This day in history

[solypsist]

post notes on important historical events that happened today. since today is subjective and starts anew every 24 hours, this could go on for a bit.
extra points are awarded if the event has something to do with STW or MTW

like:
May 11 1310
54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France for being heretics. Established during the Crusades to protect pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, this military order came into increasing conflict with Rome until Clement V officially dissolves it at the Council of Vienna in 1312

[Tricky Lady]

from Wikipedia:

330 - Byzantium was renamed Constantinople.

[octavian]

BUTCHER OF LYON PUT ON TRIAL:
May 11, 1987


Klaus Barbie, the Nazi Gestapo head of German-occupied Lyon, France, was put on trial more than 40 years after the end of World War II. there were 177 charges laid against him for crmies against humanity.

[Tricky Lady]

Hmmm... A great day for nazi-hunters indeed, as according to wikipedia, Adolf Eichmann was abducted by Mossad agents, in 1960.

[The Wizard]

11 may 1904: Artist Salvador Dalí born in Figueres, Catalonia

[son of spam]

http://www.historychannel.com/today/

The definitive This Day in History

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Klaus Barbie has such a cool name.
Erm, if I may go ahead a few months and days,
August 23, 1990, I was born.
-Capo

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Quote[/b] (Caporegime1984 @ May 11 2004,22:46)]Klaus Barbie has such a cool name.
Erm, if I may go ahead a few months and days,
August 23, 1990, I was born.
-Capo

We share a birthday, Capo, although I'm two years older.

[Tribesman]

Bob Marley died

[octavian]

Quote[/b] (Caporegime1984 @ May 11 2004,17:46)]Klaus Barbie has such a cool name.
Erm, if I may go ahead a few months and days,
August 23, 1990, I was born.
-Capo

what a lame excuse to a) get another post b)get another post c) tell us all how old you are










good job

[Gawain of Orkeny]

May 11

1864 Confederate Cavalry General J.E.B. Stuart is mortally wounded


A dismounted Union trooper fatally wounds J.E.B. Stuart, one of the most colorful generals of the South, at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, just six miles north of Richmond. Stuart died the next day.

During the 1864 spring campaign in Virginia, General Ulysses S. Grant applied constant pressure on Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. In early May, the two armies clashed in the Wilderness and again at Spotsylvania Court House as they lurched southward toward Richmond. Meanwhile, Grant sent General Phil Sheridan and his cavalry on a raid deep behind Confederate lines. The plan was to cut Lee's supply line and force him out of the trenches in retreat. Sheridan's troops wreaked havoc on the Rebel rear as they tore up railroad tracks, destroyed supply depots, and held off the Confederate cavalry in several engagements, including the Battle of Yellow Tavern.

Although Sheridan's Federal troops held the field at the end of the day, his forces were stretched thin. Richmond could be taken, Sheridan wrote later, but it could not be held. He began to withdraw back to the north.

The death of Stuart was a serious blow to Lee. He was a great cavalry leader, and his leadership was part of the reason the Confederates had a superior cavalry force in Virginia during most of the war. Yet Stuart was not without his faults: He had been surprised by a Union attack at the Battle of Brandy Station in 1863, and failed to provide Lee with crucial information at Gettysburg. Stuart's death, like Stonewall Jackson's the year before, seriously affected Lee's operations.

[JAG]

Wow I didn't realise it was 11th May, Cheers Gawain.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

Why thank you, Octavian.
-Capo

[Idaho]

Idaho had a cheese and pickle roll for lunch. Not exactly history - but it happened today.

[son of spam]

bump. Gawain had put up another thread about the same topic. So it might be more efficeint just to post in here instead.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

I looked for it but could not find it sorry.

Quote[/b] ]May 17

1863 Battle of Big Black River, Mississippi


The Union army defeats the Confederates on the Big Black River and drives them into Vicksburg in part of a brilliant campaign by General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant had swung his army down the Mississippi River past the strong riverfront defenses, and landed in Mississippi south of Vicksburg. He then moved northeast toward Jackson and split his force to defeat Joseph Johnston's troops in Jackson and John C. Pemberton's at Champion's Hill.

During the engagement at Champion's Hill, a Confederate division under William Loring split from Pemberton's main force and drifted south of the battlefield. Pemberton was forced to retreat to the Big Black River where he waited for Loring's troops. Loring, however, was heading east to join Johnston's army because he believed he could not reach Pemberton. While Pemberton waited for Loring on a bridge over the Big Black River, Grant attacked.

Pemberton suffered his second defeat in two days at the Big Black River. The battle began at dawn, and by 10 a.m. the Confederate position appeared hopeless. Confederate casualties numbered 1,752 killed, wounded, and captured, to the Yankees' 279. Pemberton withdrew across the bridge and then burned it down. With the bridge out, Grant could no longer advance. But he now had Pemberton backed up into Vicksburg. He soon closed the ring and laid siege to the town, which surrendered on July 4.

[Alrowan]

May 18

1652 - Rhode Island passes the first law in North America making slavery illegal.
1803 - The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate.
1848 - Opening of first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany
1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act passes the United States Congress giving the President the power to draft soldiers.
1974 - Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
1980 - Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington killing 57 and causing US$ 3 billion in damage.
1998 - The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.

[Alrowan]

do i get points for NTW??

[Mouzafphaerre]

Quote[/b] (Tricky Lady @ May 11 2004,21:21)]from Wikipedia:

330 - Byzantium was renamed Constantinople.

-
Objection

It was rebuilt from scratch, occupying at least three times the old Byzantion had done.

Those Wikies need to read better before they write.


_

[Gawain of Orkeny]

May 18

1863 The siege of Vicksburg commences


On this day, Union General Ulysses S. Grant surrounds Vicksburg, the last Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, in one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war.

Beginning in the winter of 1862-63, Grant made several attempts to capture Vicksburg. In March, he marched his army down the west bank of the Mississippi, while union Admiral David Porter's flotilla ran past the substantial batteries that protected the city. They met south of the city, and Grant crossed the river and entered Mississippi. He then moved north to approach Vicksburg from its more lightly defended eastern side. In May, he had to split his army to deal with a threat from Joseph Johnston's Rebels in Jackson, the state capital that lay 40 miles east of Vicksburg. After defeating Johnston's forces, Grant moved toward Vicksburg.

On May 16, Grant fought the Confederates under John C. Pemberton at Champion's Hill and defeated them decisively. He then attacked again at the Big Black River the next day, and Pemberton fled into Vicksburg with Grant following close behind. The trap was now complete and Pemberton was stuck in Vicksburg, although his forces would hold out until July 4.

In the three weeks since Grant crossed the Mississippi in the campaign to capture Vicksburg, Grant's men marched 180 miles and won five battles. They took nearly 100 Confederate artillery pieces and nearly 6,000 prisoners, all with relatively light losses.



1861 Arkansas admitted to the Confederate States of America

[Quid]

BOMBING OF GUERNICA:

Spain. Spanish Civil War. 1937. On 26 April 1937, 100 aircraft of the German Luftwaffe's Legion Condor, under the command of Major General Hugo Sperrle with Lieutenant Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen serving as his chief of staff, conducted a three hour bombing attack on the city of Guernica, then held by the Loyalist Republican Army. Participating units included Bomber Group K/88, Fighter Group J/88, Experimental Squadron VB/88, and two Italian fighter squadrons. Guernica was approximately 10 miles behind the front lines and was crowded with retreating soldiers and refugees (and thus this attack presaged the 1945 bombing of Dresden). In addition, the day was the normal market day for the town and surrounding area.

Note: On May 12, 1999, the New York Times reported that, after sixty-one years, in a declaration adopted on April 24, 1999, the German Parliament formally apologized to the citizens of Guernica for the role the Condor Legion played in bombing the town. The German government also agreed to change the names of some German military barracks named after members of the Condor Legion. By contrast, no formal apology to the city has ever been offered by the Spanish government for whatever role it may have played in the bombing.


Quid

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Quote[/b] ]May 20

1992 The Long Island Lolita is arrested


Amy Fisher, the so-called Long Island Lolita, is arrested for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco on the front porch of her Massapequa, New York, home. Fisher, only 17 at the time of the shooting, was having an affair with 38-year-old Joey Buttafuoco, Mary Jo's husband. The tawdry story soon became a tabloid and talk-show fixture, the source of three television movies, and countless jokes.

Mary Jo Buttafuoco survived the attack but was left with a bullet lodged in her head and a partially paralyzed face. Fisher, who pled guilty to the shooting, was convicted of assault and received a sentence of 5 to 15 years the following year. Mary Jo called her a prostitute, yet seemed to think her husband was blameless in the affair. The courts, however, were less forgiving; Joey was convicted of statutory rape and received a six-month jail sentence in 1993.

While in prison, Fisher claimed that she had been raped by guards and filed a $220 million lawsuit. But the judge who received the complaint said that it read like a cheap dime-store novel. Fisher also claimed that her defense attorney, with whom she was having an affair at the time, coerced her into pleading guilty. This line of appeal was not very successful but Mary Jo Buttafuoco, apparently having a change of heart, eventually got Fisher out of prison.

After taking anger-management courses in jail, Fisher wrote to apologize to Mary Jo, who later appeared at her parole hearing and forgave her. Fisher was released on parole in May 1999, after serving six years. The Buttafuocos moved to California where Joey attempted to become a movie star and talk-show host.

I grew up just a few miles from there.

[Kaiser of Arabia]

may 20th,
Capo gets pinkeye again, second time since April.
Capo calls Abe Lincoln a Nazi.
Capo goes to doctor.
Capo gets crucified because bathroom is not clean.
It's all about me...
-Capo

[Gawain of Orkeny]

LINDBERGH LANDS IN PARIS:
May 21, 1927


American pilot Charles A. Lindbergh lands at Le Bourget Field in Paris, successfully completing the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight and the first ever nonstop flight between New York to Paris. His single-engine monoplane, The Spirit of St. Louis, had lifted off from Roosevelt Field in New York 33 1/2 hours before.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh, born in Detroit in 1902, took up flying at the age of 20. In 1923, he bought a surplus World War I Curtiss Jenny biplane and toured the country as a barnstorming stunt flyer. In 1924, he enrolled in the Army Air Service flying school in Texas and graduated at the top of his class as a first lieutenant. He became an airmail pilot in 1926 and pioneered the route between St. Louis and Chicago. Among U.S. aviators, he was highly regarded.

In May 1919, the first transatlantic flight was made by a U.S. hydroplane that flew from New York to Plymouth, England, via Newfoundland, the Azores Islands, and Lisbon. Later that month, Frenchman Raymond Orteig, an owner of hotels in New York, put up a purse of $25,000 to the first aviator or aviators to fly nonstop from Paris to New York or New York to Paris. In June 1919, the British fliers John W. Alcock and Arthur W. Brown made the first nonstop transatlantic flight, flying 1,960 miles from Newfoundland to Ireland. The flight from New York to Paris would be nearly twice that distance.

Orteig said his challenge would be good for five years. In 1926, with no one having attempted the flight, Orteig made the offer again. By this time, aircraft technology had advanced to a point where a few thought such a flight might be possible. Several of the world's top aviators--including American polar explorer Richard Byrd, French flying ace Rený Fonck--decided to accept the challenge, and so did Charles Lindbergh.

Lindbergh convinced the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce to sponsor the flight, and a budget of $15,000 was set. The Ryan Airlines Corporation of San Diego volunteered to build a single-engine aircraft to his specifications. Extra fuel tanks were added, and the wing span was increased to 46 feet to accommodate the additional weight. The main fuel tank was placed in front of the cockpit because it would be safest there in the event of a crash. This meant Lindbergh would have no forward vision, so a periscope was added. To reduce weight, everything that was not utterly essential was left out. There would be no radio, gas gauge, night-flying lights, navigation equipment, or parachute. Lindbergh would sit in a light seat made of wicker. Unlike other aviators attempting the flight, Lindbergh would be alone, with no navigator or co-pilot.

The aircraft was christened The Spirit of St. Louis, and on May 12, 1927, Lindbergh flew it from San Diego to New York, setting a new record for the fastest transcontinental flight. Bad weather delayed Lindbergh's transatlantic attempt for a week. On the night of May 19, nerves and a newspaperman's noisy poker game kept him up all night. Early the next morning, though he hadn't slept, the skies were clear and he rushed to Roosevelt Field on Long Island. Six men had died attempting the long and dangerous flight he was about to take.

At 7:52 a.m. EST on May 20, The Spirit of St. Louis lifted off from Roosevelt Field, so loaded with fuel that it barely cleared the telephone wires at the end of the runway. Lindbergh traveled northeast up the coast. After only four hours, he felt tired and flew within 10 feet of the water to keep his mind clear. As night fell, the aircraft left the coast of Newfoundland and set off across the Atlantic. At about 2 a.m. on May 21, Lindbergh passed the halfway mark, and an hour later dawn came. Soon after, The Spirit of St. Louis entered a fog, and Lindbergh struggled to stay awake, holding his eyelids open with his fingers and hallucinating that ghosts were passing through the cockpit.

After 24 hours in the air, he felt a little more awake and spotted fishing boats in the water. At about 11 a.m. (3 p.m. local time), he saw the coast of Ireland. Despite using only rudimentary navigation, he was two hours ahead of schedule and only three miles off course. He flew past England and by 3 p.m. EST was flying over France. It was 8 p.m. in France, and night was falling.

At the Le Bourget Aerodrome in Paris, tens of thousands of Saturday night revelers had gathered to await Lindbergh's arrival. At 10:24 a.m. local time, his gray and white monoplane slipped out of the darkness and made a perfect landing in the air field. The crowd surged on The Spirit of St. Louis, and Lindbergh, weary from his 33 1/2-hour, 3,600-mile journey, was cheered and lifted above their heads. He hadn't slept for 55 hours. Two French aviators saved Lindbergh away from the boisterous crowd, whisking him away in an automobile. He was an immediate international celebrity.

President Calvin Coolidge dispatched a warship to take the hero home, and Lucky Lindy was given a ticker-tape parade in New York and presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor. His place in history, however, was not complete.

In 1932, he was the subject of international headlines again when his infant son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped, unsuccessfully ransomed, and then found murdered in the woods near the Lindbergh home. German-born Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of the crime in a controversial trial and then executed. Then, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Lindbergh became a spokesperson for the U.S. isolationism movement and was sharply criticized for his apparent Nazi sympathies and anti-Semitic views. After the outbreak of World War II, the fallen hero traveled to the Pacific as a military observer and eventually flew more than two dozen combat missions, including one in which he downed a Japanese aircraft. Lindbergh's war-time service largely restored public faith in him, and for many years later he worked with the U.S. government on aviation issues. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him brigadier general in the Air Force Reserve. He died in Hawaii in 1974.

[BDC]

British Police are allowed tear gas:

Quote[/b] ]
1965: British police to be issued with tear gas
Britain's police are to be armed with tear gas guns and grenades to be used against armed criminals or dangerous individuals.

The Home Secretary, Sir Frank Soskice, made the announcement in the House of Commons today.

He assured MPs the gas caused only temporary discomfort with no long-term side-effects.

Non-toxic tear smoke already used by the police in the Colonies would be stored at 40 police centres in England and Wales at six in Scotland.

It is the first time British police are being issued with the non-lethal weapon - although London's Metropolitan Police and four other forces have been able to obtain supplies from the military in emergency cases.

Gas against violently insane

Sir Frank made clear the chemical would be used only in dealing with armed criminals or violently insane persons in buildings from which they cannot be dislodged without danger or loss of life.

He said the gas would have no long-term effect on people who came into contact with it.

Sir Edward Dodd, the Chief Inspector of Constabularies, told the BBC tear gas would under no circumstances be used for crowd control.

The Secretary of State has asked chief constables to report to him the circumstances under which weapons are used whenever it is necessary to use them, he said.

He envisaged it would be used only two or three times a year.

CS gas was developed at the Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment at Porton in Wiltshire.

It is delivered in a grenade or cartridge and has an immediate effect - victims experience watering eyes and blurred vision which wears off as soon as they leave the area affected.

The idea of allowing issue of tear gas to police was first recommended by a working party in 1962.

For the last 10 years, police chiefs have expressed concern about the vulnerability of their officers and members of the public on rare occasions when criminals barricade themselves in buildings and there is no alternative but to send in armed officers.

[BDC]

BBC On this Day website

Pretty useful that.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

THE WAR OF THE ROSES:
May 22, 1455


In the opening battle of England's War of the Roses, the Yorkists defeat King Henry VI's Lancastrian forces at St. Albans, 20 miles northwest of London. Many Lancastrian nobles perished, including Edmund Beaufort, the duke of Somerset, and the king was forced to submit to the rule of his cousin, Richard of York. The dynastic struggle between the House of York, whose badge was a white rose, and the House of Lancaster, later associated with a red rose, would stretch on for 30 years.

Both families, closely related, claimed the throne through descent from the sons of Edward III, the king of England from 1327 to 1377. The first Lancastrian king was Henry IV in 1399, and rebellion and lawlessness were rife during his reign. His son, Henry V, was more successful and won major victories in the Hundred Years War against France. His son and successor, Henry VI, had few kingly qualities and lost most of the French land his father had conquered. At home, chaos prevailed and lords with private armies challenged Henry VI's authority. At times, his ambitious queen, Margaret of Anjou, effectively controlled the crown.

In 1453, Henry lapsed into insanity, and in 1454 Parliament appointed Richard, duke of York, as protector of the realm. Henry and York's grandfathers were the fourth and third sons of Edward III, respectively. When Henry recovered in late 1454, he dismissed York and restored the authority of Margaret, who saw York as a threat to the succession of their son, Prince Edward. York raised an army of 3,000 men, and in May the Yorkists marched to London. On May 22, 1455, York met Henry's forces at St. Albans while on the northern road to the capital. The bloody encounter lasted less than an hour, and the Yorkists carried the day. The duke of Somerset, Margaret's great ally, was killed, and Henry was captured by the Yorkists.

After the battle, Richard again was made English protector, but in 1456 Margaret regained the upper hand. An uneasy peace was broken in 1459, and in 1460 the Lancastrians were defeated, and York was granted the right to ascend to the throne upon Henry's death. The Lancastrians then gathered forces in northern England and in December 1460 surprised and killed York outside his castle near Wakefield.

York's son Edward reached London before Margaret and was proclaimed King Edward IV. In March 1461, Edward won a decisive victory against the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton, the bloodiest of the war. Henry, Margaret, and their son fled to Scotland, and the first phase of the war was over.

Yorkist rivalry would later lead to the overthrow of Edward in 1470 and the restoration of Henry VI. The next year, Edward returned from exile in the Netherlands, defeated Margaret's forces, killed her son, and imprisoned Henry in the Tower of London, where he was murdered. Edward IV then ruled uninterrupted until his death in 1483. His eldest son was proclaimed Edward V, but Edward IV's brother, Richard III, seized the crown and imprisoned Edward and his younger brother in the Tower of London, where they disappeared, probably murdered. In 1485, Richard III was defeated and killed by Lancastrians led by Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Henry Tudor was proclaimed King Henry VII, the first Tudor king. Henry was the grandson of Catherine of Valois, the widow of Henry V, and Owen Tudor. In 1486, he married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York, thereby uniting the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims. This event is seen as marking the end of the War of Roses; although some Yorkists supported in 1487 an unsuccessful rebellion against Henry, led by Lambert Simnel. The War of Roses left little mark on the common English people but severely thinned the ranks of the English nobility.

[solypsist]

May 22 337
Emperor Constantine dies. Although quite dead, his embalmed corpse continues to act as head of state, receving state dignitaries and daily reports from ministers as if nothing had changed. Constantine's macabre leadership continues through winter.

[octavian]

Quote[/b] (BDC @ May 21 2004,19:11)]BBC On this Day website

Pretty useful that.

the history channel has the same thing

[solypsist]

May 26 1232
Gregory IX issues the bull Declinante jam mundi, bringing the Papal Inquisition to Spain.