On This Day - January 2nd

On this day in the year 366 of the common era (CE), the Alamanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes who lived in the area of modern day Switzerland, southwestern Germany and the Alsace, cross the frozen Rhine to invade the Roman Empire a century later they were conquered and displaced by the Clovis of the Franks, another tribe of Germans who gave their name to modern France

On this day in 1492 CE, Muhammad XII, the last Emir of Granada, surrenders the city to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, ending the Reconquista and centuries of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula. Ferdinand and Isabella had inaugurated the Spanish Inquisition fourteen years earlier in 1478 CE, this period marks the beginning of the forced expulsion or conversion of Jews and Muslims in Spain and all Spanish Lands.

Four hundred and eighty-four years later the first Jewish baby is born in Spain since the expulsion of 1492.

On this day in 1570 CE, Tsar Ivan IV, “Ivan the Terrible” begins his march to Novgorod and a massacre ensues.

On this day in 1800 CE, the free African American community of Philadelphia petitions US Congress to abolish the slave trade. One hundred and twenty-three years later the Ku Klux Klan launches a surprise attack on black residential area Rosewood Florida, eyewitnesses report that as many as one-hundred and fifty people were killed, though the official number given was eight, and that number included two men who were perpetrators of the attack. After the massacre the town was abandoned and disappeared, compensation was not awarded for these crimes until 1995, no one was held criminally liable.

On this day in 1969, Australian Rupert Murdoch gains control of the 'News of the World.'

Be warned, as a people we are easily led into conflict and war; this is true even though as individuals we are far more likely to abhor violence and celebrate peace…we are susceptible to coercion, propaganda and dulcet tones that flow from a liar’s lips.

Ordinary people, men and women who are mothers and fathers, who are brothers and sisters and cousins too us all, are starved and murdered, tortured and exiled, by other people like themselves, who seven days out of seven would all rather sit down together and share a mealthan be forced to play some despots game.

We rarely hear their stories, they left few letters behind to establish their legacy…all of those conscripts forced to march with a spear in their hand. Instead we get the relics of the tyrants whose evil machinations are held up as examples of humanity at its best, where gross ambition is disguised as the fulfillment of destiny, or some master plan.