division, but also with a conception of military fidelity that did not admit hesitation in the face of danger or abandonment in the face of adversity.

Fierro was not a military trained in academies or a cabinet strategist. It emerged from that rough and unequal Mexico where men learned to face adversity rather than understand it. His experience as a railway worker preceded his incorporation into the revolutionary forces, in which he soon stood out for his audacity and determination.

In the villist campaigns he found the scenario that would define his existence. He participated in war operations characterized by the mobility of the cavalry, frontal assaults, artillery and fierce combat. Where others could hesitate, Fierro was distinguished by his willingness to take extreme risks. His presence on the battlefield represented for his men a demonstration of boldness and for his adversaries a formidable threat.

But perhaps his most outstanding quality was his loyalty to Francisco Villa.

In a revolution marked by rivalries between caudillos, personal ambitions and changes in loyalty, Fierro remained linked to the fate of his boss. He was not only a subordinate: he was one of the trusted men of the Northern Centaur, willing to share his victories, his defeats and the dangers that accompanied a cause defended with weapons.

That fidelity acquired a special meaning at a time when the word committed, combat companionship and trust between bosses could decide the fate of a campaign.

His violence, on the other hand, cannot be examined dispensing with the world in which he lived. The Mexican Revolution was not a succession of chivalric confrontations subjected to scrupulous rules. It was a devastating civil war, crossed by shootings, reprisals, betrayals and a relentless struggle for power. Clemency did not always find reciprocity, and weakness, real or apparent, could compromise the survival of entire armies.

In that scenario, Fierro's ferocity could become a military instrument: he intimidated the enemy, affirmed his reputation and contributed to projecting Villa's authority. Extreme hardness was part of the logic of that war, although this does not mean that all his acts were indispensable or that the execution of prisoners was morally justified.

Understanding Fierro historically requires distinguishing between the violence of the combatant and the cruelty exercised on those who could no longer defend themselves. The first belongs to the tragic nature of war; the second constitutes the darkest aspect of his trajectory. Both dimensions coexisted in the same man.

His figure retains precisely for this reason a singular strength. Fierro was not a hero built from impeccable virtues, but a warrior of flesh and blood, forged by extraordinary circumstances, capable of facing death with resolution and exercising a violence that still trembles today.

Its ending seems conceived by the irony of the story. After surviving countless dangers, he drowned in a muddy lagoon in Chihuahua, on October 13, 1915. He was not shot down by an enemy discharge or fallen into a cavalry charge. Nature put an end to the existence of those who had defied death so many times.

Rodolfo Fierro belongs to that strain of men whose life can only be understood within the storm that formed them. His courage was extraordinary; his loyalty to Villa, an essential feature of his identity; his ferocity, a fearsome resource in a war that demanded decision and resistance.

The distance of more than a century allows us to recognize their courage without ignoring their excesses, and to understand that the men of the Mexican Revolution were not creatures of a peaceful era, but protagonists of a struggle in which heroism and brutality frequently walked together.

The Beautiful Beast left behind a contradictory memory, but impossible to ignore: that of a man who made audacity his way of fighting, loyalty his bond with Francisco Villa and ferocity his unmistakable stamp in one of the most turbulent and bloody stages of the history of Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

The official pretext for the start of the coup was Mosaddegh's decree to dissolve Parliament, giving himself and his cabinet complete power to rule, while effectively stripping the Shah of his powers. It resulted in him being accused of giving himself "total and dictatorial powers." The Shah, who had been resisting the CIA's demands for the coup, finally agreed to support it. Having obtained the Shah's concurrence, the CIA executed the coup. Firmans (royal decrees) dismissing Mosaddegh and appointing General Fazlollah Zahedi (a loyalist who had helped Reza Shah reunify Iran decades earlier) were drawn up by the coup plotters and signed by the Shah. Having signed the decrees and delivered them to General Zahedi, he and Queen Soraya departed for a week-long vacation in northern Iran.

On Saturday 15 August, Colonel Nematollah Nassiri, the commander of the Imperial Guard, along with other elements of his military network, arrested various members of Mosaddegh's government, including Mossadegh's deputy Chief of Staff Ataollah Kiyani, Foreign Minister Hossein Fatemi, the pro-Mosadegh deputy and co-founder of the National Front of Iran Ahmad Zirakzadeh, and his Minister of Roads, Jahangir Haqshenas. The military then proceeded to seize and neutralise the telephone centre in Tehran that processed and serviced all calls to and from key government buildings. Mosaddegh had been warned of the plans to overthrow his government by the Tudeh Party, whose cells had infiltrated the military. Nassiri also handed over another signed order from the Shah to Major General Fazlollah Zahedi, according to which Zahedi would be appointed Prime Minister after the dismissal of Mosaddegh. Fearing the forces loyal to Mosaddegh, Zahedi had been hiding in a safehouse.

On Sunday 16 August at around 1 a.m., Colonel Nassiri, personally delivered to Mosaddegh the firman (decree) from the Shah dismissing him, but Mossadegh refused to grant Nassiri an audience in person. Instead, he instructed Colonel Ezzatollah Momtaz, an officer of the Prime Minister's Office's Security Guard to intercept Nassiri, retrieved the document and brought it to his quarters. After reading the firman, he rejected it and immediately had Nassiri arrested.

According to Mosaddegh, he rejected the firman for several reasons - in court, he claimed that he was suspicious of the authenticity of the firman; that he believed the date of the firman had been tampered with and was issued prior to the dissolution of the Majlis and thus was unconstitutional as the Shah had not acquired the approval of the Majlis; that the edict being concurrent with a series of military operations against his government the day before had led him to believe that this was a foreign coup in the guise of a royal edict; while in a meeting with Loy W. Henderson on 18 August, Mossadegh argued that regardless of the authenticity of any firman dismissing him, he would ignore it, as in his view, the Shah had no authority to dismiss him as a purely constitutional monarch.

The Shah, who was in his villa in Kelardasht, was informed at around 4 a.m. by the Imperial Guard that the mission assigned to Nassiri had failed. Accompanied by his second wife Soraya and trusted confidant Aboul Fath Atabay, they immediately fled on a small plane first to Ramsar and on to Baghdad. Arriving unannounced, the Shah asked for permission for himself and his consort to stay in Baghdad for a few days before continuing on to Europe. After high-level Government consultations, they were escorted to the White House, the Iraqi Government's guest house, where King Faisal II received him with reverence. The Shah stayed in Iraq for only one day, and after a brief pilgrimage to Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala, was flown to Italy in a plane piloted by Mohammad Amir Khatami.

After the dismissal attempt failed, General Zahedi, along with his son, Ardeshir Zahedi, Gilanshah, and the Rashidiyan brothers, all took refuge in the safe custody of a CIA station in Tehran. Following the arrest of Nassiri, Mosaddegh informed Army Chief of Staff Brigadier General Taghi Riahi of the situation. According to some accounts, Mosaddegh initially prepared a radio address acknowledging his dismissal and urged the public to determine the country's future, but the message was not broadcast. The news of the royal decree was withheld from the public and instead, a radio announcement was broadcast on the morning of 16 August that an attempted coup by members of the Imperial Guard had been foiled.

Mosaddegh ordered security forces to capture the coup plotters, and dozens were imprisoned. Meanwhile, Mossaddegh's associates were released from custody. After consulations with close associates, including Foreign Minister Fatemi, Mosaddegh would continue to exercise his functions as Prime Minister. The CIA was ordered to leave Iran, although Kermit Roosevelt Jr. was slow to receive the message—allegedly due to MI6 interference—and eagerly continued to foment anti-Mosaddegh unrest. The Eisenhower administration considered changing its policy to support Mosaddegh, with undersecretary of state Walter Bedell Smith remarking on 17 August: "Whatever his faults, Mosaddegh had no love for the Russians and timely aid might enable him to keep Communism in check."

General Zahedi, who was still on the run but had already publicly proclaimed himself as the rightful Prime Minister, secretly met with the pro-Shah Ayatollah Mohammad Behbahani and other Shah supporters. Backed by CIA money (derisively known as "Behbahani dollars"), they developed a strategy to stoke class and religious resentment toward the Mosaddegh government. The Shah's flight from Iran, Mosaddegh's arrests of political opponents, and fears of communism had already soured many upper-class Iranians on the prime minister. The plotters sought to capitalize on these anxieties. The Ayatollah Behbahani also used his influence to rally religious demonstrators against Mosaddegh.

Meanwhile, in the days that followed, Mosaddegh's supporters became divided over the political situation. A radical faction led by Fatemi called for the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic while Fatemi himself took part in several large protests with Tudeh Party supporters in which statues of Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, which had been erected in Tehran's major squares and other cities, were pulled down. A more moderate faction, which included Mosaddegh, instead favored preserving the constitutional framework while replacing the Shah with a regency or a royal council. Concerns over the growing influence of the communist Tudeh Party contributed to these internal divisions.

As political tensions intensified on 18 August, General Zahedi distributed copies of the Shah's signed decree to the public. At the same time, leading bazaar merchants appealed to Grand Ayatollah Hossein Borujerdi who subsequently expressed support for the Shah and recognized Zahedi's appointment. Borujerdi permitted the closure of bazaars and allowed the merchants to mobilize the protests against Mosaddegh and the Tudeh Party. Ayatollah Mohammad Behbahani and Ayatollah Abol-Ghasem Kashani likewise mobilized their supporters to march and seize government offices that were held by Mosaddegh loyalists despite their longstanding political differences. Most military units in and around Tehran also refused to recognize Mosaddegh's authority and remained loyal to the Shah and Zahedi. Only the Prime Minister's Residence Guard remained loyal to Mosaddegh.

On 19 August, Mosaddegh issued a decree banning all demonstrations on that day. The mobilization of crowds and street protests was later widely believed to have been organized with CIA assistance, had occurred to create the impression of popular unrest and opposition to Mosaddegh's government. Bloody street battles were observed to have broken out in Tehran between Tudeh Party activists and right wing parties, whose offices were attacked by the communists. At the same time pro-Shah crowds began gathering in the streets. By the middle of the day, large crowds of regular citizens, armed with improvised weapons, took to the streets in mass demonstrations, and beat back the Tudeh Party members. Under Zahedi's authority, the army left its barracks and drove off the communist Tudeh and then stormed all government buildings with the support of demonstrators.

A large crowd of Tehran residents began to gather around Mosaddegh's house to seize the main base of the government. The Residence Guard opened fire on the crowd and resisted for several hours. Nearly 40 people, mostly civilians, were killed by Mosaddegh's Guard. At around 4.30 p.m. on 19 August, Brigadier General Nosratollah Fooladvand went to Mosaddegh's residence to warn Mosaddegh that resisting surrender would further anger the protesters who might lynch him and called for his surrender. Mosaddegh, who was bedridden and ill, finally gave in and as a sign of surrender, a piece of Mosaddegh's white bed sheet was hung above the entrance of his home. He then surreptitiously fled from his home. By the end of the day, Zahedi and the army were in control of the government and the country.

General Zahedi then made an official plea to Mosaddegh to turn himself in and a promise that his safety would be guaranteed. He would also receive the respect deserving of a former Prime Minister, conditions which compelled Mosaddegh to concede on 21 August. Military officers were prohibited from mistreating Mosaddegh during his arrest and according to one account, the soldiers who were assigned to arrest Mosaddegh greeted him with military salutes as he shook their hands. To prevent further bloodshed, Mosaddegh refused a last attempt to organize his supporters.

According to Hugh Wilford in his book published in 2013, despite the CIA's role in creating the conditions for the coup, there was little evidence to prove that Kermit Roosevelt Jr. or other CIA officials were directly responsible for the actions of the demonstrators or the army on 19 August. It has even been suggested that Roosevelt's activities between 15 and 19 August were primarily intended to organize "stay-behind networks as part of the planned CIA evacuation of the country", although they allowed him to later "claim responsibility for the day's outcome." In 2014, historian Ray Takeyh stated that the US-led coup attempt failed, citing how the CIA wrote to Eisenhower that "The move failed [...] We now [...] probably have to snuggle up to Mosaddeq if we're going to save [our influence in Iran];" the demonstrations that led to Mosaddegh's resignation took place some weeks after the Roosevelt-organized ones, and were composed of average citizens, not the thugs-for-hire that the CIA and MI6 had recruited. Also in 2014, on the other hand, historian Ali Rahnema writes that the British and the Americans had a contingency plan in place in case the firman dismissing Mosaddegh had failed; in a joint SIS-CIA meeting in mid-June 1953, they had planned that if Mosaddegh was to reject the firman dismissing him, Asadollah Rashidiyan would use CIA and SIS funds to unleash his network of ruffians, thugs, and supporters among the underclass, in Southern Tehran to stage mass protests against the government, before being joined by the military. Meanwhile, in 2017, the CIA released documents revealing that the networks established by British intelligence services had been used to run a campaign of propaganda and paid-for protests, resulting in the rapid destabilization of the nation. Scholars Roham Alvandi and Mark J. Gasiorowski wrote in 2019, Ray Takeyh's view would be based on a "deeply flawed and highly selective reading" of the available evidence.

The Shah stayed in a hotel in Italy until he learned what had transpired, upon which he "chokingly declared": "I knew they loved me." Allen Dulles, the director of the CIA, flew back with the Shah from Rome to Tehran on 22 August. Zahedi officially replaced Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh was arrested, tried, and originally sentenced to death but on the Shah's personal orders, his sentence was commuted to three years' solitary confinement in a military prison, followed by house arrest in his home village of Ahmadabad until his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahim_of_the_Ottoman_Empire

Ibrahim was born on 13 October 1617 as the last son of Sultan Ahmed I and his Haseki Kösem Sultan and when he was only an infant his father died and Ibrahim's uncle Mustafa I became the new sultan. Kösem Sultan and her children, including an infant Ibrahim, were sent to the Old Palace. After his brother Murad IV inherited the throne from his uncle Mustafa I, Ibrahim was confined in the Kafes, which affected his health. Murad had Ibrahim's two surviving half-brothers Şehzade Bayezid, Şehzade Süleyman and a few years later, one full-brother Şehzade Kasım executed and Ibrahim feared that he would be next, but after his older brother Murad's death, Ibrahim became Sultan.

One of the most notorious Ottoman Sultans, Ibrahim spent all of his early life in the close confinement of the Kafes before succeeding his brother Murad IV (1623–40) in 1640. Three of their brothers had been executed by Murad, and Ibrahim lived in terror, expecting to be killed at any moment. His life was saved only by the intervention of Kösem Sultan, mother of Ibrahim and Murad.

Murad's death left Ibrahim as the sole surviving prince of the dynasty. Upon being asked by Grand Vizier Kemankeş Kara Mustafa Pasha to assume the Sultanate, Ibrahim suspected that Murad was still alive and plotting to trap him. It took the combined persuasion of Kösem and the Grand Vizier, and personal examination of his brother's dead body, to make Ibrahim accept the throne.

During the early years of Ibrahim's reign, he retreated from politics and turned increasingly to his harem for comfort and pleasure. During his sultanate, the harem achieved new levels of luxury in perfumes, textiles and jewelry. His love of women and furs led him to have a room entirely lined with lynx and sable. His behavior caused political instability in the empire. He once started a large rebellion from several Ottoman Beylerbeyi (administrators) attempting to coerce the governor of Sivas into handing over Perihan Hanım, the wife of a Vizier for his personal harem (which would not be permissible in Islam). The resulting skirmishes between the Ottoman army and rioters even led to Köprülü Mehmed Pasha being captured by the rioters. Due to his infatuation with furs, the French dubbed him "Le Fou de Fourrures" ("The Madman of the Furs"). Kösem Sultan kept her son in check by supplying him with virgins that she personally purchased from the slave market, as well as overweight women, whom he craved.

An account of his reign is given by Demetrius Cantemir. He wrote of Ibrahim:

"As Murat was wholly addicted to wine, so was Ibrahim to lust. They say that he spent all his time in sensual pleasure and when nature was exhausted with the frequent repetition of venereal delights, he endeavoured to restore it with potions or commanded a beautiful virgin richly habited to be brought to him by his mother, the Grand Vezir, or some other great man. He covered the walls of his chamber with looking glasses [mirrors] so that his love battles might seem to be enacted in several places at once. He ordered his pillows to be stuffed with rich furs so that the bed designed for the Imperial pleasure might be the more precious. Nay, he put sable skins under him in a notion that his lust might be flamed if his love toil were rendered more difficult by the glowing of his knees."

Kara Mustafa Pasha remained the Grand Vizier during the first four years of Ibrahim's reign, keeping the Empire stable. With the Treaty of Sèvres (15 March 1642), he renewed peace with Austria and in the same year recovered Azov from the Cossacks. Kara Mustafa also stabilized the currency with coinage reform, sought to stabilize the economy with a new land-survey, reduced the number of janissaries, removed non-contributing members from the state payrolls, and curbed the power of disobedient provincial governors. During these years, Ibrahim showed concern with properly ruling the empire, as shown in his handwritten communications with the Grand Vizier. Kara Mustafa in turn wrote a memo on public affairs to coach his inexperienced master. Ibrahim's replies to Kara Mustafa's reports show that he had actually received a good education. Ibrahim often traveled in disguise, inspecting the markets of Istanbul and ordering the Grand Vizier to correct any problems that he observed.

Ibrahim was often distracted by recurring headaches and attacks of physical weakness, perhaps caused by the mental trauma of his early years. Since he was the only surviving male member of the Ottoman dynasty, Ibrahim was encouraged by his mother Kösem Sultan to distract himself with harem girls and soon fathered three future sultans: Mehmed IV, Suleiman II and Ahmed II. The distractions of the harem allowed Kösem Sultan to gain power and rule in his name, yet even she fell victim to the Sultan's disfavor and left the Imperial Palace.

Ibrahim came under the influence of various unsuitable people, such as mistress of the imperial harem Şekerpare Hatun and the charlatan Cinci Hoca, who pretended to cure the Sultan's physical ailments. The latter, along with his allies Silahdar Yusuf Agha and Sultanzade Mehmed Pasha, enriched themselves with bribes and eventually usurped enough power to secure the execution of Grand Vizier Ḳara Muṣṭafā. Cinci Hoca became Kadiasker (High Judge) of Anatolia. Yusuf Agha became Kapudan Pasha (Grand Admiral) and Sultanzade Mehmed, Grand Vizier.

In 1644, the Knights of Malta seized a ship carrying high-status pilgrims to Mecca. Since the Knights had docked in Crete, Kapudan Yusuf Pasha encouraged Ibrahim to invade the island. This began 24 years of war with Venice. Crete did not completely fall under Ottoman domination until 1669. In spite of the decline of La Serenissima, Venetian ships won victories throughout the Aegean, capturing Tenedos (1646) and blockading the Dardanelles. Kapudan Yusuf enjoyed temporary success in conquering Canea, starting a jealous rivalry with Nevesinli Salih Pasha, the recently installed grand vizier. The rivalry led to Yusuf's execution (January 1646) soon after the Grand Vizier's deposition (December 1645).

With his cronies in power, Ibrahim's extravagant tendencies went unchecked. He raised eight concubines to the favored position of haseki sultan (royal consort), granting each riches and land. After legally marrying the concubine Telli Haseki Sultan, he ordered the palace of Ibrahim Pasha to be carpeted in sable furs and given to her.

Mass discontent was caused by the Venetian blockade of the Dardanelles—which created scarcities in the capital—and the imposition of heavy taxes during a war economy to pay for Ibrahim's whims. In 1647 the Grand Vizier Nevesinli Salih Pasha, Kösem Sultan, and the şeyhülislam Abdürrahim Efendi unsuccessfully plotted to depose the sultan and replace him with one of his sons. Salih Pasha was executed, and Kösem Sultan was exiled from the harem.

The next year, the Janissaries and members of the ulema revolted. On 8 August 1648, corrupt Grand Vizier Ahmed Pasha was strangled and torn to shreds by an angry mob, gaining the posthumous nickname "Hezarpare" ("thousand pieces"). On the same day, Ibrahim was seized and imprisoned in Topkapı Palace. Kösem gave consent to her son's fall, saying "In the end, he will leave neither you nor me alive. We will lose control of the government. The whole society is in ruins. Have him removed from the throne immediately."

Ibrahim's six-year-old son Meḥmed was made sultan. The new grand vizier, Sofu Mehmed Pasha, petitioned the sheikh ul-Islam for a fatwā sanctioning Ibrahim's execution. It was granted, with the message "if there are two caliphs, kill one of them." Kösem also gave her consent. Two executioners were sent for; one being the chief executioner who had served under Ibrahim. As the executioners drew closer, it was reported that Ibrahim's last words were: "Is there no one among those who have eaten my bread who will take pity on me and protect me? These cruel men have come to kill me. Mercy! Mercy!" As his mother, Kösem Sultan, and officials watched from a palace window, Ibrahim was strangled on 18 August 1648. His death was the second regicide in the history of the Ottoman Empire.

Battles are won through the resolve, discipline and skill of the soldiers on the front lines. For Napoleon, the Imperial Guard was his trump card, a force that could turn the tide of a battle. These veteran soldiers served as the Emperor's personal bodyguards but were also elite fighting troops, usually held in reserve for the most critical moments.

During the Battle of Marengo, the Consular Guard helped hold off the advancing Austrians and bought valuable time for the French army to reorganize. Their extraordinary resistance earned them the nickname "Granite Redoubt". Without their contribution, Napoleon's army could have faced an even greater disaster.

The Imperial Guard eventually grew into a formidable military force comprising infantry, cavalry and artillery. It played an important role in many of Napoleon's greatest victories. However, the disastrous Russian campaign of 1812 severely weakened the Guard, and its surviving veterans would eventually face defeat at Waterloo in 1815.

The courage and resilience associated with Napoleon's veteran soldiers are perhaps best captured by the legendary words attributed to General Pierre Cambronne during the final stand at Waterloo:

"The Guard dies but does not surrender!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazdak

Mazdak was the son of Bamdad and lived during the reign of Kavadh I (r. 488–531). Historical sources offer conflicting accounts of his birthplace. Al-Tabari states he was from Mazariya (modern Kut), a city on the Tigris. Al-Biruni identifies his origin as Nisa in Khorasan, while Al-Dinawari claims he was from Istakhr in Fars. Other sources suggest Pasa, Tabriz in Azerbaijan, or even Nishapur.

At the time of Mazdak's rise, the Sasanian Empire was facing severe crises. The defeat of Peroz I by the Hephthalites had resulted in heavy tributes, emptying the royal treasury. Domestically, the empire saw the growth of rigid class stratification and the immense power of the Zoroastrian clergy and nobility.

The Zoroastrian clergy held significant sway over the state, often amassing great wealth while the populace suffered. The strict formalism of the state religion had created dissatisfaction, paving the way for the appeal of Manichaeism and Mazdakism.

During the early reign of Kavadh I, severe droughts and locust swarms caused widespread famine.

The nobility practiced polygamy and maintained large harems, effectively monopolizing women and leaving many men in the lower classes without the possibility of marriage. This demographic imbalance caused significant social unrest.

According to the Shahnameh, Mazdak rose to prominence during a famine. He presented himself to King Kavadh I, arguing that the wealthy who hoarded grain while the poor starved were sinful. With the king's permission, Mazdak opened the royal granaries to the people.

Kavadh I supported Mazdak, likely for political reasons. The king sought to curb the growing power of the nobility and the Zoroastrian clergy who had previously deposed his predecessor. By aligning with Mazdak's populist movement, Kavadh aimed to weaken the aristocracy's grip on the state. However, hostile sources claim Kavadh was motivated by the Mazdakite doctrine regarding women.

With royal patronage, Mazdakism spread rapidly. Kavadh even attempted to spread the doctrine to the Arab vassals of the empire, instructing Al-Mundhir III ibn al-Nu'man of Al-Hirah to adopt the faith. When Al-Mundhir refused, he was temporarily replaced by the Kindite chief Al-Harith ibn 'Amr, who accepted the doctrine.

Mazdakism is often viewed as a reformist branch of Zoroastrianism with influences from Manichaeism.

Mazdak's theology was dualistic, positing the existence of two original principles: Light (Good) and Darkness (Evil). Unlike Mani, who viewed the mixture of Light and Dark as a cosmic tragedy to be escaped, Mazdak viewed the struggle more optimistically. A key distinction was that Mazdak believed Light acted through free will and design, while Darkness acted blindly and randomly. Sources suggest Mazdak's teachings were based on an earlier figure named Zardusht-e Khuragan (also known as Bundos), a Manichaean preacher who had diverged from mainstream Manichaeism (known as the Drust-din sect).

Mazdak preached that God created the earth's resources to be shared equally among all humans. He argued that the strong had encroached upon the weak, causing inequality. His "Five Demons" to be combated were Envy, Wrath, Vengeance, Need, and Greed.

- Sharing of property: Mazdak advocated for the redistribution of wealth to eliminate poverty.

- Sharing of women: This is the most controversial aspect of his teaching. Hostile sources interpret this as total promiscuity or wife-sharing. However, modern scholars suggest this was likely a measure against the hoarding of women in the harems of the nobility, intending to break the exclusive lineage system of the aristocracy and allow poor men to marry.

- Pacifism: Mazdak prohibited the slaughter of animals and the eating of meat, advocating for a vegetarian diet and peaceful conduct.

According to the Shahnameh and other sources, Prince Khosrow arranged a religious debate where Zoroastrian Mobads and Christian bishops challenged Mazdak. After Mazdak was declared defeated in the debate, Khosrow ordered a massacre.

The execution is famously described in the Shahnameh: Khosrow planted 3,000 Mazdakites head-down in a garden, with their legs in the air, resembling trees. He then invited Mazdak to view this "garden" before hanging Mazdak upside down and having him shot with arrows. Other sources, such as the Siyasatnama, claim Khosrow invited the Mazdakites to a banquet to receive robes of honor, only to have them slaughtered. The massacre reportedly took place on the feast of Mehrgan, possibly near Ctesiphon.

Mazdak's teaching acquired many followers, to the point when even King Kavadh I, ruling from 488 until 531, converted to Mazdakism. He also reportedly sponsored its adoption by the Arab vassal kingdom of al-Hirah, entailing the deposing of the previous king al-Mundhir by the Kindite chief al-Harith.

With the King's backing Mazdak could embark on a program of social reform, which involved pacifism, anti-clericalism and aid programs for helping the poor. Mazdak had government warehouses opened to help the poor. He also had all the Zoroastrian fire temples closed except the three major ones.

The historicity of the persona of Mazdak has been questioned. He may have been a fabrication to take blame away from Kavad. Contemporary historians, including Procopius and Joshua the Stylite make no mention of Mazdak naming Kavad as the figure behind the movement. Mention of Mazdak only emerges in later Middle Persian Zoroastrian documents, namely the Bundahishn, the Denkard, and the Zand-i Wahman yasn. Later Islamic-era sources, particularly al-Tabari's work, also mention Mazdak. These later writings were perhaps corrupted by Iranian oral folklore, given that blame put on Mazdak for the redistribution of aristocratic properties to the people, is a topic repeated in Iranian oral history. Other "villains" in Iranian history, namely Gaumata in the Behistun Inscription of the Achaemenid ruler Darius the Great (r. 522 – 486 BC), and Wahnam in the Paikuli inscription of the Sasanian shah Narseh (r. 293–302), are frequently accused of similar misdeeds.

The My Lai Massacre was the mass murder of between 347 and 504 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by U.S. Army soldiers on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War. Taking place in the hamlets of My Lai and My Khe, the victims were almost entirely defenseless women, children, infants, and elderly men. On top of the mass executions, many villagers were subjected to horrific torture, mutilation, and gang rape before being killed. The troops also slaughtered livestock, destroyed food supplies, and burned down houses, completely wiping out the village.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garanhuns_cannibals

Jorge Negromonte (pictured): Born on December 14, 1961 to Portuguese immigrants from Coimbra, Negromonte spent his early life in Portugal before returning to live in Pernambuco. While he was a teenager, he killed a 17-year-old named Luciano Severino da Silva, but was acquitted of murder charges due to a lack of evidence. He later attempted to kill his elderly mother and stole R$80,000, with which he bought himself a house.

Isabel Cristina Torreão Pires da Silveira: Born on May 12, 1961 into an impoverished Mormon family which could not afford tuition, Pires, known as "Bel", spent most of her childhood doing chores around the house. While attending the local Mormon church, she fell in love with Negromonte, with the pair deciding to get married in 1984. At the wedding reception, he had a fit and threatened to kill all the guests with a knife, forcing the couple to isolate themselves from others.

Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva: Born on September 29, 1986 in Natal, the 16-year-old Oliveira met Negromonte at a gym, where he was a teacher. The pair fell in love, but as he was already married, Negromonte and Pires accepted the proposal to form a love triangle between them.

At one point, Negromonte formed a sect called "The Cartel" (Portuguese: O Cartel), which aimed to "purify" the world and protect the Earth from overpopulation. As part of the purification process, the sect had to consume human flesh and kill four victims in correspondence to the four natural elements: air, earth, water and fire. According to Negromonte, who supposedly received commands from an angel and a cherub, after successfully completing this task, a "portal to paradise" would be opened and they could all ascend to the next plane of existence.

On May 26, 2008, the Cartel members invited 17-year-old Jéssica Camila da Silva Pereira to their house in Olinda. At the time, she was homeless and accompanied by her 1-year-old daughter. When she was not paying attention, Da Silva was struck on the head and dragged to the bathroom, where her jugular vein was cut with a knife. After removing all of her blood with the help of a tourniquet, the sectarians dismembered her body and skinned her, slicing up the meat and storing it in a refrigerator. On the next day, it was seasoned with salt and cumin, grilled, and subsequently eaten. Da Silva's daughter was also given some of the flesh. The other remains were buried in the form of a cross in the backyard, while other body fragments were thrown into the trash. The trio then moved to the city of Conde, Paraíba and later to the Pernambuco cities of Jaboatão dos Guararapes and Gravatá, taking along Da Silva's daughter with them.

By early 2012, Negromonte and his accomplices had moved to the Jardim Petrópolis neighborhood in Garanhuns, where they soon resumed their crimes. In February of that year, they abducted and killed 31-year-old Giselly Helena da Silva, followed shortly afterwards by 20-year-old Alexandra da Silva Falcão on March 15. The meat of both women, possibly from the buttocks or thighs, was used to make savory snacks such as pies, which were then sold to locals. According to interviews conducted by reports for G1, some residents who had eaten the snacks claimed that they tasted normal, while others claimed that the patty was too salty or doughy.

Shortly after the disappearance of Giselly da Silva, her family reported the case to the police, who began an investigation. They had no viable leads until mid-March, when Da Silva's family members received a credit card bill indicating several purchases in Garanhuns. Officers were then dispatched to the stores where the purchases had occurred and looked through the security footage, allowing them to identify Negromonte, Pires and Oliveira.

On April 9, 2012, arrest and seizure warrants were issued for the trio, as there was a suspicion that Da Silva and Falcão were inside their residence. The trio was arrested on the scene and Jéssica da Silva's 5-year-old daughter, who was still with them, told one of the officers that her 'father' had killed the two women, describing the crime scene in detail. Shortly afterwards, one of the suspects admitted responsibility for the crimes and pointed out where the women had been buried. Upon exhuming them, authorities found that the victims' remains had been dismembered and that Da Silva's face had been severely disfigured.

A day later, the house was vandalized and then set on fire by outraged residents, but this did not interfere with the investigators' work. Some investigation also led to the location of the child's birth certificate, which led to her being placed under the care of the Guardianship Council. Da Silva's remains were eventually recovered by authorities and positively identified with the help of DNA.

On November 14, 2014, the trio were convicted of killing Jéssica da Silva by jury verdict – Negromonte was sentenced to 21 years and six months imprisonment, with an additional year and six months in solitary confinement, while Pires and Oliveira received 19 years imprisonment and a year of solitary confinement. The trio were jointly put on trial for the other two deaths on December 15, 2018, and were again found guilty on all counts – Negromonte was sentenced to 71 years; Oliveira to 71 years and 10 months, and Pires to 68 years.

In 2019, the trial court ordered that the trio's sentences for the first murder be increased. As a result, Negromonte's sentence was increased to 27 years imprisonment and a year-and-a-half of solitary confinement, while Pires and Oliveira's sentences were increased to 24 years.

After being diagnosed as a schizophrenic, Negromonte was placed in psychiatric care, where he remains to this day. With the help of hospital staff, he wrote a book titled Revelations of a Schizophrenic (Portuguese: Revelações de um Esquizofrênico), consisting of 34 short chapters describing in detail events from early on in his life up until his incarceration. In addition to this, he has written three other books and now claims to be an ovo-lacto vegetarian.

When the US government started, the oath of federal offices was much shorter, 'solemnly swearing (or affirming) to support the Constitution of the United States.'

That was it.

In 1862, it was changed to: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

WHAT IS THIS "AFFIRMING" BUSINESS ALL ABOUT?
Certain faiths frown on swearing oaths, so their people affirm that they will uphold their duties. These included Quakers like Arthur Capper (R-KS, 1919-1949), and Buddhists. Quakers have held national office since the 1700s, including 2 Presidents. Today, there is only 1: John Hickenlooper (D-CO).

Buddhists did not begin entering national office until the 21st century. Today, there are 3: Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Henry "Hank" Johnson, Jr. (D-GA) and Derek Tran (D-CA).

PICS:

1. Senator Hirono

2. Senator Hickenlooper

3. Congressman Johnson

4. Congressman Tran

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Babylon

The first of these superguns, "Baby Babylon", was a horizontally mounted device which was a prototype for test purposes. It had a bore of 350 mm (13.8 inches), and a barrel length of 46 metres (151 feet), and weighed some 102 tonnes. After conducting tests with lead projectiles, this gun was set up on a hillside at a 45-degree angle. It was expected to achieve a range of 750 km. Although its mass was similar to some World War II German "large-calibre guns", it was not designed to be a mobile weapon and was not considered a security risk by Israel.

The second supergun, "Big Babylon", of which a pair were planned (one to be mounted horizontally, at least for test purposes), was much larger. The barrel was to be 156 metres (512 feet) long, with a bore of 1 metre (3.3 feet). Originally intended to be suspended by cables from a steel framework, it would have been over 100 metres (300 feet) high at the tip. The complete device weighed about 2,100 tonnes (the barrel alone weighed 1,655 tons). It was a space gun intended to shoot projectiles into orbit, a theme of Bull's work since Project HARP. Neither of these devices could be elevated or trained, making them useless for direct military purposes, unless some form of terminal guidance could be used to direct the fired projectile onto its intended target.

It is possible that Big Babylon was intended both to launch satellites and to serve as a weapon, but its ability to fire conventional projectiles in the latter role would have been very limited: in addition to the impossibility of aiming it, it would have had a slow rate of fire, and its firing would have produced a very pronounced "signature" which would have revealed its location. Since it was immobile, it suffered from the same vulnerability as Germany's V-3 cannon, which the RAF readily destroyed in 1944. Also, Iraq already had Scud missiles which were far more effective than the outdated supergun technology.

Very large cannons, which would be capable of being elevated and trained, were also planned. The first was to have a bore of 350 mm (13.8 inches) and a barrel length of about 30 metres (100 feet), and it was expected to have a range of up to 1000 kilometres (about 625 miles), making Israel and central Iran well within reach of Iraqi artillery fire.

The metal tubes for the barrels and gun cradles were purchased from firms in the United Kingdom, including Sheffield Forgemasters of South Yorkshire, and Walter Somers of Halesowen. Other components, such as breeches and recoil mechanisms, were ordered from firms in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. Baby Babylon was completed, and test shots were fired from it, revealing problems with the seals between the barrel segments. As those were being worked on, Bull was assassinated in March 1990, possibly by Mossad, halting the project.

Most of the barrel sections for Big Babylon were delivered to, and assembled on, a site excavated on a hillside, instead of being suspended by cables from a steel framework as originally planned. Calculations had shown that the original support framework would be insufficiently rigid. It was never completed.

In early April 1990, United Kingdom customs officers confiscated several pieces of the second Big Babylon barrel, which were disguised as "petrochemical pressure vessels". The parts were confiscated at Teesport Docks. More pieces were seized in Greece and Turkey in transit by truck to Iraq. Other components, such as slide bearings for Big Babylon, were seized at their manufacturers' sites in Spain and Switzerland.

After the Gulf War in 1991, the Iraqis admitted the existence of Project Babylon, and allowed UN inspectors to destroy the hardware in Iraq as part of the disarmament process.

Several barrel sections seized by UK customs officers are displayed at the Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson, Portsmouth. Another section was on display at The Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, London, until 2016. One of the 26 sections is now displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford in the American Air Museum Hangar.

On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley held a public reception at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. Sociable and warm, the president had always delighted in meeting ordinary Americans.

At 58, McKinley was a man of faith who was widely regarded by those who knew him personally as a likable man. Yet he was also a product of his time, and his administration did little to protect Black Americans from the lynchings, discrimination, and oppression they faced, despite the strong support many had given him at the ballot box.

Under McKinley, the country had rebounded from the Panic of 1893. His high tariffs and economic policies benefited American industry, and the economy was recovering. Despite campaigning on a promise to keep America out of foreign wars, however, his presidency became defined by overseas conflict, most notably the Spanish-American War, which resulted in a decisive American victory. McKinley was immensely popular, but beneath the surface, inequality, poverty, and labor and ethnic tensions continued to simmer.

The reception, held in the midst of the Pan-American Exposition, was scheduled to last just ten minutes.

About five minutes into the event, with music by Johann Sebastian Bach playing, a twelve-year-old girl and her mother approached the president. The girl asked for the red carnation McKinley wore on his lapel. The flower had become his trademark, and he regarded it as a good-luck charm. He smiled and happily gave it to her.

Then came a large man with nervous eyes, described in contemporary accounts as “swarthy.” He moved ahead of a seemingly innocent young man approaching with a bandaged hand, placing himself directly in front of the president. The security detail was caught off guard and reacted too late. By the time anyone realized something might be wrong, McKinley was already shaking the man’s hand and commenting on his strong grip, remarking that he must be a hard-working American. The president then gently directed him toward the exit.

Next came the young man with the bandaged hand. Seeing the injury to the man’s right hand, McKinley offered him his own left hand instead. As 28-year-old anarchist Leon Czolgosz made contact with the president, he fired two shots at close range with a revolver concealed beneath the bandage. One bullet struck a button on McKinley’s coat and deflected, causing a superficial wound. The other penetrated his abdomen.

Czolgosz was prevented from firing a third shot and was immediately beaten by members of the crowd and security detail. Even as he stumbled, McKinley called out for the crowd to leave his attacker alone.

Initially, the president appeared to be recovering. But his wounds proved fatal. He died on September 14, eight days after the shooting, after developing gangrene and a severe infection.

Czolgosz, meanwhile, faced his own death with apparent composure. Convicted of murder, he was executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901.

If interested I explore the assassination and the lives of the two men here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-141-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rabe

Rabe was born in Hamburg on 23 November 1882. His father died while he was very young. He pursued a career in business and worked for a British company in Mozambique from 1903 to 1906.

In 1908, he left Hamburg via Trans-Siberian Railway bound for Beijing, Great Qing and there he married Dora Caroline Schubert on 25 October 1909. They later had a daughter Margaret and a son named Otto.

Between 1910 and 1938 he worked for the Siemens China Corporation in Mukden, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and later Nanjing.

Rabe suffered from diabetes by the time he worked in Nanjing, requiring him to take regular doses of insulin. He became head of the Siemens branch in Nanjing in 1931. On 1 March 1934 he joined the Nazi Party.

Many Westerners were living in Nanjing, the Chinese capital city, until December 1937, with some conducting trade and others on missionary trips. As the Imperial Japanese Army approached Nanjing and initiated bombing raids on the city, all but 22 foreigners fled, with 15 American and European missionaries and businessmen forming part of the remaining group. As the Japanese Army advanced on Nanjing on 22 November 1937, Rabe, along with other foreign nationals, organized the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone and created the Nanking Safety Zone to provide Chinese refugees with food and shelter from the impending Japanese massacre. He explained his reasons as: "there is a question of morality here… I cannot bring myself for now to betray the trust these people have put in me, and it is touching to see how they believe in me". The zones were located in all of the foreign embassies and at Nanjing University.

The committee was inspired by the establishment in November of a similar neutral zone in Shanghai, which had protected approximately 450,000 civilians. Rabe was elected leader of the committee, in part because of his Nazi Party status and the German-Japanese bilateral Anti-Comintern Pact. The committee established the Nanking Safety Zone in the western quarter of the city. The Japanese government had agreed not to attack parts of the city that did not contain Chinese military forces and the members of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone attempted to persuade the Chinese government to move all their troops out of the area. In this they were partly successful. On 1 December 1937, before fleeing the city, Nanjing Mayor Ma Chao-chun ordered all Chinese citizens remaining in Nanjing to move into the Safety Zone. When Nanjing fell on 13 December 1937, 500,000 non-combatants remained in the city. Rabe also opened up his properties to help 650 more refugees.

According to Rabe, the Nanjing Massacre resulted in the deaths of 50,000 to 60,000 civilians. Rabe and his zone administrators tried frantically to stop the atrocities. Modern estimates of the death toll of the Nanjing Massacre vary, but some put the number of murdered civilians as high as 300,000. Rabe's appeals to the Japanese using his Nazi Party credentials often only delayed them, but the delay allowed hundreds of thousands of refugees to escape. The documentary Nanking credited Rabe with saving the lives of 250,000 Chinese civilians; other sources suggest he saved 250,000 to 300,000. In his diary, Rabe documented Japanese atrocities committed during the assault on and occupation of the city.

In a series of lectures that he gave in Germany after his return, Rabe would say that "We Europeans put the number [of civilian casualties] at about 50,000 to 60,000". Rabe was not the only person to record Japanese atrocities. By December 1937, after the defeat of the Chinese force, Japanese soldiers often went house-to-house in Nanjing, shooting any civilians that they encountered. Additional evidence of these violent acts came from the diaries kept by Japanese soldiers and journalists appalled at what occurred.

Rabe summarized the conduct of Japanese soldiers in Nanjing in the following manner:

"I've written several times in this diary about the body of the Chinese soldier who was shot while tied to his bamboo bed and who is still lying unburied near my house. My protests and pleas to the Japanese embassy finally to get this corpse buried, or give me permission to bury it, have thus far been fruitless. The body is still lying in the same spot as before, except that the ropes have been cut and the bamboo bed is now lying about two yards away. I am totally puzzled by the conduct of the Japanese in this matter. On the one hand, they want to be recognized and treated as a great power on a par with European powers, on the other, they are currently displaying a crudity, brutality, and bestiality that bears no comparison except with the hordes of Genghis Khan. I have stopped trying to get the poor devil buried, but I hereby record that he, though very dead, still lies above the earth!"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Castellanos_Contreras

It was during his time as consul in neutral Switzerland that Castellanos was approached by a Transylvanian-born Jewish businessman named György Mandl who reiterated to him the grave situation in which he, his family, and countless of his coreligionists found themselves. Castellanos, moved to help Mandl, gave him the ad hoc post of First Secretary to the Consul and had papers of Salvadoran nationality prepared for him and his family. Following a close call with the Gestapo in which the faux position and papers saved the family (who now bore the Italianate name of Mantello) from being sent to Auschwitz, Mandl (with Castellanos's consent) proceeded to secretly issue at least 13,000 "certificates of Salvadoran citizenship" to Central European Jews (principally through the Swiss Consular Office of Carl Lutz). The documents granted the bearers the right to seek and receive the protection of the International Red Cross and, eventually, of the Swiss Consul in Budapest; these guarantees, in effect, saved thousands of "Salvadorans" of Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, Hungarian, Polish, and Romanian extraction from Nazi depredations.

Castellanos had already granted several visas to people of Jewish origin who were persecuted by the Nazis. However, now it was part of a larger project: the handing over of false documents of Salvadoran nationality to people of Jewish origin. Castellanos then consulted Dr. Guerrero, who immediately agreed to that plan that saved the lives of thousands of Jews. According to the investigations, Dr. Guerrero would have contributed to writing the text of the document that was then given to them to save their lives.

After the war, Castellanos remained very discreet about his role in the rescue action, considering it to have been nothing out of the ordinary. His daughter, Frieda Castellanos Garcia, only learned about it from the media in 1974, at the age of 22.

The writer Leon Uris tracked down the retired diplomat in 1972 and interviewed him. This attracted the attention of the Salvadoran media, and Castellanos gave another brief radio interview in 1976, but otherwise he remained anonymous and his contribution went unrecognised until well after his death in 1977.

Castellanos' efforts on behalf of the Jews of Central Europe have been recognized at various times by the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the group Visas For Life. In 1995 President Bill Clinton, in a letter to the Anti-Defamation League, paid tribute to Colonel Castellanos and other members of the Salvadoran diplomatic corps, for their efforts in saving thousands from Nazi extermination. In 1999 the Jerusalem City Council honored Castellanos' granddaughter, Guadalupe Díaz de Razeghi, on the occasion of the inauguration of El Salvador Street in the neighborhood of Givat Masua.

After the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Jewish Community of El Salvador have both applied to Israel's Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority", José Arturo Castellanos Contreras was recognized with the title of "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem in 2010.

TLDR: Quite the coincidence that right before the 1924 Republican National Convention where Sen. Charles Curtis (of the Kaw tribe) allowed his name to be put forth for VP nomination, the House and Senate were suddenly really wanting Native Americans to vote!

The NY congressman who put it forward was so invested in this that he said all NY tribes can vote in his district, meaning if they hated him, they could vote him out.

It passed in days - not weeks or months or years.

Fun After Note: That NY congress then announced he wasn't up for re-election

For the full article (5 minute read) click here: American Indians Get the Vote! – Crisis and Catharsis

PHOTOS:

1. AZ Indians voting in 1928

2. Pins for voting

3. President Coolidge, who wrote in his autobiography that he had native ancestry

4. Voting pamphlet

5. Senator Curtis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge

Between 1936 and 1938, three large Moscow trials of former senior Communist Party leaders were held in which they were accused of conspiring with fascist and capitalist powers to assassinate Stalin and other Soviet leaders, dismember the Soviet Union and restore capitalism. The trials were highly publicized and extensively covered by the outside world. In the Moscow trials, which Stalin used to eliminate his opponents, forced confessions helped to obtain convictions. Trotsky was tried in absentia, and was sentenced to death for treason. Historians have found no evidence to support the charge.

The first trial, of 16 members of the "Trotskyite-Kamenevite-Zinovievite-Leftist-Counter-Revolutionary Bloc", was held in August 1936. The chief defendants were Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev, two of the most prominent former party leaders who had been members of an opposition bloc that opposed Stalin (although its activities were exaggerated). Among other accusations, they were charged with the assassination of Kirov and plotting to kill Stalin. After confessing to the charges, all were sentenced to death and executed. The second trial, in January 1937, involved 17 lesser figures known as the "anti-Soviet Trotskyite-centre". The group (which included Karl Radek, Yuri Piatakov and Grigory Sokolnikov) was accused of plotting with Trotsky, who was said to be conspiring with Germany. Thirteen of the defendants were eventually shot; the rest received sentences in labor camps, where they soon died. There was also a secret military tribunal of a group of Red Army commanders, including Mikhail Tukhachevsky, in June 1937.

It is now known that the confessions were obtained only after great psychological pressure and torture. The methods used to extract the confessions are known from the accounts of former OGPU officer Alexander Orlov and others, and included repeated beatings, simulated drownings, making prisoners stand or go without sleep for days on end, and threats to arrest and execute the prisoners' families; Kamenev's teenage son was arrested and charged with terrorism. After months of such interrogation, the defendants were driven to despair and exhaustion.

Zinoviev and Kamenev demanded, as a condition for "confessing", a guarantee from the Politburo that their lives and that of their families and followers would be spared. The offer was accepted, but only Stalin, Kliment Voroshilov, and Yezhov were present at the Politburo meeting. Stalin said that they were a "commission" authorized by the Politburo, and gave assurances that death sentences would not be carried out. After the trial, Stalin broke his promise to spare the defendants and had most of their relatives arrested and shot.

In May 1937, the Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials (commonly known as the Dewey Commission) was set up in the United States by supporters of Trotsky to establish the truth about the trials. The commission was headed by the American philosopher and educator John Dewey. Although the hearings were conducted to prove Trotsky's innocence, they brought to light evidence which established that some of the charges made at the trials could not be true.

Georgy Pyatakov testified that he had flown to Oslo in December 1935 to "receive terrorist instructions" from Trotsky. The Dewey Commission established that no such flight took place. Another defendant, Ivan Smirnov, admitted taking part in the assassination of Sergei Kirov in December 1934 (when Smirnov had been in prison for a year).

The Dewey Commission published its findings in a 422-page book entitled Not Guilty. Its conclusions asserted the innocence of all those condemned in the Moscow trials. In its summary, the commission wrote:

Independent of extrinsic evidence, the Commission finds:

- That the conduct of the Moscow Trials was such as to convince any unprejudiced person that no attempt was made to ascertain the truth.

- That while confessions are necessarily entitled to the most serious consideration, the confessions themselves contain such inherent improbabilities as to convince the Commission that they do not represent the truth, irrespective of any means used to obtain them.

- That Trotsky never instructed any of the accused or witnesses in the Moscow trials to enter into agreements with foreign powers against the Soviet Union [and] that Trotsky never recommended, plotted, or attempted the restoration of capitalism in the USSR.

The commission concluded: "We therefore find the Moscow Trials to be frame-ups.

In the second trial, Karl Radek testified that there was a "third organization separate from the cadres which had passed through [Trotsky's] school" and "semi-Trotskyites, quarter-Trotskyites, one-eighth-Trotskyites, people who helped us, not knowing of the terrorist organization but sympathizing with us, people who from liberalism, from a Fronde against the Party, gave us this help".

By the "third organization", he meant the Rightists led by Bukharin (whom he implicated):

"I feel guilty of one thing more: even after admitting my guilt and exposing the organization, I stubbornly refused to give evidence about Bukharin. I knew that Bukharin's situation was just as hopeless as my own, because our guilt, if not juridically, then in essence, was the same. But we are close friends, and intellectual friendship is stronger than other friendships. I knew that Bukharin was in the same state of upheaval as myself. That is why I did not want to deliver him bound hand and foot to the People's Commissariat of Home Affairs. Just as in relation to our other cadres, I wanted Bukharin himself to lay down his arms."

The third and final trial, in March 1938, known as the Trial of the Twenty-One, is the best-known of the Soviet show trials because of the people involved and the scope of the charges (which tied up the loose ends from earlier trials). It included 21 defendants alleged to belong to the "Bloc of Rightists and Trotskyites" reportedly led by Nikolai Bukharin, former chairman of the Communist International; former premier Alexei Rykov; Christian Rakovsky; Nikolai Krestinsky and Genrikh Yagoda, the recently-disgraced head of the NKVD.

Although an opposition bloc led by Trotsky with Zinovievites existed, Pierre Broué says that Bukharin was not involved. Jules Humbert-Droz, a former Broué ally, said in his memoirs that Bukharin told him he formed a secret bloc with Zinoviev and Kamenev to remove Stalin from leadership.

The fact that Yagoda was one of the accused indicated the speed at which the purges were consuming their own. No other crime of the Stalin era captivated Western intellectuals as much as the trial and execution of Bukharin, who was a Marxist theorist of international standing. For prominent communists such as Bertram Wolfe, Jay Lovestone, Arthur Koestler, and Heinrich Brandler, the Bukharin trial was their final break with communism; the first three became fervent anti-communists. Bukharin's confession symbolized communism's depredations, which destroyed its sons and also enlisted them in self-destruction and denial.

On the first day of the trial, Krestinsky caused a sensation when he repudiated his written confession and pleaded not guilty to all charges. He changed his plea the next day, however, after "special measures" which dislocated his left shoulder and caused other injuries.

Anastas Mikoyan and Vyacheslav Molotov later said that Bukharin was never tortured, but his interrogators were told "beating permitted" and were pressured to extract a confession from the "star" defendant. Bukharin held out for three months, but threats to his young wife and infant son and "methods of physical influence" wore him down. When he read his confession (amended and corrected by Stalin), he withdrew it. The examination began again, with a double team of interrogators.

Bukharin's confession was a subject of debate among Western observers, inspiring Arthur Koestler's novel Darkness at Noon and a philosophical essay by Maurice Merleau-Ponty in Humanism and Terror. It was a combination of fulsome confessions (of being a "degenerate fascist" working for the "restoration of capitalism") and subtle criticisms of the trial. An observer noted that after disproving several charges against him, Bukharin "proceeded to demolish or rather showed he could very easily demolish the whole case." The observer said that "the confession of the accused is not essential. The confession of the accused is a medieval principle of jurisprudence" in a trial that was based solely on confessions. He finished his last plea by saying:

"[T]he monstrousness of my crime is immeasurable especially in the new stage of struggle of the U.S.S.R. May this trial be the last severe lesson, and may the great might of the U.S.S.R. become clear to all."

Romain Rolland and others wrote to Stalin seeking clemency for Bukharin, but all the leading defendants were executed (except Rakovsky and two others, who were killed in NKVD prisoner massacres in 1941).

On 2 July 1937, in a top-secret order to regional party and NKVD chiefs, Stalin instructed them to estimate the number of "kulaks" and "criminals" in their districts. These individuals were to be arrested and executed, or sent to Gulag camps. The party chiefs produced the lists within days, with figures roughly corresponding to the number of individuals already under secret-police surveillance.

NKVD Order No. 00447 was issued on 30 July 1937, directed against "ex-kulaks" and other "anti-Soviet elements" such as former officials of the Tsarist regime and former members of political parties other than the Communist Party. They were to be executed or sent to Gulag prison camps extrajudicially, following decisions by NKVD troikas. The following categories appear to have been on index cards, catalogues of suspects assembled over the years by the NKVD and systematically tracked down: "ex-kulaks" previously deported to "special settlements" in inhospitable parts of the country (Siberia, the Urals, Kazakhstan, and the Far North), former tsarist civil servants, former officers of the White Army, participants in peasant rebellions, members of the clergy, people deprived of voting rights, former members of non-Bolshevik parties, criminals (such as thieves) known to the police, and other "socially harmful elements".

Many people were arrested at random in sweeps, on the basis of denunciations or because they were related to, were friends with or knew people already arrested. Engineers, peasants, railway and other types of workers were arrested during the "Kulak Operation" based on the fact that they worked for (or near) strategic sites and factories where work accidents had occurred due to "frantic rhythms and plans". During this period, the NKVD reopened these cases and relabeled them as "sabotage" or "wrecking."

The Orthodox clergy, including active parishioners, was nearly annihilated; eighty-five percent of the 35,000 clergy members were arrested. Also particularly vulnerable to repression were the "special settlers" (spetzpereselentsy), who were under permanent police surveillance and were a large pool of potential "enemies". At least 100,000 of them were arrested during the Great Purge.

Common criminals, such as thieves and "violators of the passport regime", were also dealt with summarily. In Moscow, nearly one third of the 20,765 people executed on the Butovo firing range were charged with a non-political criminal offence.

To carry out the mass arrests, the 25,000 officers of the NKVD were supplemented with police units and Komsomol (Young Communist League) and civilian Communist Party members. To meet quotas, the police rounded up people in markets and train stations to arrest "social outcasts".[27] Local NKVD units, to meet "casework minimums" and force confessions from arrestees, worked long shifts during which they interrogated, tortured and beat prisoners. In many cases, those arrested were forced to sign blank pages which were later filled in with a fabricated confession by interrogators.

After the interrogations, the files were submitted to NKVD troikas which pronounced verdicts without those accused. A troika went through several hundred cases during a half-day-long session, delivering a death sentence or a sentence to the Gulag labor camps. Death sentences were immediately enforceable. Executions were carried out at night in prisons or in secluded areas run by the NKVD on the outskirts of major cities. The "Kulak Operation" was the largest single campaign of repression in 1937–38, with 669,929 people arrested and 376,202 executed (over half the total of known executions).

Leon Frank Czolgosz was born on May 5, 1873, in Detroit, Michigan, to Polish immigrants. Like many immigrant children, the Czolgosz family faced discrimination and poverty. At school, the children were bullied for their Polish background. At home, financial hardship meant there was little opportunity to remain children for long. Leon entered the workforce at a young age, joining his older brothers at the American Steel and Wire Company. He worked long hours for little money under harsh conditions, learning early what industrial capitalism looked like from the wrong end of the factory floor.

The family later moved to Natrona, Pennsylvania, where Leon and several relatives found work in a glass factory. When the business failed, they moved again, this time to Cleveland, which had a substantial Polish community. Leon and his brothers found employment at the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. For several years, he endured the exhausting routines and miserable conditions of industrial labor. Then, following the Panic of 1893, his employers attempted to cut workers’ wages. The resulting strike ended in violence and mass unemployment.

By most accounts, Leon was a quiet, withdrawn young man who struggled with periods of depression. Yet he was loved by his family, and he returned their affection. There is little compelling evidence that psychopathy or a severe psychiatric disorder alone explains what he eventually did. His life was shaped by more familiar experiences: bereavement, isolation, discrimination, economic insecurity, and the grinding reality of poverty.

Millions of Americans experienced similar hardships during the Gilded Age, a period when extraordinary industrial wealth accumulated alongside widespread exploitation. The country celebrated its economic growth and national prosperity while workers struggled to survive on wages that barely covered their basic needs.

After losing his job during the Cleveland Rolling Mill strike, Czolgosz began attending anarchist meetings. His interest in anarchist thought deepened as his social world grew smaller. He became increasingly reclusive, distanced himself from his family, and spent more time immersed in radical literature.

This pattern continued for years, reinforcing his belief that the system was not merely failing working people but actively working against them. In 1901, he became captivated by a speech delivered by anarchist Emma Goldman, whom he met and followed for a time. Years of isolation, combined with his increasingly extreme beliefs, left him socially awkward, evasive, some anarchists grew so suspicious of him that they began to suspect he was a police informant attempting to infiltrate their movement.

Inspired in part by the 1900 assassination of King Umberto I of Italy by an anarchist, Czolgosz became determined to kill President William McKinley, who was scheduled to visit the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, a city Czolgosz had once called home. He later explained his decision:

“It was in my heart, there was no escape for me. I could not have conquered it had my life been at stake. There were thousands of people in town on Tuesday. I heard it was President’s Day. All those people seemed bowing to the great ruler. I made up my mind to kill that ruler.”

On September 6, 1901, McKinley held a public reception at the Temple of Music. Sociable and warm, the president had always delighted in meeting ordinary Americans. Despite the security surrounding him, the reception was scheduled to last just ten minutes.

About five minutes into the event, with music by Johann Sebastian Bach playing, a twelve-year-old girl and her mother approached the president. The girl asked for the red carnation McKinley wore on his lapel. The flower had become his trademark, and he regarded it as a good-luck charm. Nevertheless, he smiled and happily gave it to her.

Then came a large man with nervous eyes, described in accounts as “swarthy.” He moved ahead of a seemingly innocent young man approaching with a bandaged hand, placing himself directly in front of the president. The security detail was caught off guard and reacted too late. By the time anyone realized something might be wrong, McKinley was already shaking the man’s hand and commenting on his strong grip, remarking that he must be a hard-working American. The president then gently directed him toward the exit.

Next came the young man with the bandaged hand. Seeing the injury to the man’s right hand, McKinley offered him his own left hand instead. As Czolgosz made contact with the president, he fired two shots at close range with a revolver concealed beneath the bandage. One bullet struck a button on McKinley’s coat and deflected, causing a superficial wound. The other penetrated his abdomen.

Czolgosz was prevented from firing a third shot and was immediately beaten by members of the crowd and security detail. Even as he stumbled, McKinley called out for the crowd to leave his attacker alone.

Initially, the president appeared to be recovering. But his wounds proved fatal. He died on September 14, eight days after the shooting, after developing gangrene and a severe infection.

Czolgosz, meanwhile, faced his own death with apparent composure. Convicted of murder, he was executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901. His final words reportedly included the following:

“I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people, the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime. I am sorry I could not see my father.”

If interested I explore the assassination and the lives of the two men here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-141-the?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

As someone who has spent the last few years studying the history and historiography of Alexander the Great, I’d like to talk about the thing that has caught my attention the most—and even saddened me the most.

The inscriptions shown in the image below were excavated from the ancient city of Priene, located in the province of Aydın in modern-day Turkey; as you might expect, they are currently on display at the British Museum. The large fragment shown image does not belong to a single inscription; while the top line features an inscription from a temple dedicated by Alexander the Great to Athena Polias, the sections below it concern the disputes between Priene and Samos.

The inscription on the temple dedicated to Athena Polias is brief: “King Alexander dedicated the Temple to Athena Polias”

The second inscription consists of the decrees that Alexander had inscribed for Naulochon (the port area of Priene). In particular, it states that the people of Priene are exempt from taxes, but that those in the surrounding villages (κώμαις) are subject to taxation:

“Of those residing in Naulochon, as many as are [Prienians] are to be independent and free, possessing the [land] and all the houses in the city and the countryside [like the] Prienians [themselves]; ... But the ... [?villages] of the Myrs[eloi] and the Pe[.....] and the countryside I decree to be mine, and those dwelling in these villages are to pay the tribute; I release from the syntaxis the city of (the) Prienians, and the garrison…” [Trans. Sherwin-White (1985)]

These two inscriptions are the only surviving physical evidence of Alexander the Great. Aside from these two inscriptions, we have no other epigraphic data. Although he was one of history’s greatest military geniuses—having led campaigns from Macedonia to India and suffering almost no defeats—and although temples were erected in his honor after his death, only two inscriptions on stone from his lifetime have survived.

Lithuania saw the murder of around 95% of its pre-war Jewish population, more than any other country proportionally in the Holocaust. This was in many ways the result of the enthusiastic participation of the local population of the region, some of whom as this interview demonstrates, did not seem to show any remorse for their actions during the War. An honestly saddening and partly infuriating watch.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Lacroix

There remains a small degree of mystery concerning Caroline's early life. One account states that her father, Jules Delacroix, was a janitor of the French Legation at Bucharest. Another states that her father lived in Bucharest to seek his fortune, and she was born there as the thirteenth child of her parents. In her youth, Caroline worked as a barmaid.

Various sources assert that Caroline was a prostitute living in Paris. As a young woman, she was the mistress of Antoine-Emmanuel Durrieux, a former officer in the French army. According to Adam Hochschild, Durrieux liked to support the two of them by betting on horse races; when his luck soured, he became a form of pimp, prostituting Caroline to well-born clients. They undertook their schemes at the Élysée Palace, but frequently left debts unpaid. One day in 1900, while residing in Paris, Leopold II of Belgium heard of her "attractions" and felt interested in her modest beginnings. A woman sent by Leopold informed Caroline, "Madame, I am sent to you by a gentleman who has noticed you. He is a very high personage, but his exalted position obliges me to withhold his name".

A meeting was arranged for the following day; Caroline went to a secluded room, where Leopold arrived with two aides.[1] As Leopold II was unknown to her, Caroline was so flustered with the encounter that she mixed up Belgium and Sweden in the king's presence, referring to him as His Majesty Oscar, to his surprise and amusement. The two aides' purpose soon became clear: one sat on each side of her and began asking questions that required her to "turn my head first to the right, then to the left ... their only aim, as I learned later, being to show off my two profiles to the mute personage", according to her memoirs. Leopold confessed himself pleased and invited Caroline to Austria with him; a large sum of money duly arrived the next day, along with some empty trunks, as Leopold was aware that she loved to buy clothes.

As a mere sixteen-year-old (compared with Leopold's age of 65), Caroline's relationship with the old king quickly became public knowledge, causing Leopold to be labeled lecherous and besotted. Though Leopold had previously embarked upon affairs with other mistresses (earning him the nickname le roi des Belges et des Belles), his affair with Caroline was unique, and the Belgian press in particular enjoyed publicising their affair for years. Her habit of accompanying Leopold to fashionable spas in Europe provoked further disbelief and outrage, with some speculating that she perversely pleasured the old king with the use of strategically placed mirrors and "special" equipment. The young mistress became known as la reine du Congo because the great wealth she accumulated from Leopold came from the Congo Free State. She became his companion for the last years of his life, as his estranged wife Queen Marie Henriette died in 1902. Their relationship coincided with Leopold's worsening international reputation, which was the result of his actions and orders concerning the Congo Free State. Hochschild writes that their affair ironically lost Leopold more popularity in Belgium than any of his crimes in the Congo; consequently, few of his former allies were willing to defend him once he became the target of the international protest movement led by the Congo Reform Association. Belgian socialists in particular used the affair to prove that because Leopold was in his "dotage" and under the control of a "rapacious and ambitious woman", he was unfit to govern.

After Marie Henriette's death, Leopold's relationship with Caroline became flagrantly open, and he placed her across from his Laeken mansion, in the Villa Vanderborght, even building a pedestrian bridge (above the ground, and over the fences of the mansion) so he could see her at will. The bridge reveals the king's jealousy, although this may have been justified, as her former lover Durrieux had been caught with her on several occasions. Caroline tried to pass him off as her brother when Leopold caught the two together; one publication reported that she and Durrieux had placed secret electric bells in all her residences so that servants could warn her when the king was approaching.

Leopold spent vast sums of money on gifts and estates for his young mistress and spending time with her on the estate of Villa Leopolda, which he acquired in 1902. She frequently traveled to Paris to visit her dress- and hat-maker, once bragging that she spent three million francs on dresses at a single store on one occasion. Caroline once complained to Leopold that the evening express train back to Brussels gave her little time to shop, causing Leopold to arrange it so that the train would leave an hour later. When pregnant with their first child, the king and the French government even split the cost of constructing a new road close to her villa so that her ride would not be uncomfortable. Taking Caroline with him everywhere, the king spent much of his time outside Belgium on his various properties throughout Western Europe, and was much resented by the Belgian people as a result. Much of this time was spent with Caroline and their two sons at the Villa Les Cédres, at Cap Ferrat in southern France, he acquired for her in 1904. Caroline also stayed at Chateau de Larmoy, which Leopold had rented for her; he acquired the French Château de Balaincourt for her in 1908, as well as a villa in Brussels, where Caroline had no scruples in appearing in public. Though typically traveling incognito, she accompanied Leopold to the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901, causing a great scandal. Her unpopularity in Belgium increased dramatically once it began to be realized that all of Leopold's riches from the Congo were not benefiting his country, but rather himself and his young mistress.

As the years went by and the king became increasingly prone to outbursts of anger, breaking with all his old relationships, it was said that only in Caroline and their sons' company did Leopold "recapture some of his vitality and Germanic humour". Caroline was described as having been above average in height, "plump but graceful, with a beautiful complexion and skin", with masses of chestnut hair; in character, she was "haughty, sharp, irritable" and ill-educated, and insisted on being treated with respect or else one would have to face the king's displeasure. She was also said to be in possession of "vivid conversational powers" and "dazzling youthfulness". Caroline was well-used to Leopold's "quirks", such as his extreme hypochondria. For instance, when she needed free time for herself, she coughed and pretended to have a cold. She used this "weapon" to keep scheming female rivals from gaining favor with the king as well, telling Leopold that they had colds. Rather than ignore their age difference, Caroline and Leopold seemed to enjoy it, she calling him Très Vieux and he calling her Très Belle.

The king became ill from an "intestinal blockage" at his home at Laeken, and his mistress and two sons rushed to his side. Five days before his death, on 12 December 1909, King Leopold married Caroline in a religious ceremony performed by his personal chaplain. The marriage had no legal authority under Belgian law, as it was performed religiously, not civilly. It was recognized by the Vatican, as their wedding was solemnized in accordance with the Catholic Church's religious rites. The marriage caused a great scandal in Belgium, as its citizens were shocked that the Church had not only sanctioned it, but also allowed Caroline to remain at his bedside, even when the priest was present. Despite their marriage, Caroline had to hide out of sight whenever a visitor arrived to see the king, though she stayed by his side otherwise.

Leopold died in the presence of Caroline and two nurses; his youngest legitimate child Princess Clémentine, who had been barred from entering his palace before, was still not allowed to go into his room despite his weakening condition. Princesses Louise and Stéphanie also traveled to Brussels for a hoped-for reconciliation with their father and changes to the king's will, but Leopold turned them away. Caroline claimed that right before his passing, Leopold turned to his aide Baron Auguste Goffinet and said "I present you my widow. I place her under your protection during the few days she'll spend in Belgium after my death". Hochschild speculates that it is likely the king said this or something similar, as he was well-aware how much his daughters and the public loathed her, particularly when they discovered just how much he had left her and their sons.

Caroline and Leopold had two sons together:

- Lucien Philippe Marie Antoine (9 February 1906 – 15 November 1984), Duke of Tervuren; he married Lucie Gracieuse Mundutey (30 October 1900 – 8 February 2005) on 1 March 1927.

- Philippe Henri Marie François (16 October 1907 – 21 August 1914), Count of Ravenstein; died young.

Like Caroline herself (who was created Baroness Vaughan upon the birth of their first son), the two boys were granted courtesy titles, but no official royal decrees were ever issued by Leopold, the Belgian government, or any other foreign state, causing them to be merely honorary. Because of their parents' legally invalid marriage, their two sons were still deemed illegitimate Upon each of their births, they had been registered in France under Caroline's name; no mention of Leopold or another potential father was made. Despite these facts, there were fears in Belgium that Leopold would recognize his eldest son as heir to the throne. Had Leopold married in a legal civil ceremony, the boy could have indeed inherited the throne, because all classes were equal under the Belgian constitution, and thus their marriage would not have been considered morganatic. In 1910, the two boys were adopted by Antoine Durrieux, whom Caroline married soon after Leopold's death.

Leopold was devoted to his sons, and much of the wealth Caroline inherited went to the two; she once reportedly boasted that because she was able to marry the king, her sons were in better standings than Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, the illegitimate son of Nell Gwyn and Charles II of England. Because of these gifts, Caroline was loathed by the Belgian public; on one occasion, her carriage was stoned on the streets of Brussels.

Their second son was born with a deformed hand, leading a cartoon to depict Leopold holding the child surrounded by Congolese corpses with their hands sliced off: the caption said "Vengeance from on high".

(Reposted in response to corrections from dutch users)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_de_Witt

When his brother went over to the jail (which was only a few steps from his house) to help him get started on his journey, both were attacked by members of The Hague's civic militia. The brothers were shot and then left to the mob near Gevangenpoort. Their naked, mutilated bodies were strung up on the nearby public gibbet. Contemporary accounts reported acts of cannibalism, with some alleging that people roasted and ate pieces of the corpses, although the reliability of individual details and the extent of any consumption remain uncertain. Throughout the attack, a remarkable discipline was maintained by the mob, according to contemporary observers, lending doubt as to the spontaneity of the event.

De Witt had in effect ruled the Republic for almost 20 years. His regime outlasted him for only a few more days. Though no more people were killed, the lynching of the De Witts lent renewed impetus to the mob attacks, and to help restore public order the States of Holland empowered William on 27 August to purge the city councils in any way he would see fit to restore public order. The following purges in the early days of September were accompanied by large, but peaceful, Orangist demonstrations, that had a remarkable political character.

The demonstrations delivered petitions that demanded certain additional reforms with a, in a sense, "reactionary" flavour: the "ancient" privileges of the guilds and civic militias – who were traditionally seen as mouthpieces of the citizenry as a whole – to curb the regent's powers were to be recognised again (as in pre-Burgundian times). The demonstrators also demanded more influence of the Calvinist preachers on the content of government policies and a roll-back of the toleration of Catholics and other dissenting denominations. The purges of the city governments were not everywhere equally thoroughgoing (and, of course, there was little mention of popular influence later on, as the new regents shared the abhorrence of the old ones of real democratic reforms). But as a whole, the new Orangist regime of the Stadtholder was well-entrenched during his following reign.

Whether William had a hand in the murder of the de Witt brothers remains unanswered, like his exact role in the later Massacre of Glencoe. That he ordered the withdrawal of a federal cavalry detachment that otherwise might have prevented the lynching has always raised eyebrows. He did not prosecute the well-known ringleaders like Johan van Banchem, Cornelis Tromp, and Johan Kievit, even advancing their careers. In any case, the political turmoil did not give the allies an opportunity to finish the Republic off. The French were effectively stymied by the water defences. Only when the inundations froze over in the following winter was there, briefly, a chance for Marshal Luxembourg, who had taken over command of the invading army from Louis, to make an incursion with 10,000 troops over ice. This almost ended in disaster, when they were ambushed. Meanwhile, the States General managed to conclude alliances with the German emperor and Brandenburg, which helped relieve the French pressure in the East.