August 31

1422. King Henry V of England dies of dysentery. The young king, who had ruled for less than 10 years and died at about age 35, had overseen a long string of military successes in the Hundred Years War against France, including the Battle of Agincourt. His untimely death led to the coronation of Henry VI, who was at the time only nine months of age. When he did achieve his manhood, he was an ineffectual ruler. A pious and peaceful man, his lengthy reign was more or less a disaster for England and a boon for France. His reign saw the rise of Joan d'Arc, a string of French victories and, ultimately, the end of the Hundred Years War. His weak rulership led to his downfall, as well as that of his house, Lancaster, and the rise of the House of York.

1803. In his first journal entry for the expedition with James Clark:

1864. The Battle of Jonesboro begins, outside Atlanta. Designed to cut off Confederate supply lines and lure what was left of Hood's army out of Atlanta where it could be destroyed, Union General Tecumseh Sherman's Army moves the bulk of his army which had been imperfectly besieging Atlanta around the city, to destroy certain railroad connections. The siege had been imperfect in that Sherman didn't have sufficient forces to completely invest the city and cut it off from all supply sources. Now, eh resolved to do mroe than just raid Confederate supply lines.

In response, Hood moved a portion of the Confederate troops under General Hardee to block the assault. Hood didn't realize, however, that Sherman had sent nearly his entirely army on the operation, and the Rebel forces were greatly outnumbered. Hardee's attack was easily repulsed. Hood, learning this and fearing a direct assault on Atlanta, removed one of the corps that had been assigned to Hardee and had it return to Atlanta's defenses that night. The consequences would be pivotal. The Union attack of September 1st smashed Hardee's forces, who reeled away bloodied. The Union now straddled two key railroad lines into Atlanta. Hood, his supplies already tenuous, ordered Atlanta abandoned on the night of the 1st, and Sherman occupied the city on the 2nd.

The consequences of the fall of Atlanta can hardly be overstated. As a result of the city's conquest, the re-election chances of Abraham Lincoln, which had been absolutely dismal as a result of the long war and the seeming stalemates of Grant in front of Petersburg and Sherman in front of Atlanta, suddenly soared. Absent Sherman's capture of Atlanta, it is entirely possible that the Democratic candidate, former General McClellan, would have won the election and sued for peace with the Confederacy.

1888. At 12:30 a.m., Mary Ann Nichols, a 43 year old alcoholic prostitute left a pub that she frequented and returned to the boarding house where she was living. She was turned away, however, as she had failed to pay and she indicated with her last words that she would soon return with the money in hand. By 2:30 a.m. she was seen by her flatmate, Nelly Holland, who spoke with her and learned that she had a number of successes and could have paid for her bed, but had unfortuntely bought more alcohol. At about 3:40 a.m. her body was found lying on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance about 150 yards from the London Hospital. Her throat had been slit twice, there was a deep wound in her abdomen and several incisions across the abdomen and right side of her body. The abdominal injuries were made after she was already dead from the slitting of her throat.

Jack the Ripper had struck for the first time.

1907. The St. Petersburg Convention is signed by Russia, England and France, giving rise to the Triple Entente which will fight against the Triple Alliance in WWI.

1939. A small group of Germans led by Alfred Naujocks and wearing Polish uniforms seize the Gleiwitz Radio Station, in Upper Silesia, Germany, and broadcast a short anti-German message. As Naujocks will testify at the Nuremberg trials, he was operating under orders from Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Muller, of the German Gestapo. Germany asserts that Polish forces launched the attack, serving as cause for war.

1997. Princess Diana and her companion die in a car crash in Paris.

September 1.

1715. After 72 years of reign, the longest of any monarch in European history, King Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, dies.

1870. The Battle of Sedan, between the forces of Prussia and France. The Prussian forces won a decisive victory, including the capture of Emperor Napoleon III. The result effectively decided the war, though fighting would continue for some time yet. The fighting would continue under a provisional government, however, as the Second French Empire collapsed immediately upon Napoleon III's capture, in a bloodless revolution. As a result of the Prussian victory in the war, the territory of Alsace-Lorraine was taken from France and made part of Germany, where it would remain as a bone of contention until it was given back to France following the end of WWI.

1897. The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

1939. After the staged attack on a German radio station (described yesterday), the German Wehrmacht invades Poland. With overwhelming numerical and equipment advantages, and the impact of its "new" blitzkrieg assault -- Polish defenses quickly crumble.

1939. George Catlett Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army. He brings to the job with him a list of young, promising soldiers whom he intends to elevate as quickly as possible through the ranks, notwithstanding their technically junior status in the hide-bound US Army which has traditionally valued length of service above all other qualifications. Within three years, he will grow the US Army by a factor of 40.

1969. A revolution in Libya brings Muammar al-Gaddafi to power.

Any idea who these young promising soldiers could be? any names? should i already know?

Found this regarding forty-fold on wikipedia... but it doesn't really describe who was on this list...




"Grows military force forty fold
Faced with the necessity of turning an army of former civilians into a force of over eight million soldiers by 1942 (a fortyfold increase within three years), Marshall directed General Leslie McNair to focus efforts on rapidly producing large numbers of soldiers. With the exception of airborne forces, Marshall approved McNair's concept of an abbreviated training schedule for men entering Army land forces training, particularly in regards to basic infantry skills, weapons proficiency, and combat tactics.[9][10] At the time, most U.S. commanders at lower levels had little or no combat experience of any kind; without the input of experienced British or Allied combat officers on the nature of modern warfare and enemy tactics, many of them resorted to formulaic training methods emphasizing static defense and orderly large-scale advances by motorized convoys over improved roads.[11] In consequence, Army forces deploying to Africa suffered serious initial reverses when encountering German armored combat units in Africa at Kasserine Pass and other major battles.[12] Even as late as 1944, U.S. soldiers undergoing stateside training in preparation for deployment against German forces in Europe were not being trained in combat procedures and tactics currently being employed there.[13]"

The main one is Dwight Eisenhower, who was finally made a Lt. Col. in 1936 after 16 years as a Major, was given his first star on October 3, 1941, and had never held active commadn above the battallion level. By December of '43 he was given command of Operation Overlord. While Ike had an impressive background, there's no doubt that Marshall reached down into the ranks and elevated some guys far more quickly than would have been the case in the "old" army, pissing off some senior guys in the process.

I would need to check my book on Marshall to find too many other names. I'm pretty sure Clark (commander in Italy and then in Operation Dragoon (Southern France) was one, as was Freydenhall (sp?) who initially commanded in the Tunisian campaign, but was relieved when it turned out that he was a disaster.

Remind me, if I don't post anything further on this, and I"ll check my biography on Marshall.

I thought he might have meant Dwight (that much was on wikipedia)... but i hadn't considered someone born in 1890, to be young, up and coming 50 years later, but i suppose 50 isn't all that old after all...

I'm not saying he took some bright lieutenant and put him into two star rank overnight. But he threw off the shackles of the traditional "seniority is everything" system.

This was a very exciting paragraph. Nicely done.

"Think of them always; speak of them never." (About Alsace and Lorraine).

Imagine French children being taught this in their day schools, the pride and accompanying hurt for their nation swelling in their souls.

I've been to his Palace of Versailles. (I say his because of his expansion of the former hunting lodge that really made it into the symbol of decadence and absolute monarchy we know it as). Unfortunately, while I was there, the incredible Hall of Mirrors (where the Versailles Peace Treaty was signed) was under construction. It was effectively the Hall of Plywood.

Hey thanks. I'm doing pretty much all original writing here, as I'm using the opportunity to improve my creating writing as opposed to the boring legal writing that dominates my life. I also did a bunch of cut/paste from other sites very early in this thread but felt like that was cheating. Why not just post the link and add nothing of value. Doing it this way forces me to add my own knowledge and/or do some additional research on topics that particularly interest me and cobble together something coherent.

I occassionally fantasize about writing a novel, or even historical writing, but I know full well I'll never get around to doing it. Ah well. This is as close as I'll ever get, I suppose.

Yeah that's what i was piecing together outta the deal... Be interesting to know who else he promoted like that, and if anyone had great success...

My brief review couldn't find references to the list or who was on it, though I definitely remember a few references to it sprinkled around in the book. Not like "list" is in the index, though, so...

I did, however, find a number of references to the need to weed out the old crowd, so I'll post those.

pg. 125.


Cray at 174.

Byrnes helps and Marshall gets what he wants, indirectly. He also appoints a "plucking committee" of six retired officers headed by former Chief of Staff Marlin Craig and assigned htem to review the efficiency ratings of older officers. They were to weed out the worst.

Cray 176.

September 2

31 BC. The Battle of Actium, also known as "The Final Battle of the Roman Republic". A sea battle between the forces of Octavian, soon to be better known as Caesar Augustus, whose forces are commanded by the brilliant leader Agrippa, and the forces of Mark Antony supported by Egypt's Cleopatra results in a decisive victory for Octavian. As a result, a substantial portion of Mark Antony's land army, which had been equal in size to Octavian's, deserts. Within a little over a year Mark Antony and Cleopatra's military and political maneuverings would fail utterly and they would commit suicide. As a result of the battle, Octavian consolidated his power base in Rome and paved the way for his ascension to, effectively, emperor.

1666. The Great Fire of London breaks out, eventually destroying 10,000 buildings, including St. Paul's Cathedral.

1752. Nearly 200 years after the rest of Europe, Great Britain finally adopts the Gregorian calendar. I admit I sometimes wonder if some future guy on a thread like this will post soemthing similar about the US adopting the metric system...

1789. The US Department of the Treasury is founded. On September 11th, Alexander Hamilton will be named its first secretary.

1792. In what will become known as the September Massacres, rampaging mobs involved int eh French Revolution kill three Catholic bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to support the royalty.

1864. The Union Army under General Sherman enters Atlanta, which had been abandoned by the Confederates overnight. This event essentially results in the successful reelection of Abraham Lincoln in the upcoming fall elections.

The capture of the city was also a critical military success, in that Atlanta was the "second city" (after Richmond) of the South, a central depot for the South's meager railroad lines, and a critical military production center. Within a few weeks, in response to the city council beseeching him for leniency, Sherman will famously reply (knowing full well he will raze the city to the ground when he leaves):

http://www.psychologytoday.com/files...eh-sherman.jpg

1901. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt gives a speech at the Minnesota State Fair in which he proclaims, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

1945. The Japanese sign the terms of their surrender aboard the USS Missouri.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...-surrender.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._surrender.jpg

What a remarkable moment in history. I get goosebumps when I think of the victorious Octavian arriving in Alexandria, and going up to the tomb of the great Alexander III to pay respects. A physical, bodily 'meeting' of two of the most impressive, world-changing figures in human history. Imagine what was going through his mind!

September 3

590. Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great) is consecrated as Pope.

1189. Richard I (the Lionhearted) is crowned king.

1260. The Mamluks (the Sultanate of Egypt) defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking the point of furthest expansion of the Mongol empire. It is also the first decisive defeat of the Mongols that they were not able to avenge. The leaders of the MOngols at this time (though thousands of miles away from the battlefield) was Mongke Khan, grandson of Genghis.

1777. During the otherwise unmemorable battle of Cooch's Bridge, in Delaware, the US flag is flown in battle for the first time.

1783. The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution and grants independence to the colonies.

1838. Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying identification papers from a black freeman, slave Frederick Douglass boards a train in Maryland traveling north.

1935. Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah, becoming the first person to drive over 300 mph. I admit I had absolutely no idea that any automobile could go this fast in 1950, much less 1935.

1939. Following the German invasion of Poland, England, France, Australia and New Zealand declare war on Germany, forming the Allies.

September 4. (might as well get ahead here)


476. The Western Roman Empire comes to an end when Odoacer proclaims himself King of Italy, deposing the "emperor", Romulus Augustus.

1781. 44 Spanish settlers found a new city -- which translates into English as The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angles of Porziuncola, better known today as Los Angeles.

1862. Following his victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Confederate General Robert E. Lee takes his Army of Northern Virginia over to the offensive, and invades Maryland. He will eventually be checked at the battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg if you prefer, the single bloodiest day in the American history.

1870. Following his defeat and capture a few days earlier, French Emperor Napoleon III is deposed, adn the Third French Republic declared.

1884. Great Britain ends its policy of penal transportation to New South Wales, Australia.

1886. After 30 years of fighting, Geronimo surrenders with the last of his warriors, in Arizona.

1941. The Greer Incident. First I will quote the Wikipedia entry: "a German submarine makes the first attack against a United States ship, the USS Greer. " Makes it look like the Germans were the aggressors in this instance, of course. But they weren't, despite FDR's fireside chat which suggested that the Greer, a destroyer, only fired back on the U-Boat in self-defense. The reality is that the Greer was actively helping the British hunt down a U-Boat.

Here's the Wikipedia entry on the Greer incident in full, which is in accord with my memory of reading from various sources as well:

I also note taht the German navy (Kriegsmarine) was extremely strict in its policies regarding NOT attacking US vessels. The Germans wanted no part of the US joining the war, and of course incidents at sea had been a decisive element in the US joining the Triple Entente in WWI.

This is not to say, of course, that FDR wasn't justified in his actions, that Nazi Germany wasn't obviously evil, that the US shouldn't have helped, etc. I fully support all of FDR's actions. The fact is that the US was still extremely isolationist in its foreign policy mentality, and FDR could not provide all the help to the British that he wanted. He did whatever he could, however, and the result was incidents like this one, which was only the first of a number of "incidents" involving US warships and German U-Boats.

1950. The Southern 500 is run, the first 500 mile race in NASCAR history, at Darlington Raceway.

1957. Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls up the state militia to prevent African American students from enrolling at Central High School in Little Rock. His decision was in reaction to the SCOTUS's unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education. President Eisenhower, however, will trump him by nationalizing the national guardsmen and ordering them to return to barracks, and sending the 101st Airborne to guarantee the passage of the students.

1957. A really great day in US history here in 1957. First political American makes itself look like jackasses, and then corporate America does the same. On this date -- Ford introduces it's new vehicle, with considerable publicity around "E-Day" for the Edsel.

Just more proof that FDR had foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor!

Gah! Don't give the loons any ideas!

September 5

1698. In an effort to westernize his hopelessly backward country, Tsar Peter I (the Great) of Russia imposes a tax on the beards of his subjects, except clergy and peasantry.

1774. The First Continental Congress assembles, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1781. The tactically inconclusive but strategically critical Battle of Chesapeake, or the Battle of the Capes, occurs off the coast of the Carolinas between French and British warships. Though neither side wins a decisive victory, the battle effectively prevents the British from either resupplying or withdrawing the forces of Lord Cornwallis, soon to be trapped at Yorktown and to surrender to George Washington. The surrender of Cornwallis's forces will directly lead to the start of peace talks and the eventual recognition fo the independence of the British colonies.

1945. In one of the first signals of the coming Cold War, a Russian embassy clerks defects to Canada and reveals information regarding Soviet espionage in North America.

1960. Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, wins the gold medal in the Olympics in Rome.

Damn is he really that old?

ROFL

September 6

1492. Christopher Columbus leaves the Canary Islands, west-bound to find a route to India.

1522 The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returns to Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.

1628. Puritans settle in Salem, which will later become part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1847. Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond, moving in with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family in Concord, Massachusetts. (can you imagine what the dinnertime conversation was like there?)

1901. An anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, shoots and mortally wounds President McKinley. With his name, he nearly guarantees that nobody can ever correctly answer the trivia question "name the four Presidential assassins -- and SPELL their names".

1949. Howard Unruh, a former US Army sharpshooter, shoots and kills 13 people in his hometown of Camden, New Jersey, becoming the first single-episode mass murderer in US history.

1972. The "Munich Massacre". Nine Isreali athletes at the Olympic Games in Munich and a German policeman are killed during a failed rescue attempt after being taken hostage by Palestinians. In response, the Isreali Mossad spends many years covertly assassinating leaders of Black September, the Palestinian group that took responsibility for taking the hostages.

September 7

1776. The world's first submarine attack. The submersible craft "Turtle" attempts to attach a time bomb to HMS Eagle, the flagship of British Admiral Richard Howe, in New York Harbor. This effort, and the Turtle's other efforts all failed.

A replica:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ine_museum.jpg

1812. The BAttle of Borodino, where Napoleon defeats the armies of Tsar Alexander I. Russia is ours! This will be easy....

1864. William T. Sherman orders the evacuation of captured city of Atlanta by all civilian inhabitants. Civilians scramble to obey the order, leaving many possessions behind (much of which will be lost forever in an event that will be reported here later on the appropriate date. Oooooooh, foreshadowing).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...t1864crop1.jpg

1921. The first Miss America pageant is held, in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

1940. The first of 57 consecutive nights of German bombing raids on London begins.

1963. The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens, with 17 charter members.

1977. The Torrijos-Carter Treaties are signed, and the US promises to transfer control of the Panama Canal to Panama at the end of the century.

1979. ESPN debuts.

2008. The US takes control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage financing companies in America.

September 8

1380. The Battle of Kulikovo. The Russians of Muscovy defeat a much larger force of Tartars in order to throw off the shackles of the Mongolian Golden Horde to which they had been paying tribute ever since they had been conquered by Batu Khan, grandson of Genghis.

1504. Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...elos_David.jpg

1565. The Knights Hospitaller (a/k/a Knights of Malta) lift the Ottoman Turk siege of Malta, one of the longest, most grueling and famous in history. The event marks the end of the aura of invincibility that had surrounded the Ottoman Empire (though it had suffered setbacks before).

1888. Early in the morning of this date, 1888, Annie Chapman was plying her trade in the Whitechapel area of London. AT this point in her life Ms. Chapman was a heavy drinker, but it had not always been so. Once she had been married, and had three children. But one died of meningitis at the age of 12, and another had been born disabled. As a result of their troubles, she and her husband had become heavy drinkers, and then separated. She received an alimony of 10 shillings a week until 1886, when they abruptly stopped. When she inquired why, she learned her husband had died. Seemingly as a result, the man she had been living with abruptly left her, taking his income away as well.

She earned an income by crochet work, selling flowers and, occassionally, prostitution. She lived in common boarding houses, had a lung condition, and was generally regarded as inoffensive and a more accomplished woman than most of her fellow Whitechapel residents. Beign without money for her lodging this day, she went to earn some on the street.

At about 5:30 a.m. a woman saw a person that she believed to be Ms. Chapman talking with a gentlemen described as over 40, of dark complexion, and of foreign "shabby-genteel" appearance. At 5:55 she was found lying near a doorway in teh backyard of 29 Hanbury Street.

Her throat had been cut from left to right, and she had been disemboweled, with her intestines thrown over each of her shoulders. Part of her uterus had been removed as well.

Jack the Ripper had struck again.

1892. The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited.

1923. The Honda Point Disaster, the worst peacetime disaster in US Naval history. Nine US Navy Destroyers -- all less than five years old -- run aground off California, with seven ships and 23 crewmen lost.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...onda_Point.gif

1930. 3M begins marketing transparent scotch tape.

1943. General Eisenhower announces an armistice with Italy.

1966. Star Trek premiers.

1974. President Ford pardons former President Nixon for any crimes committed while in office.

September 9

9. (yes, the year 9, AD. Looks odd, doesn't it). The Battle of Teutoberg Forest. An alliance of six Germanic tribes unite to set an ambush and completely annihilate three entire Roman legions under the command of Publius Quintilius Varus. As a result of the battle, the stoic Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, appears to temporarily lose his sanity, refusing to cut his hair or shave for months. He later regains his composure, but is sometimes heard to cry out "Quinctilius Varus, Give me back my legions."

The loss has both minor and major effects on the history of Europe. Although the Romans eventually recovered the standards of the lost legions, their designations are never used again in the Roman order of battle, and Legions XVII, XVIII and XIX pass from history. Further, Augustus ordered the Roman Legions to stay west of the Rhine, and the Roman Empire never did bring the northern and eastern regions of Germany under its control.

A campaign of revenge, however, was conducted shortly after Augustus' death by the new Emperor, Tiberius, who ordered his nephew, now known to history as Germanicus, to cross the Rhine. He did, successfully, and found the battle site littered with many heads staked to trees, which they buried. Burial pits with remains have been found in Germany to support this account. In 16 AD, Germanicus brought the Germans to two set-piece battles, inflicting very high casualties in comparison to his own. With the German tribal alliance broken and pride restored, the Romans once again withdrew behind the Rhine.

1791. The new capital of the United States is named after it's first President -- Washington, D.C.

For those interested, the story of the selection of the Washington D.C. area is told in a great chapter of Joseph Ellis' Founding Brothers, a very readable, fascinating account Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Franklin, and Burr.

That a city (more, that the capital of the entire country) was named after a living man, like Virginia named after the Virgin Queen Elizabeth, and Jamestown after King James, says a lot about Washington's prestige at the time.

It's also covered in detail in the book on Hamilton by Ron Chernow.

And your second point is true, especially since Washington was still alive at the time and it wasn't just a posthumous honor.

September 10

490 BC. The Battle of Marathon, between the forces of Athens and the Persian Empire. Generally regarded as a pivotal moment in European history, the Battle was a serious defeat for Persian, which had been an expanding empire but which was repeatedly checked in its efforts to subjugate Greece. As Greece went on to become a cradle of civilization over the next two centuries, this battle can rightly be regarded as one of the most critical in European history.

1942. The British Army mades an amphibious assault on Madagascar. When they call it a "World War", they really aren't kidding.

September 11

1609. Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island.

1931. Salvataore Maranzano, the capo di tutti capi (Boss of all Bosses) is murdered by his lieutenant, Lucky Luciano, ending the Castellammerese Wars -- an effort to consolidate mcuh of the American mafia under Maranzano's rule. It was Maranzano who had organized the major urban areas of Northeastern and Mid-Western America (other than NYC) into single family districts, and New York into five families, organized under Luciano (now the Genovese crime family), Guiseppi "Joe" Profaci (now the Colombo family), Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano (now the Lucchese crime family), Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno, and Vincent (the Executioner" Margano (now the Gambino crime family), all of whom would owe tribute and allegiance to Maranzano.

Maranzano's death left the five families nominally equal in the struggle among the five families.

1941. Ground breaking for construction of the Pentagon.

1944. US troops cross the western border into Germany.

1989. The Iron Curtain opens between Austria and Hungary, from which thousands of East Germans throng into Austria and West Germany.

2001. The 9/11 attacks occur.

September 12

490 BC. Hrmm...seems to be some discrepancy as to when the Battle of Marathon occurred. Seems that September 12 is the more commonly accepted date... :shrug:

1847. US forces under Winfield Scott (and Robert E. Lee) begin a two day battle that will result in the capture Chapultepec in the Mexican-American War. Hence the Marine's anthem line "from the Halls of Montezuma...."

1857. The SS Central America flounders and sinks in a hurricane about 160 miles off Cape Hatteras, drowning 426 passengers and crew. FAr more significant, however, is that the ship was carrying approximately 14 tons of gold from California. The arrival of this news, along with the annual outflow of gold from New York to the farms and farmers who had sold their crops, will result in a tremendous tightening of liquidity and a panic that will become known as one of the most signifciant of all depressions of the era -- the Panic of 1857. More than 5,000 businesses will fail, and from its peak (in 1952) to its troph in '57, the stock market will fall 66% compared to inflation. The ships sunken remains were found in 1987.

1919. Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers Party.

September 13

122. Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins. A stone and timber wall built during (and obviously named after) the reign of Roman Emperor Hadrian, the wall was built across the entire width of what is now Northern England, a length of 73 miles. Designed to demarcate the northern border of Roman-ruled England, the wall was among the most heavily defended borders in the entire Roman empire, and may have served to help collect custom taxes as well as serving as a military fortification. Much of the wall has disappeared, adn many of its stones were used in roadbuilding during the 18th century, but what remains is one of the most visited attractions in Northern England.

533. The great Byzantine General, Belisarius, conquers the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, beginning the end of the Vandals and the "reconquest" of the west by Emperor Justinian (the so-called "Great").

1788. The Philadelphia Convention sets the date for electing the first President and establishes the country's capital in New York City, at least for now.

1814. A representative of the colonies was aboard the HMS Tonnant, there to negotiate the release of an American prisoner. Having been aboard the vessel for some time, he had become familiar with the British units' strength and positions, and their intent to attack the city of Baltimore, so he was temporarily prohibited from returning to his sloop. He was therefore unable to do anything but witness the British attack on Fort McHenry, outside Baltimore. When the smoke cleared from the bombardment, he was able to see the American flag above the fort still waving, and shouted the news to the prisoners below decks. And that is the inspiring story of how Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, which in this humble writers opinion makes for a better story than song...

1848. On this date, railroad construction foreman Phineas Gage was supervising blasting work through rock for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad, outside Cavendish, Vermont when an inadvertant explosion drives a 3 foot long iron "damping" rod through the side of his face, behind the left out, and out the top of his skull.. After passing completely through his skull, the rod reportedly landed about 80 feet away. Amazingly, within a few minutes Gage was speaking, and then walking without assistance. The first doctor to arrive was a Dr. Williams, who recorded:

Gage ends up suffering some ill-effects, as one would imagine, but survies. As a result of the accident, however, Gage undergoes a severe change in personality. The effects of his accident trigger new waves of thought, research and understanding regarding the role of the brain and the different parts of the brain. Gage is cited in various medical textbooks to this day.

The direction in which the rod traveled:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ll_diagram.jpg

The weapon in question, held by Gage himself:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...or_Cropped.jpg

1862. On a field outside Fredericksburg, Maryland, Union soldiers find a copy of General Robert E. Lee's plans for battle for what will become known as the Battle of Antietam. The order indicated that Lee had divided his army. Stunningly, despite this gift from God, Union General McClellan will still manage to snatch not much better than stalemate against a smaller army when he should have been able to inflict a crushing defeat in detail and possibly end the war. There was no doubt by the Union regarding the document's authenticity, as a Union officer had known Lee's adjutant before the war, and recognized and confirmed his handwriting.

1899. Henry Bliss becomes the first person in America to be killed in an automobile accident.

1922. The highest temperature ever recorded on Earth -- in Al'Aziziyah, Libya -- 136 degrees Fahrenheit.

1985. Nintendo creates the game Super Mario Bros.

September 14

1812. French Grenadiers enter Moscow. Victory! A fire begins, however, will will rage for four days and consume 75% of the city.

1847. Winfield Scott captures Mexico City.

1862. The Battle of South Mountain. At three key passes Lee's badly undermanned men stave off McClellan's Union troops for a day, buying precious time. McClellan begins the process of fumbling the golden opportunity handed to him to crush Lee's forces before they can reunite.

1848. Groundbreaking of the UN building in New York City.

1987. The Toronto Blue Jays hit ten home runs in a single game, setting a MBL record.

But it was a dry heat...

Yeah know I consider myself a bit of a history buff, so don't be offended. Perhaps the UN building groundbreaking date you listed is about 100 years off.

September 15.

1835. HMS Beagle arrives at the Galapagos Islands. Aboard is Charles Darwin, whose work there will result in the fame of both the man and ship.

1862. An element of the scattered Confederate forces in Maryland capture Harper's Ferry. General McClellan presumably attended to his laundry.

1916. At the Battle of the Somme, tanks are used for the first time.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ember_1916.jpg

1935. Jews are deprived of their citizenship in Germany as a result of the enactment of the Nuremberg Laws. Germany adopts a new flag, with a swastika.

1950. General Douglas MacArthur's crowning achievement -- the landing at Inchon, Korea. The highly dangerous amphibious assult deep behind North Korean lines (still pressing US and S. Korean troops along the Pusan Perimeter) begins the panicked rout of North Koreans from the country they had invaded.

September 16.

1864. The Battle of Antietam does NOT start. General McCellan FAILS to move rapidly to crush General Lee's scattered forces. The Union does NOT inflict a grevious blow on the Confederate cause. No doubt the laundry from yesterday was now drying. What happens instead is that Lee's army has all day to reunite, with the last of the stragglers coming in the next morning.

1908. General Motors is founded.

1919. The American Legion is incorporated.

There was quite a long discussion of the Gates pole to the head on the History channel a couple months ago. it was pretty interesting stuff..

The vomiting his brains thing was pretty gross..

Yeah, I read that, was completely grossed out also, and had to share. :evil:

And you thought puke your brains out was just an expression.... :D

September 17. Big day. BIG.

480 BC. The Battle of Thermopylae. Today begins the battle between the Greeks, including 300 Spartans under their King Leonidis, against the Achaemenid (a/k/a Persian) Empire of Xerxes I. The battle was a part of the second Persian invasion of Greece, and a delayed reaction to the Persian defeat at the Battle of Marathon which had ended the first invasion. In this battle, one of the most famous in history, the Greeks sought to block the important pass of Thermopylae. The terrain and conditions acted as a tremendous force multiplier for the approximately 7,000 Greeks, who were able to block the Persian advance of between 70,000 to 300,000 Persian troops (by modern estimates -- the ancient numbers are absurd, some of which range into the millions). After several days of battle, a local resident showed the Persians a small path that could be used to get behind the Greek lines. Knowing defeat was inevitable, King Leonidis dismissed most of teh army, and stayed behind with a force of about 1,500, including 300 Spartans, 400 Thebans and 700 Thespians, nearly all of whom were killed to a man.

Upon hearing of the defeat, the Greek navy, which was similarly blocking the Persian navy, then withdrew to Salamis, where it would soon defeat the Persians in one of the most famous sea battles of antiquity.

1630. Boston, Massachusetts, is founded.

1787. The United States Constitution is signed in Philadelphia.

1862. General McClellan snatches a weak tactical and strategic victory from the jaws of overwhelming victory in the bloodiest day of combat in United States history, the Battle of Antietam. (more next post)

1920. The National Football League is organized in Canton, Ohio.

1939. The Soviet Union joins the Germans in assaulting Poland.

1944. Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne assault in history, commences, with allied troops parachuting into the Netherlands. It won't go well, as those who have seen the movie A Bridge Too Far, will know.

1978. The Camp David Accords are signed by Egypt and Israel.

1983. Vanessa Williams is crowned the first black Miss America. That also won't go well, though Ms. Williams will recover to have far more fame and success than most winners of the pageant.

The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg (in the South), was fought between the approximately 75,000 man strong Union Army under the command of General McClellan and the 40,000 troops of the Confederacy under Robert E. Lee. Due to a stunning series of blunders and despite every possible advantage being handed to him, McClellan singularly failed to effectuate a devastating, if not fatal, blow to the Confederacy, with the result that the war would drag on for three more long, bloody years, and McClellan would soon be cashiered forever from the Army that he so dearly loved.

With 23,000 casualties, the Battle of Antietam -- which was fought in one day -- is easily the bloodiest day in US history, with more than quadruple the casualties suffered in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The "Cornfield" and "Sunken Road" would join the "Bloody Angle" of Spotsylvania and the stone wall of Fredericksburg as being indelibly impressed on an entire generation of Americans as a place where literally thousands had died fighting for their cause. So intense and sustained was the violence, one man recalled, that the entire landscape around him seemed a misty red, leading to the name of the foremost book on the battle, "Landscape Turned Red", by Stephen Sears.

The battle serves as a textbook example of how to fight, and how not to fight, a battle. On the one side was Lee, desperately trying to save his army, taking advantage of interior lines and rapidly moving troops to plug gaps. On the other McClellan, who gave very detailed and specific orders to his subordinate commanders from hsi HQ post which was more than one mile from the front lines, resulting in a disjointed mess. As a result, the superior Union numbers were wasted as the battle started in the morning along the northern part of the battlefield, then shifted to the center, then to the South, giving the Confederates time to move forces to meet threats in sequence. McClellan also keep considerable forces in reserve, never throwing them into the fight, although the fighting was often desperate. A breakthrough could have smashed the entire Confederate position, and driven them to the banks of the Potomac over which there could be no easy escape.

By the end of the day the exhausted forces warily withdrew. Inexplicably, another grevious error by McClellan was his utter failure to follow up. Numerically superior, he let Lee's battered army peacefully withdraw to regroup. FOR FIVE WEEKS he simply sat there, and did nothing. In one of the more famous telegraphic exchanges of the war, McClellan cited fatigued horses as an excuse for not moving his army, prompting this reply from his exasperated commander in chief.

This was only the latest time that Lincoln grew exhausted with prodding his commanders into action. Events such as these underlie other famous Lincoln quotes about Grant, who by contrast never needed such prodding. After the Battle of Shiloh, at which Grant had been surprised by the Confederates and some wanted him cashiered for reportedly being drunk (he wasn't), Lincoln said "I cannot spare this man -- he fights!" and, more amusingly, "if drink makes Grant fight then find out what he drinks so I can send a barrel to my other commanders."

Finally, Lincoln could take no more. In early November, after the fall mid-term elections, McClellan was fired. The well-meaning but mediocre General Burnside would inherit command, to lead the army to disaster at Fredericksburg.

The strategic consequences of Antietam, however, were very positive for the Union. Lee's first invasion of the North had failed. The second would also fail, at Gettysburg, a year later. Meanwhile, President Lincoln decided that Antietam was a sufficient victory to give a speech he had long been planning, waiting for an opportune moment. Therefore, on September 22, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which among other things greatly dissuaded the European Powers, especially England, from being able to provide active assistance to the Confederate cause.

From a military standpoint, however, the battle was a grievous lost opportunity. I'll end with a quote from the author of the foremost book on the battle, and note (to give some context) that the lead in clause of the first sentence was how McClellan himself saw the battle:

2000. Sylvester Morris hung 3 TDs on the Sand Diego Chargers.

This will forever be etched in my mind, because I watched it from the hospital room where my wife was going through labor for our first son.

Was that your son Sylvester or your son Morris?

We just called him SlyMo. Unfortunately after a very promising year at pre-school, he got hurt on the playground and really never bounced back in kindergarten, so we had to put him up for adoption.

LMAO

September 18

1793. George Washington lays the cornerstone of the Capitol.

1859. Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Act, increasing sectional tensions in advance of the Civil War.

1851. First publication of teh New York Daily Times, which will later be renamed the New York Times.

1873. The Panic of 1857 begins.

How many touchdowns did he have the rest of the season?





:D

September 19

1356. The Battle of Poitiers. The second of the three great victories of the English during the "Hundred Years War", the British soundly defeat the French and take their king, John II of France, captive. The British release John in order to allow him to raise the ransom, which was equivalent to approximately double the annual income of the country. Unable to raise it, he surrenders himself to the British, and dies some months later in captivity.

1863. The Battle of Chicamauga. The most serious Union defeat in the western theater during the entire war, the day is only barely saved by troops under the command of Maj. Gen. George Thomas, who will earn the nickname "The Rock of Chickamauga" as a result. The failure results in the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, which in turn results in a major scramble by the Union to break the siege, which is eventually accomplished two months later by troops under Ulysses S. Grant.

1870. The siege of Paris begins in the Franco-Prussian War, which will eventually result in the surrender of Paris on January 28, 1871, after the starving French are reduced to eating rats, etc.

1952. Charlie Chaplin is barred by the United States from returning after a brief trip home to England. The prohibition comes at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover, who believed Chaplin was a Communist, etc. during this, the height of the McCarthyism era. If I remember correctly, during this era the INS was ruled as the private fiefdom by a female bureaucrat whose name escapes me, much as the FBI was ruled by Hoover. Chaplin will make a triumphant return in 1972.

1995. The Washington Post and New York Times post the Unabomber's Manifesto, which will then result in a report from his brother that Theodore Kaczynski may be the Unabomber.

September 20

1187. The great Muslim leader Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem, which will fall in two weeks, and in turn provoke the Third Crusade, which will have as its overriding goal the recovery of the city.

1633. Galileo is tried before the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for teaching the heretical idea that the Earth orbits the Sun.

1737. The completion of the Walking Purchase results in the cessation of 1.2 million acres of land by the Lenape (Delaware) tribe of American Indians to Pennsylvania. William Penn had believed fervently in treating fairly with the Indians, which resulted in generally mcuh better relations between him and his colony and the natives, but by 1737 he was long dead. His successors claimed they had a deed from 1680 ceding land equal to what a man could walk in a day and a half. The veracity of this deed is greatly in question, especially as his successors agents had already sold vast swaths of the land in qeustion, and now had to clear it for settlement by colonists. The Encyclopedia Brittanica refers to it as "The Land Swindle". The Indians believed the document was genuine, and since they also believed that about 40 miles was the most a man could walk in a day in a half, they agreed to honor the treaty. The colony then hired the three fastest men in the colony to walk as fast as possible, and with as little sleep as possible, on a prepared trail. They in fact walked 70 miles, obtaining an area roughly the size of Rhode Island in the process.


1792. French troops stop the invasion of troops by members of the First Coalition -- the first efforts of Imperial Europe to contain revolutionary France.

1967. The Queen Elizabeth 2 is launched.

2001. In a speech to a joint session of Congress, President Bush declares a "War on Terror."

September 21

1780. American General Benedict Arnold, the Commander of West Point, gives the British the plans for the key fortification. A courier involved will be caught and within a week General Washington will know of the betrayal. A fascinating character study, Arnold was a tremendous contributor to the American cause early in the war, but also very difficult to get along with. Arnold felt generally unappreciated by his country and his fellow commanding officers, and apparently became increasingly bitter about his situation, resulting in his unpardonable betrayal. Benjamin Franklin would go on to write that "Judas sold only one man, Arnold three millions."

1827. Joseph Smith, Jr. is (according to him) visited by the Angel Moroni (a resurrected indigineous American), who gives him a record of gold plates (which had been written and abridged by Moroni over a millenium ago), one third of which he translates into the Book of Mormon.

1897. The New York Sun editor Francis Church responds an inquiry from eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon about Christmas, informing her that "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." She had written to the Sun after asking her father if Santa Claus really existed, as her friends had told her that it was a myth. Church took the opportunity in his response to explore the philosophy of Christmas in framing his response. Virginia's letter, and Church's response, are read each year at the Yule Log ceremony at Church's alma mater, Columbia.

1937. Bilbo Baggins obtains the One Ring and helps defeat Smaug with the publication of The Hobbit.

1961. Maiden flight of the CH-47 Chinook helicopter. It remains in service and in production to this day.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...px-CH-47_2.jpg

1964. Maiden flight of the XB-70 Valkyrie, a bomber designed to exceed Mach 3 at 70,000 feet in altitude. The design was scrapped after advances in missile technology, which seemingly rendered the concept obsolete as the plane was originally contemplated to fly higher and faster than Soviet interceptors of the era. The remaining prototype in existence is on display at the Air Force Museum in Ohio.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._EC68-2131.jpg

1981. The United States Senate unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female Supreme Court Justice.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...onnor_1982.jpg

September 22

1761. George III's coronation. His long run (until 1820) will see the victory of the British in the Seven Years' War (a/k/a the French and Indian War) and the ascendancy of Britain in North America, the loss of the colonies, the beheadings of the King and Queen of France and the rise and fall of Napoleon. In his later years, however, he suffered from mental illness, not well understood at the time, and the realm would be ruled by a regent, his son, also George and later George IV.

1776. Nathan Hale is hanged as a spy, proclaiming that "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country".

1827. Jack Dempsey loses the "long count" boxing match to Gene Tunney, and if I have to explain what that is all about, you likely don't care enough about boxing history to want to read it anyway...

1980. Iraq invades Iran beginning a protracted war between the two countries.

I hope those three guys were working on commission.

September 23

1122. The Concordat of Worms. Nominally a resolution of a power struggle between the Pope, Calixtus II, and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, the resolution reached actually had far reaching consequences in the division of authority over bishops and other members of the Church within nations, raised the Pope above being subject to secular authority, and eventually undermined the concept of the divine right of kings. Prior to the Concordat, Holy Roman Emperors had taken the position thta it was their right to be involved, heavily or exclusively, in the appointment of bishops, etc. and the selection of the Pope.

1641. The Merchant Royal sinks off Land's End, Cornwall, carrying at least 100,000 pounds of gold, which would be worth $1 billion in today's money, making it one of the, if not THE, most valuable shipwreck ever. The remains of the ship have never been found.

1780. British Major John Andre is arrested as a spy, and his arrest results in the discovery that Benedict Arnold has changed sides.

1806. Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Northwest.

1889. Nintendo is founded, to produce and market a popular card game. Later it will achieve greater fame with different types of games.

1941. The first gas chamber experiments are performed at Auschwitz.

sure would be nice to happen across that ship right about now..


and DAYUM Nintendo is old.

Let's go find that ship. Who's in with me?

Count me in.

Okay, two. Since I can't swim, we'll probably need more, but we're off to a good start.

It must be really deep water (or really vague evidence of the location where the ship went down) if the $1 billion prize hasn't been enough to attract someone who could find it. Maybe the people on the ship just sailed it away and spread the rumor that it had sunk.

I'll join ya but I am only available on weekends. I have to keep my regular job until we find the thing.

They've searched for it. In fact, they found a ship that had quite alot of bullion while looking for the Merchant Royal, but subsequently determined that it was almost certainly a different ship that they had found. As the ship that they found had almost $500 million in gold and silver, they presumably weren't too distraught.

There was a special on the Discovery Channel about the search for lost ships in the English Channel, including the Merchant Royal, in 2009 -- "Treasure Quest".

I was at the Missouri Headwaters park in Montana a few weeks ago. Neat place.

Those guys had balls.

My wife is thinking of switching jobs. Maybe she can cover weekday shifts and come home for weekends, and you can cover for her.

She can't swim so she'll need to man the boat or something. She has no direction sense at all, however, and has never manned a boat, so I'd suggest you drop anchor while she's in charge topside.

Oh, and she gets seasick, so bring a barf bag.

I'm not sure how fast it gets deep from Land's End, but it seems like there'd be some kind of shelf for a while. But then again, I have very little experience with deep-sea treasure hunting.

I like the idea of sailing it away, though. What are the odds of being found in that era? But if it's gold, I guess you'd have to go somewhere that values gold or otherwise you're just in the South Pacific with a bunch of shiny rock.

I'm thinking we have an opening for her in Ballast.

Brass ones.

I have tremendous respect for those early explorers, whether Lewis & Clark on land, or all the famous ones at sea.

Anyone who is willing to go someplace on nothing more than a "where are we going?" *points* "that way". :eek:

There were a number of survivors of the wreck. There's some question, apparently, about whether some/all of the gold was taken off the ship before it sank.

But with survivors, you'd think they'd know pretty much exactly where the ship was. :shrug:

She weighs like a buck ten. I'll put some rocks in her pockets.

But we're in for a full share right?


Oh, wait, WTF. She's a really good cook. There we go...

I've never bothered reading up on it, but I'm always curious how food and water are handled on exploratory voyages. I presume that they take some, and then they calculate how much they can harvest en route, and then come up with some "point of no return" (or if exploring Kansas, "point of know return") at which point they turn around. Or was it that scientific?

It seems like water would be a major problem. Water is heavy.

It's been years, but I remember reading that L&C had a very detailed list of what they started out with with regard to supplies.

Oh, and I'd be happy to join the expedition to find the shipwreck as guide and interpreter. Sort of like Sacagawea. Without the skirt.

I've never read much that was specific to Lewis & Clark, but they mostly traveled along rivers, right?

Definitely no skirt. The thought of seeing your hairy, unwashed legs... :shake:




:D

Here's the supply list for Lewis and Clark's expedition:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/le...resources.html

I'd like to be the guy in the crows nest if there's an opening.. that is assuming we're using an old wooden ship with sails and whatnot... i figure if we're looking for an old wooden ship with sails, we had better be in an old wooden ship with sails... so we know what it's supposed to look like if we happen across one.

and i want a parrot.

September 24

1180. Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos dies. He will be the last of the Byzantine Emperors with both foresight and ability, and some degree of control over his circumstances. The Empire will now slip into a long slow terminal decline.

1780. Benedict Arnold flees to British lines after his treachery is uncovered.

1869. Black Friday. President Grant compounds a bad situation on Wall Street by ordering the treasury to sell large quantities of gold, causing gold prices to decline dramatically. Grant's action was in reaction to a plot by Jay Gould and James Fisk to corner the gold market.

The blackboard, used to track the price of gold, at the gold exchange on Wall Street, as introduced into evidence at the subsequent Congressional hearings. Handwriting on the bottom is that of future President James Garfield.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...riday_1869.jpg

1890. The Mormon Church officially renounces polygamy.

1906. President Roosevelt (Theodore) declares Devils Tower, Wyoming, the first National Monument.

1948. Honda Motor Company is founded. Raise your hand if you thought that Nintendo was 60 years older than Honda.

1957. President Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, to "persuade" the governor that his opinion on desegregation and obeying the Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education is misguided.

1968. 60 Minutes debuts.

Not a history note, but about 60 Minutes. I've always hated it when you're watching football and you see the commercial come on for 60 Minutes with the sound of the ticking clock. It's like someone saying, "hey buddy, guess what? Weekend's over."

You know, I never thought of it that way before, but thanks to you now I'm gonna. :cuss:

September 25

1396. The Battle of Nicopolis, representing the last full-scale Crusader battle of the Middle Ages, is fought on the plains of Bulgaria between the forces of the Ottoman Empire and a coalition of French, Hungary, Venice and the Knights Hospitaller, who were exerting their efforts to recover the Bulgarian capital of Nicopolis for Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Shishman. The thorough defeat of the allied forces is considered the end of The Second Bulgarian Empire, who lost all hope of salvation from Ottoman Turk rule with the defeat.

1911. Ground is broken for Fenway Park.

September 26th, 2010.

Kansas City Chiefs **** up the San Francisco 49ers.

September 26 (in addition to the 49ers beat down, of course):

1687. The Venetians, attacking Ottoman Turk Athens, partially destroy the Parthenon when they fire a mortar and blow up the gunpowder the Turks had been storing there.

1783. The first battle of Shays' Rebellion, an uprising of western Massachusetts farmers who felt crushed by debt and taxes.

1789. The first appointments to cabinet positions in America, including Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, and Edmund Randolph as Attorney General. John Jay is also appointed the first CJ of the SCOTUS.

1918. The Meuse-Argonne offensive begins. The single bloodiest battle in American history, with 117,000 casualties (US only), the offensive is part of an assault all along allied lines (generally known as the Hundred Days Offensive, or Grand Offensive), and will result in winning the First World War.

1934. The Queen Mary is launched.

1960. The first televised Presidential debate, between JFK and Richard Nixon, occurs. The televised debates are deemed critical to JFK's upset win, with the more telegenic JFK getting a significant boost from the exchange.

1983. At a time of extremely tense relations between the US and the USSR, Stanislav Petrov violates Soviet policies and saves the world when he fails to report to his superiors a detected US missile strike. Petrov correctly identifies a US nuclear missile strike to be a computer error. Had Petrov reported the strikes, it is possible that in accordance with their policies of the time, the USSR would have launched an all out nuclear "counterstrike". Coincidentally, the movie WarGames is released in 1983.

September 27

1529. The Ottoman Turks begin the siege of Vienna. It is the height of the Ottoman Empire, but the failure to capture the city (viewed through the lens of hindsight) indicates that the Empire has reached its high water mark.


1590. Pope Urban VII dies of malaria after 13 days in office, the shortest papacy ever.

1669. Venice surrenders the fortress of Candia to the Ottoman Turks, ending the 21 YEAR long siege -- the longest siege known.

1822. Jean-Francois Champollion announces he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone.

1905. A German physics journal introduces Albert Einstein's E=mc2.

1940. The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Italy and Japan.

1954. The debut of Tonight!, soon to be renamed The Tonight Show, with Steve Allen as host.

1964. The Warren Commission releases its report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, killed the President.

1996. The Taliban capture Kabul, completing their takeover of most of the country and government of Afghanistan.

1998. Google is founded. Current market cap -- $168 Billion.

ROFL

Wow, they kept this quiet.


If this info would have come out, the world would have broke into a frenzy.