debor044

American interest in ‘Norte’ (North) Mexico, what would become the nation and later American state of Texas, dated back to the Mexican struggle for independence from Spain, which stalled Moses Austin plans for colonization of the fertile Texas river valley. Known as the first empresario (a settler bound by contract to lead other settlers and homesteader parties to the territory), Austin was unable to complete his vision of a new settlement in what would become Texas , dieing in 1821 before he could see the territory himself. Stephen F. Austin It was his son second son Stephen F. Austin (b.1793-1836), who received his fathers’ grant for colonization in Southeastern Texas, though it is long handed down that the younger Austin was reluctant to travel to Texas . The first settlers, the “Old Three Hundred” remain an enduring symbol of the founding of Texas and in a sense represent the spirit of those who still reside there today. Though it is now believed that the beloved ‘Ole Three Hundre...

Of the great wars that the Roman Republic & its Legions fought, one of the most memorable and culturally importantly in the modern age is the revolt of Spartacus and his gladiators in 73-71 BC. Spartacus and his diverse rebel legion of slaves, prisoners-of-war, peasants, and former gladiators terrorized Southern Italy in a bloody revolt, eventually threatening the security and the pride of Rome itself. Known as the Gladiator War   and also the T hird Servile War   in relation to the two other preceding major slave revolts in Sicily 135-132 BC and in 104-110 BC, the war which Spartacus brought to the doorstep of Rome itself was significant because not only was it fought on the Roman mainland, it threatened the existence (in theory) of the Roman Empire. Indeed one of the most sacred institutions of Roman culture up to this point in history of Rome, the gladiator, threatened to destroy its own creator and benefactor in one armed slave revolt. A 19th centur...