June 30

1966: The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded. NOW was founded at the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women by 28 women. These included Shirley Chisholm and Betty Friedan. In October an additional 21 men and women also joined and were credited with founder status. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 contained eleven sections or Titles. Title VII of the Act (Subchapter VI of Chapter 21) prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. This applied to any employer who has 15 or more employees for each working day. There are some exceptions, but they are very well defined and must be met in all criteria.

The law was not being enforced and women were still being flagrantly discriminated against in the workplace. The Third National Conference was unable to issue a resolution to recommend the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) address the situation vis a vis women’s employment. The women gathered in Betty Friedan’s hotel room to form a new and hopefully more active organization. It was felt the women’s movement needed a pressure group akin to the NAACP’s efforts on behalf of Americans of color. The focus of NOW was to mobilize women to combat discrimination and promote full equality for both sexes. There was a hope that women’s college enrollments would increase in both undergrad and graduate level disciplines.

NOW hoped to have fewer women employed in “pink collar” jobs and get them into a more skilled work environment, commensurate with their skill levels. Equal pay for equal work was also an issue. Springing from the Civil Rights movement, NOW was also one of the first women’s movements to include the issues of black women in their efforts. Betty Friedan and Pauli Murray authored NOW’s Statement of Purpose in 1966. Friedan had scribbled some notes on a napkin and the two women fleshed out their concerns and goals for the group. The overall purpose was to ensure women were treated as a full human beings with all the rights and responsibilities accorded to any adult male, supported by the law’s ability to enact redress for infringements.

In 1968, NOW created their own Bill of Rights with eight rights they wanted for all Americans, regardless of gender. One of their goals was to pass and Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the US Constitution. First brought forth as an idea in 1923, nearly a hundred years later, this Amendment has not passed and women’s rights are less secure than other classes of US citizens. The ERA was finally passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The deadline for the required number of states to ratify it passed without the requisite 38 states approval. The 35 states who ratified the ERA were not enough. Five states had ratified it and then rescinded their vote. Nine states passed it in one chamber of the state legislature, but not both. Six states simply defeated the amendment.

Men weren’t really the enemy – they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.

A woman is handicapped by her sex, and handicaps society, either by slavishly copying the pattern of man’s advance in the professions, or by refusing to compete with man at all.

We need to see men and women as equal partners, but it’s hard to think of movies that do that. When I talk to people, they think of movies of forty-five years ago! Hepburn and Tracy!

Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength. – all from Betty Friedan

June 29

1956: The US passes the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956. It was also called the Highway Construction Act and the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act. Public Law 84-627 was signed by President Dwight D Eisenhower and began a nationwide road improvement. The law set aside $25 billion (about $225 billion today) in order to build 41,000 miles of the Interstate Highway System. The time frame given in the law was ten years. It was the largest public works project in American history up to that time. The “defense” in the short title was a nod to the funding since some of the cost was diverted from defense funding. It was also to give most US Air Force bases a direct link to the system.

Monies were put into the Highway Trust Fund for federal spending. This paid for 90% of the cost with each state making up the other 10% for the roads built within their borders. It was expected funds would be generated by new taxes placed on fuel, cars and trucks, and tires. The federal portion of the funding had come from taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel. The Highway Trust Fund continues to collect taxes (18.4 cents per gallon of gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel) as well as excise taxes. It is divided into two accounts, one for road construction and surface transportation projects and a second one for supporting mass transit. The original fund was created on this day with the mass transit portion beginning in 1982. Taxes on fuel brings in over $30 billion per year.

In the early 1900s, road construction was undertaken locally and roads were built as needed by the communities needing them. In 1916, the first federal acts was passed in order to bring some cohesiveness to the highway system, but World War I interfered and little was done and the project’s end date came with little improvement overall. Another act was immediately passed allocating more funds to be matched by the states. General John Pershing created a map of what he and the US Army considered to be necessary interconnected primary highways. Some roads were built, others were not. Eisenhower had had to cross the nation on the old highways in 1919 and remembered with dread the difficulty of the trip. He became a champion for creating a true system of roads.

Missouri claims to have the first three contracts under the new law and they included upgrades to US Route 66 and what is today called Interstate 44, they also began work on US 40 (now I-70). Kansas claims to have been the first state to start paving roadways. They had preliminary work done prior to the signing of the bill and paving began on September 26, 1956 on what is now I-70. Pennsylvania also makes a claim for their Turnpike to be considered the first Interstate Highway. On October 1, 1940 a stretch of 162 miles of highway opened between Irwin and Carlisle. Although only to run for ten years, Nebraska was the first state to complete all of its mainline interstate highways – in 1974. Although it was proclaimed complete in 1992, both I-95 and I-70 are not continuous paths.

You come to Washington, there’s a rail bill, there’s a highway bill, there’s a aviation bill. But when you go home, there’s an airport, there’s a highway, there’s a rail, there’s transit. It all has to work together. – Anthony Foxx

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything. – Charles Kuralt

I’ve seen every highway in the United States, and they all look alike to me. – Loretta Lynn

When I’m driving the highway by myself is when I write best. – Willie Nelson

June 28

1914: Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria dies. He was born in Graz, Austria, the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria in 1863. When he was 11, his cousin Duke Francis V of Modena, died and left Franz Ferdinand his heir on the condition he add Este to his name and with this done, he became the wealthiest man in Austria. Another cousin, Crown Prince Rudolf committed suicide in 1889 and so Karl Ludwig was next in line for the throne of Austria-Hungary. When Karl died of typhoid fever in 1896, his son, Franz Ferdinand was next in line for the throne.

Like most Hapsburg males, Franz Ferdinand joined the Austro-Hungarian Army at a young age and was rapidly promoted (lieutenant at age fourteen, captain at twenty-two, colonel at twenty-seven, and major general at thirty-one). The years 1892-93 were filled with a trip around the globe and soon after his return, in 1894, he met and fell in love with Countess Sophie Chotek in Prague. Marrying into the family meant one had to have royal lineage and Sophie did not meet the requirements. In 1899, Franz Ferdinand finally got permission from Emperor Franz Joseph to marry but only on the condition that their children not be in line for the throne and Sophie would not share her husband’s rank, title, or privileges.

The couple married on July 1, 1900 with little family in attendance as they boycotted the wedding. Sophie was given titles through the years, but not to match her husband’s title of Archduke. The couple had one daughter and two sons, with a third son stillborn. Franz Ferdinand’s political stance was generally liberal, unless you subscribe to those who typified him as Catholic conservative. He was vocal in his opinion of Hungarian nationalism as a revolutionary threat to the Hapsburg dynasty. While he was in support of other Slavic people, his disagreements with Hungarians was known. He warned that taking a harsh stand against Serbia in their own disagreements with Hungary, would lead to conflict with Russia.

On this day, while in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Archduke and his wife were together when someone threw a grenade at their car. It missed and hurt those in the car behind. They continued on their tour and their driver took a wrong turn. This brought them into the path of Gavrilo Princip, 19, and part of a group called the Black Hand. Princip was able to shoot first Sophie and then Franz Ferdinand. Both would die of their wounds and the ensuing fight over who would be responsible for the investigation and trial for guilty parties would eventually lead to the start of World War I.

[Sophie] could never share [Franz Ferdinand’s] rank … could never share his splendours, could never even sit by his side on any public occasion.

There was one loophole … his wife could enjoy the recognition of his rank when he was acting in a military capacity. Hence, he decided, in 1914, to inspect the army in Bosnia.

There, at its capital Sarajevo, the Archduke and his wife could ride in an open carriage side by side …

Thus, for love, did the Archduke go to his death. – all from AJP Taylor

June 27

1971: Fillmore East closes. Wulf Wolodia Grajonca was born in 1931 in Berlin, Germany. The family had emigrated from Russia before the rise of the Nazis and Wulf’s father died two days after his only son’s birth. Because of rising animosity toward Jews in Germany, his mother put him and one sister into an orphanage. They were able to get to France in an exchange of Christian children for Jewish children. France fell to Germany but Wulf was able to be snuck out of France and was brought to America. He was one of the One Thousand Children – mostly Jewish children who were able to escape Hitler’s European Holocaust. Wulf’s mother died at Auschwitz but four of his sisters survived. His youngest sister died during the trip to flee France and never reached the US.

Wulf was placed in a foster home in the Bronx and changed his name to Bill Graham, lost his German accent, and tried to assimilate against taunts of being a Nazi because of his German accent. He graduated from City College as an “efficiency expert”. He was drafted into the US Army and served in the Korean War, winning a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. After discharge, he went to work in the Catskill Mountain resorts during their heyday. Here he learned the skills needed for his life’s career, that of rock star promoter. He left New York and moved to San Francisco and organized his first concert, a benefit to help another artist who had been arrested on obscenity charges. He was on his way to promoting ever bigger names and opening venues in which to host concerts.

He opened his venue in the west, but eventually moved back “home” to New York City. A theater at 105 Second Avenue was originally built as a Yiddish theater in 1925. It went through several iterations in the next half century. Graham took it over in 1967 when the building was in disrepair with a small marquee and façade hiding the seating capacity of nearly  2,700. He named it Fillmore East, a compliment to his existing Fillmore in San Francisco. It opened on March 8, 1968 and was quickly a hot spot, called The Church of Rock and Roll. He often had two show, triple bill concerts several nights a week with acts alternating between the two coasts.

Because the acoustics were excellent, many top acts used Fillmore East to record live albums. The Allman Brothers recorded three albums as did Miles Davis and the Jefferson Airplane, while the Grateful Dead recorded four. Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon and Yoko Ono each recorded live there once along with a host of other bands. The music industry was changing and there was large growth in the concert industry so Graham closed his East venue on this day with a stellar performance by several big names. He was one of the biggest rock promoters in the business and died in a helicopter crash, returning from a Huey Lewis and the News concert in 1991 at the age of 60. His legacy continues at part of Live Nation, run by former employees and his sons.

Rock and roll is here to stay. – Neil Young

You see, rock and roll isn’t a career or hobby – it’s a life force. It’s something very essential. – The Edge

Music, Rock and Roll music especially, is such a generational thing. Each generation must have their own music, I had my own in my generation, you have yours, everyone I know has their own generation. – Ronnie James Dio

The ’60s are gone, dope will never be as cheap, sex never as free, and the rock and roll never as great. – Abbie Hoffman

June 26

1974: A Universal Product Code (UPC) is scanned at a retail outlet. A UPC is barcode symbology used in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, throughout Europe, and some other countries. It is used for tracking trade items in stores. It is actually UPC-A and is a 12 digit code uniquely assigned to each trade item. European Article Number (EAN) aka International Article Number uses the same methodology. Both are overseen by the GS1 headquartered in Brussels, Belgium and Princeton, New Jersey. The standards allow for point of sale automation and are being broadened into other areas as well, such as pricing for health care.

Wallace Flint first proposed an automated system in 1932 which used punch cards. This method was even patented in 1949. It did not catch on. In the 1960s the railroads attempted another multicolor barcode system to track rail cars, but this was also abandoned. A group of grocery industry trade associations formed the Uniform Grocery Product Code Council  (today GS1-US) and partnered with Larry Russell and Tom Wilson to define the numerical format to be used. They partnered with several different technology firms who also offered opinions on the best way to code products. The Symbol Selection Committee chose a version which included readability for humans. Today, GS1-US has over 300,000 members from 25 different industries using the UPC system.

In late 1969, IBM assigned George Laurer to figure out how to make a supermarket scanner and label. Finding the right characters per inch took time and problems with ink spread were also an issue. Too much or too little ink caused errors. RCA was also working on the issue and developed numbers to be scanned with a straight line laser scanner, but readability was too large. The problem attracted scientists from around the world and a race to make a workable system ensued. Moving away from a circular bull’s eye type arrangement to a linear arrangement with different lines and numbers helped solve the problem. The solution was found and implementation was the next big hurdle.

Product manufactures need to procure a unique number for each of their products. Global standards allow for maintaining the uniqueness of each UPC code. Product packaging then had to be created to include the code so scanners would be able to use computers to look up the product and assign the pricing to the register. On this day, Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio began scanning groceries. The first product (from the entire shopping cart) to be scanned was a 10-pack of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum which rang up at 67 cents. Clyde Dawson was the customer and Sharon Buchanan was the cashier who began the sale at 8.01 AM. The gum went on display at the Smithsonian Institution.

Ever consider what pets must think of us? I mean, here we come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul – chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we’re the greatest hunters on earth! – Anne Tyler

The biggest thing you can do is understand that every time you’re going to the grocery store, you’re voting with your dollars. Support your farmers’ market. Support local food. Really learn to cook. – Alice Waters

I’m a terrible grocery shopper. I hardly ever do it. And if I do, there’s never more than three things in the bag. – Seth Meyers

You’ve got bad eating habits if you use a grocery cart in 7-Eleven. – Dennis Miller

June 25

1900: Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts. The manuscripts covered a variety of topics, both religious and secular and covered history, mathematics, folk songs and even dances. The religious documents are mainly Buddhist but cover other religions as well including Daoism, Nestorian Christianity, and Manichaeism. Most of the documents are written in Chinese, but several other languages are also included. The Daoist monk located the cache in a sealed cave which was part of the Mogao Caves also called the Thousand Buddha Grottoes. They form a system of 492 temples along a 16 mile stretch of what was once an important cultural center along the Silk Road in the Gansu province of China.

Between 1907 and 1910, Yuanlu sold many of the manuscripts, mostly to Aurel Stein (Hungarian/British) and Paul Pelliot (French) but also to Japanese, Russian, and Danish explorers. Chinese scholar Luo Zhenyo managed to get many of the manuscripts (about 20%) into the hands of Beijing historians and they are not in the National Library of China. Several thousand works were left in Dunhuang and are located in many of the museums of the region. Most the manuscripts purchased by foreigners are now in institutions located around the world. Today, they are being digitized by the International Dunhuang Project and can be freely accessed online.

On this day, Yuanlu was working at restoration of statues and paintings in what we know today as Cave 16. While working, he noticed a hidden door which opened into another cave, today called Cave 17 or Library Cave. Once the seal was broken, he found a room filled with thousands of ancient manuscripts dating from  the 5^th to the early 11^th centuries. Many of them related to early Chinese Buddhism. He went to local authorities in an attempt to fund their conservation. The officials ordered the cave to be resealed until the documents could be transported out for further study. Instead, he sold many of the works at way below their value, for which he is both “revered and reviled”.

The manuscripts have been studied and some of these studies are to determine the provenance of the documents themselves. There have been many speculations as to why the room was sealed in the first place. Stein suggested they were “sacred waste” and this protected them. It has also been suggested that Cave 17 was simply a Buddhist storeroom in a monastic library. The works may have been hidden away as advancing armies, either Xixia or Muslim, were approaching and the monks wished to preserve the bountiful history. A final theory is simply that the librarians ran out of room and sealed a full space. Research continues and a clearer picture of the life and times of locals and visitors are available for study.

The question of manuscript changes is very important for literary criticism, the psychology of creation and other aspects of the study of literature. – Umberto Eco

If you look at an illuminated manuscript, even today, it just blows your mind. For them, without all the clutter and inputs that we have, it must have been even more extraordinary. – Geraldine Brooks

I can tell from about 20 yards away when someone has a manuscript for me. I can just tell – they have that look. – Mark Leyner

Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts – the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. – John Ruskin

June 24

1717: The Premier Grand Lodge of England is founded. Initially it was called the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. Guiding principles were and remain the ideal of tolerance and understanding brought about by the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution of the 1600s. George I, the first Hanoverian King of England had recently come to power and the first Jacobite insurrection had been quashed. The men of London were inspired to create a space where knowledge and craftsmanship were appreciated. Four lodges had previously held meetings and each was known for the location in which they met. On this day, the four separate lodges came together at the Goose and Gridiron Ale-house in St. Paul’s Churchyard in London and created the Grand Lodge.

Their first order of business was to arrange when to meet again and to choose a Grand Master from among those present. In the early days of the Lodge, there was probably little grandeur to be had. Anthony Sayer was the first Grand Master and little is known of him. He was replaced by George Payne who held a high government position in the Exchequer. He was both the second and fourth Grand Master with John Theophilus Desaguliers holding the position in between, he was a scientist, clergyman, and one of Isaac Newton’s students. After this, all Grand Masters held a position in the nobility.

George Payne wrote the General Regulations of a Free Mason as his own project for himself. Within a few years, The Constitutions of the Free-Masons was penned and held the history, rules and regulations, and an updated constitution about the “most Ancient and Right Worshipful Fraternity”. Not even all of London let alone the rest of the world was impressed with the London Lodge and conflict built up over time. Two major factions were on the rise within the movement and it wasn’t until nearly the end of the century some measure of cohesiveness could be maintained.

The Freemasons were established as fraternal organizations of stonemasons beginning in the 14^th century. They helped regulated the qualifications of the craftsmen and their interactions with authorities and with clients. Even now, the degrees maintain the three grades of medieval craft guilds with Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master Mason. The basic organizational unit of Freemasonry is the Lodge and these are governed at the regional level (state, province, or nation) by a Grand Lodge. There is no international or worldwide Grand Lodge. Regular Freemasonry today demands members believe in a Deity and no women are admitted while there is no discussion or politics or religion included. Continental Freemasonry is more “liberal” and some or all of these restrictions have been abandoned.

Man’s action are the picture book of his creeds. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form. – Ande Maurois

The poor man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream. – Harry Kemp

The Society or Fraternity of Freemasons is more in the nature of a system of Philosophy or of moral and social virtues taught by symbols, allegories, and lectures based upon fundamental truths, the observance of which tends to promote stability of character, conservatism, morality and good citizenship. – H. W. Coil

June 23

1960: Mestranol/norethynodrel (trade name Enovid [US] and Enavid [UK]) is approved for use as a contraceptive. Mestranol is a synthetic, steroidal estrogen and norethynodrel is a steroidal progestin making this the first combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP) to be approved. Enovid was first approved on June 10, 1957 but only for treatment of menstrual disorders. It wasn’t until this day it got its new designation. It took until 1961 to be approved in Canada and the United Kingdom. Today, there are still COCPs available, but the brand was discontinued in 1988 along with most other first generation high estrogen COCPs.

COCPs, familiarly known as The Pill, are taken daily in order to inhibit female fertility and are reversible. They are used around the world with more than 100 million women using this form of birth control and about 12 million of them live in the US. It is the most widely used form of birth control in the US for women between the ages of 15 and 44. Use varies by age, education, marital status, and country. In the UK, about 34% of women 16-49 use COCPs or progestogen-only pills while in Japan, only about 1% use this method. If used perfectly, there is about a 0.3% chance of pregnancy in the first year, but when seen as regular usage the pregnancy rate increased to 9% with these being attributed to poor instructions, mistakes of the user, or willful misuse or non-compliance.

The history of birth control is tightly entwined with the history of abortion. Both have been well documented in ancient history from Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. The Ebers Papyrus from 1550 BC and the Kahun Papyrus from 1850 BC both list various ways to prevent pregnancy. Honey, acacia leaves, and lint were inserted into the vagina to prevent sperm from traveling. The older papyrus also included a description of a pessary (akin to a diaphragm) using acacia gum, which recent research has found to have spermatocidal qualities and is still used in some contraceptive jellies. The ancient texts also recommend covering the cervix with gummy substances and suggested lactation as a method of birth control. Coitus interruptus was mentioned in the Bible. Other regions of the world also found different plants to be helpful in slowing sperm.

Barrier methods improved with time but it wasn’t until the 20^th century that use became more routine. Early condoms were made of a variety of materials, some better at slowing the spread of disease more than as actual birth control. Intrauterine devices also were on the market, but they have a higher rate of side effects and do nothing to stop the spread of disease. There has always been the option of not engaging in reproductive activities, either while it was assumed one was fertile or even eschewing sexual relations altogether. All the above methods are reversible without issue. Sterilization is also available. They are not readily reversible. Tubal ligations for women have been available since 1930 and vasectomy for men has been available since 1899 with first experimentation tried in 1785.

The only remedy against hunger is reasonable birth control. – Friedrich Durrenmatt

I do not want to speak about overpopulation or birth control, but I think education is the way to give new impetus to the poverty question. – Harri Holkeri

I always joke with people that having nephews is the best birth control there is. – Tahj Mowry

We have access to practical, ethical and scientifically established methods of birth control. So I think that is the most ethical way to reduce our population. – Christian de Duve

June 22

1944: The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act is signed into law by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  After World War I, servicemen returning to the United States were supposed to have benefits available to them as gratitude for their service. However, things did not go smoothly and it became a political issue throughout the 1920s and 1930s. As benefits to all veterans of military service, both men and women, were delayed, those veterans formed into Veterans’ organizations with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion as the two main pillars seeking redress from Washington, D.C. When World War II came along, knowing the dismal record of taking care of veterans, the older generation set out to ensure the Greatest Generation would be properly cared for should they return home.

Harry Comery, former National Commander of the American Legion, has been credited with writing the first draft of what we call today the GI Bill. Senator Ernest McFarland (D-Arizona) was helped by Warren Atherton, a lawyer and then-current National Commander of the Legion, and they are considered to be the “fathers of the GI Bill”. Congresswoman Edith Rogers (R-Massachusetts) was co-sponsor and she was the “mother of the GI Bill”. These four people helped to write and get the bill through both houses of Congress. Roosevelt had proposed a bill as a test to help poor veterans returning home and he sought to limit that help to just one year of funding. Only top scorers on a test would get four years of paid college.

The Bill as presented went beyond Roosevelt’s plan and applied to all veterans regardless of wealth. They were to be offered a low interest, zero down payment home loan with better deals available for new construction rather than older homes. This had the effect of spurring many returning veterans to move out of urban apartments into newly built homes in the suburbs. Unemployment benefits were to be paid out for those actively looking for work for up to 52 weeks. Monies set aside for this went unused as many returning servicemen were able to find better jobs or were pursuing higher education upon their return. This was also covered under the Bill. High school, college, and vocational/technical schools were all covered.

By 1956, about 2.2 million returning vets had used the Bill to attend college or university while another 5.6 million vets were able to gain further training for better employment opportunities. The law has been updated several times over the years. Vietnam veterans were even more willing to use the Bill to finance college (71%) when compared to World War II vets (51%) and Korean War vets (43%). A 1952 adjustment began to send tuition help directly to veterans since it was discovered colleges and universities were overcharging veterans to acquire more cash. President Obama also signed Executive Order 13607 to ensure predatory colleges did not aggressively target veterans and their families to exploit this law designed to help veterans re-assimilate into civilian society.

Twenty-five million veterans are living among us today. These men and women selflessly set aside their civilian lives to put on the uniform and serve us. – Steve Buyer

I want people to take the initiative to find veterans that need help, veterans that are suffering and in need of assistance reintegrating from combat back into society, into normal family lives and jobs. We need to take a real ‘boots on the ground’ approach to helping veterans in need. – Max Martini

The sacrifices made by veterans and their willingness to fight in defense of our nation merit our deep respect and praise – and to the best in benefits and medical care. – Sue Kelly

When the peace treaty is signed, the war isn’t over for the veterans, or the family. It’s just starting. – Karl Marlantes

June 21

1621: The Old Town Square executions take place in Prague. A Protestant uprising of the Bohemian estates against the Catholic Hapsburgs of the Holy Roman Empire resulted in the Thirty Years’ War. Begun in central Europe in 1618 as a clash among religiously aligned countries, it continued on to become one of the most destructive conflicts in European history involving most of the continent as well as allies outside Europe with 8 million casualties, it was the deadliest European religious war. As the Holy Roman Empire fragmented, leaders of smaller state/nations brought in mercenaries to help them gain independence from both France and the Holy Roman Empire.

The Bohemian estates were Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Upper and Lower Lusatia. They would eventually become Czechoslovakia, Saxony, and Prussia and today they are parts of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland. The Battle of White Mountain, fought on November 8, 1620 pitted the Bohemians against the Holy Roman Empire with help from Spain and the Catholic League. The 15,000 strong Bohemian force was overwhelmed by the 27,000 soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire and allies. The armies met outside Prague and the Bohemian forces were quashed. The loss would affect the Czech lands for the next 300 years. They had been predominantly Protestant prior to the war, and were predominantly Catholic into the 20^th century.

The Bohemian portion of the war was essentially over with the loss. On this day, 27 Czech leaders were executed in the town square. Jindřich Matyáš Thurn managed to escape into exile in Sweden where he became a leader and diplomat in the continued resistance to Ferdinand II. Martin Fruwein z Podolí was expected to be executed as well, but died before he could be killed. The 27 men were three noblemen, seven knights, and 17 burghers. Some other leaders of the uprising were able to escape and others had their punishments reduced or were pardoned. Today, there is a monument in the square holding 27 crosses to commemorate the men killed here.

While this portion of the War may have ended, the conflict remained as Ferdinand II tried impose religious uniformity among the lands under his control. The outside world was appalled by Ferdinand’s treatment of Bohemians and atrocities committed during the period. Other countries entered the fray with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden transforming Ferdinand’s wish for religious unity under the Catholic Church into a full scale war. Six days short of thirty years after the beginning of the fighting, with about 8 million dead, the Hapsburg regime was curtailed, Protestants were free to practice, feudalism throughout Europe was in decline, and the Swedish Empire was on the rise.

Love has its place, as does hate. Peace has its place, as does war. Mercy has its place, as do cruelty and revenge. – Meir Kahane

I love it when Muslims go to war with each other, as I do when the Christians do, because it shows there’s no such thing as the Christian world and the Islamic world. That’s all crap. – Christopher Hitchens

Alas, nothing reveals man the way war does. Nothing so accentuates in him the beauty and ugliness, the intelligence and foolishness, the brutishness and humanity, the courage and cowardice, the enigma. – Oriana Fallaci

A society that admits misery, a humanity that admits war, seem to me an inferior society and a debased humanity; it is a higher society and a more elevated humanity at which I am aiming – a society without kings, a humanity without barriers. – Victor Hugo