Edward Gibbon Quotes
[Arabs are] a people, whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack.
Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Vol. 4, W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1788.
He was answering protesters and critics of his economic policies which led to dramatic price increases.
He was criticizing the George W. Bush administration for attacking Iraq, a country which had not attacked the United States or Americans abroad while America did not attack those terrorists and countries which had killed Americans. For example, Hezbollah which blew up the Marine Barracks in Lebanon and the naval ship Cole.
Just before the Six Day War. Syria did take the initiative and provoked the war which the Arabs lost badly. Ironically, Egypt and Jordan, pushed into the war by Syria, lost the most in manpower and territory.
The Arab League Members have historically been at each others throats with little concordance except hatred of Israel and Jews
Cunningham was part of an American Diplomatic Delegation negotiating with the Vietnamese. He had been an Naval Ace Fighter Pilot during the Vietnam War. He was notorious for his lack of tact.
Shortly after, he backed off the notion of having a bloodbath removing protesting students.
The Emperor had sent a challenging message to the young Ottoman Sultan {634798}. Constantine would not negotiate terms of surrender despite the overwhelming strength of the Turkish forces. The Sultan attacked and took the city in a battle where not only was Constantine killed but a large part of his people as well. The Muslims have held Byzantium (Constantinople, now Istanbul) since.
Edward Gibbon FRS was an English historian, writer and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788 and is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical criticism of organised religion.
