This Day in History
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24th August 1821
Spain accepts Mexican independence
Eleven years after the outbreak of the Mexican War of Independence, Spanish Viceroy Juan de O'Donojú signs the Treaty of Córdoba, which approves a plan to make Mexico an independent constitutional monarchy. -
25th August 1944
Liberation of Paris
After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris is liberated by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. German resistance was light, and General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris' landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. Choltitz signed a formal surrender that afternoon, and on August 26, Free French General Charles de Gaulle led a joyous liberation march down the Champs d'Elysees. -
26th August 1346
Battle of Crécy
During the Hundred Years War, King Edward III's English army annihilates a French force under King Philip VI at the Battle of Crécy in Normandy. The battle, which saw an early use of the deadly longbow by the English, is regarded as one of the most decisive in history. -
Gordonator I help you to post 27 August 2005
Lord Louis Mountbatten Killed
1979: Lord Louis Mountbatten,79, is killed by a bomb blast on his boat in Ireland. The Irish Republican Army(IRA) claims responbility for the assassination. -
27th August 1776
The Battle of Brooklyn
During the American Revolution, British forces under General William Howe defeat Patriot forces under General George Washington at the Battle of Brooklyn in New York. -
28th August 1996
Charles and Diana divorce
After four years of separation, Charles, Prince of Wales and heir to the British throne, and his wife, Princess Diana, formally divorce. -
19th August 1958
Michael Jackson is born
Michael Jackson is born on this day in Gary, Indiana. -
30th August 19..
Oldest Sinagporean dies
Madam Yam Karicho, the oldest Sinagporean, dies in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, aged 114 years old. 10th August 30B.C.
Cleopatra commits suicide
Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, takes her life following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. -
31th August 1997
Princess Diana dies
Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in Paris' Pitie-Salpetiere Hospital after suffering massive chest injuries in an early morning car accident. Her companion, Dodi Fayed, was killed instantly in the 12:25 a.m. crash, as was driver Henri Paul, who was drunk and lost control of the Mercedes in a highway underpass. He was driving at excessive speeds in a reckless attempt to escape paparazzi photographers.
Diana's bodyguard, Trevor Rees Jones, escaped with serious but nonfatal injuries. He was the only one wearing his seat belt. The death of Diana, beloved by millions for her beauty and good nature, plunged the world into mourning. -
1st September 1985
Wreck of the Titanic found
Seventy-three years after it sunk to the North Atlantic ocean floor, a joint U.S.-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic. The sunken liner was about 400 miles west of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic. -
2nd September 1945
Japan surrenders
Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan formally surrenders to the Allies, bringing an end to World War II.
Vietnam independence proclaimed
Hours after Japan's surrender in World War II, Vietnamese communist Ho Chi Minh declares the independence of Vietnam from France. -
03rd September 1783
Treaty of Paris signed
The American Revolution formally comes to an end when representatives of the United States, Great Britain, Spain, and France sign the Treaty of Paris. American independence was recognized by the British, and the boundaries of the new republic were agreed upon: Florida north to the Great Lakes, and the Atlantic coast west to the Mississippi River. -
4th September 476
Western Roman Empire falls
Romulus Augustus, the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed by Odoacer, a German barbarian who proclaims himself king of Italy. -
5th September 1972
Arab terrorists take Israeli hostages at the Olympics
Six members of the Arab terrorist group known as Black September dressed in the Olympic sweat suits of Arab nations took nine hostages before demanding the release of 236 prisoners-most of whom were Arab terrorists. The demands were categorically refused, but it was eventually agreed that the terrorists and the hostages would be taken to the Furstenfeldbruck airport by helicopter and given a plane.
The German government planned an ambush at the airport, stationing sharpshooters around the runway and officers in the airplane. Three terrorists were taken out in the first wave of shots, but the others were able to hide out of range. One threw a grenade into a helicopter where five hostages were still tied up, instantly killing them all. Another terrorist fired his machine gun into another helicopter, killing the remaining hostages.
Twenty hours after Black September had begun their attack, a German police official, 5 Palestinian terrorists, and 11 Israeli athletes lay dead. Three of the terrorists who survived were imprisoned but were set free a month later when Arabs hijacked a Lufthansa 727 and demanded their release. -
6th September 1915
Vehicles Of War
The first tank prototype was completed and given its first test drive on this day, developed by William Foster & Company for the British army. Several European nations had been working on the development of a shielded, tracked vehicle that could cross the uneven terrain of World War I trenches, but Great Britain was the first to succeed.
Lightly armed with machine guns, the tanks made their first authoritative appearance at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, when 474 British tanks managed to break through the German lines. The Allies began using the vehicles in increasing numbers throughout the rest of the war.
After World War I, European nations on all sides continued to build tanks at a frantic pace, arming them with even heavier artillery and plating. This competitive stockpiling came to a lethal head on the battlefields of World War II. -
7th September 1776
World's first submarine attack
During the Revolutionary War, the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship Eagle in New York Harbor. It was the first use of a submarine in warfare. -
8th September 1664
New Amsterdam becomes New York
Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland, to an English naval squadron under Colonel Richard Nicolls. Stuyvesant had hoped to resist the English, but he was an unpopular ruler, and his Dutch subjects refused to rally around him. Following its capture, New Amsterdam's name was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who organized the mission. -
9th September 1976
Mao Zedong dies
Mao Zedong, who led the Chinese people through a long revolution and then ruled the nation's communist government from its establishment in 1949, dies in Beijing at the age of 82. Along with V.I. Lenin and Joseph Stalin, Mao was one of the most significant communist figures of the Cold War. -
Originally posted by Gordonator:
Zhou Enlai departure was a few months earlier than Chairman Mao but in the same year as him is it???
[b]9th September 1976
Mao Zedong dies
Mao Zedong, who led the Chinese people through a long revolution and then ruled the nation's communist government from its establishment in 1949, dies in Beijing at the age of 82. Along with V.I. Lenin and Joseph Stalin, Mao was one of the most significant communist figures of the Cold War. [/b] -
indeed, Zhou Enlai died on January 8, 1976.Originally posted by gorby107:Zhou Enlai departure was a few months earlier than Chairman Mao but in the same year as him is it??? -
10th September 1993
Final episode of Late Night with David Letterman
Late Night with David Letterman airs its last episode. NBC had been showing reruns of the program since June, when Letterman made his last original episode, with guest Tom Hanks.
X-Files premieres
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson first team up in the debut of The X-Files. Duchovny played FBI agent Fox Mulder--nicknamed "Spooky" because of his belief in aliens and supernatural phenomena--and Anderson played Dana Scully, a skeptical doctor. A cult hit, the show attracted an enormous following of loyal viewers. An X-Files movie was released in 1998. David Duchovny left the show in the 2001 season and was replaced by Robert Patrick, who played agent John Doggett. -
11th September 2001
9-11 Incident
At 8:45 a.m. on a clear Tuesday morning, an American Airlines Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The impact left a gaping, burning hole near the 80th floor of the 110-story skyscraper, instantly killing hundreds of people and trapping hundreds more in higher floors.
Then, 18 minutes after the first plane hit, a second Boeing 767--United Airlines Flight 175--appeared out of the sky, turned sharply toward the World Trade Center, and sliced into the south tower at about the 60th floor. The collision caused a massive explosion that showered burning debris over surrounding buildings and the streets below.
The attackers were Islamic terrorists from Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations. Reportedly financed by Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terrorist organization, they were allegedly acting in retaliation for America's support of Israel, its involvement in the Persian Gulf War, and its continued military presence in the Middle East. -
12th september 1940
Lascaux cave paintings discovered
Near Montignac, France, a collection of prehistoric cave paintings are discovered by four teenagers who stumbled upon the ancient artwork after following their dog down a narrow entrance into a cavern. The 15,000- to 17,000-year-old paintings, consisting mostly of animal representations, are among the finest examples of art from the Upper Paleolithic period. -
13th September 1916
Roald Dahl born
Dahl's childhood was filled with tragedy. His father and sister died when Dahl was three, and he was later brutally abused at his boarding school. After high school, he traveled widely, joining an expedition to Newfoundland and later working in Tanzania.
In World War II, he joined the Royal Air Force and became a fighter pilot. He flew missions in Libya, Greece, and Syria, and was shot down in the Libyan desert, suffering serious injuries. (He saved a piece of his femur, removed in an operation after the accident, and later used it as a paperweight in his office.)
Dahl wrote his first book, The Gremlins, for Walt Disney, in 1943, and the story was later made into a Disney film. He wrote several popular adult books, including Someone Like You (1953) and Kiss Kiss (1959), and began writing stories for his own four children in 1960. James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory became bestsellers.
He also wrote the screenplay for Charlie (with a title change-the movie was called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968 ), and a James Bond film, You Only Live Twice (1967). -
14th September 1812
NAPOLEON ENTERS MOSCOW
One week after winning a bloody victory over the Russian army at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon Bonaparte's Grande Armýe enters the city of Moscow, only to find the population evacuated and the Russian army retreated again. Moscow was the goal of the invasion, but the deserted city held no czarist officials to sue for peace and no great stores of food or supplies to reward the French soldiers for their long march. Then, just after midnight, fires broke out across the city, apparently set by Russian patriots, leaving Napoleon's massive army with no means to survive the coming Russian winter.