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Historical Moments On this day

Le petit caporal

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Question is, which side should Imperial Mexico and France have attacked? Union or Confederate? I've thought about this scenario myself; curious to hear your opinion.

The winning side obviously
Imagine what the history books would of been written if it was the case...?
 

Crawdad

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The winning side obviously
Imagine what the history books would of been written if it was the case...?

Smart move. Most people if asked would say that they (France/Mexico) should have ganged up on the South (losing side), but you're not most folks.

And you're right. Declaring war on the CSA only gets you Texas, eventually, and effectively gets you in a war with both sides. Declaring war on the Union could mean getting California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, part of Colorado. If the Brits throw in as well-- and they'd have reason to-- you've got naval supremacy.

Logistically, it's a tough row to hoe if the English don't throw in. Of course, your chickens really come home to roost in 1914. No American intervention in the Great War might mean no second world war, since there's a possibility of a white peace. It's definitely one of my favorite what if's in history.

My other favorite is if Teddy Roosevelt runs as a Republican in 1912. That's a fun one.
 

Crawdad

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Pancho Villa gets my vote...for determination
Lazy arsed wee kunts that yous are

Yeah, but he was born too late to really have a chance to pull off what we're talking about (reacquisition of Mexico's lost territory). By the time Villa is at the height of his power, the US is an industrialized country of 100 million people; Mexico is by, contrast, an agrarian country of only 15 million people, and on top of that, they're in the middle of a 3 way civil war. Plus, the southwest by that point is heavily populated (~7 million), largely by Anglo Americans, who aren't going to like being annexed by Mexico one bit. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass. I don't like his chances.

Hell, in February of 1917 the Germans tried to get Mexico to agree to declare war on the US if the US entered World War 1. Mexico did consider the offer, but declined it because of the above reasons . Also, the Brits intercepted the telegram and told the US, which kind of blew up in Germanys face when the US did, in fact, enter the war a week after Germany stupidly admitted that the telegram was authentic. Part of the American public had previously believed said telegram to be a British hoax to entice the US into entering the war. And then Germany sealed their fate by telling on themselves, the muppets.

Your earlier scenario (Maximilian and Nappy the Third attacking the Union while they're distracted) is probably Mexico's last chance to get their land back, at least for a while.
 

Le petit caporal

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Today is Saint Andrews day and explains why we had bats flying over the forum the last couple of days... might explain later
For the Andy's of this world ...hip, hip, hurry...aye, doon tae the off license store (am running out of beer) COVID obliged
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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Sorry, the time change:

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Saint Andrew's Day, also known as Andermas, is the feast day of Andrew the Apostle. It is celebrated on 30 November. Saint Andrew's Day is Scotland's official national day. It has been a national holiday in Romania since 2015.
 

Le petit caporal

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Saint Andrews was implemented to remplace Samain, or haloween as by adopted by l'Amérique, a celt tradition and by pagans, of celebrating our dead
'In God we trust"
once yer deid, yer deid !
amen!
can go on and on, but what would be the point?
USA invented tradition and thing's, like Santa?
Or, did i just make this up on my ane ?
 
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Joseph Cosgrove

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On this day the 12th of February 1947
Christian Dior brings out his "New Look" collection.
I know that it's not legion based, so may not come to Big Boy's approval, but he was French... ;). You can get one of the Dior handbags here in Thailand for about 3 euros.
In 1946 Marcel Boussac, a successful entrepreneur known as the richest man in France, invited Dior to design for Philippe et Gaston, a Paris fashion house launched in 1925. Dior refused, wishing to make a fresh start under his own name rather than reviving an old brand. On 8 December 1946, with Boussac's backing, Dior founded his fashion house. The actual name of the line of his first collection, presented on 12 February 1947, was Corolle (literally the botanical term corolla or circlet of flower petals in English), but the phrase New Look was coined for it by Carmel Snow, the editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar. Dior's designs were more voluptuous than the boxy, fabric-conserving shapes of the recent World War II styles, influenced by the rations on fabric. He was a master at creating shapes and silhouettes; Dior is quoted as saying "I have designed flower women." His look employed fabrics lined predominantly with percale, boned, bustier-style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats that made his dresses flare out from the waist, giving his models a very curvaceous form.

Initially, women protested because his designs covered up their legs, which they had been unused to because of the previous limitations on fabric. There was also some backlash to Dior's designs due to the amount of fabrics used in a single dress or suit. Of the “New Look”, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel said the following, “Look how ridiculous these women are, wearing clothes by a man who doesn’t know women, never had one, and dreams of being one.” During one photo shoot in a Paris market, the models were attacked by female vendors over this profligacy, but opposition ceased as the wartime shortages ended. The "New Look" revolutionized women's dress and reestablished Paris as the centre of the fashion world after World War II.

In 1955, the 19-year-old Yves Saint Laurent became Dior's design assistant. Christian Dior later met with Yves Saint Laurent's mother, Lucienne Mathieu-Saint Laurent, in 1957 to tell her that he had chosen Saint Laurent to succeed him at Dior. She said at the time she had been confused by the remark, as Dior was only 52 at the time.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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And on the same but 20 years later (not connected :love::ROFLMAO:):
1967 Keith Richards, Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful busted for drugs.


37, if any of you are thinking of joining the legion at that age, get your skates on! I won't promise you a ride through Paris in a sports car, the only think that I can promise you is blood, toil, sweat and tears &, perhaps, a défilé down the Champs Elysée ;) .
 
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Joseph Cosgrove

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On this day in 1895 a play hits the theaters in London nothing better to do cropped.png WTF has that got to do the Legion, I can hear Big Boy getting into a frenzy about :eek:. And what about these floating hearts, what happened to the bats?

Jack Worthing, the play’s protagonist, is a pillar of the community in Hertfordshire, where he is guardian to Cecily Cardew, the pretty, eighteen-year-old granddaughter of the late Thomas Cardew, who found and adopted Jack when he was a baby. In Hertfordshire, Jack has responsibilities: he is a major landowner and justice of the peace, with tenants, farmers, and a number of servants and other employees all dependent on him. For years, he has also pretended to have an irresponsible black-sheep brother named Ernest who leads a scandalous life in pursuit of pleasure and is always getting into trouble of a sort that requires Jack to rush grimly off to his assistance. In fact, Ernest is merely Jack’s alibi, a phantom that allows him to disappear for days at a time and do as he likes. No one but Jack knows that he himself is Ernest. Ernest is the name Jack goes by in London, which is where he really goes on these occasions—probably to pursue the very sort of behavior he pretends to disapprove of in his imaginary brother.

There will be a special Valentine's day prize for anyone who can guess the Playwriter and it's name.
 

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On this day in 1895 a play hits the theaters in London View attachment 6729 WTF has that got to do the Legion, I can hear Big Boy getting into a Frenzy about :eek:. And what about these floating hearts, what happened to the bats?
Man its so annoying... Different flying objects, shapes and animals popping out from time to time.

Now imagine someone coming to this form with knowledge about the Legion only from pop-culture expecting to see battle hardened, strong, tough man... been through ruthless training ... seen many battlefields... many of them with criminal background... men you don't wont to f... with and then, see this !?! Flying flying hearts. :) :D :)
 
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Friday, 16 February 1646.

The Battle of Torrington in the town of Great Torrington in Devon.


This was the last major battle of the first English Civil War. Its outcome led to the collapse of the Royalist cause in the west of England and helped to bring about the eventual defeat and execution of King Charles 1.
 
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Funeral Rites For Missing Former Légionnaire Observed This Week.

A homecoming service was conducted for former Légionnaire, the late Mr Inia Tabutabu (33) on Monday February 15th with almost a dozen fellow Fiji born Légionnaires amongst other servicemen and rugby players in attendance.

Mr Tabutabu was reported missing in May 2020. He last corresponded with his partner L.Nukuvuka online while he was on a campsite in Valle de la Barousse.

She said she feared for Mr Tabutabu’s life because he had not been eating for a few days before his disappearance and was going through a tough time.

Mr Tabutabu's body was found early December 2020.

Inia worked at Airbus as a Quality Service Agent for five months before his contract expired close to the end of 2019 and had been traveling around France.

He has spent more than a decade in Europe.
 

Joseph Cosgrove

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What were they thinking?

February 22, 1797


In 1797, the European continent was engaged in a struggle with France, which had deposed its monarchy following the French Revolution in 1787. This first conflict, between 1792 and 1797, consisted of a lightly-allied coalition (now known as the First Coalition) intervened against France for various political and territorial reasons.

By 1797, the Coalition's advances into France had been repelled by the French, who had moved further into territory surrounding the country. French general Lazar Hoche devised a plan to invade mainland Britain in this late phase of the conflict. The idea was to attack in support of the Society of United Irishmen (a revolutionary republican organization allied with France.) by landing a diversionary force in Britain, and then a main force in Ireland.

Two forces (the main one in Ireland and the second one in Britain) were forced to cancel their attack due to inclement weather. The third went ahead, landing near Fishguard in Wales, on February 22, 1797. These forces had the aim of taking Bristol. The French troops consisted of 1,400 troops from the Black Legion. Discipline among irregular troops collapsed almost immediately upon landing as they went off to loot nearby settlements.

French morale was low; many soldiers had simply vanished during the night, and the local Welsh population was far more hostile than they had expected. British commander Lord Cawdor arrived with around 600 men on February 23, but held off attacking immediately. The French commanders believed the British had many more troops and, with no real prospect of escape or success, decided to surrender at 2pm on February 24, 1797.

Most of the French invasion force and its commander, William Tate, were imprisoned until they were sent back to France in a prisoner exchange in 1798.

The attack at Fishguard is the last time hostile forces landed on British soil and is often referred to as the 'last invasion of Britain.'
 
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