2001 – September 11 Attacks in the United States
A series of 4 coordinated suicide attacks were carried out by the terrorist group Al Qaeda on the morning of September 11. Nineteen militants hijacked 4 California-bound airplanes from east coast cities in the US and used the planes to target major American landmarks. Two planes were crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Center, which caused them to collapse within two hours of being struck. One plane was crashed into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, while the fourth plane, thought to be bound towards Washington DC, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers tried to fight back against the hijackers. The attacks injured about 6000 people, claimed the lives of about 3000 people, caused significant economic damage, and destroyed property worth tens of billions of dollars. The attack was the precursor to the War Against Terror and the War in Afghanistan.
0009 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends after four days with a Germanic alliance defeating Roman forces and putting an end to expansion of the empire east of the Rhine
0910 – Benedictine abbey of Cluny founded by William, Duke of Aquitaine, in Burgundy, France, one of the greatest monasteries of Western Europe
1213 – Chinese general Chih-Chung assassinates Emperor Wei Shao Wang (former Prince of Wei) in Peking and proclaims himself Regent
1226 – The Roman Catholic practice of public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass spreads from monasteries to parishes
1297 – Scotsman William Wallace defeated the English forces of Sir Hugh de Cressingham at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
1390 – Lithuanian Civil War (1389-1392): the Teutonic Knights begin a five-week siege of Vilnius
1503 – Michelangelo begins sculpting the 12 Apostles for the Cathedral of Florence, over-life-sized marble statues of which only 1 was partly finished, that of St. Matthew
1609 – Explorer Henry Hudson sailed into New York harbor and discovered Manhattan Island and the Hudson River.
1649 – Massacre of Drogheda, Ireland – Oliver Cromwell kills 3,000 royalists
1708 – Great Northern war: Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the war
1714 – Spanish and French troops broke into Barcelona and ended Catalonia’s sovereignty after 13 months of seige.
1773 – Benjamin Franklin writes “There never was a good war or bad peace”
1776 – A Peace Conference was held between British General Howe and three representatives of the Continental Congress (Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge). The conference failed and the American war for independence continued for seven years.
1777 – American forces, under General George Washington, were forced to retreat at the Battle of Brandywine Creek by British forces under William Howe. The Stars and Stripes (American flag) were carried for the first time in the battle.
1786 – The Convention of Annapolis opened with the aim of revising the articles of the confederation.
1789 – Alexander Hamilton was appointed by U.S. President George Washington to be the first secretary of the treasury.
1792 – The French Blue gem (later the Hope Diamond) is stolen with other French crown jewels from Royal storehouse in Paris during Reign of Terror
1814 – The U.S. fleet defeated a squadron of British ships in the Battle of Lake Champlain, VT.
1842 – 1,400 Mexican troops captured San Antonio, TX. The Mexicans retreated with prisoners.
1847 – 1st singing of Stephen Foster’s “Oh! Susanna” (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
1855 – The siege of Sevastopol ended when French, British and Piedmontese troops captured the main naval base of the Russian Black fleet in the Crimean War.
1857 – Mountain Meadows Massacre, Mormons dressed as Indians murder 120 colonists in Utah
1897 – A ten-week strike of coal workers in Pennsylvania, WV, and Ohio came to an end. The workers won and eight-hour workday, semi-monthly pay, and company stores were abolished.
1897 – After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom
1919 – US Marines again send troops to Honduras
1926 – Spain leaves the League of Nations due to Germany joining
1936 – Boulder Dam in Nevada was dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt by turning on the dam’s first hydroelectric generator. The dam is now called Hoover Dam.
1940 – George Stibitz pioneers the first remote operation of a computer
1941 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave orders to attack any German or Italian vessels found in U.S. defensive waters. The U.S. had not officially entered World War II at this time.
1941 – Charles A. Lindbergh brought on charges of anti-Semitism with a speech in which he blamed “the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt administration” for trying to draw the United States into World War II.
1941 – In Arlington, VA, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Pentagon took place.
1945 – Hideki Tojo, Japanese Prime Minister during most of World War II, attempts suicide rather than face war crimes tribunal but fails – later he is hanged
1945 – Physician Willem J. Kolff performs the first successful kidney dialysis using his artificial kidney machine in the Netherlands
1952 – West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer signs a reparation pact for the Jewish people
1955 – Dedication of the first Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe, the Bern Switzerland Temple
1959 – The U.S. Congress passed a bill authorizing the creation of food stamps.
1965 – The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) arrived in South Vietnam and was stationed at An Khe.
1970 – 88 of the hostages from the Dawson’s Field hijackings are released. The remaining hostages, mostly Jews and Israeli citizens, are held until September 25.
1970 – The Ford Pinto is introduced.
1973 – Chilean President Salvador Allende, the 1st elected Marxist president of a South America country, is deposed in a military coup led by general Augusto Pinochet
1977 – The Atari 2600 was released. It was originally sold as the Atari VCS. The system was discontinued on January 1, 1992.
1978 – The last known person dies of smallpox – medical photographer Janet Parker through infection in a laboratory, in Birmingham, England
1985 – A U.S. satellite passed through the tail of the Giacobini-Zinner comet. It was the first on-the-spot sampling of a comet.
1990 – U.S. President Bush vowed “Saddam Hussein will fail” while addressing Congress on the Persian Gulf crisis. In the speech Bush spoke of an objective of a new world order – “freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice, and more secure in the quest for peace”.
1991 – Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev announced that thousands of troops would be drawn out of Cuba.
1997 – Scotland voted to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with England.
1998 – Independent counsel Kenneth Starr sent a report to the U.S. Congress accusing President Clinton of 11 possible impeachable offenses.
1999 – The Wall Street Journal reported that Bayer Corp. had quit putting a wad of cotton in their bottles of aspirin. Bayer had actually stopped the practice earlier in the year.
2001 – September 11 Attacks in the United States
A series of 4 coordinated suicide attacks were carried out by the terrorist group Al Qaeda on the morning of September 11. Nineteen militants hijacked 4 California-bound airplanes from east coast cities in the US and used the planes to target major American landmarks. Two planes were crashed into the two towers of the World Trade Center, which caused them to collapse within two hours of being struck. One plane was crashed into the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, while the fourth plane, thought to be bound towards Washington DC, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers tried to fight back against the hijackers. The attacks injured about 6000 people, claimed the lives of about 3000 people, caused significant economic damage, and destroyed property worth tens of billions of dollars. The attack was the precursor to the War Against Terror and the War in Afghanistan.
2002 – Through extreme and coordinated effort, The Pentagon is rededicated after repairs are completed, exactly one year after the attack on the building.
2005 – The State of Israel completes its unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
2007 – Russia Tests Father of All Bombs, The world’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb was a thermobaric bomb – it detonated mid-air and uses the oxygen in the air to create an explosion. The energy released by the bomb equaled 44 tons of TNT.
2011 – Occupy Wall Street movement begins. The Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street District of New York City
2012 – Terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Four Americans were brutally murdered and ten others were injured.
2012 – 50 Al-Shabaab fighters are killed in conflict with the Somali National Army
2012 – The US is warned by Moody’s that its AAA credit rating is at risk if lawmakers fail to produce a long-term debt reduction plan
2017 – One million march on this state’s national day in Barcelona in support of independence for Catalonia
2018 – American-backed militia begins final push to oust militants from Hajin, Syria, last area under Islamic State control
2019 – Water detected for first time on planet outside out solar system, on exoplanet K2-18b 110 light-years away, in findings published in “Nature Astronomy”
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
