By Victor Davis Hanson"Sometimes long-festering problems collide — and explode — in a single memorable year. We can go as far back as the fifth century Before the Common Era to see this phenomenon — and we may see it again in 2010.
The decade of Aegean tension culminated in the Persian invasion of Greece. Nothing seemed able to stop the onslaught of King Xerxes as he broke through the pass of Thermopylae — until the Greeks under Themistocles rallied at the sea battle of Salamis and saved the West.
In the year 69, the Roman Empire was tottering on its very foundations. Rome had been rocked by decades of corruption, assassinations, coups and military revolts. By the end of 69, Vespasian — the fourth emperor that year! — had put an end to over a century of erratic Julio-Claudian rule when he brought sanity back to Roman government.
Fast-forward to the modern era."
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