PROGRAMMING NOTE: I’m sorry folks but I have to forego our usual voiceover again tonight. I’ve had a cold for a few days now that has been affecting my throat and unfortunately it’s coincided with a couple of very busy days on the podcasting front and I am just tapped out at this point. Hopefully things will get back to normal next week. Thanks for your understanding.
TODAY IN HISTORY
October 28, 312: Constantine defeats his rival Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. This battle is perhaps most famous for the religious vision that Constantine allegedly received the night before, which in later accounts was said to have been the “Chi-Rho,” the interlocking Greek letters that are the first two letters of “Christ” and thus became an emblem of Jesus. The battle left Constantine as the unquestioned ruler of the Roman west, with his fellow Augustus Licinius as ruler of the Roman east, and marks the end of Diocletian’s (d. 305) four emperor “Tetrarchy” system. Constantine’s vision is regarded as the impetus behind the 313 Edict of Milan, in which he and Licinius declared Christianity a religion (with the protected status that imparted) under Roman law. Naturally the two Augusti eventually went to war with one another, with Constantine emerging as sole Roman emperor in 324.
October 28, 1922: Sticking with Rome, Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party begins a two day march on that city that would end with its takeover of the Italian government. As Mussolini’s blackshirts approached Rome, Prime Minister Luigi Facta called for martial law, but Italian King Victor Emmanuel III opted instead to get rid of Facta and make Mussolini his new prime minister.
MIDDLE EAST
SYRIA
Security forces killed one French national in a firefight with members of the Firqat al-Ghuraba (“Foreigners’ Brigade”) jihadist group in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province on Wednesday. According to Syrian officials they observed someone leaving the group’s encampment with weapons, in violation of a previous agreement between the government and the brigade. They engaged and the gun battle ensued. At least one civilian was wounded in the clash. Firqat al-Ghuraba was aligned with Harakat Tahrir al-Sham during the Syrian civil war but the continued presence of foreign jihadists in Syria has become a problem for HTS now that it is trying to portray itself as a reliable partner for Western governments.
