First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - AUGUST 28th

Martin Luther King, Jr., Quote

“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood... I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today...”

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Wikiquote (Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience. King has become a national icon in the history of American progressivism.)

This Day in History

August 28th, 475

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 general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital city, Ravenna Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
475 - Roman general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital city, Ravenna.
489 - Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.

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.
● The Remorse of Orestes, William-Adolphe Bouguereau / Pylades und Orestes, Francois Bouchot (1800 Paris -1842 Paris).
● 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.

August 28th, 663

Japan - Korea Satellite image: shows North and South Korea (upper left) as well as the Japanese island of Shikoku, between Kyushu to the southwest and Honshu to the north. credit Earth Observatory, NASA

Battle of Baekgang: Silla - Tang armies crush the Baekje restoration attempt and force Yamato Japan to withdraw from Korea.

Wikipedia  Image: Japan - Korea Satellite image: shows North and South Korea (upper left) as well as the Japanese island of Shikoku, between Kyushu to the southwest and Honshu to the north. credit Earth Observatory, NASA.

August 28th, 1189

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) Third Crusade: Siege of Acre; begins under Guy of Lusignan

Crusades:
1189 - Third Crusade: Siege of Acre; begins under Guy of Lusignan.

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.
Third Crusade; depicting Saladin (1138 - 1193) holding Guy of Lusignan (1150 - 1194) captive in golden chains after the battle of Hattin in 1187. Guy of Lusignan is depicted wearing (Christian) royal red cloathes and Saladin is depicted wearing (Islamic) royal green cloathes, by Jan Lievens (1607-1674).

August 28th, 1521

Byzantine Empire Collage

Ottoman Empire (Turkish Empire or Turkey):
1521 - Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.
1542 - Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557): Battle of Wofla; the Portuguese are scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama is captured and later executed.

Wikipedia  Image: Ottoman Empire Maximal extent with the vassal states of the Ottoman Empire in AD 1590s; Battle of Kosovo (1389); Fall of Constantinople (1453); Sultan Mehmed I Ottoman miniature, 1413-1421; Fall of Constantinople (1453); Siege of Rhodes (1522); Battle of Kosovo (1389); Battle of Mohács (1526).

August 28th, 1565

Conquistadors (Spanish 'conquerors') were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish Empire (sailing beyond Europe, conquering territory and opening trade routes, colonizing much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries) Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sights land near St. Augustine, Florida and founds the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States

Conquistador:
1565 - Pedro Menéndez de Avilés sights land near Saint Augustine, Florida.

Wikipedia  Image: Conquistadors (Spanish "conquerors") were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish Empire (sailing beyond Europe, conquering territory and opening trade routes, colonizing much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries)
● Christopher Columbus setting foot in the New World in 1492 ● Conquistadors praying before a battle ● Conquistadors and their Tlaxcalan allies enter Tenochtitlan ● The surrender of Granada in 1492. Muhammad XII before Ferdinand and Isabella ● Detail of Velázquez's Portrait of Juan de Pareja a contemporary morisco Spaniard, slave and afterwards freedman, assistant and trust man of Diego Velazquez ● Conquistador, jQuey-deviantart. ● Pedro Menéndez de Avilés along with 800 Spanish settlers celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving to commemorate the successful sea voyage and founding of the town of St. Augustine.

August 28th, 1810

Napoleonic Wars: (1803–15) were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Grand Port; The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France

French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1810 - Battle of Grand Port; the French Navy accept the surrender of a British Royal Navy fleet.

Wikipedia  Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar; Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806; Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet; Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani); Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo; Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807; Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars; Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen; Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford; Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Battle of Grand Port.

August 28th, 1859

A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe and Japan

Aurora Borealis: A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far away as Japan.

Wikipedia  Photo: Aurora Borealis. National Geographic, by Robert Postma

August 28th, 1862

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:
1862 - Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas.

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 28th, 1916

UNESCO list of heritage sites Romania

Kingdom of Romania
1916 - Germany declares war on 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.

August 28th, 1917

Suffragettes were members of women's suffrage (right to vote) movements in the late 19th and 20th century, particularly in the United Kingdom and United States

Woman's suffrage:
1917 - Ten Suffragettes are arrested while picketing the White House.

Wikipedia  Photo: Woman's suffrage: in the United Kingdom and United States, credit Library of Congress ● Emmeline Pankhurst (100 Most Important People of the 20th Century) ● Christabel Pankhurst ● Women suffragists demonstrating for the right to vote, February 1913 ● Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution became law on August 26, 1920, and women could vote in the Presidential election.

August 28th, 1937

Toyota Motors becomes an independent company

Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.

Wikipedia  Photo: First generation Toyopet Crown Model RSD (1955/1 – 1958/10)

August 28th, 1957

U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator

U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.

Wikipedia  Photo: Strom Thurmond Ends Longest Filibuster in Senate History, Associated Press

August 28th, 1988

Ramstein air show disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured

Ramstein air show disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured.

Wikipedia  Photo: Frecce Tricolori / 1988; Three Italian Aermacchi MB-339 fighter jets collide in midair at the Ramstein air base in Germany, one of the worst air show disasters in history.

August 28th, 1990

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:
1990 - Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.

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.

August 28th, 2003

2003 London blackout: cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt

2003 London blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.

Wikipedia  Photo: 2003 London blackout