First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - AUGUST 5th

This Day in History

August 5th, 1068

Byzantine Empire Collage

Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
1068 - Byzantine–Norman Wars, Siege of Bari: Italo-Normans begin a nearly-three-year siege of Bari.

Wikipedia  Image: The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic Palace); Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria; Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna; The Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid); Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty.


August 5th, 1583

Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1539 – September 9, 1583) of Devon in England was a half-brother (through his mother) of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.

Elizabethan era begins (1558–1603):
1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.

Wikipedia  Painting: Elizabeth I in her coronation robes, patterned with Tudor roses and trimmed with ermine; The Lady Elizabeth in about 1546; Elizabeth playing the virginals; Elizabeth and Philip, King of Spain, relations deteriorated ending in the defeat of the Spanish Armada; A wedding feast, 1569; Ivan the Terrible shows his treasures to Elizabeth's ambassador, by Alexander Litovchenko, 1875; Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty. Detail from The Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession, 1572, attributed to Lucas de Heere.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert (1539 – September 9, 1583) of Devon in England was a half-brother (through his mother) of Sir Walter Raleigh. Adventurer, explorer, member of parliament, and soldier, he served during the reign of Queen Elizabeth and was a pioneer of English colonization in North America and the Plantations of Ireland.


August 5th, 1620

Mayflower Collage: departs from Southampton, England on its travel to North America

The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America).

Wikipedia  Painting: "Mayflower", The Granger Collection, New York 1905; Pilgrims landing on Cape Cod in November of 1620; The Pilgrims on the Speedwell; Mayflower arrived inside the tip of Cape Cod fishhook, November 1620 (satellite image, 1997); Landing of the Pilgrims by Michele Felice Cornè, circa 1805. Displayed in the White House.


August 5th, 1689

1,500 Iroquois attack the village of Lachine in New France

Fifteen hundred Iroquois attack the village of Lachine,_Quebec in New France.

Wikipedia  Painting: Histoire du Québec - Les Guerres Franco-Iroquoises


August 5th, 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 - Battle of Bushy Run; British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.

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.


August 5th, 1772

The First Partition of Poland begins

First Partition of Poland begins - Growth in the Russian Empire.

Wikipedia  First Partition of Poland: Rejtan, by Matejko. In September 1773, Rejtan (lower right) tried to prevent ratification of the First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by barring other Sejm deputies from the chamber.


August 5th, 1861

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:
1861 - Revenue Act of 1861: in order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
1861 - The United States Army abolishes flogging
1862 - Battle of Baton Rouge: along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
1864 - Battle of Mobile Bay: at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.

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.


August 5th, 1884

Assembling the Statue of Liberty: The people of France offer the Statue of Liberty to the people of the United States The Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks

The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island (now Liberty Island) in New York Harbor.

Wikipedia  Photo: Assembling the Statue of Liberty; originally known as "Liberty Enlightening the World", given to the United States by France to celebrate their alliance during the Revolutionary War. Built in Paris from the design of Frederic August Bartholdi; Bartholdi's Workshop in Paris; The statue of liberty in Paris before being transported to the United States in pieces; Joseph Pulitzer criticised the rich for not donating money, which put the project underway. credit Building The Statue Of Liberty (Photos). Statue of Liberty; Manhattan, New York City, credit National Geographics.


August 5th, 1914

Cleveland, Ohio: the first electric traffic light is installed

Cleveland, Ohio: the first electric traffic light is installed.

Wikipedia  Photo: Cleveland, Ohio: the first electric traffic light is installed


August 5th, 1914

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1914 - The German minelayer Königin Luise lays a minefield about 40 miles (64 km) of the Thames Estuary (Lowestoft). She is intercepted and sunk by the British light-cruiser HMS Amphion.
1916 - Battle of Romani: Allied forces, under the command of Archibald Murray, defeat an attacking Ottoman army under the command of Friedrich Freiherr Kress von Kressenstein, securing the Suez Canal and beginning the Ottoman retreat from the Sinai Peninsula.

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.


August 5th, 1926

Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping

Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.

Wikipedia  Photo: Harry Houdini, 1891–1926


August 5th, 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 Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.
1941 - Battle of Smolensk; concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.
1944 - Cowra breakout; Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.

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.


August 5th, 1944

World War II, The Holocaust

World War II: Holocaust;
1944 - Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
1944 - The Nazis begin a three-day massacre of anywhere between 40,000 and 100,000 civilians and prisoners of war in Wola, Poland.

Wikipedia  Photo: World War II, The Holocaust. Sources: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum USHMM, History 1900s, Internet Masters of Education Technology IMET, Techno Friends, Veterans Today, Concern.


August 5th, 1957

American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage audience by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network

American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage audience by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.

Wikipedia  Photo: Dick Clark; American Bandstand host, producer, trendsetter


August 5th, 1964

Vietnam War: Operation Swift; U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley Vietnam War, Gulf of Tonkin incident: North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fire on the U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy

Vietnam War:
1964 - Gulf of Tonkin incident; Operation Pierce Arrow - American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnamese in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

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;
● Gulf of Tonkin Incident Documentary ● Political Cartoon.
Vietnam War: The Big Picture / Boston Globe.


August 5th, 1995

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:
1995 - The Operation Storm; The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces. The date is celebrated in Croatia as Victory Day.

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.


August 5th, 2012

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2012 - Oak Creek shooting; Takes place at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin killing six people; the perpetrator was shot dead by police.
2010 - Badakhshan massacre; Ten members of International Assistance Mission Nuristan Eye Camp team are killed by persons unknown in Kuran wa Munjan District of Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan.
2003 - Marriott Hotel bombing; A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.

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)