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Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the US from 1933 to 1945, was born in 1884 into a wealthy and privileged family which formed part of New York’s high society, also known as the ’swells’. Not blessed with looks, she was shy and insecure. Her parents died when she was young and Eleanor was sent to finishing school in the UK. Her headmistress there must have been influential in the character formation of Eleanor as she was a strong defender of women’s rights and independence, which became a life long goal for Eleanor.

After her return from Britain in 1902, she went to work as a social worker in the slums of New York’s east side. She met her future husband and 5th cousin once removed, Franklin D. Roosevelt and her low self esteem received a boost by the attentions of the dashing, young Harvard graduate. After a long engagement, they were married. Eleanor’s mother in law, who was also her aunt, proved a dominant figure in the young couple’s life and many biographers have wondered why Eleanor allowed such influence.

Things changed dramatically, when in 1921, Franklin fell ill with a heavy fever, an illness which left him with both legs paralised. Eleanor devotedly cared for her husband, and upon the urgings of his advisors, began taking an active role in politics, advocating women’s right and fighting segregation.

The marriage was on the rocks, when Franklin had an affair with Eleanor’s social secretary, Lucy Mercer, but divorce was avoided for the sake of his political career. When he was sworn in as president in 1933, Eleanor vowed to become a very active First Lady, not just a decorative appendage of the White House.

Her innate shyness was overcome by her very public role and her achievements as a women’s right activist and her decisive influence in the formation of the United Nations to which she became a delegate after her role as First Lady ended. She became one of the most admired personalities of the 20th century. Her private life as wrought with drama and mystery. Rumours of a lesbian relationship with the journalist Lorena Hickok, although never confirmed, perist as well as of affairs of both Eleanor and Franklin.

In 1960, Eleanor was struck and injured by a car in New York. She never fully recovered and died in 1962 in a New York hospital.

Isadora Duncan was born in 1877 in San Francisco/California. In an uncanny way, her youth resembled that of her contemporary, Mata Hari (see previous blog). Her father worked for a bank and her maternal grandfather was a senator. When her father went bankrupt, her parents divorced and the family fell apart. Isadora went to live with her mother and siblings in Oakland in great poverty. To make ends meet, she gave piano and dance lessons.

In 1895 she became a member of a New York dance company, but was dissatisfied with the restricted and reglemented style in which dance was performed. Europe beckoned and Isadora moved to London and later, Paris. Two years later, her star had risen. Isadora invented and promoted the barefoot dance, stressing the expression of emotions and the importance of improvisation. She performed dressed in clinging scarves or Greek tunics.

In 1922, she sympathised with the socialist movement in the Soviet Union and moved to Moscow. Disappointed, she returned to Paris two years later. Isadora shunned the commercial aspects of dancing and performing, an attitude which did not extend to her personal life. She loved to spend money, preferably other people’s.

After the tragic death of her two illegitimate children in a freak car accident, Isadora went into seclusion. She was a bisexual and was closely attached to Eleonora Duse and other female artists. Towards the end of her life, her professional success dwindled and her personal scandals and drunken, public episodes prevailed, leaving her with few friends.

In 1927, her life ended dramatically, as a result of fashion. She loved scarves and a particularly  large and flowing one, which was long enough to envelope her entire body, got caught in the open spoked wheel and rear axle of a sports car, driven by her last, young Italian lover. Isadora was instantly strangulated and nearly decapitated in this freak accident.

Mata Hari, the famous exotic dancer and infamous spy, was born as Margaretha “Grietje” Zelle in 1876 to a wealthy Dutch family. She received an excellent education, but her sheltered life changed dramatically, when her father went bankrupt, her parents subsequently divorced, her family broke apart and young Grietje went to live with her godfather in The Hague.

At age 18, she answered an ad in a Dutch newspaper by a man looking for a wife and married Dutch colonial officer R.McLoyd. The couple were transferred to Java/Indonesia and Grietje’s life changed forever. Her marriage was a disappointment and a complete failure. Not only did her husband have several mistresses and a concubine, he also drank and behaved violently. Perhaps to compensate for her martial misery, Grietje became interested in local dance and history and even joined a dance company. That’s when she first choose her stage name: Mata Hari, meaning eye of the day or eye of the dawn.

In 1903 the couple were sent back to the Netherlands and divorced in the same year. Mata was finally free to enjoy herself, although financially not well off. She moved to Paris and worked for a while as a circus rider and an artist’s model, all the while improving her dance routines.

By 1905 she began to gather fame with her exotic dances, including seductive shedding of layers of her clothing. She also began to invent an entirely false life story to make her more interesting. She claimed to be of royal Indonesian origin and to have been initated in the ’sacred’ dances by local priests. The mystification of her person paid off as she attracted the interest of millionaire Emile Guimet, whose mistress she became. Being Dutch allowed her to travel freely across Europe, before and during World War I. Mata became involved with many influential politicians and personalities, not least with the German crown prince who paid for her lavish life style. Suspicions about her arose and she was seen more and more as a dangerous seductress than an artiste and a free spirit.

It has been disputed ever since if she really was a spy or if she was made a scape goat. Her case wasn’t helped by her admittting to be a French spy, a fact which was never confirmed by France and may have been just another mystification attempt by Mata. In any event, a German coded message, thanking a spy called H21 was intercepted by the French secret service, Mata was identified as being H21 and put on trial in Paris. Shee was found guilty and sentenced to death. She was executed at age 41 by firing squat.

Just as her life and the circumstances of her aleged spying are shrouded in doubt and mystery, so are the circumstances of her death. She did not show any weakness in the face of the firing squat, but there are controversial reports as to whether she was bound or not and even to what clothes she was wearing. Some contend that her sange froid was due to the fact that until the last moment, she was convinced that only blanks would be fired at her. This however, was not the case and the beautiful impostor died in the dust of Vincenne prison.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini (1883 - 1945) started out as a socialist and ended up as a dictator and founder of fascism. He was born into a humble, working class family. His father was a blacksmith and his mother a teacher. It’s assumed, that his sympathies for socialism stem from his father’s strong political convictions. Benito worked for a while with him and was reportedly not a very eager student. He was intelligent but displayed a streak of violent behaviour, as proved by the incident when he stabbed the hand of another pupil and threw an inkpot at his teacher. As a consequence, he was evicted from school.

To evade military service, he moved to Switzerland. At the time he had already started to make a name for himself, as an ardent socialist as editor of the party’s newspaper at age 29. After World War I he read the signs of the time and decided that socialism had no future. He did an about turn and embarked on the road to fascism. He ran yet another newpaper and started on a politcal career. Italian socialists called him a traitor when he started to favour the organisation of middle class youth, called for strong control of workers, playing into the hands of entrepreneurs and generally called for a tough centralised government to restore “law and order”

In 1922 he marched into Rome when he became Prime Minister. A dictatorship with absolute powers began, relentlessly  prosecuting the working classes, exploiting the country and driving Italy into three wars, the worst being World WarII. He associated with Hitler and supported Franco in the Spanish civil war. He got support from the wealthy who thrived under his rule and even Pope Pius XI, with whom he signed a concordate, called him a saviour.

However, the results of World War II and the American intervention changed his fate. The Italian king ordered his arrest and Mussolini, together with his latest paramour, Clara Petacci, was captured when he tried to flee to Italy. The next day both were executed together with a group of his supporters.

The bodies of Mussolini and Petacci were brought to Milan and hung upside down from the roof of a petrol station. That treatment was intended to show the Italian people that the hated dictator was indeed dead and to mirror his own favored method of execution of enemies.

Ramses II, also referred to as Ramses the Great was the longest ruling Egyptian pharao. Born in about 1302BC he was nearly 90 years old when he died. His reign saw a period of peace an prosperity for Egypt which has never been reached before or after. Ramses II was extraoridnary in many other respects too.

He is the first king in history, who signed a recorded peace treaty with an enemy, in his case, the Hettites. The document, dating from 1258BC has 18 articles and the basic structure has served as role model for peace treaties ever since.

Ramses was a great warrior who extended Egypt’s power and territory far beyond the modern day borders. Given his success and wealth, he was responsible for the construction of such impressive monuments as Abu Simble and the temples of Karnak and Luxor. Although he had many wives, his favorite was Nefertari whose burial chamber exhibits some of the most beautiful wall paintings of the time which have survived to this day.

Ramses’ II mummy has been moved several times by priests because of tomb robbers, but was discovered and displayed in the Egyptian museum in Cairo. However the mummy deteriorated and was flown to Paris to be examined and, if possible, restored. That was the occasion when Pharao Ramses II, or rather his remains, were isssued a passport in 1974, giving his name, profession as ‘king’ and was received in Paris Le Bourguet airport with honours befitting a monarch. Examination revealed, that the king has serious teeth problems, with an infection so severe it could have caused his death. He also suffered from arthritis and several old wounds and broken bones bore witness to the fact that he must have played an active role in the conquist of Egypt”s vast territory. An unrivalled impression of the great ancient ruler is conveyed by the four massive and incomparable statues of Ramses II in Abu Simbel.

Augustus, the first Roman emperor was born in 63 BC. His father, although a general, was a plebejan but is mother was a patrician. Augustus was born as Octavian and only when he was adopted by his great uncle (on his mother’ side) Julius Caesar in 44BC did his future as Caesar’s successor become clear and he changed his name in accordance with Roman law and custom.

Augustus first came to political influence as a member of the second triumvirat. Power struggles tore it apart and Augustus won influence, wealth and the support of his legions and soldiers, the three vital pillars of all Roman emperors after him. His military exploits earned him honour upon honour from the senate and he established an autocratic rule. Outward y though, Augustus was careful to maintain a Roman Republic and to avoid any acclaim as ‘dictator’ or ‘emperor’ but in fact he acted as such. He was also immensely popular with the Roman public.

Although appointed consul, practically for life, it took many twists and turns and complicated negotiations with the senate by way of two constututional settlements, until Augustus was fully established and bestowed the title of deity. After Mark Antony’s defeat in the battle of Actum and his suicide along with Cleopatra’s, there was no turning back of Augustus’ sole reign.

Under his long rule, Rome lived through a period of comparative peace and quiet, known in history as Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. He established a courier system, built an ample roadnet together with extensive construction in the city of Rome, enforced tax reforms and grain distribution. Under him, the Roman state changed forever.

In 14AD, Augustus died peacefully whilst on a trip to Nola, the birthtown of his father. He appointed Tiberius as his heir and successor and the chain of Roman emperors began.

Gaius Julius Caesar, as his correct name is, was born in 100BC. He is basically known for three things: ending the Roman Republic, having an affair with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and having been spectacularly assessinated. Apart from his own writings, many contemporary historians have recorded this deeds and achievements and criticised his actions.

He was foremost a military leader, who set out to conquer Gaul and thus extend the Roman Republic to the North Sea. However, his goal was not the glory and power of Rome, but simply to get as rich as possible. The conquest of Gaul brought both and Caesar’s fame was rising. He continued his military campaings, being showered with honors and titles, but he also caused, twice, a civil war.

He first ruled as a member of the triumvirat, but after its collapse and his military successes, he was ultimately proclaimed ‘dictator’ for life. He did defend the Roman justice system and centralised burocracy in the ever growing Roman Republic. In 47 he became embroiled in a war which involved Cleopatra and he sided with her. Reportedly, he maintained a relationship with her during 14 years of his marriage to a Roman noblewoman and had a son with Cleopatra.

Dictatorship for life resulted in the crowning of his statues in the forum with a laurel wrath and the first step away from the Roman Republic and towards the Roman Empire was made.

Caesar was murdered by a conspiracy of his closest associates who had come to fame and fortune thanks to him, but feared for their positions. A false petiton was prepared and under pretext of reading it, he was lured to the forum where he was assaulted and stabbed 23 times. Only one of the stab wounds however, was fatal.

Claudius, the third Roman emperor, was born in 10BC and directly related to Augustus. In an age and culture, when the Romans cherished physical fitness, Claudius was handicapped from the start. Not only did he limp, drool and stutter, he also was frequently ill. His embarassed imperial family kept the ‘idiot’ out of the limelight. His defects however, were a blessing in disguise. Political events lead to the assessination of family members, but Claudius survived because he was considered irrlevant. As he was not given any public office, he used his ample spare time for learning and studies, particularly history and art. He is often referred to as ‘the philospoher on the throne’.

When his predecessor and nephew Caligula was murdered by his own Praetorian guard, a very reluctant Claudius was proclaimed emperor by the troops. Whereas Caligula’s assessination was the first open and public killing of an emperor, Claudius’ ascent to power was the first occasion which brought to light that power and strength of the Senate as well as of the emperor rested solely on the strength of military support and had nothing to do anymore with democratic election principles.

Whilst during Claudius’ long reign, he fully annexed Britain as a province and brough stability to the other provinces and the Roman empire, his personal decisions were catastrophic and also revealed an underlying cruel streak which belied his bengin philosopher image.

He didn’t hestiate to have his frist wife Messalina executed on charges of adultery and, weakly, fell under the spell of his second wife Agrippina. Although he had a very capable and popular natural son, Britannicus, he favoured Agrippina’s son Nero over him. This was no doubt due to Agrippina’s machinations and powerful influence over the emperor. He ultimately paid for his misjudgment with his life.

When Agrippina noticed that the emperor started to have regrets about adopting Nero and was about to revoke his decision to proclaim him as his successor, she reverted to poison to disposed of Claudius. Mushrooms put a painful end to Claudius’ life in 54AD.

 Caligula, (12 - 41) was the third Roman emperor. He got his nickname, which means “little boots”, when he was a boy. His father, Germanicus, was Rome’s most beloved general and little Caligula became the mascot of his legions, because he used to accompany his father in his campaigns, dressed in full, tiny, military armour.

In 37, Caligula succeeded Tiberius as emperor, not without power struggles and much blood shed. He was hailed by the senate and people of Rome as “our baby” and “our star.” Little did they know how he would turn out. During the first two years of his reign, Caligula seems to have been a beneign and comparatively wise monarch. But in 38 he fell seriously ill. The exact nature of his illness is not known, only that he made a full recovery after a near-death experience.

This experience seems to have changed his personality. Although he still promoted some reforms like taxes, necessary construction and restoring the practice of democratic elections, he was certainly borderline insane. He is described as willful and cruel and his random killings of each and everyone he considered an enemy or threat, without decent trials or on trumped up charges, got out of hand. So did his sexual exploits and excesses.

He went to the extreme of considering himself a God and ordered worhsip of his person. The peak of his insanity was reached when he, allegedly, made his horse a consul and priest. Economic crisis and a devastating famine which he did not much to relieve, brought his popularity to an all times low. Finally, his Praetorian Guard conspired to assessinate him and, like Julius Caesar, he was stabbed to death by thirty thrusts of a dagger.

His murder however was cause for another wave of bloodshed in the already blood drenched history of ancient Rome.

The Roman empress Messalina, synonym for deceit and sexual excesses came to a very undignified end. Born in about 17, she was the sister of Caligula. During his reign, she became very influential and wealthy and shared many honors with her brother. In 37 or 38, she married Claudius, who was about 48 years old. When in 41 the probably insane Caligula and his family were murdered, Claudius was proclaimed Emperor by the praetorian guard and Messalina became empress. Messalina and Claudius had a son, Britannicus. When she became empress, Messalina started on her intrigues and infamous sexual adventures.

By the accounts of Tacitus, she was ambitous, vicious and knew no sexual restraints. He recounts the incident when Messalina and a prostitute engaged in a competition of who would have more men in one night. Messalina won with reportedly a score of 25. Another incident is of the bewitched senator Vitellius who was granted the ‘privilege’ to remove and kiss her shoe.

Messalina wanted to secure Britannicus’ succession to the throne and when Agrippina and Nero returned from exile, feared that the equally devious Agrippina might push for Nero. So she ordered him murdered, but when the soldiers spotted a snake crawling out from under Nero’s pillow, they fled in terror.

Messalina’s downfall begann, when she fell in love with the happily married senator Silius. Such was her influence, that she forced him to divorce his wife. Silius finally recognised the dangerous position he had put himself in whilst committing adultery with the empress. He and Messalina conspired to murder the weak Claudius and Silius hoped, that Messalina would make him emperor. However,  a freedman got wind of the plot and alerted Claudius. In an unusual act of determination and courage, Claudius ordered the execution of Messalina. His soldiers found her in her garden and gave her the chance to commit suicide. She however, a coward at heart, was afraid to do so and was stabbed to death by an officer. Her body was left to rot in the garden.