735AD: Death of The Venerable Bede (b.672), English historian and theologian, whose many scholarly works include the first comprehensive history of the British Isles, titled Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People).
1332: Birth of Ibn Khaldun (d.1406), the great Arab polymath whose theory of business cycles and the rise and fall of nations remains foundational to any serious sociological study.
1431: In the final act of her February trial, Joan of Arc is this day burned at the stake for heresy. In the years that follow her execution, the French peasantry attributed scores of miracles to her and she is eventually canonized as Saint Jean d’Arc
1453: After a 53-day siege by the Moslem armies of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the Byzantine capital of Constantinople falls to the Turks, closing the final chapter of the 1,500 years of the Roman Empire, and decisively ending the existence of Christianity in its Anatolian heartland. Ironically, the seeds of the defeat were planted by the massive depredations of the 4th Crusade some 200 years prior, when the city underwent another siege and sacking from its Christian allies. The Ottoman Empire established this day remained a threat to Europe for nearly 500 years until it was finally dismantled by the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Great War.
1541: Death of French religious reformer John Calvin (b.1509), one of the key figures of the Protestant Reformation, whose insights and writings on Christian doctrine remain the foundation of the Presbyterian and other Reformed churches. Much of his work occurred in Geneva, where his church became a center for a group of English dissidents under John Knox, among other groups dealing with the intellectual and religious ferment of the time.
1588: The Spanish Armada, a fleet of 130 ships loaded with over 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon en route to the English Channel on a mission to invade Britain, de-throne Elizabeth I, and restore a Catholic monarchy on the island. Under King Philip II, Spain was the unquestioned superpower of its day, having grown rich by exploiting the gold and silver of the New World. England had recently welcomed back the explorer and privateer Francis Drake from his circumnavigation, and along with Sir Walter Raleigh (with an assist from the weather), the Armada was defeated.
1637: Birth of Jacques Marquette (d.1675). He was a Jesuit missionary best known for exploring the upper Mississippi River with Louis Jolliet. Born in Laon, France, Marquette became a member of the Society of Jesus at the age of seventeen. He was assigned to the missionary outpost of Quebec in 1666. He founded Michigan’s first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Ignace.
1672: Birth of Peter the Great (d.1725). Tsar of Russia who reigned jointly with his half-brother Ivan V (1682–96) and alone thereafter (1696–1725) and who in 1721 was proclaimed emperor (imperator). He was one of his country’s greatest statesmen, organizers, and reformers. Through a number of successful wars, he captured ports at Azov and the Baltic Sea, laying the groundwork for the Imperial Russian Navy, ending uncontested Swedish supremacy in the Baltic, and beginning Russia’s expansion into an empire. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, Westernised, and based on the Enlightenment. Peter’s reforms had a lasting impact on Russia, and many institutions of the Russian government trace their origins to his reign. He also founded the city of Saint Petersburg, which remained the capital of Russia until 1918.
1703: After capturing a Swedish fort further up the Neva River, and determined to drag sclerotic Russian leadership and society into the mainstream of the Western European world, Tsar Peter I (The Great) commissions the city of Saint Petersburg as he lays the foundation stone of the Peter and Paul Fortress on Zyachay (Hare) Island in the Neva delta. He names the new city after his patron saint and sets in motion a development process that brings in the finest Western European architects and planners to essentially create- tabula rasa- the northernmost, and most beautiful capital city in Europe.
1740: Birth of French author Marquis de Sade. Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (French: [dɔnasjɛ̃ alfɔ̃z fʁɑ̃swa maʁki də sad]; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusations of sex crimes. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts. In his lifetime some of these were published under his own name while others, which Sade denied having written, appeared anonymously. Sade is best known for his erotic works, which combined philosophical discourse with pornography, depicting sexual fantasies with an emphasis on violence, suffering, sodomy, child rape, crime, and blasphemy against Christianity. Many of the characters in his works are teenagers or adolescents. His work is a depiction of extreme absolute freedom, unrestrained by morality, religion, or law. The words sadism and sadist are derived from his name in reference to the works of fiction he wrote, which portrayed numerous acts of sexual cruelty. While Sade explored a wide range of sexual deviations through his writings, his known behavior includes “only the beating of a housemaid and an orgy with several prostitutes—behavior significantly departing from the clinical definition of sadism”. Sade was a proponent of free public brothels paid for by the state: In order both to prevent crimes in society that are motivated by lust and to reduce the desire to oppress others using one’s own power, Sade recommended public brothels where people can satisfy their wishes to command and be obeyed. In 1777, Sade was tricked into going to Paris to visit his supposedly ill mother, who in fact had recently died. He was arrested and imprisoned in the Château de Vincennes. He successfully appealed his death sentence in 1778 but remained imprisoned under the lettre de cachet. He escaped but was soon recaptured. He resumed writing and met fellow prisoner Comte de Mirabeau, who also wrote erotic works. He died in 1814.
1759: In the opening battle of the French and Indian War, the Virginia Militia, under the leadership of 22-year-old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington, defeats a French surveying party in western Pennsylvania.
1763: A month into the vicious war between colonial British forces and a coalition of Indian tribes led by Chief Pontiac of the Chippewa Nation, the warring tribes begin to sequentially capture five small forts in the upper Ohio valley and Michigan. The fifth to fall is Fort Michilimackinac, captured this day by Indians who entertained the British garrison with an exhibition game of lacrosse outside the walls of the fort. One player then lobbed the ball through the gates, and the rest of the “team” rushed through to get it, collecting weapons stashed just inside the gate by native women. 15 of the 35 defenders were killed outright and five more died by torture. The Indians kept control of the fort for over a year until the British negotiated them out with promises of regular supplies of goods.
1779: Colonel Benedict Arnold, the hero of the attack on Quebec and multiple engagements throughout New England, is court-martialed for “malfeasance” including misuse of government wagons, and illegal buying and selling of government goods. The trial is interrupted until December but the seeds of resentment are planted for his ultimate treason the following year.
1813: In a naval battle just offshore from Boston harbor, HMS Shannon decisively defeats and captures USS Chesapeake. Chesapeake’s mortally wounded Captain James Lawrence is evacuated from the battle in a small boat. As he is lowered from the ship into the boat he utters what quickly becomes the Navy’s motto: “Don’t give up the ship!”
1819: Birth of American poet Julia Ward Howe (d.1910), who wrote the lyrics to stirring Battle Hymn of the Republic, a huge improvement over the original John Brown’s Body.
1819: Birth of American poet Walt Whitman (d.1892). Also known as a great essayist, and journalist. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American history. Whitman incorporated both transcendentalism and realism in his writings and is often called the father of free verse.
1846: Birth of Russian goldsmith, Peter Carl Faberge (d.1920).
1854: In a bid to resolve the slavery question, Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, splitting the central portion of the Louisiana Purchase into proportional slave and free territories.
1863: The 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the nation’s first all-black regiment, leaves Boston to begin fighting for the Union.
1864: First day of the two-week-long Battle of Cold Harbor, outside Richmond, Virginia. Losses: Union, 1,844 dead, 9,077 wounded, 1,816 captured or missing of 108,000; Confederate, 83 dead, 3,380 wounded, 1,132 captured or missing of 62,000. Considered a Confederate victory, the Union failed to penetrate Confederate defenses in a fierce fight. Despite the staggering losses at Cold Harbor, Grant managed to withdraw his troops and then deceive the Confederates for days as his army crossed the James River and marched toward Petersburg.
1866: Death of General Winfield Scott, USA (b.1786). The old warhorse, also known as “Old Fuss and Feathers” served his country over the course of a 47-year active duty career, commanding forces in the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Blackhawk War, the Second Seminole War, and for a short time after the opening guns, the War Between the States. He served 20 years as Commanding General of the United States Army (equivalent to the current Army Chief of Staff). He became a national hero after the Mexican campaign, which led to an unsuccessful run for the Presidency as a Whig in 1852. More important from his service in Mexico was his role in leading and training an entire generation of Army officers who would go on to distinguish themselves on both sides of the Civil War.
1874: Birth of British author and theologian G.K. Chesterton (d.1936). A thinker and writer known for his sardonic wit. Some work:
“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.” –Alarms and Discursions (1910)
“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.”–Illustrated London News (April 1930)
“The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.”-Illustrated London News (1924).
1886: President Grover Cleveland marries Miss Frances Folsom in the White House. The wedding is a social sensation and remains the sole presidential WH marriage to date.
1889: The Johnstown Flood- After several days of heavy rains, the privately maintained South Fork Dam collapses, releasing over 20 million tons of water down the narrow Conemaugh River valley. A 30-foot wall of debris-laden water tears through the northern half of the central Pennsylvania city, demolishing everything in its path. 2,209 people are killed and tens of thousands are left destitute.
1902: The Peace of Vereeniging is signed, ending the Boer War. Southern Africa endured a century of simmering resentment beginning in 1806 when Great Britain seized the Dutch Cape Colony during the Napoleonic Wars. The native Dutch population, Afrikaners and Boers, eventually made a mass migration northward to get away from British rule and settled in the Transvaal and Orange Free State, creating the capital of Pretoria. Peace existed between the British and Dutch until diamonds and gold were discovered in the Boer lands in 1867. By 1899 increasingly deadly skirmishing broke out into open war; British forces quickly captured all major Boer cities and strategic sites, but the Boers kept fighting in a vicious guerrilla campaign. In 1901 the British shifted their strategy to a brutal search-and-destroy campaign against the guerrillas, reinforced by rounding up Boer families and holding them in concentration camps, the world’s first use of that method to control an enemy. The treaty signed this day ceded control of the Boer provinces to British military rule and established a political confederation known as the Union of South Africa.
1903: Birth of actor/comedian Bob Hope (d.2003).
1911: Roy Harroun wins the inaugural Indianapolis 500-mile race, driving his Marmon Wasp at an average speed of 74.6 mph. This Sunday’s (5/28) winner Josef Newgarden (of Indianapolis) finished with an average speed of 168.193 mph. Spaniard Alex Palou won the pole position with a speed of 234.217, but still not up to the pace of Arie Luyendyk’s 236.986 back in 1996.
1913: A peace treaty is signed ending the First Balkan War. The conflict aligned Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece against the Ottoman Turks in a successful attempt to separate Macedonia and Albania from Turkish control. A second Balkan war began a month later with Russian support. In response to Austrian moves designed to counter Russian influence in the region, Serbia increased its agitation against Germanic rule in favor of a pan-Slavism promoted by Russia. Strategic cooperation treaties begin to align the Great Powers into blocs. Serbia’s strategic planning for a third Balkan war looked to the summer of 1914 for its beginning.
1914: Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels issues General Order #99, prohibiting alcohol aboard naval vessels, navy yards, and stations. He substitutes traditional spirits with mass-produced coffee, giving rise to the angry (at the time) expression to “have a cup of Joe.”
1916: The Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of the Great War and the last naval battle conducted solely by gunfire, begins at 2:20 pm when the British Grand Fleet under Sir John Jellicoe and Vice Admiral David Beatty sights the German High Seas Fleet under Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper. Both fleets begin to maneuver to gain a firing advantage, and at 4:43 pm both sides open fire and continue the opening exchange for 55 minutes. Two British battlecruisers are destroyed in this first engagement, killing over 2000 sailors. Maneuvering and firing continue through the evening and into the next morning with a general engagement continuing throughout the next day. At 6:30 pm the German fleet executes a pre-planned disengagement back to Williamshaven. The German press exults and the British press sulks. But as with many naval battles, the difference between the bean count of ships lost and the strategic effect is inverted: German losses were 11 ships sunk, including a battleship and battlecruiser, and 3,058 casualties. British losses were 14 ships sunk, including three battle cruisers, and 6,784 casualties. However, because of damage sustained during the battle, on June 2nd the Germans would have only been able to sortie 10 of the participating ships against 23 available to the British. The German high command further recognized that their capability to conduct major fleet operations was now severely constrained, which led to the conscious decision to concentrate their efforts on unrestricted submarine warfare, the doctrine which did more than anything else to induce the United States to enter the war on the side of the Allied Powers.
1927: In Dearborn, Michigan, the last day of production of the Ford Model T, as equipment on the assembly line is changed out to produce the new Model A. The Model T was the first car to be mass-produced, beginning in 1908. With over 15,000,000 produced, it was the best-selling car in the world until surpassed by the Volkswagen Beetle in 1972. Interestingly, as part of its centenary celebrations in 2003, Ford produced six new Model Ts using long-warehoused original components and other parts made from original drawings.
1932: The Bonus March: a group of unemployed World War I veterans converges on Washington, DC to demand early payment of a promised bonus for their service in the Great War. The payment of Army bonuses was long established to make up for the difference in what a soldier earned in service and what he would have earned as a civilian. A 1924 law set the rates for the recently returned veterans, but for payments due of over $50, it was in the form of a note that would not come due for 20 years, in this case, 1945. Over 3.6 million service certificates were issued based on this law. The financial hardship of the Depression triggered an increasing number of calls for early payment of the bonuses, and as the issue gained traction in the press, more and more veterans came to Washington to back up the demands. As the veterans arrived, some with their families, they ended up creating in the lowland area near the Anacostia River a plywood shantytown that became known as “Hooverville.” The group also became known as the Bonus Army as its protests grew more forceful. The climax of the protests will occur at the end of July
1940: Completely overrun by the Wehrmacht, the Belgian King Leopold III capitulates to the Germans after 18 days of bitter fighting. Rather than fleeing to lead the government-in-exile, he remains in Belgium under house arrest for five years, including a forced deportation into Germany in 1944. The split between the king and his government remained bitter, even after the war ended, leading to his abdication in 1951 in favor of his son Baudouin, who reigned until his death in 1993.
1940: First flight of the German Focke-Wulf FW-190 Würger (D-OPZE) fighter. Although the Messerschmitt Bf-109 gets most of the press (like the Spitfire in Britain), the FW-190 was produced in numbers that nearly overtook the Bf-109: 29,001 to 30,480.
1940: First flight of the Vought F4-U Corsair. The distinctive “gullwing” configuration of the plane was designed to raise the massive propeller higher from the ground during the takeoff roll. Its enemies called it, “Whistling Death!”
1941: Three days after obliterating HMS Hood and making her way into the North Atlantic, the German battleship Bismarck is crippled by a torpedo shot from an ancient Fairey Swordfish biplane from HMS Ark Royal, allowing the British battleships King George V and Rodney and their escorts to close the German vessel and open fire. A fierce gun duel rages for nearly two hours, after which Bismarck sinks from the combined effects of gunfire and intentional scuttling. 111 survivors are rescued by the British ships before leaving the area from a U-boat threat.
1941: Death of Lou Gehrig (b.1903), the New York Yankees’ great first baseman and slugger, of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the wasting neurological disease that now bears his name. Nicknamed “The Iron Horse” for his consistency and perseverance on the field, he held the record for most consecutive games played (2,130) until surpassed by Cal Ripkin in 1995. Over seventeen seasons he maintained a career batting average of .340, and he still holds the record for the most career grand slams (23). On the day of his emotional retirement ceremony in 1939, the Yankees retired his number 4, the first such retirement in baseball.
1953: In Westminster Abbey, the 27-year-old Elizabeth II is crowned* Defender of the Faith and Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Her Other Realms and Territories & Head of the Commonwealth.
1953: New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest, 29,029 feet above sea level. Following the right-hand ridgeline to the summit, the little break just below the top is now called the “Hillary Step.”
1958: First flight of the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II. The F-4 Phantom II is an American tandem two-seat, twin-engine, all-weather, long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter bomber originally developed by McDonnell Aircraft for the United States Navy.
1966: NASA’s lunar probe Surveyor 1 makes a controlled descent to a soft landing on the Moon. The spacecraft broadcast live television from the surface, albeit at an exceptionally slow data rate. During its active life, it transmitted over 10,000 images from Moon’s surface, finally going dormant at the beginning of its second lunar sunset on 14th July, 1966.
1967: After two years of PLO attacks and a continuing buildup of conventional forces along Israel’s border, King Hussein of Jordan and Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt sign a joint defense agreement. At the signing, Nasser was characteristically blunt: “Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The Arab people want to fight.”
1971: Death of Audie Murphy (b.1924), the most decorated U.S. soldier in history. Awards include: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star (2), Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (2), Purple Heart (3), French Legion of Honor, French Croix de Guerre (2), Belgian Croix de guerre (2). At 5’5” and 110 pounds, he was rejected for service by the Navy and Marines. The Army initially slated him for cooking school, but he insisted on going into the infantry.
1980: John Paul II makes the first papal visit to France since 1814.
1982: British forces on the Falklands “yomp” their way across the island to defeat Argentine defenders in the Battle of Goose Green.
1987: 19-year-old German pilot Mathias Rust flies a Cessna 172 unscathed through hundreds of miles of Soviet air defenses and lands the machine in Moscow’s Red Square.
2008: Death of the great blues guitarist and musical innovator, Bo Diddley (b.1928). The ‘Bo Diddley Beat’ is still one of the most copied and utilized guitar riffs.
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