This date in history

[Jimbuna]

1066 - William the Conqueror's troops set sail for England.

[Aktungbby]

Pics or it didn't happen!

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1854: The first great disaster involving a passenger vessel on the trans-Atlantic route. SS Arctic sinks off Newfoundland after colliding with the French steamer Vesta which had watertight bulkheads and made it to safety. Of 400 people only 86 survived!. "Arctic's lifeboat capacity was around 180, enough for less than half those on board; the boats were launched in an atmosphere of panic and disorder, and the principle of "women and children first" was ignored. From around 400 on board (250 passengers, 150 crew). Captain Luce's first thought was to give assistance to the stricken Vesta, which appeared in danger of sinking, but when he was told that his own ship was holed beneath the waterline, he decided to make for the nearest land. As attempts to plug the leaks failed, Arctic's hull steadily filled with sea water. In accordance with the maritime regulations then in force, Arctic carried six lifeboats, the total capacity of which was around 180. Luce ordered these launched, but a breakdown in discipline among the crew meant that most places in the boats were taken by members of the crew or by the more able-bodied passengers. The rest were left with makeshift rafts, or were unable to leave the ship and went down with her when she sank, four hours after the collision. Two of the six lifeboats that left Arctic safely reached the Newfoundland shore, and another was picked by a passing steamer which also rescued a few survivors from improvised rafts. Among these was Captain Luce, who had regained the surface after initially going down with the ship!. The other three boats disappeared without trace. In all, more than 300 lives were lost; the 85 survivors included 61 of the crew and 24 male passengers. All the women and children on board perished." News of Arctic's loss: As the full story emerged, sorrow at the ship's loss turned to condemnation of the perceived cowardice of the crew, and their failure of duty towards their passengers. The matter of improved regulations was never pursued...that would come 58 years later... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Arctic

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1066: William Duke of Normandy accomplishes history's greatest amphibious operation(for results derived thereof) and lands lands at Pevensey en route to Hastings...

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If imitation is the sincere form of flattery, William's invasion was closely studied for the Allies D-Day invasion. The Overlord Embroidery at the Portsmouth D-Day museum, emulates the nearly thousand year old Bayeux Tapestry panels. Watercolors, from which the embroidery was made, hang in the Pentagon. The work was five painstaking years in creation; the brilliance speaks for itself! IMHO good things don't go outta style! Some of the panels:

[Jimbuna]

935 - Saint Wenceslas is murdered by his brother, Boleslaus I of Bohemia.

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480 BC: Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I. One of recorded history's top five critical naval battles... After Salamis, up to Alexander the Great's conquest, things never go well for the Persian Empire in wars with Greece.

[Rhodes]

Mafalda is "born"! Happy Birthday!

[Jimbuna]

522 BC - Darius I of Persia kills Magian usurper Gaumâta, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire.

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1939: British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier sign the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. Later that day, Chamberlain flew home to Britain, where he addressed a jubilant crowd in London and praised the Munich Pact for bringing "peace with honor" and "peace in our time." We've been happy ever since; with a little 'blood, toil, tears, and sweat' along the way...

[Jimbuna]

331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.

[HunterICX]

1964 - Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened the first Shinkansen line in japan marking the beginning of the high speed Rail.

[Jimbuna]

1187 - Sultan Saladin captures Jerusalem from Crusaders.

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1950: the comic strip Peanuts created by Charles M. Shultz, A (fellow)Minneapolis MINNESTOA boy of German-Norwegian extraction!!, is syndicated to seven newspapers. Mid 1950's; my dad builds a Sopwith Camel and Fokker DRI model, launching my lifelong WWI obsession and Cessna 172 time at next-door Sonoma County.. occasionally I don my ol' CCM Tacks(owned since '69!) and skate at the local arena-Zamboni fever I tell ya!. The fun thing about history is knowing your place in it! "Schulz summed up Snoopy's character in a 1997 interview: "He has to retreat into his fanciful world in order to survive. Otherwise, he leads kind of a dull, miserable life. I don't envy dogs the lives they have to live." IE: the subsimmer in his mancave?!!

[Jimbuna]

2333 BC - The state of Gojoseon (Modern-day Korea) founded by Dangun Wanggeom during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Yao.