First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - APRIL 14th

Francis Bacon, Quote

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting like a snowflake.

~ Francis Bacon

Wikiquote (Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC (January 22, 1561 – April 9, 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman and essayist.)

This Day in History

April 14th, 43 BC

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that began growing on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
43 BC - Battle of Forum Gallorum; Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, who is wounded.
69 - Battle of Bedriacum; Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Roman Emperor Otho.
70 - Siege of Jerusalem; Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital, with four Roman legions.

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Ancient roman statue ● Detail of Head from Roman Statue of Antinous, credit Corbis ● Statue of Neptune, Trevi Fountain, Rome ● International Sand Sculpture Festival, FIESA 7 ancient Rome.
Relief from a 3rd-century sarcophagus depicting a battle between Romans and Germanic warriors; the central figure is perhaps the emperor Hostilian / Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.

April 14th, 1205

Crusades collage: Crusades were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by Pope Urban II and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem - Jerusalem considered a sacred city and symbol of all three major Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam)

Crusades:
1205 - Fourth Crusade; Battle of Adrianople - Between Bulgarians and Crusaders.

Wikipedia  Image: The Siege of Antioch, from a 15th-century miniature; After the successful siege of Jerusalem in 1099, Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade, became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; Baldwin I of Jerusalem; Medieval image of Peter the Hermit, leading knights, soldiers and women toward Jerusalem during the First Crusade; The Battle of Ager Sanguinis, 1337 miniature; Pope Innocent III excommunicating the Albigensians, Massacre against the Albigensians by the crusaders; The capture of Jerusalem marked the First Crusade's success.

April 14th, 1294

Map of Mongol Empire at its height; Genghis Khan, credit The Field Museum in Chicago; Genghis Khan various Mongolian tribes joined together in 1206; Mongol warriors was created for an Islamic history book, Rashid al-Din's History of the World of 1307, courtesy of the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland

Mongol Empire:
1294 - Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong.

Wikipedia  Image: Map of Mongol Empire at its height; Genghis Khan, credit The Field Museum in Chicago; Genghis Khan various Mongolian tribes joined together in 1206; Mongol warriors was created for an Islamic history book, Rashid al-Din's History of the World of 1307, courtesy of the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland.

April 14th, 1471

Wars of the Roses: a series of dynastic wars fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet; the houses of Lancaster and York (whose heraldic symbols were the 'red' and the 'white' rose, respectively) for the throne of England

Wars of the Roses: 1471 - Battle of Barnet; In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.

Wikipedia  Image: Wars of the Roses; a series of dynastic wars fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (whose heraldic symbols were the "red" and the "white" rose, respectively) for the throne of England.

April 14th, 1639

Thirty Years' War Collage

Thirty Years' War:
1639 - Battle of Chemnitz; Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Year's War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.

Wikipedia  Painting: Battle of Breitenfeld (1631), The victory of Gustavus Adolphus; Bautzen circa 1620, by Matthäus Merian; Battle of Lützen by Carl Wahlbom shows the death of King Gustavus Adolphus on 16 November 1632; Bautzen 1620, by Matthäus Merian; Peace of Westphalia, Ratification of the Peace of Münster.

April 14th, 1775

The crew of the British slave ship Zong murders 133 Africans by dumping them into the sea to claim insurance Continental Congress officially names its new union of sovereign states the United States

1775 - The first abolition society in North America is established. The Pennsylvania Abolition Society is organized in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
1816 - Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion and is killed. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.

Wikipedia  Painting: The Slave Ship, J. M. W. Turner's representation of the mass-murder of slaves, inspired by the Zong Massacre.
Continental Congress; 1775 – 1777: Pennsylvania State House, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Best things to do in Pennsylvania: Jenn Review

April 14th, 1846

Sierra Nevada Mountains is a mountain range in California and Nevada; James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen in this file photo taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the tragic Donner Party, (AP Photo)

The Donner Party of pioneers departs Springfield, Illinois, for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship, cannibalism and survival.

Wikipedia  Image: Sierra Nevadas; James F. Reed and his wife, Margret W. Keyes Reed, seen in this file photo taken in the 1850s, were survivors of the tragic Donner Party, credit AP / Discovery (Detailed analysis of the bones instead found that the 84 Donner Party members consumed a family dog, "Uno," along with cattle, deer and horses. Cattle, likely eaten after the animals themselves died of starvation, appear to have been their mainstay); Wagon train with families.

April 14th, 1849

Saint Stephen< (He greatly expanded Hungarian control over the Carpathian Basin during his lifetime, broadly established Christianity in the region, and is generally regarded as the founder of the Kingdom of Hungary); Statue of Saint Stephen, Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary. David Noton/Getty Images Béla I of Hungary (National Historical Memorial Park in Ópusztaszer); Medieval Castle, the Palace of Visegrad in Hungary ● Budapest parliament building ● Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape Hungary (UNESCO Heritage Site) ● Landscape at Lake Balaton, Hungary

1849 - Hungarian Declaration of Independence: Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.

Wikipedia  Image: Saint Stephen (He greatly expanded Hungarian control over the Carpathian Basin during his lifetime, broadly established Christianity in the region, and is generally regarded as the founder of the Kingdom of Hungary); Statue of Saint Stephen, Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary. David Noton/Getty Images.
Béla I of Hungary (National Historical Memorial Park in Ópusztaszer); Medieval Castle, the Palace of Visegrad in Hungary. ● Budapest parliament building ● Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape Hungary (UNESCO Heritage Site) ● Landscape at Lake Balaton, Hungary.

April 14th, 1860

First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, officially ending the operations for the 18-month-old Pony Express

The first Pony Express rider reaches Sacramento, California, with the run starting from Saint Joseph, Missouri.

Wikipedia Painting: 1860 The Pony Express: Depiction of the construction of the first Transcontinental Telegraph, with a Pony Express rider passing, by Carl Rakeman. credit Federal Highway Administration.

April 14th, 1865

Lincoln Memorial: an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument American Civil War: Battle of Antietam; Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland American Civil War: American Civil War: First Battle Between Ironclads; CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads

American Civil War:
1865 - Assassination of Abraham Lincoln; United States President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.
1865 - United States Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell.

Wikipedia  Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.

April 14th, 1881

Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight: on April 14, 1881 on El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas - Witnesses generally agreed that the incident lasted no more than five seconds after the first gunshot, though a few would insist it was at least ten seconds. Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire accounted for three of the four fatalities with his twin .44 caliber Colt revolvers. The Texas Provincial Government authorizes the creation of a horse-mounted police force called the Texas Rangers (which is now the Texas Ranger Division of the Texas Department of Public Safety)

Texas Rangers:
1881 - Four_Dead_in_Five_Seconds_Gunfight: is fought in El Paso, Texas.

Wikipedia  Photo: Four_Dead_in_Five_Seconds_Gunfight; on April 14, 1881 on El Paso Street, El Paso, Texas - Witnesses generally agreed that the incident lasted no more than five seconds after the first gunshot, though a few would insist it was at least ten seconds. Marshal Dallas Stoudenmire accounted for three of the four fatalities with his twin .44 caliber Colt revolvers.
© Unidentified Texas Rangers on Patrol, ©2009, TRHFM; Frontier Battalion Co. "B" about 1880, ©2009, TRHFM; Frontier Battalion Co. "F" in 1882 ©2009 TRHFM; Capt. Bill McDonald, ©2009, TRHFM; Captain John "Jack" Coffee Hays in Later Life, ©2009, TRHFM, credit TexasRanger.org.

April 14th, 1909

World War I: Collage

Pre World War I:
1909 - Adana massacre; A massacre is organized by Ottoman Empire against Armenian population of Cilicia resulting in 15,000 to 30,000 deaths.

Wikipedia  Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.

April 14th, 1912

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,502 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history

The ill fated RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40pm.

Wikipedia  Image: RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,502 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.

April 14th, 1927

Volvo's first car, the 'Jakob' OV4, rolled off the assembly line on April 14th, 1927 without a roof ● 1933 Volvo PV655 chassis ● The Saint's Volvo Convertible (Volvo P1800 that Roger Moore drove in The Saint television series)

The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Wikipedia  Photo: Volvo's first car, the "Jakob" OV4, rolled off the assembly line on April 14th, 1927 without a roof ● 1933 Volvo PV655 chassis ● The Saint's Volvo Convertible (Volvo P1800 that Roger Moore drove in The Saint television series), credit Dan Bodenheimer, Saint.org.

April 14th, 1940

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1940 - Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.
1941 - Invasion of Yugoslavia; The Ustashe, a Croatian far-right organization is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers.
1941 - Siege of Tobruk; Rommel attacks Tobruk.
1942 - Malta received the George Cross for its gallantry - given by King George VI himself and is now an emblem on the Maltese national flag.
1945 - Osijek, Croatia is liberated from fascist occupation.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945. USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.

April 14th, 1981

Space Shuttle program: STS-28 August 8-13, 1989, Space shuttle Columbia arrives at Launch Pad 39B after the rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building the night before ● An electrical storm and driving rain preceded the first night launch of a shuttle mission on August 30, 1983 ● Columbia’s second mission launched on November 12, 1981. (Commanded by Joe H. Engle and piloted by Richard H. Truly, it was also the last time NASA flew a rookie crew and the external fuel tank was painted white.)

Space Shuttle program, STS-1 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) completes its first test flight.

Wikipedia  Photo: Space Shuttle program; STS-28 August 8-13, 1989, Space Shuttle Columbia arrives at Launch Pad 39B after the rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building the night before ● An electrical storm and driving rain preceded the first night launch of a shuttle mission on August 30, 1983 ● Columbia’s second mission launched on November 12, 1981. (Commanded by Joe H. Engle and piloted by Richard H. Truly, it was also the last time NASA flew a rookie crew and the external fuel tank was painted white.) credit NASA.

April 14th, 1986

In retaliation for the April 5 bombing in West Berlin that killed two U.S. servicemen, U.S. president Ronald Reagan orders major bombing raids against Libya, killing 60 people

United States bombing of Libya: In retaliation for the April 5th Berlin discotheque bombing in West Berlin that killed two U.S. servicemen, U.S. president Ronald Reagan orders major bombing raids against Libya.

Wikipedia  Photo: Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist ● President Reagan's Address to the Nation on U.S. Air Strike against Libya, credit Regan Presidential Library. ● Ground crew prepares a 48th Tactical Fighter Wing F-111F aircraft for an air strike on Libya ● A 48th Tactical Fighter Wing F-111F aircraft takes off to participate in an air strike on Libya

April 14th, 1994

Iraq War: The Persian Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait

Gulf War - Iraq War:
1994 - Operation Provide Comfort; Black Hawk shootdown incident - In a U.S. friendly fire in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters killing 26 people.
2003 - U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.

Wikipedia  Photo: USAF F-15Es, F-16s, and a USAF F-15 flying over burning Kuwaiti oil wells; Iraqi Army T-72 main battle tanks. The T-72 tank was a common Iraqi battle tank used in the Gulf War; F-15Es parked during Operation Desert Shield; The oil fires caused were a result of the scorched earth policy of Iraqi military forces retreating from Kuwait; Aerial view of destroyed Iraqi T-72 tank, BMP-1 and Type 63 armored personnel carriers and trucks on Highway 8 in March 1991.

April 14th, 1999

Kingdom of Yugoslavia: (Serbo-Croatian: Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија) was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Aug. 30, 1995 by Oleg Stjepanovic (AP) ● Smoke rises from an ammunition depot in Bosnian Serb stronghold Pale near Sarajevo after NATO air strikes ● CK building in the moments after bombing ● Serbia marks the 10th anniversary of the Nato-led bombing campaign ● U.S. F-117 Nighthawk taxis to the runway before taking off from Aviano Air Base, Italy, on March 24, 1999

Yugoslav Wars, NATO bombing of Yugoslavia:
NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees - Yugoslav officials say 75 people are killed.

Wikipedia  Map: Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; A twilight moon rises above the Kamniske mountains and Slovenia’s Sava River Valley, Slovenia, credit National Geographic; Yugoslavia, November 1977, credit National Geographic.
Photo: 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Aug. 30, 1995 by Oleg Stjepanovic (AP) ● Smoke rises from an ammunition depot in Bosnian Serb stronghold Pale near Sarajevo after NATO air strikes ● CK building in the moments after bombing ● Serbia marks the 10th anniversary of the Nato-led bombing campaign ● U.S. F-117 Nighthawk taxis to the runway before taking off from Aviano Air Base, Italy, on March 24, 1999.

April 14th, 2003

Human Genome - DNA Replication, credit © The National Human Genome Research Institute, SMC.edu

Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.

Wikipedia  Image: Human genome DNA Replication, credit © The National Human Genome Research Institute, SMC.edu.

April 14th, 2010

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
2010 - Yushu earthquake (2010); Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, China.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.

April 14th, 2014

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East and terrorist attacks:
2014 - Nyanya bombing; Twin bomb blasts in Abuja, Nigeria, kill at least 75 people and injures 141 others.
2014 - Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Two hundred seventy-six schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)