Historical Fact of the Day

[Alexanderofmacedon]

I decided to make a blog in my free time (we'll see how it goes in the summer) based on military events in history. Everday I'll find an event and instead of just listing the events that have occured in the day, I'll try to explain them a bit too.

http://thisdayinhistory-conflict.blogspot.com/

[King Jan III Sobieski]

5 July 1295 – Scotland and France form an alliance, the beginnings of the Auld Alliance, against England.

[King Kurt]

For July 7:

1585 – The Treaty of Nemours was first signed, forcing Henry III of France (pictured) to give in to the demands of the Catholic League and revoking all edicts granting concessions to the Huguenots.
1798 – The Quasi-War, an undeclared war fought entirely at sea, began after the United States rescinded their treaties with France.
1807 – Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon I of France signed the first agreement of the Treaties of Tilsit, ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.
1928 – The Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri, USA, first produced sliced bread, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped", which then led to the popular phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread".
1937 – The Imperial Japanese Army defeated the Republic of China's National Revolutionary Army on Beijing's Marco Polo Bridge, marking the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
2005 - 4 suicide bombs go off in London, killing 52 innocent people

The Quasi War is interesting - never heard of it before - it was fought entirely at sea

The Sino- Japanese war is truely the forgotten conflict of WW2 - enormous casualties, horrendious war crimes and truely world changing consequences - yet it is hardly mentioned here in the West

[Samurai Waki]

1758: The British attack on Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, New York, is foiled by the French.
1794: French troops capture Brussels, Belgium.
1859: The Truce at Villafranca Austria cedes Lombardy to France.
1863: Demoralized by the surrender of Vicksburg, Confederates in Port Hudson, Louisiana, surrender to Union forces.
1950: General Douglas MacArthur is appointed head of the United Nations Command in Korea.

[King Kurt]

Nothing for a few days, but we can't let Bastille day go by!!

So - July 14
The Storming of the Bastille in Paris occurred on 14 July, 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris. While the prison only contained seven prisoners at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution, and it subsequently became an icon of the French Republic.

Also

1865 – First ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom died on the descent.
1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
1965 – The Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet.
1969 – Political conflicts between El Salvador and Honduras erupted into the four-day Football War, so-named because it coincided with the inflamed rioting during the second CONCACAF qualifying round for the 1970 FIFA World Cup.
2003 - The U.S. Government admitted the existence of Area 51, the secretive military airfield in Nevada that has become a focus of various UFO and conspiracy theories, conceding that the U.S. Air Force does have an "operating location" there. - One for the conspiracy theorists there

The Football War is one I have distant memories about - as England was in the grip of a long period of football hooliganism at the time having a war seemed like the next logical step!! As usual with our tabloid press - some things never change - the complicated actual reasons for the war were ignored and it was portrayed as a couple of banana republics scraping over a football game.

[KrooK]

15. 07 . 1410 - BATTLE OF GRUNWALD
One of the biggest battles of Medieval Europe. Knights from half of Europe took part.
Polish - Lithuanian army broke Teutonic Order and stopped German Drag nach Osten for 350 years.
Poland suddenly became local empire.

[King Kurt]

Krook - thanks for that - the strength of this thread is how it highlights different aspects of history. The battle of Grunwald is virtually unknown here - to be honest vast tracts of central European history are sketchy to us here in England - so, inspired by your post, I went off to Wiki and found out a bit more. I have always been fascinated by the Teutonic Order ever since seeing them as sinister Knights in the film of Alexander Nevsky - MTW and the forum have sparked me into finding out a bit more of their history.

My contribution is a more minor one. On July 15 1989 Laurie Cunningham, an English footballer, was killed in car crash outside of Madrid. Laurie was one of the first black footballers to make the grade here in England and he caused a major change in English football. Racism - absolutely rife in the 1960's and 70's - has mostly gone from the game and teams here in the UK have all races playing from them. Laurie and several other gifted black footballers lead the way for this major change in English sport. For our American friends, he did for football what Jackie Robinson did for baseball. For those who want to know more see this article from the BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8149282.stm