A Brief History On January 22, 613, in the capital city of Constantinople, Emperor Heraclius of the Byzantine Empire declared his 8 month old son, Constantine, Co-Emperor, or in the vernacular of the day, “Caesar.” Perhaps you recall our related article, “The Beheading of a Byzantine Emperor by Another Byzantine Emperor!?” (October 4, 2013) that details how Heraclius seized power from the reigning Emperor, Phocas, by personally chopping off Phocas’ head! Apparently, Heraclius was not quite done with doing outrageous things, such as making a baby Co-Emperor. Digging Deeper Heraclius had inherited a tough war by seizing power, a war…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI of France was convicted of treason and taken to the guillotine where he was promptly beheaded, just one of the many instances of famous beheadings in a long history of human violence, both intentional and accidental, both by the state as an execution or by criminal action, and even by our animal “friends.” Sometimes, people are even decapitated posthumously for some sort of extra emphasis. Today we list 10 of these cases of human decapitation, both famous and infamous. Execution by beheading has been a long historical means of capital…
A Brief History On January 20, 2020, we take a meandering mid-winter look at some of those things you seldom if ever encounter anymore, things that were once commonplace and even in their time examples of cutting edge technology. We might even throw in a phrase or word that has become passé. We are not saying these things have totally disappeared, just so greatly diminished that seeing or hearing one is an oddity. (See our previous articles on this subject, including: “Things That Did Not Exist (Or Were Different) on July 1, 1957,” “May 16, 1960: 10 More Things That…
A Brief History On January 19, 2020, our cable news stations are abuzz with the latest news and speculation about the impeachment of President Donald Trump. At the heart of the impeachment, is a scandal in which Trump is accused of holding back hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid from the Ukrainian government unless that same government announced an investigation into former US Vice President Joseph Biden and his son, Hunter. (All alleged, of course.) Between the ongoing war with Russia, which stole (they “annexed” or “reclaimed”) the region known as the Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and…
A Brief History On January 15, 1947, Betty Bersinger was walking with her 3 year old daughter near Leimert Park in Los Angeles, California at about 10 in the morning when they came upon the naked, dead body of a young woman. The body had been cut in half and mutilated, and soon became famous as “The Black Dahlia.” Betty at first thought the object on the ground was a discarded mannequin, but quickly realized it was instead a human being! Betty did the right thing, which is to immediately run to the nearest house to use the telephone to…