This day in history

South African leader Nelson Mandela and German dictator Adolf Hitler. What could they possibly have in common? Well, if there is any at all, it's probably the date today.

Nelson Mandela, the noted South African leader, was born today. Mandela's "long imprisonment (1962–90) and subsequent ascension to the presidency (1994) symbolized the aspirations of South Africa's black majority," according to Encyclopedia Brittanica.

Adolf Hitler must have also cherished this date because it was on July 18 when the first volume of Mein Kampf (My Struggle), the political manifesto he wrote, was published in 1925. Two years later, the second volume of the book appeared. Mein Kampf became the bible of Nazism in Germany's Third Reich.

(Mandela's picture from http://www.writespirit.net. Hitler's photo from http://en.wikipedia.org)