Today in history 8/16/2020

Today in history, Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian defeat the French at Guinegate, France, in the Battle of the Spurs in 1513.

Today in history, U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain’s Queen Victoria exchange messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line in 1858.

Today in history, Gold is discovered in the Klondike of Canada’s Yukon Territory, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896.

Today in history, The two-person crew of the L-8 (see picture below), a U.S. Navy blimp, disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California in 1942.

Today in history, The safe of the sunken ocean liner Andrea Doria (see picture below) is opened on TV after three decades, revealing cash and certificates but no other valuables in 1984.

Today in history 6/21/2020

Today in history, The Peace of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War as the Dutch cede New Amsterdam to the English in 1667.

Today in history, Christopher Wren begins work on rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral in London after the Great Fire in 1675.

Today in history, C. H. McCormick patents the first practical reaper in 1834.

Today in history, Britain celebrates the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

Today in history, Germany uses poison gas for the first time in warfare in the Argonne Forest in 1915.

Today in history, Baseball legend Lou Gehrig (see picture below) is forced to quit baseball because of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis–a disease which wastes muscles in 1939.

Today in history, Dr. Peter Goldmark (see picture below) demonstrates his “long-playing” record in 1948.

Today in history 6/20/2020

Today in history, Roman and barbarian warriors halt Attila‘s army at the Catalaunian Plains in eastern France in 451.

Today in history, The Union of Kalmar unites Denmark, Sweden, and Norway under one monarch in 1397.

Today in history, Eli Whitney (see picture below) applies for a cotton gin patent in 1793.

Today in history, 18-year-old Victoria (see picture below) is crowned Queen of England in 1837.

Today in history, Charlotte M. Manye (see picture below) of South Africa becomes the first native African to graduate from an American University in 1901.

Today in history, The U.S. Army Air Force is established, replacing the Army Air Corps in 1941.

Today in history, The United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish a hot line between Washington and Moscow in 1963.

Today in history, NATO declares an official end to its bombing campaign of Yugoslavia in 1999.

Today in history 4/5/2020

Today in history, Russian troops repel an invasion by Teutonic knights in 1242.

Today in history, Pocahontas (see picture below) marries English colonist John Rolfe in 1614.

Today in history, George Washington casts the first presidential veto in 1792.

Today in history, Queen Victoria proclaims Hong Kong a British crown colony in 1843.

Today in history, Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Navy issues official orders for the USS Powhatan to sail to Fort Sumter in 1861.

Today in history, The Japanese Army reaches Yalu River as Russians retreat in 1908.

Today in history, Mahatma Gandhi (see picture below) defies British law by making salt in India instead of buying it from the British in 1930.

Today in history, Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are sentenced to death for espionage in 1951.

Today in history, Winston Churchill resigns as British prime minister in 1955.

Today in history 2/10/2020

Today in history, Hulagu, a Mongol leader, seizes Baghdad, bringing an end to the Abbasid caliphate in 1258.

Today in history, Supporters of Marie de Medici, the queen mother, who has been exiled to Blois, are defeated by the king’s troops at Ponts de Ce, France in 1620.

Today in history, The Treaty of Paris ends the French-Indian War. France gives up all her territories in the New World except New Orleans and a few scattered islands in 1763.

Today in history, Napoleon Bonaparte leaves Cairo, Egypt, for Syria, at the head of 13,000 men in 1799.

Today in history, Napoleon personally directs lightning strikes against enemy columns advancing toward Paris, beginning with a victory over the Russians at Champaubert in 1814.

Today in history, Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert in 1840.

Today in history, Led by religious leader Brigham Young, the first Mormons begin a long westward exodus from Nauvoo, Il., to Utah in 1846.

Today in history, Russia and Japan declare war on each other in 1904.

Today in history, Iceland is attacked by German planes in 1941.

Today in history, London severs diplomatic relations with Romania in 1941.

Today in history, The war halts civilian car production at Ford in 1942.

Today in history, The Metropolitan Museum announces the first major theft in its 110-year history, $150,000 Greek marble head in 1979.