Fortuna

Fors Fortuna was the Roman celebration of Fortuna, the goddess of fortune, and the personification of luck. I do not know if that was intended to encompass both good and bad fortune, or good and bad luck, and don't feel like researching it. I thought, cynic that I am (see Ambrose Bierce, below) that I would let a cursory examination of history clarify the matter for me. First, however, I feel that we owe it to the goddess to toast her to the accompaniment of an instrumental version of Carl Orff's Oh Fortuna from Carmina Burana

Skimming lightly through today in history I see a whole metric ton of battles, and not merely those everyday battles that happen, somewhere in the world every damn day of the year, but famous and/or allegedly decisive ones. That in itself is perhaps a bit informative, but perhaps a more detailed examination will tell more.

On 6/24 in 217 BCE, a guy named Hannibal pulled off the largest ambush in history, at Lake Trasimene, conjoined with a turning movement by an entire army, hitherto unheard of and probably not done since. His forces simply annihilated Gaius Flaminus advancing Roman army. So what did this fortell or accomplish. The Romans bobbed and weaved, ducked and dodged and avoided him while he ravaged the countryside (largely in Apulia, iirc, but don't quote me) until the citizenry got pissed, sacked their ruler and installed joint consuls with the fortitude to go attack this Hannibal person. They did, in 216 BCE, at a place called Cannae. Not to be outdone by his previous victory, Hannibal handed them an ass kicking such as was never done before and probably not ever since and also pulled off a double envelopment of an entire army with an entire army. Hannibal 2, Romans 0. But this, the second Punic War, dragged on and on and on and the Romans eventually recovered, rebuilt and sailed off to Cartago where where they handed Hannibal a decisive defeat at Zama, forcing a Carthaginian surrender and a very punitive peace treaty. But ... Mit Elephantine!

1314 brought us Bannockburn, and the subsequent perennial celebration of Bannockburn Day . The Scots, under Robert the Bruce, won a decisive victory over the British. The war (the first war of Scottish Independence) still lasted another 14 years. Kindly note that this was the FIRST war of Scottish Independence, and we'll just let it go at that.

Ah, but 1340 saw the Battle of Sluys at the very beginning of the 100 Years War. In a resounding decisive victory the British annihilated the French fleet and gained control over the channel for the rest of the war, all 120 or so years thereof. Be that as it may, they could not stop French raids on the coast and on their shipping, though it allow the British to besiege Tournai, a siege which failed. In the end, Generations in the future, France won, but they did have help, help from no less a personage than God himself in the form of St. Joan, the Maid of Orleans. Hardly a fair fight, wot?

I'll keep this one brief, on 6/24/1812, Napoleon Bonaparte crossed the Neman River, beginning his invasion of Mother Russia. The full 1812 Overture is here: https://youtu.be/VbxgYlcNxE8, the finale follows

In 1821 Simon Bolivar's Venezuelan troops hammered the Spanish Royalists at The Battle of Carabobo guaranteeing the independence of Venezuela from Spain and the perennial celebration of Battle of Carabobo Day in Venezuela.

The Battle of Solferino; June 24,1859. THIS is the one battle to remember. Colloquially known as the :Battle of the Three Kings", the last major battle in world history where each army was led by the ruler of the nation from which it was drawn. Napoleon III led the French and teamed up with Victor Emmanuel II in command of the Sardinians against the Austrians under Emperor Franz Joseph I. Can you imagine Trump, or even Larry Summers leading an assault on a position manned by troops under Putin's direct command? Whooee! At any event, this battle indirectly resulted in the Geneva Conventions and the creation of the International Red Cross. Oh yes, the Austrians lost.

And now for something completely different. The first TV western, Hopalong Cassidy, starring William Boyd first aired on June 24, 1949. We'll return to this later.

On the other hand, there were a few birthdays, to say the least:

Ambrose Bierce was born on 6/24/1842. He actually lived for a little while on the tail end of the actual wild west, out in San Francisco. A short story writer, essayist, journalist and smart ass, best known for The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and
. As foreshadowed above, nicknamed "bitter Bierce" and decried as a cynic, he defined "cynic" thusly in The Devil's Dictionary

CYNIC
-n.

A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision.

He disappeared off into Chihuahua in 1913 to check out the Mexican Revolution and was rumored to be traveling with the rebels.

Ten years later, on 6/24/1942 there were two noteworthy artists born, Arthur Brown, a singer and songwriter and Mick Fleetwood, a drummer. They performed no known duets, so, singly -

June 24, 1944, Jeff Beck, just another Yardbird

And, with apologies to Hopalong Cassidy, the greatest Buckaroo of them all, actor and director Peter Weller, born 6/24/ 1947.

And we lost some folks too. With further apologies to Hopalong Cassidy, those early TV cowboys were just too squeaky clean in every regard, On 6/24/2014 we lost Eli Wallach, who played such real down to earth cowboys as Calvera and Tuco.

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So there we have it, may Fortuna smile upon you. Be well and have a good one.

It's an open thread, so have at it. The floor is yours
.

EDIT: Way too many damn typos