First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - SEPTEMBER 12th

This Day in History

September 12th, 490 BC

Battle of Marathon: The Athenians and their Plataean allies, defeat the first Persian invasion force of Greece

Battle of Marathon: The Athenians and their Plataean allies, defeat the first Persian invasion force of Greece.

Wikipedia  Image: Sarcophagus relief depicting the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. - Scala/Art Resource, NY

September 12th, 372

China: the world's most populous country, covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, second-largest country by land area (China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; Great Wall China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic)

China - Sixteen Kingdoms period:
372 - Jin Xiaowudi, age 10, succeeds his father Jin Jianwendi as Emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Wikipedia  Photo: China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; © Great Wall of China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic.

September 12th, 1609

Henry Hudson begins his exploration of the Hudson River while aboard the Halve Maen

Henry Hudson begins his exploration of the Hudson River while aboard the Halve Maen

Wikipedia  Photo: De Halve Maen (A replica of Henry Hudson's 1609 ship) © Billy Eric 2000

September 12th, 1814

War of 1812: Battle of North Point; a major United States victory

War of 1812:
1814 - Battle of North Point; a major United States victory.

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.


September 12th, 1919

Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers Party

Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers Party.

Wikipedia  Photo: Adolf Hitler’s 12 years as ruler of Germany, which led to the deaths of millions in World War II, have made him one of history’s most hated villains. A decorated veteran of World War I, Hitler joined the German Workers’ Party in 1919, later renaming it the National Socialist German Workers Party (which was shortened to the Nazi Party).

September 12th, 1942

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:
1942 - Guadalcanal Campaign; Battle of Edson's Ridge, U.S. Marines protecting Henderson Field on Guadalcanal are attacked by Imperial Japanese Army forces.
1942 - RMS Laconia, carrying civilians, Allied soldiers and Italian POWs is torpedoed off the coast of West Africaand sinks with a heavy loss of life.
1943 - Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, is rescued from house arrest on the Gran Sasso in Abruzzi by German commando forces led by Otto Skorzeny.
1944 - The liberation of Serbia from Nazi Germany and the Chetniks. Bajina Bašta in western Serbia is among those liberated cities. Near Trier, American troops enter Germany for the first time.

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.

September 12th, 1959

Premiere of Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color

Premiere of Bonanza, the first regularly scheduled TV program presented in color.

Wikipedia  Photo: Introducing the Color Spectrum to Television - Bonanza showcasing the bright colors of the Ponderosa.

September 12th, 1983

Cold War: U.S.S.R. vetoes a UN Security Council Resolution deploring the Soviet shooting down of a Korean civilian jetliner on September 1

Cold War: Soviet Union vetoes a United Nations Security Council Resolution deploring the Soviet shooting down of Korean Air Flight 007 on September 1st.

Wikipedia  Photo: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was a Korean Air Lines civilian airliner that was shot down by Soviet jet interceptors on September 1, 1983, over the Sea of Japan over prohibited Soviet airspace.

September 12th, 1984

Dwight Gooden sets the baseball record for strikeouts in a season by a rookie with 246, previously set by Herb Score in 1954

Dwight Gooden sets the baseball record for strikeouts in a season by a rookie with 246, previously set by Herb Score in 1954.

Wikipedia  Photo: Dwight Gooden: Gooden made his All-Star Game debut in 1984 at the age of 19, becoming the youngest player to appear in the event. (Credit: Getty Images)

September 12th, 1988

Hurricane Collage: (A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low-pressure center surrounded by a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain)

1988 - Hurricane Gilbert devastates Jamaica turning towards Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula 2 days later, causing an estimated $5 billion in damage.

Wikipedia  Image: Hurricane Andrew sequence, NASA ● Hurricane Mitch at peak intensity (formed October 22, 1998 - Dissipated November 5, 1998) ● Hurricane Katrina taken on August 28, 2005, at 11:45 AM EDT by NOAA when the storm was a Category Five hurricane ● Hurricane Jeanne September 23, 2004, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ● PDC Global Hazards Atlas displaying 3 hour precipitation accumulation, typhoon Evan (04P), with JTWC positions, segments, and winds...over the South Pacific Ocean ● Satellite imagery provided by NOAA and taken by the Japan Meteorological Agency's MTSAT weather satellite shows Typhoon Roke as it approaches Japan, September 20, 2011. Over 1.3 million ordered to evacuate in Japan ahead of Typhoon Roke.

September 12th, 1994

The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act

Frank Eugene Corder crashes a single-engine Cessna 150 into the White House's south lawn, striking the West wing and killing himself.

Wikipedia  Photo: The White House. North face, with square portico in 2007; South face, with round portico in 2007 (Derek Jensen)

September 12th, 2015

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2015 - Petlawad explosion; A series of explosions involving propane triggering nearby illegally stored mining detonators in the Indian town of Petlawad in the state of Madhya Pradesh(मध्य प्रदेश) kills at least 105 people with over 150 injured.

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)