Betrayal

In August of 480 BC, a few hundred Spartans led by King Leonidas battled against 150,000 Persian warriors led by King Xerxes. The heavily outnumbered Greeks held their ground, repelled the invaders, and controlled the battle for three days.

But there was one thing King Leonidas couldn’t control…and it would prove fatal.

General William Nelson caused lots of trouble for the Confederate Army that fought against him during the Civil War. The hulking man who stood over 6 feet tall and weighed more than 300lbs well-deserved his nickname of “Bull.”

But after dodging every bullet fired at him by the Confederate Army, he couldn’t dodge just one that was fired at him from the gun of a fellow Union general.

The peace had been a fragile one at best. For 3 years, Rwandans focused on putting the genocide of 1994 behind them, but the Tutsis still did not trust the Hutus who had killed their family members, and the Hutus feared the Tutsis were secretly planning revenge. It seemed the nation would remain divided forever.

But reconciliation would start with a Hutu teenager who had a gun pointed at him.

The American Revolution produced story after story of personal sacrifice for our nation’s independence. It also produced one of the most notoriously selfish betrayals in history. At the time, many people were surprised by Benedict Arnold’s traitorous deceit, General Washington included.

But if they’d known more about him, they might not have been surprised at all.