Miscellaneous History

[LucidElement]

I've always wondered where all the S.S. totenkopf rings from the fallen S.S. soldiers are hidden & will they ever be found?

Never even stopped to think about that. Do you think they were buried with them? Probably not, the Allies probably didn't bury the Nazi's with much. However, if they didnt and the stripped them, lies the question of do the allies have a room of Nazi memorabilia?

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

Even Further, how much wealth/treasures/money do you believe are still hidden in Germany throughout WW2? The Nazi's, as we all know, looted many valuables from the Jewish civilization. When the war ended, do you believe that Hitler told anyone where these prescious goods were, or he knew damn well they'd get lost upon history if he never spoke of them? He couldnt have been the ONLY Nazi to know where the treasures were hidden.

Hitler couldn't tell anyone about anything when the war ended - He was dead !

I don't think he cared much about what happened to it anyway.

Most of the looting of artwork was in fact done by the order of Hermann Göring. Some of it is probably still hidden away somewhere. Afterall he didn't get a chance to retrieve it himself.

Most of the artwork was sold, through Switzerland, to help fund the war effort. Much of that is allmost certainly still to be found in private art collections.

Most of the gold and money wen't straight into funding the war effort.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Noteverythingisaconspiracy

[LucidElement]

Hey conspiracy, that makes sense about the gold and money going into military funding. The Amber Room and now the Rings are a new mystery to me.

[Peter B]

Hitler couldn't tell anyone about anything when the war ended - He was dead !

I don't think he cared much about what happened to it anyway.

Most of the looting of artwork was in fact done by the order of Hermann Göring. Some of it is probably still hidden away somewhere. Afterall he didn't get a chance to retrieve it himself.

Most of the artwork was sold, through Switzerland, to help fund the war effort. Much of that is allmost certainly still to be found in private art collections.

Most of the gold and money wen't straight into funding the war effort.

Speaking of Hitler and Goering, I imagine not many people would know that a nephew of Hitler served in the US Navy during World War Two, and a nephew of Goering served in the US Army Air Force.

Or, at least, Werner Goering thought he was Hermann's nephew, thanks to his Dad's boastful claims. It turned out there was no relationship.

But William Hitler was definitely a nephew of Adolf Hitler, and he served in the US Navy as a pharmacist's mate.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Peter B

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

I did know about William Hitler, who by the way was half Irish and born in Liverpool !

He had four children, some of whom are still alive in the US.

Did you know that Hitlers father was originally named Schicklgruber and took his step fathers name, Hiedler when he was 39 years old ?

It is not known why it was spelled as Hitler and not Hiedler. It might have been a mistake by the official in charge of his namechange !

So it could easily have been heil schicklgruber or Hiedler instead.

I did not know about Görings nephew, thanks mate

Edit: Did a little research, and it turns out that Göring daughter is still alive.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Noteverythingisaconspiracy

[LucidElement]

Came across this site, Conspiracy i found some of these pretty interesting. Especially the monopoly board! http://www.buzzfeed.com/briangalindo/12-interesting-facts-about-world-war-ii-that-you-might-not-k

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

There are some interesting info there.

I knew about number 10 through one of my favourite TV programmes - QI. It is a British programme that mixes entertainment and education.

You can find it on youtube if you are interested, it is well worth it.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Noteverythingisaconspiracy

[Peter B]

Came across this site, Conspiracy i found some of these pretty interesting. Especially the monopoly board! http://www.buzzfeed....you-might-not-k

Regarding the Monopoly game and its inclusions, I understand British authorities sent cigars to British Prisoners Of War. According to the story, the cigars were boxed, but also individually inserted into metal tubes. Supposedly the name of the brand, Upmann, was intended to be a clue to the POWs as to where the tubes could be placed in order to hide contraband.

[LucidElement]

RUDOLPH HESS... What are your thoughts on the last paragraph?? Im pretty sure it was truly rudolph hess who was sentenced. Isnt it just possible that Hess went haywire after all the events that happened in the short period of time (between Britain and Nuremberg to Spandau? )

""""

It's not really clear that Hess had the authority to create a peace agreement on his own (Hitler was certainly not in on the deal), and the British simply kept him as a prisoner of war. He spent some time in the Tower of London and other prisons, then was tried at Nuremberg. Found guilty of conspiracy and crimes against peace, Hess was given a life sentence. He spent most of that time at Spandau Prison in Berlin – for the last 20 years of his life, he was the only prisoner in the entire place. When he died in 1987, they tore Spandau down, partly because it was obsolete and unneeded, but partly to prevent it from becoming a shrine for neo-Nazis.

That's all pretty weird, but there are conspiracy theories galore. The Russians always suspected that Hess was trying to secretly unite Germany and Britain so they could team up against Russia. Churchill and Stalin had some memorable confrontations over the matter. Hess' mental state declined dramatically once he was imprisoned, despite reports that he seemed mentally fit when he first arrived in Scotland. By the time of the Nuremberg trial, he was suffering from severe amnesia and was periodically unable to remember anything from his years as a Nazi. This resulted in claims that the real Hess was in hiding, and the man tried at Nuremberg and left to rot at Spandau was an impostor.""""

[LucidElement]

**Anyone familiar with this part of history*** MALBORK MASS GRAVES?

Malbork is a town in northern Poland. During World War II this area of the world was part of

Germany West Prussia. In recent decades numerous mass graves have been unearthed in the

area. In January of 2009 a discovery of over 1800 bodies and human remains were discovered in

Malbork. The first skeletons were found by construction workers. It was a mystery, but clear

that the victims were subject to a massacre. They were buried with no clothes and many had

gunshot wounds to the head. The bodies had been completed raided. The majority of the

archeologists, scientists, and historians that have studied the site agree that the bodies are

probably German citizens of the town of Malbork that were massacred during the Russian

advance in 1945. Many of these battles were violent, as the Russian’s murdered and raped any

German citizen in their way.

[MordorOrc]

I was looking at the Spanish colonial administration in South America and I found out that the Spanish authorities essentially copied the Inca tradition of exacting tribute of conquered peoples through force labor.

[LucidElement]

I was looking at the Spanish colonial administration in South America and I found out that the Spanish authorities essentially copied the Inca tradition of exacting tribute of conquered peoples through force labor.

Can you expand Mordor?

[MordorOrc]

Can you expand Mordor?

Basically the system was taken from the Inca, which had a term for it called mit'a. Mit'a essentially is "public service" within the Inca administration and referred to the public projects which citizens outside of the nobility worked on for a set number of days per year. For example, some farming families had 65 days of the year which they could tend crops and raise livestock and the rest was spent on public projects as part of the system. Basically, anyone over the age of 15 that could perform laborious tasks were put into use in public projects and sometimes into military service. The extensive road network within the Inca Empire was largely build using mit'a labor.

The Spanish adopted this system and turned it into the economienda. This was largely the same system as the Inca used and Spanish colonial authorities used it for large public projects and to expand valuable mineral extraction, especially from the silver mines in modern day Bolivia. These essentially required the natives to give over a certain percentage of their labor force to work for a set amount of time, although they were paid for their labor so they could buy goods and pay taxes to the colonial government instead of working for free. The person that ran the economienda was given the job of protecting their allocated labor force from warring or unfriendly tribes and was also required to spread Christianity among the native community. However, the people that ran them often engaged in illegal abuses and this resulted in the New Laws which were passed in 1542 which saw the supplementation of the new repartimiento system of near-forced labor. It replaced the economienda system by the 17th century. However, due to the large depression in population of native inhabitants thanks to terrible working conditions and newly introduced diseases lead to the substitution of the systems with private farms which employed native workers on six month paid contracts, something which whilst not illegal under Spanish law, was not supported explicitly by the Crown.

[Peter B]

Turks and Australians on the same side of a battle in World War One...

While most people know that Australia and Turkey were on opposite sides of World War One, there was one unusual incident in which soldiers from these two countries were on the "same" side in a battle.

Most Australians know something of the ANZAC stories from World War One, in particular the campaign at Gallipoli and subsequent action on the Western Front. Fewer people know about Australia's involvement in the campaign against Turkey in Sinai and Palestine.

This was a campaign which started with an unsuccessful Turkish attack on the Suez Canal in 1915, and was followed up in 1916 with a British attack which recaptured Sinai. 1917 saw the British capture of Jerusalem, following a successful cavalry charge by Australian Light Horse against entrenched infantry at the Battle of Beersheba (as portrayed in the films "Forty-Thousand Horsemen" and "The Lighthorsemen"). 1917 was also the year in which Arab fighters captured Aqaba on the Red Sea, which had threatened the flank of the advancing British forces (as portrayed in the film "Lawrence of Arabia").

In 1918 the Allied forces moved northwards to the border of what's now Syria, and in September of that year General Allenby launched the last major offensive against the Turks at Megiddo. Turkish defences collapsed almost immediately. This allowed Allied cavalry forces to sweep into the rear of the remaining Turkish forces which were trying to retreat.

The Allied advance was assisted on its right flank by increasing attacks from Arab forces, and both the Arabs and Turks began to indulge in massacres - the Turks of local Arabs and the Arabs of wounded and isolated Turkish soldiers. Turkish soldiers looked for any Allied forces to surrender to, rather than take their chances with the Arabs.

One such encounter happened at Ziza (now Al-Jiza), about 30 kilometres south of Amman. A group of 5000 Turkish soldiers had been informed by the British that all wells to the north of them had been captured, and accordingly the British now demanded their surrender. The Turks made contact with a force of a couple of hundred Australian cavalry. Their commander indicated his willingness to surrender, but he was worried about their ability to protect his men from the Arab tribesmen who were beginning to gather around. The Turks dug themselves in. The Arabs soon numbered several thousand, and began to call on the Australians to join them in attacking the Turks.

The Australian soldiers, rightly or wrongly, had a low opinion of the Arabs, and a contrastingly high respect for the Turks, whom they'd fought against for more than three years. They strongly suspected the Arabs would massacre these Turks if their attack succeeded, and wanted instead to be able to take them into captivity.

Eventually the Australian commander agreed to allow the Turks to keep their weapons for the night. He then ordered his troops to spread themselves among the Turks in their trenches, and the soldiers of both sides immediately set to cooking meals and eating together. The commander invited a couple of Arab chieftains in to see what he'd done, and detained them as hostages. He then sent a message to the remaining Arab forces informing them of what he'd done, and sent another message to the nearest Allied forces, requesting them to come to his assistance.

The result was that the Turks and Australians stood guard for the night against a possible Arab attack, which never eventuated. However, early the next morning a small group of Arabs was spotted attempting to infiltrate the Turkish lines, and the former enemies combined their firepower to stop it. Shortly afterwards reinforcements arrived, the Arabs drifted off and the Turks formally surrendered.

http://www.awm.gov.au/sites/default/files/damien-fenton-standoff-at-ziza-wartime-24-20031.pdf

[Peter B]

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

As the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, he's best known for a few incautious statements, but there are a couple of other interesting things about him...

1. He's an heir to the throne of the United Kingdom in his own right, as he's a descendant of Queen Victoria.

2. During World War Two he served in the Royal Navy, while two of his brothers-in-law served in the German military. (His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, sheltered Jewish refugees in occupied Athens during World War Two, for which she is recognised as one of the Righteous Among the Nations.)

3. After his wedding to the then Princess Elizabeth he grumbled that he was the only man in Britain to lose his surname when he got married...

[Myster0n]

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

As the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, he's best known for a few incautious statements, but there are a couple of other interesting things about him...

1. He's an heir to the throne of the United Kingdom in his own right, as he's a descendant of Queen Victoria.

2. During World War Two he served in the Royal Navy, while two of his brothers-in-law served in the German military. (His mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, sheltered Jewish refugees in occupied Athens during World War Two, for which she is recognised as one of the Righteous Among the Nations.)

3. After his wedding to the then Princess Elizabeth he grumbled that he was the only man in Britain to lose his surname when he got married...

I love Phil the Greek (that's what we call him in the UK/ Wales), my favorite royal BY FAR - hilariously out spoken and says what he thinks, none of this "political round the bush stuff"!!!! Other things people don't know about him is that he was also born into Greek monarchy, but ousted when he was a babe-in-arms. The family inherited a site in France/ Paris (forget what it's called now, daresay Wikipedia will mention more). He was educated in UK, France and Germany and joined the British Navy as soon as he left education (old enough to join). he met the Queen and I'm right in recalling when she was 13, but years later they initiated a relationship. Thereafter friendship, he asked the King (at the time) to wed Princes Elizabeth, in which he had to denounce his titles and adopted the surname Mountbattern. Can't recall when he left the Navy, but he stayed inactive-serving for MANY years!

Anyhow, his story is actually very interesting, as is his line to Greek/ Danish throne! Wish they'd make a film - be VERY interesting to say the least (and funny if they get his out spoken character in it)!

[Taun]

Basically the system was taken from the Inca, which had a term for it called mit'a. Mit'a essentially is "public service" within the Inca administration and referred to the public projects which citizens outside of the nobility worked on for a set number of days per year. For example, some farming families had 65 days of the year which they could tend crops and raise livestock and the rest was spent on public projects as part of the system. Basically, anyone over the age of 15 that could perform laborious tasks were put into use in public projects and sometimes into military service. The extensive road network within the Inca Empire was largely build using mit'a labor.

The Spanish adopted this system and turned it into the economienda. This was largely the same system as the Inca used and Spanish colonial authorities used it for large public projects and to expand valuable mineral extraction, especially from the silver mines in modern day Bolivia. These essentially required the natives to give over a certain percentage of their labor force to work for a set amount of time, although they were paid for their labor so they could buy goods and pay taxes to the colonial government instead of working for free. The person that ran the economienda was given the job of protecting their allocated labor force from warring or unfriendly tribes and was also required to spread Christianity among the native community. However, the people that ran them often engaged in illegal abuses and this resulted in the New Laws which were passed in 1542 which saw the supplementation of the new repartimiento system of near-forced labor. It replaced the economienda system by the 17th century. However, due to the large depression in population of native inhabitants thanks to terrible working conditions and newly introduced diseases lead to the substitution of the systems with private farms which employed native workers on six month paid contracts, something which whilst not illegal under Spanish law, was not supported explicitly by the Crown.

That's not too dissimilar to the European system of Fuedalism... A serf, yeoman, "villain" or other "class" of subject owed their liege days of service, depending on their status and whatever

deal they struck with their liege... For example a "Cottar" - a person who would be granted a minimal plot of ground (say 3 to 5 acres), and to whom the Lord would pledge a minimal set of

services (protection, access to markets, etc) might pledge to work on the Lieges lands for a period of approx. 60 days or so... The rest of the year they could work their own land... A yeoman

(Not every nation had a "yeoman" class) might be granted a larger plot of land - say 150 acres - in exchange for purely military service... Or for a larger number of days labor...

Of course people could voluntarily work more days, for considerations or even pay...

Of course not every fuedal holding ran like this, but it was the norm as far as intended set up went... It was actually quite dynamic, and in many countries there was actually a good chance

of upward mobility of sorts for the average (hard working) family... not perhaps as far up as the lower orders of nobility i.e. knighthood - but at least up the ladder from serfdom to yeoman or

even freeholder...

Edited June 26, 2014 by Taun

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

I love Phil the Greek (that's what we call him in the UK/ Wales), my favorite royal BY FAR - hilariously out spoken and says what he thinks, none of this "political round the bush stuff"!!!! Other things people don't know about him is that he was also born into Greek monarchy, but ousted when he was a babe-in-arms. The family inherited a site in France/ Paris (forget what it's called now, daresay Wikipediawill mention more). He was educated in UK, France and Germany and joined the British Navy as soon as he left education (old enough to join). he met the Queen and I'm right in recalling when she was 13, but years later they initiated a relationship. Thereafter friendship, he asked the King (at the time) to wed Princes Elizabeth, in which he had to denounce his titles and adopted the surname Mountbattern. Can't recall when he left the Navy, but he stayed inactive-serving for MANY years!

Anyhow, his story is actually very interesting, as is his line to Greek/ Danish throne! Wish they'd make a film - be VERY interesting to say the least (and funny if they get his out spoken character in it)!

Now that you mention the Danish throne, I can tell you that the Greek royal Family is directly decendant from the Danish royal family. Prince Wilhelm of Denmark was offered the Greek throne and became their first king.

Prince Wilhelm's father, King Christian IX (1818-1906), is also known as the father-in-law of Europe:

His oldest son became King Frederick VIII of Denmark.

His oldest daughter married king Edward VII of the UK, became queen Alexandra.

Prince Wilhelm became king George I of Greece.

Princess Dagmar married Tsar Alexander II, and became Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. (mother of the last tsar)

Princess Thyra married crown prince Ernest-August of Hannover, 3rd duke of Cumberland

Prince Valdemar married a relative of the, former, French royal family, princess Marie of Orleans.

As you can see fromabove, both queen Elisabeth II (through queen Alexandra) and Prince Phillip (through king George I) are decendent from king Christian IX.

King Frederick VIII followed in his fathers footsteps, by getting his son Prince Karl, elected as King Haakon of Norway.

Not bad for a small country like Denmark.

Today the Danish royal family members are marrying commoners and our next queen, crown princess Mary (nee Donaldson), is from Australia, to be more precise Tasmania. Meaning that our 2rd in line to the throne (the crown prince's oldest son) is actually half Australian !

Edited June 26, 2014 by Noteverythingisaconspiracy

[Myster0n]

Now that you mention the Danish throne, I can tell you that the Greek royal Family is directly decendant from the Danish royal family. Prince Wilhelm of Denmark was offered the Greek throne and became their first king.

Prince Wilhelm's father, King Christian IX (1818-1906), is also known as the father-in-law of Europe:

His oldest son became King Frederick VIII of Denmark.

His oldest daughter married king Edward VII of the UK, became queen Alexandra.

Prince Wilhelm became king George I of Greece.

Princess Dagmar married Tsar Alexander II, and became Tsarina Maria Feodorovna. (mother of the last tsar)

Princess Thyra married crown prince Ernest-August of Hannover, 3rd duke of Cumberland

Prince Valdemar married a relative of the, former, French royal family, princess Marie of Orleans.

As you can see fromabove, both queen Elisabeth II (through queen Alexandra) and Prince Phillip (through king George I) are decendent from king Christian IX.

King Frederick VIII followed in his fathers footsteps, by getting his son Prince Karl, elected as King Haakon of Norway.

Not bad for a small country like Denmark.

Today the Danish royal family members are marrying commoners and our next queen, crown princess Mary (nee Donaldson), is from Australia, to be more precise Tasmania. Meaning that our 2rd in line to the throne (the crown prince's oldest son) is actually half Australian !

That is awesome! Thanks for that never knew the line was like that! WOWSER! In a twist of relations, Duchess of Cambridge (aka Kate) their cousins live in a 'tiny' village in south Wales (Burry Port to be precise = FYI where Amelia Earhart landed) - how strange to think of someone's being linked with the future princess lives near you! HA!

[ReddHeadsRantings]

Heres a couple things for ya.

Ben Franklin not only took an hour long bath every day - he also followed it with an hour long outside "air bath" as he called it.

Ben Franklin and several friends were sitting around talking about the ages they liked their misstruses and girlfriends NOT wives to be. I don't recall what the other males said-but Ben went last and he said "Give a woman in her 40's...She doesn't yell...she doesn't swell...and she's gratefull as hell"

After reading 22 of the Apocrypha Books - Council of Nicaea and or Council/s of Trent decided were real books of the Bible but not put in the bible.

They all had one theme to me...their was a female with a brain, knew how to use it AND wasn't afraid to use it. Which did threaten the status que for the time period. As females had no rights and were depentent upon male realitives no matter what-indepent thinking females...the Church has never liked them.

[Peter B]

Retiring at age 65 or 70 is something most people take for granted, but not for some in the ancient world.

Around the time he became king of Macedonia in 359BC, Phillip II created a guard unit of infantry and filled it with young recruits. These men served both Phillip and his son Alexander the Great, until they were retired (against their will) about a year before Alexander's death. A few years later, during the civil wars after Alexander's death the Silver Shields, as they were known, were recalled to arms by Alexander's mother Olympias, and assigned to the Greek general Eumenes. By this stage most of the men were in their 60s, and some were in their 70s. Nevertheless, such was their quality that they defeated every formation thrown against them in battle, even though the soldier they were fighting were generally less than half their age.

What brought the Silver Shields undone was not an enemy but treachery. At the Battle of Gabiene in 316BC the Silver Shields again defeated the enemy phalanx. However, during the battle light horse of the opposing army captured the Silver Shields' baggage train which included their families and portable wealth. The enemy commander, Antigonus, offered to release them in return for the Silver Shields handing over Eumenes. They did so, and Eumenes was soon executed. The men of the Silver Shields then offered their loyalty to Antigonus, who accepted it and organised for them to be deployed to a remote part of the empire where they wouldn't be able to try the same trick again.

Antigonus himself was another advertisement for the bracing life of a Macedonian soldier. He died in battle, fighting on foot at the head of his phalanx at the Battle of Ipsus in 301BC, aged 81.

The two generals Antigonus fought against, Lysimachus and Seleucus, went to war with each other 20 years later. At the battle of Corupedium, the army of Seleucus defeated that of Lysimachus. This is probably the only occasion in history when the commanders of the two opposing armies were over 75 - as with Antigonus they both led from the front, despite Seleucus being 77 years old and Lysimachus 79 years old.

= = = =

And continuing the tradition of fighting well in your 70s, the 6th century Eastern Roman official Narses led an invasion of Italy which finally extinguished the Ostrogothic kingdom there. Narses probably wasn't directly involved in fighting, but nevertheless led the Roman army in several battles and at least one siege, the last being in about 553. As he was lkely born no later than 480, he must have been at least 73 at the time.

Oh, and he was a eunuch too.

[jaylemurph]

I love Phil the Greek (that's what we call him in the UK/ Wales), my favorite royal BY FAR - hilariously out spoken and says what he thinks, none of this "political round the bush stuff"!!!!

Ahhh, so that's what you call racist claptrap in your neck of the woods, is it? Glad to see even the shame of a nation can get a few adherents -- many of your countrymen might point to him as the natural product of generations of aristocratic inbreeding, as he and his wife are cousins.

--Jaylemurph

[No Censorship]

many of your countrymen might point to him [Prince Phillip] as the natural product of generations of aristocratic inbreeding, as he and his wife are cousins.

--Jaylemurph

They're not *first* cousins. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just ask the Rothschilds and Phil Spector. Well, he might not be the best example of successful inbreeding.

[jaylemurph]

They're not *first* cousins. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Just ask the Rothschilds and Phil Spector. Well, he might not be the best example of successful inbreeding.

No, they're not first cousins. I strongly suspect that they have about that much shared DNA, considering the general inbreeding of 19th Century European monarchs. I mean, look how much the family looked after an infusion of Spenser DNA, and that's /still/ relatively close relations.

--Jaylemurph

[Taun]

Retiring at age 65 or 70 is something most people take for granted, but not for some in the ancient world.

Around the time he became king of Macedonia in 359BC, Phillip II created a guard unit of infantry and filled it with young recruits. These men served both Phillip and his son Alexander the Great, until they were retired (against their will) about a year before Alexander's death. A few years later, during the civil wars after Alexander's death the Silver Shields, as they were known, were recalled to arms by Alexander's mother Olympias, and assigned to the Greek general Eumenes. By this stage most of the men were in their 60s, and some were in their 70s. Nevertheless, such was their quality that they defeated every formation thrown against them in battle, even though the soldier they were fighting were generally less than half their age.

What brought the Silver Shields undone was not an enemy but treachery. At the Battle of Gabiene in 316BC the Silver Shields again defeated the enemy phalanx. However, during the battle light horse of the opposing army captured the Silver Shields' baggage train which included their families and portable wealth. The enemy commander, Antigonus, offered to release them in return for the Silver Shields handing over Eumenes. They did so, and Eumenes was soon executed. The men of the Silver Shields then offered their loyalty to Antigonus, who accepted it and organised for them to be deployed to a remote part of the empire where they wouldn't be able to try the same trick again.

Antigonus himself was another advertisement for the bracing life of a Macedonian soldier. He died in battle, fighting on foot at the head of his phalanx at the Battle of Ipsus in 301BC, aged 81.

The two generals Antigonus fought against, Lysimachus and Seleucus, went to war with each other 20 years later. At the battle of Corupedium, the army of Seleucus defeated that of Lysimachus. This is probably the only occasion in history when the commanders of the two opposing armies were over 75 - as with Antigonus they both led from the front, despite Seleucus being 77 years old and Lysimachus 79 years old.

= = = =

And continuing the tradition of fighting well in your 70s, the 6th century Eastern Roman official Narses led an invasion of Italy which finally extinguished the Ostrogothic kingdom there. Narses probably wasn't directly involved in fighting, but nevertheless led the Roman army in several battles and at least one siege, the last being in about 553. As he was lkely born no later than 480, he must have been at least 73 at the time.

Oh, and he was a eunuch too.

Brian Boru (Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig) was either 73 or 80 (depending on who you talk to) when he died at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014... He was either killed in personal one-on-one battle with an enemy, or slain in his tent

by a fleeing enemy as he prayed following the victory... By all accounts he was still a foe to be feared in combat at his age...