History Bookends / RealLife

** The first major battle (First Battle of Bull Run) began on Wilmer [=McLean=]'s farm in Manassas, Virginia, on July 21, 1861. During the war, [=McLean=] moved south to the quiet community of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, so as not to be caught between the armies again. But the war followed him. On April 8, 1865, Confederate General UsefulNotes/RobertELee finally decided to surrender his forces, and he sent out a messenger to find a place at which to meet General UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant. The house the messenger found was Wilmer [=McLean=]'s. Afterwards, [=McLean=] reportedly said, "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII arguably began and ended with a blitzkrieg attack, starting with the [[TropeCodifier textbook example]] in the German invasion of Poland in which mechanized German units overran inferior Polish defenses and ending with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in which mechanized Soviet units overran inferior Japanese defenses. Hell, some hold onto the view that World War II started with the Soviets fighting Japan over Khalkin Gol, and ended with their invasion of UsefulNotes/{{Manchuria}} contributing to Japan's surrender after years of ceasefire.

** UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic began and ended with a rebellion and civil war involving a man named [[UsefulNotes/MarcusJuniusBrutus Brutus]] who belonged to the gens Junia; in fact, his participation was also played to evoke the pivotal removal of the Etruscian Kings that began the Republic since [[UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar Caesar]] was accused of being a King in all but name, which would then be replaced by the rule of the Emperors, who were, in fact, Kings in all but name.

** The French Third Republic was proclaimed during a successful German invasion in 1870. It was dissolved during a successful German invasion in 1940.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_I_of_Russia Michael I of Russia]], the first Romanov czar, was elected while he was in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipatiev_Monastery Ipatiev Monastery]] in 1613. The last Romanov, UsefulNotes/NicholasII and his relatives, died in 1918, slaughtered by the Bolsheviks while they were imprisoned in a (otherwise unrelated) building named "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipatiev_House Ipatiev House]]".
* The [[UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire Holy Roman Empire]] both [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne began]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon ended]] with the conquest of Germany by a French emperor.

** The first major battle (First Battle of Bull Run) began on Wilmer [=McLean=]'s farm in Manassas, Virginia, on July 21, 1861. During the war, [=McLean=] moved south to the quiet community of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, so as not to be caught between the armies again. But the war followed him. On April 8, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee finally decided to surrender his forces, and he sent out a messenger to find a place at which to meet General UsefulNotes/UlyssesSGrant. The house the messenger found was Wilmer [=McLean=]'s. Afterwards, [=McLean=] reportedly said, "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."
* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII arguably began and ended with a blitzkrieg attack, starting with the [[TropeCodifier textbook example]] in the German invasion of Poland in which mechanized German units overran inferior Polish defenses and ending with the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in which mechanized Soviet units overran inferior Japanese defenses. Hell, some hold onto the view that World War II started with the Soviets fighting Japan over Khalkin Gol, and ended with their invasion of Manchuria contributing to Japan's surrender after years of ceasefire.

** Rome was founded as a city by a man called Romulus, while the last Roman Emperor (in the west) was called Romulus Augustus. It gets deeper, with the first Emperor of Rome having had chosen the name Augustus. The last Western Roman Emperor shared his name with both founders. Emperor Julius Nepos continued to be recognized by Odoacer as Emperor of the West for four years after Romulus Augustus, but because he didn't rule the city of Rome (his empire was limited to the province of Dalmatia), it's more romantic to ignore him and specifically ''invoke'' bookends on the Western Empire.
** UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic began and ended with a rebellion and civil war involving a man named Brutus who belonged to the gens Junia; in fact, his participation was also played to evoke the pivotal removal of the Etruscian Kings that began the Republic since Caesar was accused of being a King in all but name, which would then be replaced by the rule of the Emperors, who were, in fact, Kings in all but name.

* For many historians, the Middle Ages began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, and ended with the fall of the Byzantine Empire (aka the Eastern Roman Empire) in 1453 AD; on the other hand, if we take the concept of the Late Antiquity into consideration then the Middle Ages in Europe began with the rise of a Muslim empire (the Umayyad Caliphate) who would eventually cut off the trade link between the east and western Europe in the Mediterranean and ended with the rise of a Muslim empire (the Ottoman Empire) who would eventually cut off the trade link between the east and western Europe in the Mediterranean.
* The major European conflicts of The20thCentury. To wit: the Eastern Question of what would happen to the newly formed Balkan states after downfall of the Ottoman Empire triggered World War I, as Serbia wished to take over Bosnia which was an Austrian protectorate. WWI caused WWII, as Germany (and other nations) were deeply unsatisfied by the results of WWI. It also caused the Russian revolution, and the first major communist power. WWII caused the spread of communism through Eastern Europe, mostly through the Soviets, but through homegrown communist partisans in Yugoslavia. This led to the Cold War, which contributed to the downfall of communism in Eastern Europe. The downfall of communism in Yugoslavia led to the disintegration of the nation, and UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars, posing the new question: what would happen to the newly formed Balkan states after the downfall of Yugoslavia? Especially as Serbia wished to take over Bosnia. The history of The20thCentury began and ended with [[UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck "some damn thing in the Balkans".]]
* France and Germany in the 1870-1950 period:

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_I_of_Russia Michael I of Russia]], the first Romanov czar, was elected while he was in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipatiev_Monastery Ipatiev Monastery]] in 1613. The last Romanov, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia Nicholas II]] and his relatives, died in 1918, slaughtered by the Bolsheviks while they were imprisoned in a (otherwise unrelated) building named "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipatiev_House Ipatiev House]]".

* In 1066, [[UsefulNotes/WilliamTheConqueror William the Conqueror]] sailed from Normandy to conquer England as part of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England Norman conquest of England]] - his troops were led by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taillefer Taillefer]], whose name is French for "Iron-Hewer". In 1945, UsefulNotes/NaziGermany was being beaten back by troops sailing from England to Normandy in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings D-Day landings]] of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII - one of the leaders of the invasion was [[UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower future POTUS Eisenhower]], whose name is German for "Iron-Hewer".

* The Spanish American colonial empire began with Ferdinand V/II[[note]]V of Castile, II of Aragon[[/note]] and ended with UsefulNotes/FerdinandVII.
* The first Habsburg king of Spain was Charles I. The last was [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain Charles II]].

* The UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar began when the army mutinied over the perceived threat of a Communist takeover, in 1936. The Spanish Civil War ended when the (loyalist) army mutinied over the perceived threat of a Communist takeover, in 1939.
* The first Nasrid king of Granada was Muhammad I, who rose in rebellion against Ibn Hud and collaborated with the Christian King Ferdinand III of Castille and Leon, who was married at that time with Elisabeth of Hohenstaufen. The last king was Muhammad XI, who rose in rebellion against his father Mulay Hassan and collaborated with the Christians before losing it all to the Catholic Kings Ferdinand V of Aragon and Isabel I of Castille and Leon.

* The history of UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan both began and ended with the use of an innovative weapon deployed by the United States. In 1853, Commondore Perry's use of [[GunboatDiplomacy US Navy Black Ships]] to intimidate the Tokugawa shogunate into opening Japan's borders would lead to years of upheaval within the country that would culminate with the UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration and Japan taking the the path of both industrialization and colonial ambitions. More than ninety years later, the [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki American use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] would spell both the end of the Second World War as well as Japan's status as an imperial power.

* Creator/StephenHawking was born on January 8, 1942, exactly 300 years after Galileo Galilei's death, and his death date was March 14, 2018, which was UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein's birthday and Pi Day. And Hawking, like Einstein, died at age 76.

* An example pertaining to most people's days- they start and end in a bed.

* The first official commercial steam railway in the United Kingdom was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830. On 11th August 1968, the final steam-hauled train to be operated by British Railways ran over the former Liverpool and Manchester Railway on its way from Liverpool to Carlisle and back, officially ending the age of steam in Britain.

* The planet Earth's very first moments manifested as a hellish, molten landscape, as will its final moments billions of years from now when the Sun reaches its 'red giant' phase.

** Similarly, the Almoravids took over the Ummayad territories because they, being fundamentalists, thought they had strayed too far from the Islamic values. Later, the Almohads took over the ALmoravid territories because they, being fundamentalists, thought they had strayed too far from the Islamic values.

* The [[UsefulNotes/WarOnTerror Western intervention in Afghanistan]] both began and ended with [[TheBadGuyWins the Taliban in near-total control of the country]].
* When the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain was on a decline, they asked the Ummayad arabs for help. They ended up being conquered, marking the start of UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain. When the Ummayad Caliphate was on a decline, they asked the Almoravids for help. They ended up being conquered.