Today in History 03/10/17

Illustration of the Roman naval victory over the Carthaginians at Mylae during the First Punic War (© North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy)(241 BCE) Romans defeat Carthage to end the First Punic War
Two decades of conflict between Mediterranean goliaths end as the fleet of the Roman Republic captures or destroys half of the Carthage fleet. Nevertheless, two more wars between the powers are on the horizon.
The First Punic War was the first of three wars fought between Ancient Carthage and the Roman Republic. For more than 20 years, the two powers struggled for supremacy, primarily on the Mediterranean island of Sicily and its surrounding waters, and also in North Africa. The war signaled the beginning of a strategic transformation in the western Mediterranean. Carthage began the war as the great sea-power of the western Mediterranean, while Rome had but a small fleet of fighting ships. Over the course of the war, Rome built up a powerful navy, developed new naval tactics, and strategically used their navy, army, and local political alliances on Sicily in order to achieve a victory that expelled the Carthaginians from Sicily. The First Punic War ended with a treaty between Rome and Carthage, but years of bloodshed were to follow in the Second and Third Punic Wars before the strategic issue of power in the western Mediterranean was resolved in favor of Rome, and in the total destruction of Carthage.
Start date: 264 BC
End date: 241 BC

wiki/First_Punic_War
Postcard depicting the French Foreign Legion, Morocco, circa 1900 (© Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)(1831) French Foreign Legion is founded
France’s King Louis Philippe establishes a new military unit that he hopes will corral mercenaries and misbehavers, attract foreign fighters, and bolster his North African colonial expansion.
The French Foreign Legion is a military service branch of the French Army established in 1831, unique because it was created for foreign nationals willing to serve in the French Armed Forces.
Flag :Flag of the French Foreign Legion
Insignia :Grenade Legion Insignia

wiki/French_Foreign_Legion
General Ulysses S. Grant poses at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in June 1864 during the Civil War (© AP)(1864) Lincoln promotes Grant as head of Union armies
Hoping to improve upon a string of mediocre commanders in the Union’s fight against the Confederacy in the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln promotes Ulysses S. Grant to lieutenant general of the US Army. Grant’s aggressive fighting strategy will prove decisive in helping to secure the Union’s victory.
Ulysses S. Grant was the most acclaimed Union general during the American Civil War and was twice elected President. Grant began his military career as a cadet at the West Point military academy in 1839. After graduation he went on to serve with distinction as a lieutenant in the Mexican–American War. Grant was a keen observer of the war and learned battle strategies serving under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. After the war Grant served at various posts especially in the Pacific Northwest; he retired from the service in 1854. On the onset of the Civil War in 1861, Grant was working as a clerk in his father’s leather goods store in Galena, Illinois.
Born: Apr 27, 1822 · Point Pleasant, OH
Died: Jul 23, 1885 · Wilton, NY
Education: United States Military Academy
Highlights
  • 1861: Going on the offensive, Grant took 3,000 Union troops by boat and attacked the Confederate Army commanded by General Gideon J. Pillow positioned at Camp Johnson in Belmont, Missouri on November 7, 1861.

  • 1862: Resolved to take control of the Mississippi River from the Confederacy, President Lincoln and the Union Army and Navy were determined to take the Confederate stronghold Vicksburg in 1862.

  • 1862: In early March 1862, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck ordered Grant’s Army of the Tennessee to move southward up the Tennessee River to attack Confederate railroads.

  • 1863: In January 1863, McClernand and Sherman’s combined XIII and XV corps, the Army of the Mississippi, successfully defeated the Confederates at Arkansas Post.

  • 1863: Adm. David D. Porter’s navy ships had previously run the guns at Vicksburg on April 16, 1863, enabling Union troops to be transported to the east side of the Mississippi.

  • 1863: When Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was defeated at the Chickamauga in September 1863, the Confederates, led by Braxton Bragg, besieged the Union Army of the Cumberland in Chattanooga.

wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant_and_the_American_Civil_War
Tibetans gather during an uprising against Chinese rule March 10, 1959 in front of the Potala Palace (former home of the Dalai Lama) in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet (Xizang) (© AFP/Getty Images)(1959) Massive uprising in Chinese-occupied Tibet
Tensions come to a head after 10 years of Chinese occupation, as some 300,000 Tibetans, fearful that the Dalai Lama is about to be kidnapped, surround his palace in Lhasa to protect him.
The 1959 Tibetan Uprising or 1959 Tibetan Rebellion began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Area, which had been under the effective control of the People’s Republic of China since the Seventeen Point Agreement in 1951. Armed conflict between Tibetan rebels and the People’s Liberation Army had started in 1956 in the Kham and Amdo regions, which had been subjected to socialist reform. The guerrilla warfare later spread to other areas of Tibet and lasted through 1962.
Start date: Mar 10, 1959
End date: Mar 21, 1959

wiki/1959_Tibetan_uprising
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