First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - MAY 9th

George Washington, Quote

“All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.”

~ George Washington

Wikipedia (George Washington (February 22, 1732 [O.S. February 11, 1731] – December 14, 1799) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, serving as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.)

(Washington Crossing the Delaware / George Washington 1780 by John Trumbull / First President of the United States by Gilbert Stuart, Williamstown Portrait)

This Day in History

May 9th, 328

Ancient Egypt: Giza Pyramids ● Great Sphinx ● Abu Simbel Temples ● Egyptian King Tutankhamun  ● Beautiful images of Egyptian gods and goddesses adorn tomb walls in the Valley of the Kings - The god Ptah, a creator deity, in the tomb of Ramesses III 	● Abu Simbel Egypt Alexandria, Egypt is devastated by a tsunami caused by the Crete earthquake

Ancient Egypt:
328 - The Athanasius is elected Patriarch bishop of Alexandria.

Wikipedia  Photo: Ancient Egypt;Giza PyramidsGreat SphinxAbu Simbel Temples Egypt, credit National Geographic ● Egyptian King Tutankhamun, credit National Geographic ● Beautiful images of Egyptian gods and goddesses adorn tomb walls in the Valley of the Kings - The god Ptah, a creator deity, in the tomb of Ramesses III. ● Abu Simbel Egypt.
Alexandria, Egypt was founded around a small pharaonic town c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great. (Ancient Alexandria was best known for its Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World; its library (the largest library in the ancient world); and the Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages.)


May 9th, 1450

Achaemenid Persian Empire: was an Iranian empire in Western Asia, founded in the 6th century by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation

Persian Empire:
1450 - 'Abd al-Latif (Timurid monarch) is assassinated.

Wikipedia  Image: Achaemenid Persian Empire: was an Iranian empire in Western Asia, founded in the 6th century by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation ● Persian Archers at Darius' palace at Susa. Exhibited in Pergamon Museum / Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin ● Bas relief nagsh-e-rostam al ● Persian version of a stone relief (from Persepolis) ● Winged sphinx from the palace of Darius the Great at Susa, Louvre.


May 9th, 1671

Tower of London: The Tower with the River Thames and Tower Bridge to the south (The outer curtain walls were erected in the 13th century); Saint John's Chapel - inside the 'White Tower' inside the Tower of London, and was built sometime between 1066 and 1087, credit Neil Alderney, Flickr

Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

Wikipedia  Photo: Tower of London; The Tower with the River Thames and Tower Bridge to the south (The outer curtain walls were erected in the 13th century); Saint John's Chapel - inside the "White Tower" inside the Tower of London, and was built sometime between 1066 and 1087, credit Neil Alderney, Flickr”


May 9th, 1763

Pontiac's War, Pontiac's Conspiracy, or Pontiac's Rebellion was a war that was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of elements of Native American tribes primarily from the Great Lakes region, the Illinois Country, and Ohio Country who were dissatisfied with British postwar policies in the Great Lakes region after the British victory in the French and Indian War (1754–1763).

American Indian Wars / French and Indian War, Pontiac's War:
1763 - Siege of Fort Detroit; Chief Pontiac begins by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.

Wikipedia  Pontiac's War; The Indians lacked the manpower for a direct assault. (They planned on starving the inhabitants.) ● The Siege of Pittsborough was lifted shortly after the Battle of Bushy Run on August 5-6, 1763 ● Native American tribesmen gaze down upon Fort Pitt in May 1763. ● Peace negotiations between Colonel Bouquet and tribal leaders in October 1764. credit Brookline Connection.


May 9th, 1864

Wars of German unification: Second Schleswig War; Battle of Dybbøl - by Jørgen Valentin Sonne, 1871 Wars of German unification: Second Schleswig War; Battle of Heligoland - by Josef Carl Berthold Püttner

Wars of German unification: Second Schleswig War; Battle of Heligoland - The Danish navy defeats the Austrian and Prussian fleets.

Wikipedia  Painting: Wars of German unification: Second Schleswig War; Battle of Dybbøl - by Jørgen Valentin Sonne, 1871.
● Battle of Heligoland - by Josef Carl Berthold Püttner.


May 9th, 1873

Vienna, Austria: Pallas Athene Fountain, Parliament Building, Vienna, Austria ● The Vienna State Opera; The Vienna State Opera at Night ● Gloriette, Schönbrunn Palace ● Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria ● Sttephanplatz, Graben, Vienna, Austria

Panic of 1873: Vienna stock market crash heralds the Long Depression.

Wikipedia  Photo: Vienna, Austria; Pallas Athene Fountain, Parliament Building, Vienna, Austria ● The Vienna State Opera; The Vienna State Opera at Night ● Gloriette, Schönbrunn Palace ● Karlskirche in Vienna, Austria ● Sttephanplatz, Graben, Vienna, Austria


May 9th, 1877

UNESCO list of heritage sites Romania

The Declaration of Independence of Romania: Mihail Kogălniceanu reads, in the Chamber of Deputies. (This day becomes the Independence Day of Romania.)

Wikipedia  Photo: UNESCO list of heritage sites Romania; ● Peles Castle, Sinaia, Romania ● Bran Castle - "Dracula's Castle", in the Transylvanian Alps, credit National Geographic ● Bucharest, capital of Romania called " the Paris of the Balkans" coping Parisian street systems and buildings in the 1920's, constructing Romanian Arch of Triumph.


May 9th, 1877

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
1877 - Iquique earthquake (1877); A magnitude 8.8 earthquake off the coast of Peru kills 2,541, including some as far away as Hawaii and Japan.

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.


May 9th, 1887

Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show:  ● Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, Montreal, QC, 1885 ● 'Buffalo Bill' Cody and his wild west travelling show, which thrilled London in 1887. Photograph: PA ● Annie Oakley ● 'The Death of Custer' from the Two Bill's Show 1905 ● Fannie Sperry Steele (back row, far left) is pictured with Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show cowgirls, in Chicago, 1916.

Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London.

Wikipedia  Photo: Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show ● Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, Montreal, QC, 1885 ● 'Buffalo Bill' Cody and his wild west travelling show, which thrilled London in 1887. Photograph: PA ● Annie Oakley ● "The Death of Custer" from the Two Bill's Show 1905 ● Fannie Sperry Steele (back row, far left) is pictured with Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show cowgirls, in Chicago, 1916.


May 9th, 1901

Austrlian satellite; Whole Earth, satellite image, credit Science Photo Library

Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.

Wikipedia  Image: Austrlian satellite; Whole Earth, satellite image, credit Science Photo Library.


May 9th, 1904

The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h).

The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h).

Wikipedia  Photo: Steam locomotive City of Truro, credit Bluebell-Railway UK.


May 9th, 1915

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1915 - Second Battle of Artois; between German and French forces.
1918 - Second Ostend Raid; German repel the British's second attempt to blockade the port of Ostend, Belgium.
Post World War I:
1920 - Polish-Soviet War; Kiev Offensive; - The Polish troops under General Edward Rydz-Śmigły celebrates its capture of Kiev with a victory parade on Khreschatyk.

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.


May 9th, 1926

The North Pole (Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole), defined as the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. (Not be confused with the North Magnetic Pole -the point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downwards.)

Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd's diary seems to indicate that this did not happen).

Wikipedia  North Pole; (Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole), defined as the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. (Not be confused with the North Magnetic Pole -the point on the surface of Earth's Northern Hemisphere at which the planet's magnetic field points vertically downwards.) ● Northern Hemisphere Blue Marble image for January with coastlines and the North Pole referenced (red cross). ● Sunset at the North Pole landscape. ● Sunset at the North Pole.


May 9th, 1936

Territories and colonies of the Kingdom of Italy in 1941: ● Kingdom of Italy (green) ● Italian colonies and possessions (light green) ● Italian occupied territory and protectorates (dark grey). ● Western Europe in a Satellite Image, NASA

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946):
1936 - formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.

Wikipedia  Image: Territories and colonies of the Kingdom of Italy in 1941. ● Kingdom of Italy (green) ● Italian colonies and possessions (light green) ● Italian occupied territory and protectorates (dark grey). ● Western Europe in a Satellite Image, NASA.


May 9th, 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 - The German submarine U-9 sinks the French coastal submarine Doris near Den Helder.
1941 - The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma cryptography machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.
1945 - Ratification in Berlin-Karlshorst of the German unconditional surrender of May 8 in Rheims, France, with the signatures of Marshal Georgy Zhukov for the Soviet Union, and for the Western Headquarters Sir Arthur Tedder, British Air Marshal and Eisenhower's deputy, and for the German side of Colonel-General Hans-Jürgen Stumpff as the representative of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel as the Chief of Staff of OKW, and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg as Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine.
1945 - Channel Islands; are liberated by the British after five years of German.
Post World War II:
1946 - King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy abdicates and is succeeded by Humbert II.
1948 - Czechoslovakia's Ninth-of-May Constitution comes into effect.
1949 - Rainier III of Monaco becomes Prince of Monaco.
1950 - Schuman declaration; Robert Schuman presents his proposal on the creation of an organized Europe, is considered by some to be the beginning of the creation of the European Union.
2004 - Chechen president Akhmad Kadyrov is killed by a land mine under a VIP stage during a World War II memorial victory parade in Grozny, Chechnya.

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.


May 9th, 1955

Cold War: often dated from 1947–1991, was a sustained state of political and military tension between the powers of the Western world, led by the United States and its NATO allies, and the communist world, led by the Soviet Union, its satellite states and allies Cold War: in Moscow, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage Cold War: The Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991

Cold War:
1955 - West Germany joins NATO.

Wikipedia  Photo: Lockheed C-130 Hercules; RAF Menwith Hill, a large site in the United Kingdom, part of ECHELON and the UKUSA Agreement; New Zealand nuclear test, British nuclear tests near the Malden and Christmas Islands in the mid-Pacific in 1957 and 1958; Nevada nuclear tests, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Federal Facilities.
U2, Lockheed TR-1 in flight.


May 9th, 1970

Vietnam War: Operation Swift; U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley Vietnam War: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

Vietnam War:
1964 - Ngo Dinh Can, de facto ruler of central Vietnam under his brother President Ngo Dinh Diem before the family's toppling, is executed.
1970 - In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protesters demonstrate in front of the White House.

Wikipedia  Photo: Vietnam_War; Side view of an HH-53 helicopter of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as seen from the gunner's position on an A-1 of the 21st Specialist Operations Squadron. (USAF Photo by Ken Hackman), Boston Globe;
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, credit Free Republic;
Vietnam War: The Big Picture / Boston Globe.


May 9th, 1974

Watergate Scandal: was a political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement

Watergate Scandal:
1974 - United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee opens formal and public impeachment hearings against United States President Richard Nixon.

Wikipedia  Photo: Watergate Scandal: was a political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement.
Watergate Complex Washington, DC, credit Watergate Notes; President Richard M. Nixon defended himself against many allegations, National Archives; Oliver F. Atkins' photo of Nixon leaving the White House shortly before his resignation became effective, August 9, 1974.


May 9th, 1979

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East and terrorist attacks:
1979 - Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed by firing squad in Tehran, prompting the mass exodus of the once 100,000 member strong Jewish community of Iran.
2002 - Siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.
2002 - In Kaspiysk, Russia, a remote-controlled bomb explodes during a holiday parade killing 43 and injuring at least 130.

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)


May 9th, 2018

Airliners Crash: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the 'Miracle on the Hudson' navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP

Aviation accidents and incidents:
2015 - Seville Airbus A400M Atlas crash; An Airbus A400M Atlas military transport aircraft crashes near the Spanish city of Seville with three people on board killed.
2012 - Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash; A Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft crashes into Mount Salak in West Java, Indonesia, killing 45 people.
1987 - LOT Flight 5055 crash; A LOT Polish Airlines Ilyushin IL-62M, Tadeusz Kościuszko (SP-LBG), crashes after takeoff in Warsaw, Poland, killing all 183 people on board.

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP