When the family business failed, Mercer left school and on his mother's urging -- for she hoped that he would become an actor -- he joined a local little theater group.

When that failed, he enlisted Branch Rickey's aid in the formation of a third major league, the Continental, with New York as the key franchise.

When the Confederate attempt to defend Petersburg failed, the Confederate army retreated but was pursued and defeated, which resulted in Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.

When his quest to keep the team in Milwaukee finally failed after the 1965 season, he changed the group's name to Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc., after the minor league baseball team he grew up watching, and devoted himself to returning Major League Baseball to Milwaukee.

When the coach failed and injured Winterbottom, he sued Wright.

When machine translation ( also known as mechanical translation ) failed to yield accurate translations right away, automated processing of human languages was recognized as far more complex than had originally been assumed.

When the business failed, his father would quietly turn the huge stacks of useless stationery and pencils over to his children, requiring them to use up all the material as fast as possible.

When Domitian found out, he allegedly murdered Paris in the street and promptly divorced his wife, with Suetonius further adding that once Domitia was exiled, Domitian took Julia as his mistress, who later died during a failed abortion.

When this plan failed, privateering became one of the major goals within the WIC.

When he failed in his attempts to meet General Yahya Khan, Masud too resigned from his position as Commander of Eastern Air Command, and took retirement from Air Force.

When Nature failed to do this spontaneously, contact with a conductor of animal magnetism was a necessary and sufficient remedy.

When Godzilla 1985 failed at the box office, it was the last Godzilla film produced by Toho to receive any major release in North American theaters until Godzilla 2000 fifteen years later.

When they failed, several went into hiding and established close ties with Cuba.

When the prophetic powers of the last of the Pythias failed her, Rassilion, Omega and a shadowy figure known as The Other seized power in the name of science and rationality.

When Edgar failed, they suggested to Ricordi that he should drop Puccini, but Ricordi said that he would stay with him and made him an allowance from his own pocket until his next opera.

When this failed and Barcelona fell to the Nationalists in early 1939, it was clear the war was over.

When the counter-attack failed to stop the Soviet advance, Hitler held Himmler personally liable and accused him of not following orders.

When Saddam Hussein failed to comply with this demand, the Gulf War ( Operation " Desert Storm ") ensued on January 17, 1991.

When it failed to become the hit that was expected, Frankenheimer admitted he developed a serious problem with alcohol.

When this threat failed, Innocent excommunicated the king in November 1209.

When the VNQDD fled to China after the failed uprising against the French, they settled in Yunnan and Canton, in two different branches.

" When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, contact with his Soviet controllers was lost and Philby failed to attend meetings.

When the storms failed to return in 1899, it was generally thought that the dust had moved on and storms were a thing of the past.

When a young mechanic failed to repair the car in a way satisfactory to Stein, the garage owner shouted at the boy, " You are all a " génération perdue.

When PenPoint failed in the marketplace, SmartSketch was ported to Microsoft Windows and Mac OS.

When erosion threatened the foundation of their home in Harbert, Paula Sandburg planted grapevines and arranged the snow fences which helped hold the sands away.

When this heresy-decree, to be made effective, was forwarded to other congregations for approval, the friends of liberal thought, under the leadership of the Tibbonites, issued a counter-ban, and the conflict threatened to assume a serious character, as blind party zeal ( this time on the liberal side ) did not shrink from asking the civil powers to intervene.

When Democratic-Republicans in some states refused to enforce federal laws, and even threatened to rebel, Federalists threatened to send the army to force them to capitulate.

When threatened, it will crouch and freeze, relying on camouflage to stay undetected, but will flush into low flight if closely disturbed.

When the toads are threatened, their glands secrete a milky-white fluid known as bufotoxin.

When the production of Richard Kelly's debut film, Donnie Darko, was threatened, Barrymore stepped forward with financing from Flower Films and took the small role of Karen Pomeroy, the title character's English teacher.

When they warned him that they would ask Charles Gounod instead and then threatened to engage Richard Wagner's services, Verdi began to show considerable interest, and agreements were signed in June 1870.

When Evans began to question her religious faith, her father threatened to throw her out, although that did not happen.

When the Brunswick Manifesto of July 1792 once more threatened the French population with Austrian ( Imperial ) and Prussian attacks, Louis XVI was suspected of treason and taken along with his family from the Tuileries Palace in August 1792 by insurgents supported by a new revolutionary Paris Commune.

When France was negotiating with the Netherlands about purchasing Luxembourg in 1867, the Prussian Kingdom threatened the French government with war.

When, however, the Treaty of San Stefano threatened a Russian hegemony in the Near East, Andrássy concurred with the German and British courts that the final adjustment of matters must be submitted to a European congress.

When the Germans threatened to overrun Paris in 1940, where she was then living, he arranged her escape to England.

When Louis threatened invasion, the third great civil war of his reign broke out.

When threatened, the Ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, or will run away.

When rebel gunboats threatened to dash upriver from Argentina to bombard the capital into submission, Stroessner's forces battled furiously and knocked them out of commission.

When the siege had started, Saladin was unwilling to promise terms of quarter to the Frankish inhabitants of Jerusalem until Balian of Ibelin threatened to kill every Muslim hostage, estimated at 5000, and to destroy Islam's holy shrines of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque if quarter was not given.

When confronted with the evidence that Solomon was a free man, and told that he had a wife and children, Epps cursed the man ( unknown to him ) who had helped Solomon and threatened to kill him if he discovered his identity.

When Thompson climbed back on board, Johnson drew a knife and threatened Thompson's girlfriend, who was also on board.

When Goldstein was threatened with court-martial for refusing to treat non-Jewish soldiers in the Israeli Defence Force, he declared: " I am not willing to treat any non-Jew.

When threatened, however, they can reach up to and maintain that speed for up to 90 seconds.

When threatened by Xena he tells her, " I know what I'm fated to do with my life ".

When the king was passing by the oasis, the residents killed his son, and the Yemenite ruler threatened to exterminate the people and cut down the palms.

When Gregory was hard pressed by Henry IV, Robert Guiscard left him to his fate, and only intervened when he himself was threatened with German arms.

When viewers realized that Willow was falling in love with Tara, Whedon remembered that some threatened to boycott the show, complaining " You made Willow a fag ", to which he responded, " Bye.