TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – AUG 26 2018
55 B.C. Britain was invaded by Roman forces under Julius Caesar.
1071 Turks defeat the Byzantine army under Emperor Romanus IV at Manzikert, Eastern Turkey.
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.
1847 Liberia was proclaimed an independent republic.
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.
1932 With America in the depths of the worst depression ever seen millions of people could not keep up with mortgage payments due to the mass unemployment. In a move to offer some relief the Comptroller of the Currency (or OCC) announced a temporary halt on foreclosures of first mortgages.
1957 Ford Motor Company reveals the Edsel, its latest luxury car.
1966 The 24-year long rebellion against the South African government began with an attack by the South African Defence Force on the members of the South-West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) at Omugulugwombashe. Namibia gained independence on 21 March 1990. Namibians observe Heroes Day annually on August 26.
1970 A nationwide Women’s Strike for Equality, led by Betty Friedan on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment calls attention to unequal pay and other gender inequalities in America.
1977 The National Assembly of Quebec adopts Bill 101, Charter of the French Language, making French the official language of the Canadian province.
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.
1990 The 55 Americans at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait left Baghdad by car and headed for the Turkish border.
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.
1999 Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.
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 **
