Historical Fact of the Day

[King Kurt]

Missed an important one for July 21 -

1545 – The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight occurs

Well - it isn't often that the Island is mentioned - so let's remember this military sideshow - it was part of the events that led to the sinking of the Mary Rose

also on the 21st -

1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first true western showdown.
1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West.

Yeee hahhh - we all love cowboys!!

Now for 22nd July

1099 – First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1298 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk – King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town.
1456 – Ottoman Wars in Europe: Siege of Belgrade – John Hunyadi, Regent of Kingdom of Hungary defeats Mehmet II of Ottoman Empire
1484 – Battle of Lochmaben Fair – a 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas are defeated by Scots forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas is captured.
1499 – Battle of Dornach – the Swiss decisively defeat the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I.
1587 – Colony of Roanoke: a second group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War – Battle of Salamanca – British forces led by Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) defeat French troops near Salamanca, Spain.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta – outside Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General John Bell Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill.
1934 – Outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre, "Public Enemy No. 1" John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents.
1946 – King David Hotel bombing: Irgun bombs King David Hotel in Jerusalem, headquarters of the British civil and military administration, killing 90.
2005 – Jean Charles de Menezes is killed by police as the hunt begins for the London Bombers.

What a busy day in history - Wellington's victory at Salamanca was one of a series of brilliant victories in the Peninsular leading eventually to him ( with the help of a few Prussians who arrived near the end!!!!!) defeating Napoleon at Waterloo. Wellington's tactics were similar throughout the Napoleonic wars - use of cover and firepower - and warrant some attention.

[Ariovistus Maximus]

Wow Kurt; you are really keeping this thread alive!

I would balloon you, if I may:

And thanks for your contributionS!

[King Kurt]

Ariovistus - thank you for your kind words - I have enjoyed having a little root round - normally about 5 minutes in Wiki!! The interesting thing is coming across the little odd ones. I accept your ballon with honour and humility

And today???? - July 27

1214 – Battle of Bouvines: In France, Philip II of France defeats John of England.
1549 – Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reached Japan - causing much excitment for all fans of Shogun Total War 550 years later!!
1663 – The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
1689 – Glorious Revolution: Battle of Killiecrankie ends.
1694 – A Royal Charter is granted to the Bank of England.
1720 – The second important victory of the Russian Navy – the Battle of Grengam.
1778 – American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant – British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
1789 – The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (later renamed Department of State).
1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution. Clearly a man who enjoyed his work.
1865 – Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina - searching for some lost sheep no doubt
1866 – The Atlantic Cable is successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.
1880 – Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand – In a pyrrhic victory, Afghan forces led by Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan. Some things never change.
1917 – The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.
1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin.
1928 – Tich Freeman becomes only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before end of July.
1940 – The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
1941 – Japanese troops occupy French Indo-China - begining a tragic chain of events which will go on for over 30 years.
1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.
1953 – Korean War ends: The United States, People's Republic of China, and North Korea, sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, president of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
1955 – The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends (started on May 9, 1945).
1964 – Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000. See 1941
1972 – The F-15 Eagle flies for the first time.
1974 – Watergate Scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment against President Richard Nixon: obstruction of justice.
1976 – Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed bribery scandals.
1981 – British television: On Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event, with massive viewer numbers earned for the show - and despite both's loose morals they are still together - or did they get divorced for a few years then get back together????

So hey - some good action from today in history

[KrooK]

1549 – Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reached Japan - causing much excitment for all fans of Shogun Total War 550 years later!!

should be in bold :)

[rotorgun]

Shogun! Great film based on the book by George Clavell, as well as an interesting subject for a game.

[King Kurt]

So what of today - 29 July??

1014 – Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent savage treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack several months later, on October 6.
1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad – King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
1565 – The widowed Mary Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland. A furthur step on her tragic life.
1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling. He was to become James the 1 of England, uniting the 2 countries to this day - except when we play each other at sport!!!
1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – English naval forces under command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France. Surely a pivotal moment in history. The battle of Gravelines is the decisive battle of the Spanish Armada, ending the Spanish threat to England and played a key role in the Dutch's ultimate victory over the Dutch. It also cemented the importance of the navy to England - something that has shaped our foreign and military policy to this day.
1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen – France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
1793 – John Graves Simcoe decides to build a fort and settlement at Toronto, having sailed into the bay there.
1830 – Abdication of Charles X of France. A key event in the first year of revolutions.
1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris - but presumably not the traffic jams associated with it today!!
1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – in Tipperary, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.
1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.
1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by Italian-born anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
1901 – The Socialist Party of America founded.
1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp ran from August 1-9, 1907, and is regarded as the founding of the Scouting movement. Something my son does today.
1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
1932 – Great Depression: in Washington, DC, U.S. troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans.
1937 – Tongzhou Incident part of that forgotten conflict the sino japanese wars.
1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad – after a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin opened in London.
1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union - paving the way for Jack Lord and Hawaii 50!!
1965 – Vietnam War: the first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
1966 – Bob Dylan is injured in a motorcycle accident near Woodstock, New York - and will not appear live until the Isle of Wight festival in 1969.
1967 – Vietnam War: off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
1967 – During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
1976 – In New York City, the "Son of Sam" kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
1981 – Marriage of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer.
1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build the tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).

Some good events there

[KrooK]

1.VIII.1944 Warsaw Uprising starts. 200.000 soldiers and civilians killed by Germans, Russians and Soviets.

[Quintus.JC]

2nd August – Today’s the day

Battle of Cannae - 216 BC
Sensational victory scored by the Carthaginian general Hannibal Barca to complete his hat-trick of victories against the Roman Republic (Previously ones being Trebia and Trasimene). Hannibal’s perfect execution of the Pincer movement ensured the defeat and total annihilation of the Roman army that day; with the battle exposing Roman military amateurism at its most inept. The 80,000+ infantry relied on their sheer number and pushed back the thin Punic infantry line; however the line bent rather than broke and gradually enveloped the enemy. Meanwhile the more powerful Carthaginian cavalry easily routed their weaker Roman counterparts and encircled round to attack the Roman infantry from its rear. The Roman legions were driven into a dense mass and troops were unable to wield their swords properly. Few escaped the battle and a great majority of the Roman forces were slaughtered, with the death toll approaching over 70,000 for the Romans that day.

Battle of Chaeronea - 338 BC
Macedonian armies led by King Philip II decisively defeats the forces of Athens and Thebes, paving the way for his son Alexander to conquer the known world.

1100 AD - King William (Rufus) II of England died under mysterious circumstances in the New Forest. Accident, murder or assassination? We may never know.

[Ibrahim]

August 2:

-Iraq invades Kuwait in 1990.

[KrooK]

9.VIII.1945
Fat Man destroy Nagasaki saving milions of people who would die, if Japan continue war.

[Ice]

August 12th

30 BC – Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide allegedly by means of an asp bite.

1281 – The fleet of Qubilai Khan is destroyed by a typhoon while approaching Japan.

1833 – Chicago is founded.

1898 – The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the American flag to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawai`i to the United States.

1914 – World War I – Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary; countries of the British Empire are also included.

1953 – Nuclear weapons testing: the Soviet atomic bomb project continues with the detonation of Joe 4, the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon.

1982 – Mexico announces it is unable to pay its enormous external debt, marking the beginning of a debt crisis that spreads to all of Latin America and the Third World.

2000 – The Oscar class submarine K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise.

[KrooK]

15.VIII.2009 - battle of Warsaw - polish army stops Red Army and saves Europe from communist regime.

[Ariovistus Maximus]

2000 – The Oscar class submarine K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise.

Oooh that was an interesting one. Have you ever read the theory that it was a shootout? And about USS Scorpion? Very interesting stuff.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

August 20, 1991 - Estonia re-declares independence from the Soviet Union!!

[King Jan III Sobieski]

27 August 410 Anno Domini – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.

[King Jan III Sobieski]

28 August 1640 – During the Second Bishop's War, King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn.

[Tabuu]

June 9

68 A.D. - Roman Emporer Nero commits suicide

1856 - 500 mormons pack up and leave Iowa City for a new life in Utah.

1934 - Donald Duck makes his debut.

All I have now. More coming!

[Dodge_272]

18th June 1815, Waterloo, I think you know the rest ;)

[Brenus]

1778: Bristish evacuated Philadelphia.
1779: French Fleet occupied St Vincent.

I think you know the rest :-)))

[Louis VI the Fat]

The 18th of June will always be De Gaulle's day. The day he saved national pride.

Little skirmishes near Bruxelles or in some colonies pale in comparison.

[Tabuu]

1429 - French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay.
1767 - Samuel Wallis becomes the first European to set foot in Tahiti.
1778 - British troops abandon Philadelphia.
1812 - U.S. Congress declares war on Britain and Ireland.
1830 - French invasion of Algeria.
1873 - Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
1887 - Reinsurance Treaty is signed between Germany and Russia.
1908 - University of the Philippines is established.
1923 - Checker Taxi puts its first taxi on the streets.
1928 - Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic.
1940 - Winston Churchill's "Finest Hour" speech.
1953 - Egypt declares independence, abolishing the monarchy.
1983 - Sally Ride becomes the first woman in space.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Events

* 618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang Dynasty rule over China.
* 1178 – Five Canterbury monks see what is possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon's distance from the Earth (on the order of metres) are a result of this collision.
* 1264 – The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.
* 1429 – French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years' War.
* 1757 – Battle of Kolín between Prussian forces under Frederick the Great and an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Years' War.
* 1767 – Samuel Wallis, an English sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island.
* 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
* 1812 – War of 1812: The U.S. Congress declares war on the United Kingdom.
* 1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo leads to Napoleon Bonaparte abdicating the throne of France for the second and last time.
* 1830 – French invasion of Algeria
* 1858 – Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin's own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.
* 1859 – First ascent of Aletschhorn, second summit of the Bernese Alps.
* 1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
* 1887 – The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.
* 1900 – Empress Dowager Longyu of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families.
* 1908 – Japanese immigration to Brazil begins when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the Kasato-Maru ship.
* 1908 – The University of the Philippines is established.
* 1923 – Checker Taxi puts its first taxi on the streets.
* 1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she was a passenger; Wilmer Stutz was the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).
* 1930 – Groundbreaking ceremonies for the Franklin Institute are held.
* 1940 – Appeal of June 18 by Charles de Gaulle.
* 1940 – "Finest Hour" speech by Winston Churchill.

[Tabuu]

Took my facts thats not cool!