Today in History

Today in History

1014 The Byzantine Emperor Basil earns the title “Slayer of Bulgers” after he orders the blinding of

15,000 Bulgerian troops.

1536 William Tyndale, the English translator of the New Testament, is strangled and burned at the stake for heresy at Vilvoorde, France.

1539 Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his army enter the Apalachee capital of Anhaica (presentday Tallahassee, Florida) by force. Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto and his army enter the Apalachee capital of Anhaica (present-day Tallahassee, Florida) by force.

1696 Savoy, Germany withdraws from the Grand Alliance.

1801 Napoleon Bonaparte imposes a new constitution on Holland.

1866 The Reno brothers–Frank, John, Simeon and William–commit the country’s first train robbery near Seymour, Indiana netting $10,000.

1884 The Naval War College is founded in Newport, Rhode Island

1908 Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina, sparking a crisis.

1941 German troops renew their offensive against Moscow.

1966 Hanoi insists the United States must end its bombings before peace talks can begin.

1969 Special Forces Captain John McCarthy is released from Fort Leavenworth Penitentiary, pending consideration of his appeal to murder charges.

1973 Israel is taken by surprise when Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attack on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War.

1981 Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat is assassinated in Cairo by Islamic fundamentalists. He is succeeded by Vice President Hosni Mubarak.

2000 Yugoslavia’s president Slobodan Milosevic and Argentina’s vice-president Carlos Alvarez both resign from their respective offices.

Born

1820 Jenny Lind, soprano known as the “Swedish Nightingale.”

1846 George Westinghouse, prolific inventor, held over 100 patents on creations including air brakes for trains.

1887 Le Corbusier, Swiss-born French architect and city planner.

1895 Caroline Gordon, writer (The Strange Children).

1906 Janet Gaynor, film actress.

1908 Carole Lombard, American comediennne and actress.

1908 Sammy Price, jazz pianist.

1914 Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian anthropologist and explorer.

1917 Fannie Lou Hamer, US civil rights advocate; became vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

1931 Riccardo Giacconi, Italian astrophysicist ; won the Nobel Prize in Astrophysics for his pioneering contributions that led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources.

1948 Gerry Adams, Irish politician who was an important figure in Northern Ireland’s peace process; president of Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland’s secondlargest political party, since 1983.

History