This date in history

[Jimbuna]

1863 President Abraham Lincoln issues "eye-for-eye" order to shoot a rebel prisoner for every black prisoner shot.

1916 German saboteurs blow up a munitions plant on Black Tom Island, New Jersey.

1935 1st Penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution.

1945 After delivering the Atomic Bomb across the Pacific, the cruiser USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-58. 880 of the crew died, many after being attacked by sharks, the inspiration for the movie Jaws.

1949 British warship HMS Amethyst escapes down Yangtze River, having been refused a safe passage by Chinese Communists after 3-month standoff.

1956 US motto "In God We Trust" authorized.

[Jimbuna]

1914 German Emperor Wilhelm II threatens war, orders Russia to demobilize.

1941 U-boats sink and damage 21 allied ships this month (80,521 tons)

1945 Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

1961 Israel welcomes its one millionth immigrant.

1970 Black Tot Day: the last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy (started 1740)

2007 Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

[Jimbuna]

1774 English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state.

1798 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacks and decimates the French fleet at Aboukir Bay off the Nile Delta, Egypt.

1914 Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany declares war on his nephew Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in WWI

1936 XI Summer Olympic Games are opened by Adolph Hitler in Berlin.

1943 Sunderland seaplanes sink U-454 & U-383

1944 Anne Frank's last diary entry; 3 days later she is arrested.

1944 Polish resistance fighters of the Home Army launch the Warsaw Uprising, the largest military effort undertaken by a resistance movement in occupied Europe.

1945 Japanese city Toyama destroyed by B-29's

1958 US atomic submarine USS Nautilus begins 1st transit of North Pole "Operation Sunshine"

1977 Former Lockheed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers crashes the news helicopter he was flying in Los Angeles.

[Jimbuna]

1798 Battle of the Nile: British Admiral Horatio Nelson forces the remnants of the French fleet to surrender, concluding a decisive victory for the British who capture or destroy 11 French ships of the line and 2 frigates.

1914 Germany invades Belgium and declares war on France, beginning World War I

1934 Adolf Hitler merges the offices of German Chancellor and President, declaring himself "Führer" (leader)

1943 General George S. Patton slaps a US GI in hospital, accusing him of cowardice.

1972 US Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union to limit the use of missile systems capable of defending against missile-delivered nuclear weapons.

[Jimbuna]

1821 Russian Antarctic Expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen returns to Kronshtadt after becoming the 1st to circumnavigate Antarctica.

1900 An allied expeditionary force, made up of Japanese, Russian, British, French and American troops, sets off from Tientsin for Peking, China, to put down Boxer rebellion.

1914 US declares neutrality on the outbreak of WWI

1914 WWI: Germany declares war on Belgium; Britain declares war on Germany.

1918 Adolf Hitler receives the Iron Cross first class for bravery on the recommendation of his Jewish superior, Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann.

1941 Winston Churchill departs on Prince of Wales to US

1943 British premier Winston Churchill travels on the Queen Mary to Canada.

1944 Anne Frank arrested in Amsterdam by German Security Police (Grüne Polizei) following a tip-off from an informer who was never identified.

1954 Boscombe Down 1st flight of supersonic P-1 Lightning.

1972 Uganda dictator Idi Amin orders the expulsion of 50,000 Asians with British passport from Uganda.

[Aktungbby]

1900 An allied expeditionary force, made up of Japanese, Russian, British, French and American troops, sets off from Tientsin for Peking, China, to put down Boxer rebellion.

Precipitating "the century of shame" for which we'll pay a hefty price shortly over Speaker Pelosi's trip to Taiwan!!??

[Platapus]

On 5 August 1888, 39-year-old Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to Pforzeim with her sons Richard and Eugen, thirteen and fifteen years old respectively, in a Benz Patent-Motorwagen Model III, thus becoming the first person to drive an automobile a significant distance. This pioneering tour covered a one-way distance of about 106 km (66 mi).

[Jimbuna]

1173 Construction of the Tower of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete.

1815 Napoleon Bonaparte sets sail for exile on St Helena on board British ship the Northumberland.

1898 Rudolf Diesel of Germany obtains patent #608,845 for his internal combustion engine, later known as the diesel engine.

1914 German U-15 was sunk by the British cruiser, H.M.S. Birmingham.

1915 British naval officer David Beatty is confirmed in the rank of vice-admiral.

1945 US drops second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan, destroying part of the city.

2020 Disputed Belarusian presidential election sees long time dictator Alexander Lukashenko officially win 80% of the votes but unofficially lose 60-70% of the votes to main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Sparks widespread protests in Belarus and international condemnation.

[Jimbuna]

1776 American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.

1914 German battle cruiser Goeben reaches Dardanellen/Turkey joins Germany.

1943 Adolf Hitler watches lynching of allied pilots.

1943 US General George S. Patton calls injured soldier "cowardly"

1945 Japan announces willingness to surrender to Allies, provided Emperor Hirohito's status remains unchanged.

[_dgn_]

10 August 1792 : end of the French monarchy after the assault on the Tuileries Palace.

This date marks the beginning of the Terror. This event is known in Switzerland as the "Tuileries massacre".

Indeed, King Louis XVI sacrificed his faithful Swiss guards, ordering them to lay down their arms. Of the 950 soldiers engaged, bravely defending the Palace against 20,000 insurgents, 300 will survive. The rest will be mainly massacred by the populace, a bit like a preamble to the next massacres of September 1792. Acts of cannibalism would have been committed against them.

A monument honoring them, as well as their fidelity (FIDEI) and their courage (VIRTUTI) was built in 1821 in Lucerne (Switzerland) : the Lion of Lucerne.

free image upload

A date to bring back to May 6, 1527, when the Pontifical Swiss Guards sacrificed themselves (as usual for an elite unit) to protect the escape of Pope Clement VII to his refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo.

RIP

[Aktungbby]

The Lion of Lucerne would be impressive any where; but nowhere so impressive as where he is." -Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad 1880

[Jimbuna]

1942 British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle hit by 4 German torpedoes and sinks in the Mediterranean Sea, 81 miles south of Mallorca.

1945 Allies refuse Japan's offer to surrender on the condition that Emperor Hirohito retains his status.

1988 Al-Qaeda formed at a meeting between Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Dr Fadl in Peshawar, Pakistan.

2003 NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history.

[Jimbuna]

1932 Adolf Hitler refuses President von Hindenburg's proposal to become vice-chancellor of Germany.

1940 Battle of Britain: Hermann Goering's "Adlertag" (Eagle Day) offensive happens, intending to destroy the Royal Air Force; 47-48 German aircraft shot down, the RAF loses 25 planes.

1942 The 'Manhattan Project' commences, under the direction of US General Leslie Groves: its aim - to deliver an atomic bomb.

[Jimbuna]

1915 British transport Royal Edward sank by German U boat kills 1000

1941 US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue the joint declaration that later becomes known as the Atlantic Charter.

1942 Dwight D. Eisenhower named commander for invasion of North Africa.

1945 Japanese government notifies the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration.

1945 V-J Day, Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW II (also August 15 depending on time zone)

1969 British Army deploys on the streets of Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of Operation Banner.

[Jimbuna]

1620 Mayflower sets sail from Southampton, England, with 102 Pilgrims.

1863 Submarine "HL Hunley" arrives in Charleston on railroad cars.

1914 Dinant, Belgium, destroyed by German bombs. Lt Charles de Gaulle (24), injured.

1936 Carla de Vries, an American tourist at the swimming event of the Berlin Olympics finds Adolf Hitler “so friendly and gracious” she shakes his hand and gives him a kiss.

1939 13 Nazi Luftwaffe Stuka dive bombers crash into the ground during a disastrous practice-demonstration at Neuhammer-am-Queis, Silesia, Germany (now Świętoszów, Poland) . No survivors.

1944 German field marshal Günther von Kluge vanishes for one day; he killed himself on the 19th in the aftermath of the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

1945 Victory over Japan Day, the Japanese surrender and the end of WWII is announced in Japan (due to time zones 14th Aug in the Americas)

1998 Omagh Bombing in Northern Ireland, the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles, kills 29 people and injures about 220

2021 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flees the country as Taliban forces enter the capital Kabul and take control.