This Day in History

[Amnorix]

Today...

[blaise]

Also, Royals and Yankee manager Dick Howser died June 17, 1987.

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1775. The Battle of Bunker Hill is fought. Although a tactical victory for the British, in that they took the hill, they suffered serious losses in doing so.

And, most of that battle didn't take place on Bunker Hill.

[Valiant]

This day in history, my friend just got a pedicure done at the beauty salon next to neil Smith, also getting a pedicure..

[Planetman]

1789 – French Revolution: The Third Estate of France declared itself the National Assembly.

1963 – Buddhist crisis: Riots involving around 2000 people broke out in South Vietnam, despite the signing of the Joint Communique to resolve the crisis one day earlier.

1972 – Five men were arrested for attempted burglary on the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex (pictured) in Washington, D.C., igniting the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon more than two years later.

1982 – The body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, known as "God's Banker" due to his close association with the Vatican, was found hanging from scaffolding beneath London's Blackfriars Bridge.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Planetman

1982 – The body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, known as "God's Banker" due to his close association with the Vatican, was found hanging from scaffolding beneath London's Blackfriars Bridge.

I bet there's a story behind that.

[Buck]

2008 - Celtics win Game 6 of the Finals to beat the Lakers, winning their record 17th championship.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Donger

And, most of that battle didn't take place on Bunker Hill.

Yes, Breed's Hill. But not much about that battle is really new, while I suspect practically nobody has heard of the Bonus Army.

[Amnorix]

June 18.

1429. The Battle of Patay. This battle is to the French what Agincourt is to the British, and it turned the tide of the 100 Years War in favor of the French. Although nominally led by Joan of Arc, the victory really occurs before the main hosts of the armies even meet, and thus her involvement was limited (other than the general morale boost that her presence seems to have given the French armies during her involvement with their campaigns).

The British tactics that had proven so successful at Agincourt and other battles was simple but very effective. Heavy reliance on the skilled English Longbowmen, who had planted many stakes in front of their position to prevent/delay/thwart cavalry charges and hinder infantry, giving the longbowmen time to massacre their opponents. Here, however, their system failed when a stag wandered onto the field near where the British were establishing their position. The cry to kill the stag revealed the British position, and the French moved in swiftly. For once the French tactics of a mounted cavalry charge with heavy cavalry served them well, as the British were completely routed. Longbowmen were not equipped to deal with mounted cavalry at close quarters, and were killed in droves.

1815. The Battle of Waterloo. Things, erm, goes less well for the French. The battle was fought near the borders of Belgium by French armies under the returned banner of Napoleon against the so-called Seventh Coalition, an Anglo-Prussian army with British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington, and Prussian forces under von Blucher.

The French had about 75,000 troops, against an Anglo-Prussian force of nearly 120,000. Nevertheless, while often thought of as a lopsided victory, according to Wellington it was "the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life."

Regardless, the victory was decisive, ending the series of wars that had convulsed Europe since 1790. It ushered in a period of 50 years of well-needed peace in Europe, which wouldn't see much combat again until the Crimean War.

1940. Winston Churchill gives the Finest Hour speech. It is the third of the three famous speeches he gave during, roughly, the Battle of France (the first being "blood, toil, sweat and tears", and the second being "we shall fight on the beaches"). In this speech, he explains/justifies the moderately low level of support England gave France, which has now been effectively conquered by Nazi Germany, confirms the evacuation of many allied forces, and resists calls to purge appeasers.

Originally Posted by Winston Churchill

....However matters may go in France or with the French Government or with another French Government, we in this island and in the British Empire will never lose our sense of comradeship with the French people. If we are now called upon to endure what they have suffered we shall emulate their courage, and if final victory rewards our toils they shall share the gains, aye. And freedom shall be restored to all. We abate nothing of our just demands—Czechs, Poles, Norwegians, Dutch, Belgians, all who have joined their causes to our own shall be restored.

What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilisation. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth^[5] last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsKDGM5KTBY

[Amnorix]

June 19

1846. The first officially recorded and umpired baseball match under Alexander Cartwright's rules is played in Hoboken, New Jersey. Cartwright umpires. The Abner Doubleday attribution is believed by most to be a myth. Cartwright is officially declared the inventor of modern baseball by an Act of Congress in 1953.

1865. Juneteenth, otherwise known as Emancipation Day, or Freedom Day, is named after this date in 1865 when African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, are first informed that pursuant to the Emancipation Proclamation (and the Union's victory in the Civil War), they are free.

1910. The first Father's Day is celebrated, in Spokane, Washington.

1915. The USS Arizona is launched out of Brooklyn Navy Yard. Her name was given in tribute to the state which had only joined the Union the prior year. She rests now at Pearl Harbor, having been sunk by the Japanese on the day that will live in infamy.

1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed by Congress after surviving an 83 day filibuster in the Senate. Among those involved in the filibuster effort are famed Senators Strom Thurmond and Robert Byrd. After signing the act into law, President Johnson, a Democrat from Texas who had staunchly supported the bill and urged his Democrat dominated Congresss to pass it, notes "we have lost the South for a generation". This refers to the prior Democratic dominance in the former states of the Confederacy. His prediction proves far too conservative. It is now two generations and counting that the South has been effectively lost to Democrats, at least in presidential elections.

1978. Garfield appears in his first comic strip.

1870. The last of the former Confederate States are readmitted into the Union, and the CSA formally ceases to exist.

2010. Amnorix goes on a family vacation and quickly learns that he's not likely to have internet access, leaving CP deprived of updates on the This Day in History thread. The horror!

[Amnorix]

June 20

451. The Battle of Chalons, or the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. A coalition of Visigoths and the last remnants of the Roman Empire defeat Attila the Hun in Northeastern France. Considered one of the most important battles of late antiquity, Attila's defeat ensures that the Huns do not conquer the entirety of Western Europe.

The map below depicts all parts of the Roman Empire, which at this point had been split.



1944. The Battle of the Phillipine Sea concludes with a decisive victory for the United States against Japanese Imperial forces. The lopsided airbattle comes to be known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The largest aircraft battle in history involves nine aircraft carriers for Japan (5 heavy, 4 light), and 15 American carriers*. The battle cost Japan three precious aircraft carriers and 600 aircraft. In the subsquent battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese used their remaining aircraft carriers as decoys, as they effectively had no airplanes left.

*my assumption is that the 15 aircraft carriers are heavy (i.e. fleet carriers). I believe the US also had a large number of light carriers present, but I can't quickly confirm that.

1963. Following the events of the Cuban Missile crisis, the so called "red phone" is established between the White House and the Kremlin.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

June 19

2010. Amnorix goes on a family vacation and quickly learns that he's not likely to have internet access, leaving CP deprived of updates on the This Day in History thread. The horror!

I remember exactly where I was when I first heard this.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

June 20

451. The Battle of Chalons, or the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains. A coalition of Visigoths and the last remnants of the Roman Empire defeat Attila the Hun in Northeastern France. Considered one of the most important battles of late antiquity, Attila's defeat ensures that the Huns do not conquer the entirety of Western Europe.

Weren't the Visigoths the leading tribe that ended up conquering Rome? I recognize that the Huns were probably scaring the bejeezus (beromulus?) out of everybody, but I'm surprised that the Romans and Visigoths were working together 25 years before Rome fell.

Or maybe my history skills are waning. But I thought it was the Visigoths who sacked Rome. Or maybe it was the Ostragoths. All the goths look alike to me with that black makeup and stuff.

[Planetman]

1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip during a motorcade in Sarajevo, sparking the outbreak of World War I.

1964 – Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

1967 – Israel annexes East Jerusalem.

1969 – The Stonewall riots begin in New York City.

1978 – The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke bars quota systems in college admissions.

1983 – The Mianus River Bridge collapses over the Mianus River in Connecticut, killing 3 drivers in their vehicles.

1990 – Paperback Software International Ltd. is found liable by a U.S. court for copyright violation for copying the appearance and menu system of Lotus 1-2-3 in its competing spreadsheet program.

1992 – The Constitution of Estonia is signed into law.

1996 – The Constitution of Ukraine is signed into law.

1997 – Mike Tyson vs Evander Holyfield II – Tyson is disqualified in the 3rd round for biting a piece off Holyfield's ear.

2004 – Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.

2005 – War in Afghanistan: Three U.S. Navy SEALs and 16 American Special Operations Forces soldiers are killed during Operation Red Wing, a failed counter-insurgent mission in Kunar province, Afghanistan.

2005 – The Canadian House of Commons passed the Civil Marriage Act to legalize same-sex marriage in Canada.

2006 – The Republic of Montenegro is admitted as the 192nd Member of the United Nations by General Assembly resolution 60/264.

_____

Births

1891 – Carl Panzram, American serial killer (d. 1930)
1891 – Carl Spaatz, American Air Force general (d. 1974)
1906 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1972)
1922 – Michael Vale, American actor (d. 2005)
1926 – Mel Brooks, American filmmaker
1927 – Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist, Nobel laureate
1931 – Junior Johnson, American NASCAR driver
1932 – Pat Morita, American actor (d. 2005)
1934 – Carl Levin, United States Senator from Michigan
1936 – Chuck Howley, American football player
1937 – Richard Bright, American actor (d. 2006)
1937 – Ron Luciano, American baseball umpire (d. 1995)
1937 – Tom Magliozzi, American radio personality, cohost of Car Talk
1938 – John Byner, American comedian
1938 – Leon Panetta, American Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
1941 – Al Downing, American baseball player
1941 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (d. 2006)
1942 – David Miner, American guitarist and record producer
1943 – Donald Johanson, American paleoanthropologist
1943 – Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel laureate
1946 – Bruce Davison, American actor
1946 – Gilda Radner, American comedienne (d. 1989)
1947 – Robert Bondi, American politician
1947 – Mark Clark, American black power activist (d. 1969)
1947 – Mark Helprin, American writer
1948 – Kathy Bates, American actress
1955 – Thomas Hampson, American baritone
1956 – Noel Mugavin, Australian Rules Football player
1957 – Mike Skinner, American racecar driver
1957 – Jim Spanarkel, American basketball player and TV personality
1960 – John Elway, American football player
1961 – Jeff Malone, American basketball player
1963 – Charlie Clouser, American keyboard, synth and theremin player (Nine Inch Nails)
1964 – Mark Grace, American baseball player
1965 – Jessica Hecht, American actress
1965 – Sonny Strait, American voice actor
1966 – John Cusack, American actor
1966 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress
1969 – Danielle Brisebois, American actress
1970 – Steve Burton, American actor
1970 – Mike White, American filmmaker and actor
1971 – Tichina Arnold, American actress
1971 – Bobby Hurley, American basketball player
1971 – Ron Mahay, American baseball player
1971 – Aileen Quinn, American actress
1972 – Jon Heidenreich, American professional wrestler
1972 – Alessandro Nivola, American actor
1974 – Rob Dyrdek, American professional skateboarder
1976 – Seth Wescott, American snowboarder
1977 – Mark Stoermer, American bass player (The Killers)
1977 – Chris Spurling, American baseball player
1979 – Felicia Day, American actress, writer, director, violinist, and singer
1979 – Randy McMichael, American football player
1981 – Brandon Phillips, American baseball player
1986 – Kellie Pickler, American singer
1987 – Terrence Williams, American basketball player
1988 – Lacey Schwimmer, American dancer
1990 – Nick Purcell, American actor

[blaise]

I remember that Holyfield/Tyson fight well. That was the last time I paid for a fight. We had like 25 people there to watch the fight and then that garbage happened. Like, "Oh well, that was a crappy waste of money."

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Planetman

Births
1936 – Chuck Howley, American football player

Happy birthday, Chuck!

Originally Posted by Planetman

1943 – Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist, Nobel laureate

Happy birthday, Klaus!

Originally Posted by Planetman

1948 – Kathy Bates, American actress

Happy birthday, Kathy!

Originally Posted by Planetman

1960 – John Elway, American football player

Go to hell.

Originally Posted by Planetman

1963 – Charlie Clouser, American keyboard, synth and theremin player (Nine Inch Nails)

Happy birthday, Charlie!

Originally Posted by Planetman

1964 – Mark Grace, American baseball player

Happy birthday, Mark!

Originally Posted by Planetman

1966 – John Cusack, American actor

Happy birthday, John!

Originally Posted by Planetman

1966 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress

Happy birthday, Mary!

Originally Posted by Planetman

1977 – Mark Stoermer, American bass player (The Killers)

Happy birthday, Mark!