Benedict Arnold and Horatio Gates argued. So what?

Benedict Arnold (source)

Over two centuries ago, two generals in the Continental army had an argument over how to best counter a British offensive in the American Revolutionary War. So what?

On September 19, 1777, British troops under General John Burgoyne attacked the continental army at the Battle of Saratoga. A heated debate broke out between the Continental commanding general Horatio Gates and his second-in-command Brigadier General Benedict Arnold. Arnold argued that the Continental Army should launch an immediate counter-assault to halt the British advance, while Gates wanted to wait until the regulars had gotten closer. Eventually, Arnold prevailed upon his superior and the revolutionaries launched a counter-attack. However, the delay in attacking cost the Americans a valuable opportunity, and, while they inflicted heavy casualties, they were forced to retreat. Because of his alleged insubordination, Arnold was removed from his position as second-in-command to Gates. This would become a motivating factor in Benedict Arnold's decision to betray his comrades and defect to the British army, taking with him the plans to the Continental fort at West Point.

Neither man quickly forgave the other over the altercation at Saratoga, and both men would pay a steep price for it. Though there were other factors contributing to Arnold's decision to defect, his perceived slight at the hands of the revolutionary army definitely played a role. Despite his weaknesses, General Arnold was a competent military officer. His defection and the information that he surrendered to the British was a blow to the Continental Army, including General Gates. However, the price that Gates paid for his retaliation against Arnold was minimal compared to the price that Arnold would pay for his defection.

While initially, Benedict Arnold was paid well by the Crown for the information about West Point and was hailed by the British public, it didn't take long for him to fall out of popularity. Because of his rash decision to abandon the fledgling nation that he had sworn an oath to serve, this man who so much desired wealth and popularity died poor and despised. Over time, his name became synonymous with treason in the country that he had betrayed. What began as an argument over military tactics put him on the path to ruin. While Arnold's treachery was not enough to flounder the American Revolutionary effort, it was enough for him to be remembered in ignominy for generations.

So what? That's what.

Anne Hutchinson arrived in America. So what?

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During a time when many English emigrants were arriving in the New World, a woman named Anne Hutchinson moved to America with her husband and fourteen children. So what?

During the early seventeenth century, the Massachusetts Bay colony had become a haven for Puritans and others seeking to escape religious persecution in an England that was dominated by the Anglican church. Among those that settled in the young colony was Will Hutchinson, his wife Anne and their children. On September 18, 1634 the couple and their youngest child arrived in the Boston area. There, Anne became an active member of the religious discussion in their community. She hosted popular religious discussions in her home to follow up on the sermons of Reverend John Cotton through which she became an influential voice in the community's discussions. In time, Hutchinson began sharing ideas in her discussion group that ran contrary to the teachings of the Puritan church. This, of course, upset Reverend Cotton and other members of the religious establishment in Boston. Hutchinson was convicted of criticizing the religious leaders of the church and was banished from the Massachusetts Bay colony. She and her family relocated to Rhode Island and helped to establish it as one of the most tolerant and religiously diverse of the English colonies in the New World. In addition to her substantial contribution to American theology, Hutchinson became a strong advocate for religious tolerance.

Anne Hutchinson's determination to carry on in following her religious convictions created a safe haven for the ideas of religious tolerance that would eventually be enshrined in the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. Because she was driven out of her home, she and her family learned to accept diversity of beliefs and worked to establish legal equality for individuals irrespective of their religion or theology.

So what? That's what.

McClellan stopped Lee's invasion of the North at Antietam. So what?

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Over one hundred fifty years ago, two armies gathered on either side of  the Antietam creek in Maryland. In what would be the bloodiest day of the bloodiest war in United States history, more than twenty thousand men were lost in what proved to be an indecisive battle. So what?

Having staved off multiple invasions of the Confederate States of America, General Robert E. Lee, in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, decided to seek an end to the American civil war by invading Union territory and further degrading the enemy's morale. In early September, the Confederate army entered Maryland seeking a conclusive victory over the Army of the Potomac. After General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson captured Harper's Ferry from the Union troops, the main body of Lee's men met the northern army under General George McClellan at the Antietam creek near Sharpsburg, Maryland. On September 17, 1862, the two armies engaged in a day that would reverberate through history. Though the action that day proved indecisive, the Union army repulsed the Confederate advance and ended the invasion of Maryland. Following the Battle of Antietam, Lee returned to Virginia to continue the war on his home soil.

I love military history, but I wouldn't want to bore you with the details of the battle (may I recommend the Wikipedia page on the battle if you're interested). Instead, I would like to focus on a few key points that show how a taken or missed opportunity can change the course of history.

A few days before the battle, a detail of Union soldiers found written orders drawn up by General Lee for General Hill, one of his division commanders. These orders exposed the Confederate invasion plan and could have enabled a decisive victory over a divided foe by the Army of the Potomac. However, General McClellan was naturally cautious. He hesitated over how to best take advantage of his captured intelligence, and by hesitating lost the advantage. By the time he engaged Lee's army at Antietam, the confederates were fully concentrated and ready to fight. Instead of the resounding Union victory for which McClellan had hoped, he had to settle for a tactical stalemate.

When the Battle of Antietam was fought, Abraham Lincoln had been considering the possibility of issuing an Emancipation Proclamation, which would free the slaves in the rebellious states, for some time. However, his advisors worried that if the Proclamation were issued following a string of Confederate victories, that it would look like he were acting out of desperation. Following his advisors' council, Lincoln waited for a Union victory. When news of the Battle of Antietam reached Washington, Lincoln recognized his opportunity. While the action in the field had been indecisive, the battle was enough of a strategic victory to give Lincoln the momentum he was looking for. Lincoln put enough spin on the battle to portray it as a Union victory, and several days later issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation strengthened morale in a suffering nation and changed the character of the war, making the end of slavery an explicit goal of the United States government. The right opportunity seized at the right moment gave Lincoln considerable momentum moving into the critical year of 1863.

So what? That's what.

Mahatma Gandhi fasted to protest castes. So what?

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More than eighty years ago, an Indian lawyer with big dreams put himself on the line, risking poor health and even death, to bring equality to his country. So what?

Many people around the world recognize the name of Mohandas Gandhi. He struggled for decades against British imperial rule to bring independence and equality to his native India. On September 16, 1932, he began a fast to protest the use of the caste system by the British in their voting laws. Even though the caste system had long been an established part of Indian society, Gandhi recognized it as a threat to the freedom and equality that he wished for his country. In announcing his fast, he referred to it as a "fast unto death," showing his willingness to sacrifice everything he could to help his fellowmen.

By the year 1932, Gandhi had an established reputation across the British empire. He had been arrested many times and shown that he was not opposed to hardship to fight for what he believed in. His example and philosophy of nonviolent noncooperation would be adopted by many of the world's influential figures, including Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. By showing the world that peaceful protest could accomplish what armed rebellion could not, Gandhi revolutionized the world's views on revolution. Perhaps he has helped shaped your views on how to accomplish your goals and given you the inspiration to work for a better world

His tactics are still used today by those hoping to effect change in the world. Recently, the so-called "Arab Spring" uprisings used new technologies such as Twitter and Facebook to organize protests in the vane of Gandhi's work. His example forms a blueprint for all those who look for a better world and see its seeds around them.

So what? That's what.

British use the first tank in WWI. So what?

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In the middle of World War I, the British army introduced a new tracked, armored vehicle to try to break the stalemate in the trenches of the Western front. In its debut, the vehicle was cumbersome and unreliable. So what?

By the fall of 1916, the Western front of World War I had stagnated. The Allied and Central powers had entrenched themselves along the French countryside. The technological advances of the previous decades had made the traditional tactics obsolete. Defensive weaponry dominated the battlefield, making any offensive effort difficult, costly and unlikely to succeed. It quickly became clear that technological advances in offensive weaponry would be needed to counteract the defensive might. To that end, the British, French and Germans had begun work on armored vehicles that could withstand machine gun fire, move unhindered through barbed wire, and cross over enemy trenches during an advance. The British were the first to use their new tank on the battlefield, on September 15, 1916, as part of the Somme offensive. The new vehicles were unreliable and difficult to transport, and had little immediate effect. Even as the technology and tactics of tanks improved, they ultimately had only a minor impact in the offensives of the war. However, as time moved on, tanks became a dominant offensive weapon in World War II and through the rest of the twentieth century.

Despite the initial technological weakness of early tanks, they ultimately shaped nearly a century of military history. The tank was designed to break the stalemate of trench warfare. It was not able to do so. However, the technology available was used to change the nature of twentieth century warfare. Sometimes, a good idea just needs time to develop. Sometimes, it may not even do what it was originally intended to do. However, if someone takes the time to develop an idea, look for new angles and uses, and smooth out the rough edges, then that idea may achieve results that were previously unimagined.

So what? That's what.

Nikita Khruschev became Soviet General Secretary in 1953. So what?

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The Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. Nearly fifty years before that, on September 14, 1953, a Ukranian named Nikita Khruschev became General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He was deposed in 1964, and many of his most noted accomplishments were undone by his successor, Leonid Brezhnev. He finished his life in obscurity, and by some measures would be considered a failed leader. So what?

Following Stalin's death, the Communist Party sought to take back the power that had been lost in the final years of Stalin's life. Khruschev, a pragmatic and cunning politician, positioned himself within the party to take advantage of the situation and succeeded in undermining or eliminating his opponents and getting himself made leader of the Party.

Once Khruschev achieved power, he wasted no time in undermining Stalin's legacy and setting a new tone for the Soviet Union. Within a few years of taking power, he spoke openly of a "peaceful competition" with the western powers and led a series of liberal reforms that dramatically shifted Soviet policy. Khruschev led the Soviet Union through the first part of the space race, including the launch of Sputnik I and traveled to the United States in a highly publicized visit. His relationship with Richard Nixon helped pave the way for the detente of the 1970's, and the early years of his tenure marked a high point in US-Soviet relations.

The election of John F. Kennedy and tensions over the American U-2 spy plane led to a souring of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Tensions rose between China and the Soviet Union over what was seen as an unacceptable shift to the left by the Soviet leadership. After the resolution of the Cuban missile crisis, seen as an embarrassment by many Soviet leaders, Khruschev's rivals pushed for and eventually achieved his deposition. Many of the liberalizing reforms that Khruschev had enacted were repealed. While seeing his legacy dismantled, Khruschev was virtually eliminated from public life. He died in relative obscurity in a suburb of Moscow several years later.

Despite being rejected at the time, Khruschev's liberalizing reforms paved the way for Gorbechev's similar reforms a few decades later. Therefore, the apparent defeat of liberalism during Khruschev's life would shape his country and a world in a way he could scarcely imagine. His story is a reminder to us all to keep a long view of our actions. Even if we cannot see the results, we can have a greater impact than we think.

So what? That's what.

Rapper Tupac Shakur died after being shot in Las Vegas. So what?

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Whether or not you're a fan of rap music (to be honest, I'm not), you've probably heard of the rapper Tupac (or 2pac). It's been almost twenty years since he was shot in a drive-by shooting that cut short what was unquestionably one of the most popular modern music careers. So what?

Tupac Shakur is widely credited as being one of the most influential rappers in the genre's history. He came into the public eye at a time when hip hop was bringing notice to the gritty criminal underbelly of areas like the Bronx and Compton. As the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry heated up between rappers in New York and Los Angeles, Tupac was one of the most vocal champions of West Coast rap. On September 7, 1996, he was shot in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. Six days later, on September 13, he died at the age of 25, leaving an indelible mark on the world of music and the social fabric of the nation and the world.

Hip-hop gave a voice to a people that was used to being disenfranchised. Tupac and the other early leaders of the gangster rap movement voiced the frustrations of a part of society that was used to being marginalized and kept silent. By speaking openly of the violence and crime that existed in poor minority neighborhoods, these gangster rappers resonated with the youth that had previously felt left out of the conversation. Whether it's by buying rap albums in the inner city neighborhoods of California or organizing protests in the cities of the Middle East, marginalized groups will get attention. With his violent death, Tupac's legacy was cemented as a representative for those who existed within the crime-ridden underworld of urban neighborhoods. The attention that he brought to poor neighborhoods empowered urban youth, both by giving them a voice in the world and by shining the light in previously dark corners of the social fabric. In time, this attention helped strengthen social programs aimed at helping inner city youth break out of the cycle of poverty and crime.

Tupac's legacy continues to echo through the rap world. He again made headlines in 2012 when his digital projection performed with Snoop Dogg at the Coachella music festival. Nearly twenty years after his death, his estate still makes millions a year. His message still speaks to those struggling to find a voice in a society with growing inequality.

So what? That's what.