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“Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will, your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is revealed by your actions”
~ Agatha Christie
Wikiquote (Agatha Christie (Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, DBE (née Miller; September 15, 1890 – January 12, 1976) a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays.)
September 15th, 668
Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
668 - Constans II is assassinated in his bath at Syracuse, Italy.
994 -Battle of the Orontes; Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire.
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).
September 15th, 1440
Gilles de Rais one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by the Bishop of Nantes.
Wikipedia Photo: Le château de Gilles de Rais (Vision sepia, Château de Gilles de Rais, Barbe-Bleue), by Dona44, Flickr.
September 15th, 1762
Seven Years' War:
1762 - Battle of Signal Hill; as the last battle of the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War.
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.
September 15th, 1776
American Revolutionary War:
1776 - British forces land at Kip's Bay.
Wikipedia Paintings: Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutz; Battle of the Chesapeake, French (left) and British (right) lines; Battle of Bunker Hill, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull; The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 13, 1782, by John Singleton Copley; Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1781; "The surrender at Saratoga" shows General Daniel Morgan in front of a French de Vallière 4-pounder; Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by (John Trumbull, 1797).
● 1781 British map depicting Manhattan. Kip's Bay is on the East River, labelled "Kepp's Bay" / Landing at Kip's Bay.
September 15th, 1789
Department of Foreign Affairs the first U.S. federal government agency is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).
Wikipedia Photo: Old Executive Office Building (Formerly State, Navy, and War Departments), Washington DC (White House photo)
September 15th, 1812
French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1812 - French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.
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. Fire of Moscow (1812)
September 15th, 1821
Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica jointly declare independence from Spain.
Wikipedia Map: Political Maps of Countries in Central America, USGS.
September 15th, 1862
American Civil War:
1862 - Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
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.
September 15th, 1873
Franco-Prussian War:
1873 - German troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity.
Wikipedia Painting: Aimé Morot's La bataille de Reichshoffen, 1887 ● Battle of Spicheren (August 5th, 1870) ● Battle of Wörth (August 6th, 1870) ● The Siege of Paris, by Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier.
September 15th, 1894
First Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Pyongyang; Japan defeats China.
Wikipedia Painting: “Picture of Our Armed Forces Winning a Great Victory After a Fierce Battle at Pyongyang” by Kobayashi Kiyochika, October 1894 Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
September 15th, 1916
World War I: Battle of the Somme; Tanks are used for the first time in battle.
Wikipedia Photo: Battle of the Somme; C-15, a British Mark I "male" tank, 25 September 1916 - by Ernest Brooks
September 15th, 1935
Nuremberg Laws
1935 - Deprive German Jews of citizenship.
1935 - Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika.
Wikipedia Photo: The Nuremberg Laws; The “Reich Citizenship Law,” also known as the Nuremberg Laws, was passed by the Nazi Congress on this date in 1935. It stripped Jews of German citizenship, outlawed marriages and sexual relationships between Jews and non-Jews, forbade Jews from hiring non-Jewish women under 45 as domestics, established the swastika a Germany’s national symbol and forbade Jews from displaying it. ● Nazi Germany adopts national flag, credit OzelotStudios.
September 15th, 1940
World War II:
1940 - Battle of Britain; the climax comes when the Royal Air Force shoots down large numbers of Luftwaffe aircraft.
1942 - Guadalcanal Campaign; United States Navy USS Wasp is torpedoed at Guadalcanal.
1944 - Octagon Conference; Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec to discuss strategy.
1944 - Battle of Peleliu; United States Marine Corps's 1st Marine Division hit White and Orange beaches under heavy fire from Japanese infantry and artillery.
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 15th, 1945
1945 - Hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
1947 - Typhoon Kathleen hit the Kanto Region in Japan killing 1,077.
1961 - Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.
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 15th, 1950
Korean War:
1950 - Battle of Inchon; United States forces land at Inchon.
Wikipedia Photo: Korean War Collage credit, The Big Picture, Boston Globe - (Associated Press; U.S. Department of Defense / SGT. F.C. Kerr; AP Photo; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Charles B. Tyler; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Charles B. Tyler; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Robert H. Mosier; AP Photo / Max Desfor; U.S. Department of Defense / CPL. P. McDonald; AP Photo / Max Desfor; AP Photo/George Sweers; U.S. Navy / Maj. R.V. Spencer, UAF; AP Photo / Max Desfor).
September 15th, 1952
Ethiopia:
1952 - United Nations gives Eritrea to Ethiopia.
Wikipedia Photo: Blue Nile Falls; Ethiopia a magical and timeless land; credit Oklahoma State University, University of California - San Diego School of Medicine, National Geographics.
September 15th, 1968
Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
Wikipedia Image: Soviet Soyuz spacecraft (TMA version) - First launch; Soyuz 1, 1967.
September 15th, 1981
Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Wikipedia Photo: Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor as the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
September 15th, 1981
John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, D.C.
Wikipedia Photo: John Bull replica, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, credit rrmuseumpa.org
September 15th, 2008
Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in United States history.
Wikipedia Photo: Emanuel Lehman joined his brothers Henry and Mayer as a clerk, and their little store was renamed Lehman Brothers. He arrived in America in 1847. / Mayer Lehman Mayer ran the company's office in Montgomery Alabama while his brother, Emanuel, ran its main branch in New York City.
September 15th, 2017
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2017 - Parsons Green bombing; an explosion occurred on a District line train at Parsons Green Underground station, in London, England - a botched crude 'bucket bomb' with timer containing an explosive chemical is labeled a terrorist attack, and linked by investigators to Islamic extremism.
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)