First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - AUGUST 15th

Harry Emerson Fosdick, Quote

“I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it.”

~ Harry Emerson Fosdick

Wikiquote (Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominent liberal ministers of the early 20th Century.)

This Day in History

August 15th, 636

Byzantine Empire Collage Byzantine Empire is the great church of Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople (562) Michael VIII Palaeologus is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople

Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
636 - Battle of Yarmouk between Byzantine and Rashidun Caliphate begins.
718 - Raising of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople.
1261 - Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

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.
Photo: Byzantine Empire is the great church of Hagia Sophia (Church of the Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople (562). Image: Michael VIII Palaiologos, Emperor of Nicaea and Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

August 15th, 1040

King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland

King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.

Wikipedia  Painting: Macbeth, The Murder of Duncan

August 15th, 1483

Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel

Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel.

Wikipedia  Photo: The Measure of Genius: Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel at 500; The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (left: West, right: East), "an artistic vision without precedent"; The Creation of Adam; The prophet Daniel; Detail from the Great Flood.; Detail of the Face of God; The pendentive of the Brazen serpent with its crowded composition was imitated by Mannerist painters. (unrestored state); The composition is similar to a Flight into Egypt.

August 15th, 1599

Ireland is an island to the north-west of continental Europe (Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the north-east of the island)

Nine Years' War (Ireland) Battle of Curlew Pass: Irish forces led by Hugh Roe O'Donnell successfully ambush English forces, led by Sir Conyers Clifford, sent to relieve Collooney Castle.

Wikipedia  Photo: Ireland is an island to the north-west of continental Europe. (Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the north-east of the island.)
● The Nine Years' War (Ireland from 1594 to 1603): It was fought between the forces of Gaelic Irish chieftains Hugh O'Neill of Tír Eoghain, Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tír Chonaill and their allies, against English rule in Ireland.

August 15th, 1695

French forces end the Bombardment of Brussels, leaving a third of the buildings in the city in ruins

Bombardment of Brussels: French forces leaving a third of the buildings in the city in ruins.

Wikipedia  Painting: Bombardment of Brussels, view of the ruins of Rue des Pierres/Steenstraat, behind the Town Hall

August 15th, 1760

Seven Years' War: was a world war that took place between 1756 and 1763. It involved most of the great powers of the time and affected Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines. Seven Year's War: Battle of Lagos; Naval battle between Britain and France

Seven Years' War:
1760 - Battle of Liegnitz; Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst von Laudon.

Wikipedia  Painting: The Death of General Wolfe (1771) by Benjamin West, depicting the Battle of the Plains of Abraham; Battle of Hochkirch; Battle of Minorca of May 20, 1756, shortly after the French landing on Minorca; Siege of Kolberg (1761); Leibgarde battalion at Kolin, 1757; Battle of Zorndorf in August 1758 where Russian and Prussian armies suffered heavy casualties and both claimed a victory. Battle of Lagos, by Théodore Gudin.

August 15th, 1812

War of 1812 collage

War of 1812:
1812 - Battle of Fort Dearborn; fought between American troops and Potawatomi at what is now Chicago, Illinois.

Wikipedia  Painting: Damage to the US Capitol after the Burning of Washington; HMS Shannon leading the captured American frigate USS Chesapeake into Halifax, Nova Scotia (1813); USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere; the death of Tecumseh at Moraviantown; Oliver Hazard Perry's message to William Henry Harrison after the Battle of Lake Erie began with what would become one of the most famous sentences in American military history: "We have met the enemy and they are ours; "Andrew Jackson leads the defence of New Orleans; The mortally wounded Isaac Brock spurs troops on at the Queenston Heights.

August 15th, 1914

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1914 - First Russian Army, led by Paul von Rennenkampf enters East Prussia.
1915 - Great Phenol Plot; A story in New York World reveals that the Weimar German government had purchased excess phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the war effort and diverted it to Bayer for aspirin production.

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 15th, 1935

Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.

Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.

Wikipedia  Photo: Will Rogers and Wiley Post In Alaska with the fatal Lockheed "Orion" Sea Plane. This is the last photo taken of both legends (photo taken shortly before crash) - Alan Reff

August 15th, 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: Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender (August 15 in Japan standard time)

World War II:
1940 - Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli at Tinos harbour during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.
1941 - Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 7:12 am, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for treason.
1942 - Operation Pedestal: the SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island's defenses.
1944 - Operation Dragoon: Allied forces land in southern France.
1945 - Japan surrenders to end the war.
Post World War II:
1975 Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister of Japan on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

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. Representatives of Japan stand aboard the USS Missouri prior to signing of the Instrument of Surrender.

August 15th, 1960

Republic of Congo is Africa’s most important stronghold for wildlife (Located in the heart of the world’s second-largest rainforest, this 23,500-square-mile landscape encompasses two national parks and the Lac Télé Community Reserve)

Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent from France.

Wikipedia  Photo: Republic of the Congo is Africa’s most important stronghold for wildlife (Located in the heart of the world’s second-largest rainforest, this 23,500-square-mile landscape encompasses two national parks and the Lac Télé Community Reserve)

August 15th, 1974

Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee

Yuk Young-soo First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee.

Wikipedia  Photo: Former South Korean President Park Chung-hee, right, and his wife, Yook Young-soo, left, visiting a Seoul factory in the 70s. Associated Press

August 15th, 1975

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
1975 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh's founder is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.
1984 - PKK attacks; The Kurdistan Workers Party in Turkey starts a campaign of armed attacks upon the Turkish military with an attack on police and gendarmerie bases in Şemdinli and Eruh.
1998 - Omagh bombing; In Northern Ireland, the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles.
1999 - Beni Ounif massacre; In Algeria, some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.

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)

August 15th, 1977

The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the 'Wow! signal' from the notation made by a volunteer on the project

The Big Ear a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.

Wikipedia  Photo: Ohio State University Radio Observatory, NAAPO (North American AstroPhysical Observatory)

August 15th, 2007

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
2007 - Peru earthquake; An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.

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.

August 15th, 2013

The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivoran species found in the Americas in 35 years.

The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivoran species found in the Americas in 35 years.

Wikipedia  Photo: The Olinguito (Google Image Search)