viernes, 14 de diciembre de 2007

Hannibal

Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca, (247 BC – ca. 183 BC,[1][2][3][4][5] short form Hannibal) was a Carthaginian military commander and tactician, later also working in other professions, who is popularly credited as one of the finest commanders in history. He lived during a period of tension in the Mediterranean, when Rome (then the Roman Republic) established its supremacy over other great powers such as Carthage, Macedon, Syracuse, and the Seleucid empire. He is one of the best-known Carthaginian commanders. His most famous achievement was at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which included war elephants, from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into northern Italy.

During his invasion of Italy, he defeated the Romans in a series of battles, including those at Trebia, Trasimene and Cannae. He maintained an army in Italy for more than a decade afterward, never losing a major engagement, but could not force the Romans to accept his terms for peace. A Roman counter-invasion of Africa forced him to return to Carthage, where he was defeated in the Battle of Zama. After the war he successfully ran for the office of suffet. He enacted political and financial reforms to enable the payment of the war indemnity imposed by Rome. However, his reforms were unpopular with members of the upper Roman class forcing Hannibal to go into exile. During his exile, he lived at the Seleucid court, where he acted as military advisor to Antiochus III in his war against Rome. After Antiochus III met defeat and was forced to accept their terms, Hannibal fled again, making a stop in Armenia, where he worked as a townsplanner for the new capital. His flight ended in the court of Bithynia where he may have achieved an outstanding naval victory by means of biological warfare and was afterwards betrayed to the Romans.














viernes, 30 de noviembre de 2007

Thermopolae

n 480 BC, Leonidas went to Thermopylae with 300 of his personal guards, all with sons to carry on their names, where he was joined by forces from other Greek city-states, who put themselves under his command to form an army 7,000 strong. This force was assembled in an attempt to hold the pass of Thermopylae against hundreds of thousands of Persian soldiers who had invaded from the north of Greece under Xerxes I. Leonidas took only his personal guard, and not the army, because Spartan religious customs forbade sending an army at that time of year. In addition, the Oracle of Delphi had foretold that Sparta could be saved only by the death of one of its kings, one of the lineage of Heracles.


Leonidas and his men repulsed the Persians' frontal attacks for the first two days, killing roughly 20,000 of the enemy troops and losing very few of their own. The Persian elite unit known to the Greeks as "the Immortals" were held back, and two of Xerxes' brothers died in battle. On the third day, a Malian Greek traitor named Ephialtes led the Persian general Hydarnes by a mountain track to the rear of the Greeks. At that point Leonidas sent away all Greek troops and remained in the pass with his 300 Spartans, 900 Helots and 700 Thespians who refused to leave. Another 400 Thebans were kept with Leonidas as hostages. The Thespians stayed entirely of their own will, declaring that they would not abandon Leonidas and his followers. Their leader was Demophilos, son of Diadromes, and as Herodotus writes: "Hence they lived with the Spartans and died with them".



One theory provided by Herodotus is that Leonidas sent away the remainder of his men because he cared about their safety. The King would have thought it wise to preserve those Greek troops for future battles against the Persians, but he knew that the Spartans could never abandon their post on the battlefield. The soldiers who stayed behind were to protect their escape against the Persian cavalry. Herodotus himself believes that Leonidas gave the order because he perceived the allies to be out of heart and unwilling to encounter the danger to which his own mind was made up. He therefore chose to dismiss all troops except the Thespians and Helots and save the "glory" for the Spartans.

viernes, 23 de noviembre de 2007

John Lennon

John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980), was an English songwriter, singer, musician, graphic artist, author and peace activist who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of The Beatles. Lennon and Paul McCartney formed a critically acclaimed and commercially successful partnership writing songs for The Beatles and other artists.[1] Lennon, with his cynical edge and knack for introspection, and McCartney, with his storytelling optimism and gift for melody, complemented each other.[2] In his solo career, Lennon wrote and recorded songs such as "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance".




Ev'rybody's talking about
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism, Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, that-ism
Isn't it the most
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Ev'rybody's talking about
Ministers, Sinisters, Banisters and canisters,
Bishops and Fishops and Rabbis and Pop eyes,
And bye bye, bye byes.
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Let me tell you now
Ev'rybody's talking about
Revolution, Evolution, Mastication, Flagelolation, Regulations.
Integrations, Meditations, United Nations, Congratulations
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance

Oh Let's stick to it
Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary, Tommy smothers, Bob Dylan,
Tommy Cooper, Derek Tayor, Norman Mailer, Alan Ginsberg, Hare Krishna,
Hare Krishna
All we are saying is give peace a chance
All we are saying is give peace a chance



Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

Leo Messi's Goal

Lionel Messi was born in Santa Fe Province on 24 June 1987. At the age of five, he started playing football for Grandoli, a club coached by his father. In 1995, Messi switched to Newell's Old Boys. At the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency.River Plate showed interest in Messi's progress, but did not have enough money to pay for the treatment of the illness that cost over £500 a month, as Argentina's economy was collapsing. Carles Rexach, the sporting director of FC Barcelona, was made aware of Messi's talent, and Barcelona signed him after watching him play,[5] offering to pay for the medical bills if he was willing to move to start a new life in Spain. His family moved with the young player to Europe and he starred in the club’s youth teams.

He soon found himself starting for the Barcelona B team, averaging more than a goal per game, by scoring 37 goals in 30 matches.







On November 16, 2003, Messi made his unofficial debut for the first team against FC Porto then, a year later on October 16, 2004, came his official debut against RCD Espanyol, becoming the third-youngest player ever to play for FC Barcelona and youngest club player who played in La Liga (record broke by Bojan Krkić on September 2007).[6] When he scored his first senior goal for the club against Albacete Balompié on May 1, 2005, Messi was 17 years, 10 months and 7 days old, becoming the youngest to ever score in a La Liga game for FC Barcelona until 2007 when Bojan Krkić broke this record, a goal assisted by Messi








viernes, 12 de octubre de 2007