TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – AUG 26
55 B.C. Britain was invaded by Roman forces under Julius Caesar.
1346 Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III’s English longbows defeat Philip VI’s army, cannons used for first time in battle
1429 Joan of Arc makes a triumphant entry into Paris.
1789 The Constituent Assembly in Versailles, France, approves the final version of the Declaration of Human Rights.
1842 The first fiscal year was established by the U.S. Congress to start on July 1st.
1883 The Indonesian island of Krakatoa erupts in the largest explosion recorded in history, heard 2,200 miles away in Madagascar. The resulting destruction sends volcanic ash up 50 miles into the atmosphere and kills almost 36,000 people–both on the island itself and from the resulting 131-foot tidal waves that obliterate 163 villages on the shores of nearby Java and Sumatra.
1920 The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is officially ratified, giving women the right to vote.
1924 The Catastrophe of Smyrna: known as the Asia Minor Catastrophe to Greeks. The Ottoman army expels Greeks and other non-Turks from Asia Minor.
1934 Hitler’s Nazi propaganda machine is now expelling foreign correspondents who place a slur or criticize Adolf Hitler
1945 Japanese diplomats board USS Missouri to receive instructions on Japan’s surrender at the end of WWII
1957 Ford Motor Company reveals the Edsel, its latest luxury car.
1959 British Motor Corporation introduces the Morris Mini-Minor, designed by Alec Issigonis, it was only 10 ft long but seated 4 passengers
1978 Albino Luciani elected to the Papacy and chooses the name Pope John Paul I ; his 33-day reign is among the shortest in Papal history.
1992 A “no-fly zone” was imposed on the southern 1/3 of Iraq. The move by the U.S., France and Britain was aimed at protecting Iraqi Shiite Muslims.
1994 A man has been given the world’s first battery operated Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), the device is used to help the work of the Heart’s left ventricle by performing the pumping action needed
2002 60,000 delegates and politicians from 174 countries around the world have gathered for the latest Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa
2004 The US Census Bureau has released new figures which put the number of poor in the US at 35.9 million an increase of more than 1 million. The definition of poor is a family of four with an annual income of less than $18,810 and less than $9,393 for a single person.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
