Saturday, December 20, 2008

I, for one, welcome our new Generalissimo Overlord

On this day in AD 69, Roman general Titus Flavius Vespasianus entered Rome, becoming emperor and putting to an end the "year of the four emperors" which saw short-lived rule by:
Galba (succeeded Nero)
Otho
Vitellius
Now the Romans hadn't conquered pretty much everything in sight by not being organized, and four emperors in a single year didn't really set a new standard for organization. Vespasian was from the old school of no-nonsense you-have-30-seconds-to surrender-or-we'll-kill-you-all-now-it's-29-seconds Roman commanders, and so he pretty much put a stop to the multiple emperor foolishness, to general relief.

As an example of his take-no-prisoners attitude, he had the Colosseum built during his reign. On the site of Nero's old Golden Palace. New boss in town, different than the old boss.

And oh yeah, in 1803, the United States purchased Louisiana from the Emperor of France, setting up a whole bunch of folks for misery during hurricane Katrina. I blame George W. Bush.

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