First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - SEPTEMBER 18th

Samuel Johnson, Quote

“It is always observable that silence propagates itself, and that the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any thing to say.”

~ Samuel Johnson

Wikiquote (Samuel Johnson (September 18, 1709 [O.S. September 7] – December 13, 1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. He is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.)

This Day in History

September 18th, 14

Tiberius is confirmed as Roman Emperor by the Roman Senate following the natural death of Augustus Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
14 - Tiberius is confirmed as Roman Emperor by the Roman Senate following the natural death of Augustus.
96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated.
324 - Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire.

Wikipedia  Image: Colossal portrait of Tiberius (14-37 AD) seated on a throne, here represented as Jupiter. Vatican, Rome. Marble. / Palace of Tiberius and Caligula (Palazzo di Tiberio e di Caligola)
Fresco from Monastery of St. Jovan, above the village Gornji Matejevac near Nis. depicting St. Constantine the Great and his wife, holding the cross; Bronze statue of Constantine I in York, England, near the spot where he was proclaimed Augustus in 306; Constantine the Great, mosaic in Hagia Sophia, 1000.
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.

September 18th, 1454

Thirteen Years' War: Battle of Chojnice; Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic army

Thirteen Years' War: Battle of Chojnice; Polish army is defeated by the Teutonic army.

Wikipedia  Painting: Jan Długosz, sent by King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland on diplomatic missions to the Papal and Imperial courts, and was involved in the King's negotiations with the Teutonic Knights during the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66) and at the peace negotiations.

September 18th, 1502

Christopher Columbus' fleet of three ships sets sail from Spain in 1492, credit Kean Collection / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his fourth, and final, voyage.

Wikipedia  Paintings: Christopher Columbus' fleet of three ships sets sail from Spain in 1492. credit Kean Collection / Hulton Archive / Getty Images; Christopher Columbus pointing to land in the New World; Romantic Painting of Christopher Columbus arriving to the Americas Primer desembarco de Cristóbal Colón en América, by Dióscoro Puebla 1862.

September 18th, 1759

British capture Quebec City

British capture Quebec City.

Wikipedia  Painting: The death of the English General James Wolfe during the Battle of Quebec - September 13, 1759 by Benjamin West. National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa (Keesee and Sidwell, p87)

September 18th, 1793

Capitol building: the first cornerstoneis laid by George Washington

Capitol building: the first cornerstoneis laid by George Washington.

Wikipedia  Painting: George Washington Laying the Cornerstone of the United States Capital

September 18th, 1812

Napoleonic Wars: (1803–15) were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions Napoleonic Wars: French army under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow

French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1812 - Fire of Moscow (1812); dies down after destroying more than three quarters of the city. Napoleon returns from the Petrovsky Palace to the Moscow Kremlin, spared from the fire.

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 18th, 1851

First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later becomes The New York Times

First publication of The New-York Daily Times, which later becomes The New York Times.

Wikipedia  Photo: The New York Times

September 18th, 1873

Panic_of_1873: The U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company declares bankruptcy, triggering a series of bank failures

Panic of 1873: The U.S. bank Jay Cooke & Company declares bankruptcy, triggering a series of bank failures.

Wikipedia  Photo: “Panic, as a health officer, sweeping the garbage out of Wall Street.” Source: Frank Bellew, New York Daily Graphic, September 29, 1873—American Social History Project / The Panic of Wall Street 1873

September 18th, 1906

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)

1906 - Typhoon with Tsunami kills an estimated 10,000 people in Hong Kong.
1974 - Hurricane Fifi strikes Honduras with 110 mph winds, killing 5,000 people.

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 18th, 1927

Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air

Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air.

Wikipedia  Photo: The beginning of the CBS radio network dates back to January 21, 1927, with the creation of the "United Independent Broadcasters" network in Chicago by New York talent agent Arthur Judson. The young network was soon in need of additional investors, and that’s when the Columbia Phonograph Company, manufacturers of Columbia Records, came to the rescue in April 1927; as a result, the network was renamed "Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System". Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18, 1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, along with fifteen affiliates.

September 18th, 1931

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 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)

China - Three Kingdoms period:
1931 - Mukden Incident gives Japan the pretext to invade and occupy Manchuria.

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 18th, 1943

World War II, The Holocaust World War II: the Jews of Minsk are massacred at Sobibór

World War II: Holocaust;
1943 - the Jews of Minsk are massacred at Sobibór.
1943 - Adolf Hitler orders the deportation of Danish Jews.

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.
Jewish Memorial at Minsk. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team, HEART.

September 18th, 1944

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:
1944 - British submarine HMS Tradewind torpedoes Junyō Maru, 5,600 killed.
Post World War II:
1945 - General Douglas MacArthur moves his command headquarters to Tokyo.
1947 - The United States Air Force becomes an independent branch of the United States armed forces.
1947 - The National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency were established in the United States under the National Security Act.

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 18th, 1948

Margaret Chase Smith is elected senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate

Margaret Chase Smith is elected senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

Wikipedia  Photo: Margaret Chase Smith: Smith was the first woman to be elected to both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Smith was also the first woman of a major party to be considered for a presidential candidacy. Credit: Bettmann / CORBIS

September 18th, 1960

Cuban Revolution Collage Fidel Castro arrives in New York City as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations

Cuban Revolution:
1960 - Fidel Castro arrives in New York City, as the head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.

Wikipedia  Photo / Map: The leadership of the Cuban revolution; Fidel Castro played the leading role in the Cuban revolution against Fulgencio Batista (1957) AFP; Fidel Castro leads men in a cheer, Cuba, 1957, Bettmann/ Corbis; Cuban Airlift to the United States (1959 and 1962); Resiste Cuba, homenaje a la revolución cubana y sus héroes música: Protesta-Por Cuba; Che Guevara and Fidel Castro ; Official caption: "Off loading Cuban refugees at the Miami sea buoy", photo dated 4 May 1964; Photo No. 7CGD-050464 #12; Guerrillero Heroico - Alberto Korda's famous photograph of Che Guevara; The popularized cropped version. Fidel Castro arrives at MATS Terminal, Washington, D.C., 1959

September 17th, 2016

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2016 - Seventeen Indian Army security personnel killed in the Indian Administrated Kashmir by anti-government militants.
2015 - Camp Badaber attack; Two security personnel, 17 worshippers in a mosque, and 13 militants are killed following a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attack on a Pakistan Air Force base on the outskirts of Peshawar.

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)