TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – AUG 5
910 The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred
1305 William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
1391 Castilian sailors in Barcelona, Spain set fire to a Jewish ghetto, killing 100 people and setting off four days of violence against Jews.
1762 Russia, Prussia and Austria sign a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland.
1763 Colonel Henry Bouquet decisively defeats the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run in Pennsylvania during Pontiac’s rebellion.
1846 Oregon country divided between US & Britain at 49th parallel
1861 Congress adopts the nation’s first income tax to finance the Civil War.
1884 Give me your tired, your poor…. The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty was laid on Bedloe’s Island.
1892 Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spy and scout during the Civil War.
1914 US, Nicaragua sign treaty granting canal rights to US
1921 1st radio baseball broadcast Pirates-8, Phillies-0 (KDKA, Pitts)
1951 The United Nations Command suspends armistice talks with the North Koreans when armed troops are spotted in neutral areas.
1962 Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her bedroom, the death was ruled a suicide, as a bottle of empty sleeping pills was found near Monroe’s body.
1963 The United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed the limited Test Ban Treaty, which prohibited nuclear weapon tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater.
1973 Two Arab gunmen from the Palestinian militant group Black September take 35 hostages and open fire and throw grenades into a crowded passenger lounge at Athens airport killing 3 and injuring over 50 more.
1974 President Richard Nixon admits he ordered a cover-up for political as well as national security reasons.
1981 President Ronald Reagan fires 11,500 striking air traffic controllers.
1997 The mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, goes on trial.
2007 Jesse Spielman, a United States soldier convicted of playing a role in the rape and murder of a 14 year old girl and her family in Iraq was sentenced to 110 years in prison.
2012 A gunman in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, opens fire in a Sikh temple, killing six before committing suicide.
2012 The plutonium-powered rover Curiosity successfully lands on Mars. Larger than earlier rovers, Curiosity will spend two years examining the land, looking for evidence that conditions on Mars are fit for life.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
