On This Day In History
August 20th
1597 1st Dutch East India Company ships return from the Far East
1619 1st known African Americans in English North America (approx. 20) land at Point Comfort (Fort Monroe), Virginia. They are then sold or traded into servitude.
1741 Alaska first sighted by Danish explorer Vitus Bering at head of Russian expedition
1866 President Andrew Johnson formally declares US Civil War over
1905 Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen forms the first chapter of T’ung Meng Hui, a union of all secret societies determined to bringing down the Manchus (Qing dynasty)
1968 During the night 250,000 Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia in response to the Prague Spring
1993 Oslo Peace Accords signed, after secret negotiations in Norway, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month
Did You Know?
British PM Churchill says of Royal Air Force, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”
Today in History in 1940
Would You Believe?
Longest US men’s single tennis tournament match Palmer Presbrey defeats T S Tailer, 19-21, 8-6, 6-1, 6-4, an 80 game 1st-round contest
Today in History in 1888
August 21st
1192 Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)
1703 The Edirne Event: Turkish army removes Sultan Mustafa II, lessening the power of the sultans
1772 King Gustav III of Sweden completes a coup d’etat by adopting a new Constitution and installing himself as an enlightened despot, ending 50 years of parliamentary rule
1888 American inventor William Seward Burroughs patents the adding machine
1911 “Mona Lisa” stolen from the Louvre by Vincenzo Perugia; recovered in 1913
1959 Hawaii becomes the 50th US state
1991 Conservative coup in the Soviet Union is crushed by popular resistance led by Boris Yeltsin in three days
Did You Know?
1st British unmanned drone hit on a UK citizen outside a conflict – ISIS fighter Reyaad Khan in Raqqa, Syria
Today in History in 2015
Would You Believe?
After 108 years a “message in a bottle” put in the sea by UK Marine Biological Association is announced found on a beach in Amrum, Germany
Today in History in 2015
August 22nd
1485 Battle of Bosworth Field: Henry Tudor’s forces defeat English King Richard III during last battle in the Wars of the Roses. Richard is killed, the last English monarch to die in battle.
1639 Madras (now Chennai), India, founded by the British East India Company on sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers
1642 English Civil War begins between Royalists and Parliament
1864 First Geneva Convention adopted in Geneva “for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field” signed by 12 nations
1922 Michael Collins was shot dead in an ambush at Béal na mBláth by members of the IRA opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Collins, with Arthur Griffith, had helped negotiate the treaty which led to the establishment of the Irish Free State.
1945 Vietnam conflict begins as Ho Chi Minh leads a successful coup
Did You Know?
The first air raid in history; Austria launches pilotless balloons against the Italian city of Venice
Today in History in 1849
Would You Believe?
St Columba reports seeing monster in Loch Ness
Today in History in 565
August 23rd
79 Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on feast day of Vulcan, Roman god of fire (goes on to destroy Pompeii) [approx date] [1] [2]
1305 Scottish patriot William Wallace is executed for high treason by Edward I of England at Smithfield, London
1542 Rabbi Joseph Caro completes his commentary of Tur Code
1850 1st US National Women’s Rights Convention convenes in Worcester, Massachusetts
1942 Battle of Stalingrad: 600 Luftwaffe planes bomb Stalingrad (40,000 die)
1943 50th day of Battle of Kursk, USSR: Largest tank battle in history ends with Russia’s defeat of Germany; over 10,000 tanks take part, nearly 250,,000 combatants killed
1996 Osama bin Laden issues message entitled “A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places”
2005 Hurricane Katrina forms over the Bahamas, later becoming a category 5 hurricane
Did You Know?
World War II: last cavalry charge in history takes place at Isbushenskij, Russia; the Italian Savoia Cavalleria charges Soviet infantry
Today in History in 1942
Would You Believe?
Mars’ closest approach to Earth since 10th century
Today in History in 1924
August 24th
79 Believed until 2018 to be the date of the massive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius which buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, killing untold thousands. Latest evidence suggests the eruption occurred after 17 October. [1] [2]
410 Rome overrun by Visigoths under Alaric I for the first time in nearly 800 years, seen as the fall of the Western Roman Empire
1516 Battle of Marj Dabiq: Ottoman forces decisively beat the Mamluk Sultanate
1572 St. Bartholomew‘s Day Massacre of Protestants by Roman Catholics begins in Paris and later spreads to the French provinces
1662 Act of Uniformity requires English to accept Book of Common Prayer
1814 British forces capture Washington, D.C. and destroy many landmarks (War of 1812)
1968 France becomes the world’s fifth thermonuclear power with a detonation on Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific
Did You Know?
The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed
Today in History in 1456
Would You Believe?
1st potato chips prepared by chef George Crum at Moon’s Lake House, near Saratoga Springs, New York (popular legend says he invented though earlier recipes exist)
Today in History in 1853
August 25th
1609 Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers
1718 Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans founded
1768 Captain James Cook departs from Plymouth, England, on his first voyage on board the Endeavour, bound for the Pacific Ocean
1894 Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet
1944 French General Charles de Gaulle walks the Champs Elysees in Paris after the liberation of the city from Nazi occupation
1990 UN security council authorizes military action against Iraq
1991 Linux is born when Linus Torvalds sends off an email announcing his project to create a new computer operating system
Did You Know?
Momofuku Ando markets the first package of precooked instant noodles (Chikin Ramen)
Today in History in 1958
Would You Believe?
Alicia Thornton becomes first female jockey in England riding at Knavesmire in Yorkshire
Today in History in 1804
August 26th
1346 Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III‘s English longbows defeat Philip VI’s army, cannons used for first time in battle
1682 English astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet named after him
1873 First free kindergarten in the U.S. started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri
1924 The Catastrophe of Smyrna: known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe to Greeks. The Ottoman army expels Greeks and other non-Turks from Asia Minor. (August 13 OS)
1937 General Franco‘s Nationalist troops conquer Santander during the Spanish Civil War
1959 British Motor Corporation introduces the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis, it was only 10 ft long but seated 4 passengers
1996 US President Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law, representing major shift in welfare policy