by Rick Beyer
Her words filled Justinian with new resolve. Instead of fleeing, he sent out his imperial guard to fight the rebels, who were eventually crushed.
Justinian and Theodora reigned together for another twenty-one years, and Justinian for seventeen more years after her death.
“MAY I NEVER BE SEPARATED FROM THIS PURPLE.”
— THEODORA, EXPRESSING HER FIERCE DESIRE TO HOLD ON TO HER ROYAL STATUS
Men of senatorial rank were forbidden to marry actresses and dancers, who were considered little better than prostitutes. Justinian had to convince his uncle, the emperor, to repeal that law so he could marry Theodora.
Famed nineteenth-century actress Sarah Bernhardt as Theodora.
732
AN ISLAMIC EUROPE?
Imagine Notre Dame Cathedral as a mosque. It could have happened but for one pivotal battle.
In the year 610, the angel Gabriel came to the Prophet Muhammad in a dream. Thus was Islam born, and it soon spread like wildfire. By the year 732, just one hundred years after Muhammad’s death, an Arab empire with thirty million Muslim subjects stretched from India all the way to Spain. It seemed only a matter of time before all of Europe fell under Islam’s sway.
Some of the most ardent converts were nomadic Moors in North Africa. They were determined to spread the word with their swords. In 732, a mighty army of eighty thousand Moors roared through Spain, crossed the Pyrenees Mountains, and rode into what is now France. “Everything gave way to their scimitars,” wrote one Arab chronicler. The Moors swept away everything in their path, and came within a hundred miles of Paris.
But fate intervened in the form of Charles, king of the Franks. He led his army south from Paris and met the Moors near the town of Tours. In a desperate battle, his foot soldiers beat off attack after attack from the Moorish horsemen, and finally routed the enemy.
The Battle of Tours may have been one of the most important in history. Had the Moors been victorious there, much of Europe might have been dominated by Islam instead of Christianity . . . and the world would be a very different place.
The battle earned King Charles a ferocious nickname. Henceforth he became known as Charles Martel, in English, Charles the Hammer.
“THE TWO GREAT HOSTS OF THE TWO LANGUAGES AND THE TWO CREEDS WERE SET IN ARRAY AGAINST EACH OTHER.”
— AN ARAB CHRONICLER OF THE BATTLE
832
SPOILS OF WAR
How an Islamic invasion led to one of the world’s wonders.
An army of Arabs, Berbers, and Spanish Moors invaded Sicily in 832. They were known to Europeans as the Saracens. Within fifty years they had taken over most of the island, and they ruled it in the name of Islam for two centuries.
In 1004 the Saracens sacked the Italian city-state of Pisa. The citizens there thought of themselves as traders, not fighters, but in response to Saracen attacks they built up a navy to defend themselves. Then they turned the tables on their one-time invaders, undertaking a daring raid on Palermo, the capital of Saracen Sicily. They ravaged the city, sinking many Saracen ships. Only one enemy vessel remained afloat, and it was used to bring back a shipload of plunder.
Back home, the powers that be decided that a portion of the booty should be used to fund the construction of a grand cathedral, which was duly built. A cathedral wouldn’t be complete without a bell tower, and in 1172 a wealthy widow named Berta Di Bernardo left “sixty coins” in her will for the construction of one. Work began immediately but kept getting interrupted by battles with Florence and other Italian city-states. It took almost two centuries to finish it.
Maybe that’s where the problem began. Or maybe it would have happened anyway, what with the structure’s shallow foundation and shifting subsoil. For of course the cathedral bell tower that the Pisans built had a flaw. A flaw that would one day be seen as it’s greatest glory, and make it known around the world.
From an Islamic invasion and a widow’s will: the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
In the summer of 1944, the fate of the tower was in the hands of U.S. Army sergeant Leon Weckstein. The Germans were thought to be using the tower as an observation post. Weckstein was sent forward with orders to call in an artillery barrage if he saw any movement in it. “Had I seen the glitter of one shiny button, even for a second, the tower would have become a pile of gravel,” he said later. Seeing nothing suspicious, however, Weckstein held off giving the order for the tower’s destruction. Eventually, Allied generals decided to spare the landmark.
The tower wasn’t even finished in 1298 when the first commission was formed to look into its stability. Seventeen such commissions have been formed over the centuries, some helping, some hurting. Scientists believe that the most recent commission’s efforts have stabilized the tower for the next few hundred years.
1090
HISTORY’S HITMEN
The group that may have been the world’s first terrorists.
During the eleventh century, a rebellious Islamic sect took command of a mountaintop castle outside of Teheran. They set about trying to win converts, and soon held a chain of castles across the Middle East.
This breakaway group of radical Shiites waged war against the rulers of the Islamic world, chiefly through acts of terrorism and “hits” carried out on political leaders. Their weapon of choice was the dagger, and they murdered princes, scholars, crusaders, and caliphs—whoever were their enemies of the moment.
In many ways, they were the Al-Qaeda of their day. Their specialty was dramatic, high-profile killings—sometimes for the purpose of advancing their agenda, other times to raise money. Members of the group believed that the murders they carried out would earn them immediate and eternal bliss.
For more than 150 years they held sway. In the 1200s, Mongol warriors, led by Genghis Khan’s grandson, Hulagu, captured their mountain strongholds, and their reign of terror was over.
Crusaders brought tales of this faction back to Europe. Their very name evoked shivers of terror, and it is still remembered today. Whenever a political leader is murdered, it evokes the memory of this ancient cult whose methods seem all too modern.
The Assassins.
The word “assassin” is actually a corruption of the group’s original name, the Hashishi. Crusaders wrongly thought that meant the terrorists were hashish eaters, which added to their fearsome reputation. Other stories, mostly myths, also circulated about the sect. One told of how their leader ordered two followers to jump off a tower to their deaths simply to demonstrate to some visitors from the West the total authority he held over his men.
The founder of the Assassins was Hassan-I-Sabbah. Among those he ordered executed were both of his sons, one for drinking wine. His sect could be flexible in its allegiances. They executed Crusader leaders, but also carried out execution attempts on behalf of the Crusaders when it suited them.
The ruins of an Assassin castle in Syria. It was a virtually impregnable fortress with three layers of defensive walls.
1207
THE SWALLOWS OF VOLOHAI
How did cat whiskers and bird wings help Genghis Kahn conquer an empire?
Genghis Khan was a brilliant military leader who united the Mongol tribes and created a fearsome army with himself at its head. In 1207 his men swept across the Gobi Desert and began to attack China. But they were halted at the walled city of Volohai, their dreams of conquest stalled. Here the hard-riding Mongols discovered that their cavalry tactics were virtually useless in attacking a heavily fortified city.
It was time for some outside-the-box thinking, and the great Khan was up to the challenge. He offered to end the siege in exchange for an unusual tribute: one thousand cats and ten thousand swallows. One can imagine the puzzlement of the town’s defenders upon receiving this message, but they decided to comply.
Wrong decision.
When they delivered the tribute, Kahn ordered his men to tie puffs of cotton to the animals’ tails, and then set the cotton on fire. The frightened creatures fled back to their
city. A thousand fires seemed to break out everywhere at the same time, and the citizens of Volohai rushed to fight them.
At that moment, the Mongols attacked!
Volohai fell. And though it would take decades, all of China would follow.
Another strategy of Khan was to march newly captured locals at the front of his ranks. Inhabitants of the area under attack would be hesitant to hurt their neighbors, shielding the Mongols until they got close enough to attack.
His experience at Volohai persuaded Genghis Khan to adopt some of his enemy’s tactics. He began to use siege engines—catapults, towers, and explosives—manned by captured Chinese engineers. These gave his army the ability to attack the fortified walls of Chinese cities.
1281
DIVINE WIND
The storm that saved Japan.
This was war on an unprecedented scale. Kublai Khan had already completed the conquest of China begun by his grandfather, Genghis Khan. Now he had assembled 140,000 warriors to invade the Japanese islands. A fleet of nine thousand ships carried them to Japan. It seemed that nothing could stop them from defeating Japan and absorbing it into the Mongol Empire.
But everything changed when the winds suddenly rose with a fury and a powerful typhoon slammed into the Japanese coast, wreaking havoc on the invasion force. Ships were dashed upon the rocks. Thousands drowned. Chinese warriors who managed to stagger ashore were easy prey for the Japanese, who slaughtered them at will. It is thought that as many as 100,000 of the invaders perished.
Japan was saved. The Japanese people gave credit to the gods, calling the typhoon that wrecked the invasion force “The Divine Wind.”
It was a name that would become familiar in another war centuries later, when it would be adopted by Japanese warriors willing to sacrifice their own lives in a last-ditch bid to turn defeat into victory. They too referred to themselves as “The Divine Wind.” Or in Japanese:
Kamikaze.
This was actually the second time Kublai Khan tried to invade Japan. The first time, seven years before, a smaller invasion force was also stymied by a typhoon that scattered or sunk much of the invasion fleet.
A kamikaze plane attacking the USS Missouri in April of 1945. It hit the Missouri a glancing blow moments after Seaman Len Schmidt snapped this picture, but no one on the ship was hurt. During the last year of World War II, suicide planes sunk 34 U.S. ships and damaged 288. More than four thousand Japanese pilots sacrificed their lives in kamikaze missions.
1287
ARMS RACE
One story that may well be a load of manure.
It began as a “fire drug” developed by Chinese alchemists. It eventually exploded into a fuel for killing that is now nearly a thousand years old.
Gunpowder.
The first known Chinese recipe for gunpowder dates back to 1044. Cannons appeared in China a century or so later, but gun technology didn’t really take off until the weapons made their way to Europe some two hundred years after that. It didn’t take long for the Europeans to turn primitive “bombards,” as early cannons were known, into wonder-weapons that helped them extend their power over much of the globe.
If the Chinese had cannons first, how was it that the Europeans won that early arms race?
The most effective gunpowder is about three-quarters saltpeter, mixed with charcoal and sulfur. And the most common source for saltpeter then was animal dung. But the Chinese had fewer domesticated animals than the Europeans, so saltpeter was harder to come by in China. Made with less saltpeter, Chinese gunpowder was less powerful.
Being comparatively richer in farm animals, and thus saltpeter, the Europeans were able to make more potent gunpowder, which paved the way for better and more effective weapons.
And that’s no bull.
Once cannons were introduced to Europe, every prince wanted his own. But cannons were expensive, and cash in short supply. Then silver was discovered in the mountains of what is now the Czech Republic, near the town of Joachimsthal. The millions of coins minted there were known as thalers—or, as they came to be called in English, “dollars.” The new currency helped make gun manufacturing a growth industry.
During the 1300s, Chinese engineers focused their energies not so much on guns as on bombs. These were launched by catapults and given fantastic names such as “Dropping from Heaven Bomb,” and “Bandit Burning Vision-Confusing Magic Fire-ball.”
“A CHILD’S TOY OF SOUND AND FIRE.”
— ROGER BACON IN 1267, THE EARLIEST KNOWN EUROPEAN REFERENCE TO GUNPOWDER
1314
DANGEROUS GAMES
A trip back to the day when soccer and golf were a threat to national security.
In 1314, England’s King Edward II issued a royal edict banning the game of soccer. It wasn’t because he was morally opposed to the game but because he believed that it’s very popularity was a threat to his realm. He decreed harsh prison terms for anyone found playing.
Other British kings followed suit. Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV issued their own bans. In 1457, King James II of Scotland banned soccer and golf. In 1491, Scottish king James IV issued this decree: “It is statute and ordained that in no place of the Realme there be used Fute-ball, Golf, or uther unprofitable sports.”
So what was it about soccer and golf and “uther” sports that was such a huge threat? The kings considered these activities “unprofitable” because they were distracting men from archery practice, which was essential to the defense of their countries. Without a populace of trained archers, neither England nor Scotland could raise effective armies in times of crisis.
But kings’ edicts ultimately proved no match for men’s passion for sport. The laws were ignored and eventually forgotten. Soccer and golf continued to thrive, despite the kings who saw them as a national-security nightmare.
“WE COMMAND AND FORBID ON BEHALF OF THE KING, ON PAIN OF IMPRISONMENT, SUCH GAMES TO BE USED.”
— EDWARD II, BANNING SOCCER IN 1314
Not all royalty was down on golf. Mary Queen of Scots was an avid golfer. She paid a price for it in 1563, when she was castigated for taking to the links shortly after the murder of her husband (in which she may have had a hand).
1428
GOD IS IN THE DETAILS
Joan of Arc’s name is so familiar that we forget how amazing her story really was.
Joan of Arc was just a seventeen-year-old peasant girl when she led a French army to a momentous victory against the English at Orleans in 1428.
Joan had been hearing voices since the age of thirteen, and they told her that God wanted her to help Charles, the Dauphin (heir to the French throne), defeat the English and be crowned king. What she did to make that happen—in a time when women were regarded as property—beggars the imagination.
1. She talked her uncle into taking her to the local military commander.
2. She convinced the commander to provide a military escort to take her to the Dauphin.
3. She convinced a group of priests that God was really speaking to her, and that she should be allowed to meet with the Dauphin.
4. In less than five minutes she convinced Charles to give her an army.
5. She persuaded grizzled veterans of the war against England that they should take orders from a seventeen-year-old girl. Further, she got them to give up cursing and sex while serving under her.
6. In an age when war meant hand-to-hand combat, even for commanders, Joan survived numerous battles while never wielding a weapon.
7. Not only did she lead her army to victory at Orleans, she also liberated dozens of French towns and defeated another British army at Patay.
Was Joan actually inspired by God? Her soldiers thought so, and so did the Catholic Church, which made her a saint. If divine inspiration didn’t actually play a role, Joan certainly had amazing powers of persuasion and one hell of a run of luck.
“HERE BEGIN THE PROCEEDINGS IN MATTER OF FAITH AGAINST A DEAD WOMAN, JEANNE, COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE MAID.”
Captured by opposition French forces and handed over to the British, Joan was tried for heresy. The trial was rigged and the verdict certain, though the prosecution could not produce a single witness to speak against her. Nonetheless, she was burned at the stake on May 30, 1431.
1452
WEAPONS WIZARD
The machinations of a military maestro.
Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, a sculptor, a scientist, and an engineer. He was also a one-man military industrial complex. Although he described himself as a pacifist, and called war “the most bestial madness,” da Vinci had a lifelong fascination with all things military. He designed an astonishing number of weapons and combat devices, many of them centuries ahead of their time.
In his notebooks can be found designs for a self-propelled armored tank, a giant mechanical crossbow, a machine gun, and a helicopter. He sketched out a grenade with tail fins to be launched by a bowman, and a prefabricated portable bridge that armies could use to cross small steams. Da Vinci even designed a steam-powered cannon, which he claimed could fire a sixty-pound ball a distance of two-thirds of a mile.
While many of Leonardo’s ideas never got off the drawing board, others proved highly practical. During his career da Vinci served as a military engineer to several European warlords, including the notorious Cesare Borgia. He designed fortifications so advanced that nothing like them was seen again for centuries. He created mortars that rained down a shower of stones on enemy heads.
