Historical oddities.
Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 9:40 am
A thread for people who like quirky little stories from the edges of history. They help us remember and can be great fun.
Britian was invaded finally by the Romans in 43 AD by the emporer Claudius, but it was not the first time that invasion had been planned or even attempted. The great Julius Ceaser himself first dipped his toe into the waters with an exploratory sortie in the last years of the first century BC, then Ceaser Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC all of which were cancelled.
Perhaps the most notable invasion that never happened though was that planned by the ......unprdictable [shall we say], Caligula in 40 AD. He gathered 20,000 men at the English Channel in preparation to invade and then changed his mind and had them collect sea-shells instead. Laugh at him we might but think on; how much better might things have been had not a few more leaders over the course of history taken his example.
Britian was invaded finally by the Romans in 43 AD by the emporer Claudius, but it was not the first time that invasion had been planned or even attempted. The great Julius Ceaser himself first dipped his toe into the waters with an exploratory sortie in the last years of the first century BC, then Ceaser Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC all of which were cancelled.
Perhaps the most notable invasion that never happened though was that planned by the ......unprdictable [shall we say], Caligula in 40 AD. He gathered 20,000 men at the English Channel in preparation to invade and then changed his mind and had them collect sea-shells instead. Laugh at him we might but think on; how much better might things have been had not a few more leaders over the course of history taken his example.
I seem to remember the 'Kellogs' empire has some kind of strange back-story to it as well; what is it about cereal manufacturers?