April 27

in History

Rome, Roman RepublicAncient

Decimus Brutus Was Born

Caesar's trusted friend, future betrayer

In Rome, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus was born into the tumultuous final century of the Roman Republic. He would become one of Julius Caesar's most trusted generals, fighting alongside him in Gaul and against Pompey. Yet on the Ides of March in 44 BC, he would be among those who plunged their daggers into Caesar -- making his betrayal perhaps the most painful of all, for it was Decimus, not the more famous Marcus Brutus, whom Caesar had loved like a son.

85 BC

August Koern Was Born — A diplomat for a nation that ceased to exist

EstoniaEarly 20th Century

1900

August Koern Was Born

A diplomat for a nation that ceased to exist

In Estonia, August Koern was born into a small Baltic nation that would soon win its independence, only to lose it again. When the Soviet Union swallowed Estonia in 1940, Koern refused to accept the occupation. For nearly two decades, he served as Estonian foreign minister in exile, keeping the flame of Estonian sovereignty alive through the darkest years of the Cold War -- a testament to the power of diplomatic persistence in the face of seemingly impossible odds.

1900 AD

Milton Margai — Prime Minister Milton Margai led the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate to independence from the United Kingdom.

Late 20th Century

1961

Milton Margai

Prime Minister Milton Margai led the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate to independence from the United Kingdom.

1961 AD