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“He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Wikiquote (Friedrich Nietzsche (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) a German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony, and aphorism.)
October 18th, 320
Pappus of Alexandria, Greek philosopher, observes an eclipse of the sun and writes a commentary on The Great Astronomer (Almagest).
Wikipedia Image: Almagest Astal Clock.
October 18th, 1009
Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliphate Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church's foundations down to bedrock.
Wikipedia Photo: Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
October 18th, 1081
Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
1081 - Battle of Dyrrhachium; Normans defeat 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.
October 18th, 1540
Conquistador:
1540 - Hernando de Soto's forces destroy the fortified town of Mabila in present-day Alabama, killing Tuskaloosa.
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.
October 18th, 1775
American Revolutionary War:
1775 - Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) prompts the Continental Congress to establish the Continental Navy.
1779 - The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted.
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).
Painting: British 50-gun HMS Serapis engaged the American Bonhomme Richard Frigate in the North Sea off Flamborough Head, England. The Bonhomme Richard was devastated in the initial broadside between the two ships. When Captain Richard Pearson, commander of the British HMS Serapis called out to John Paul Jones of the Continental Navy asking if he surrender - Jones’ famous reply: “I have not yet begun to fight”. With the wind dying, sharpshooting sailors (Marines) in the rigging slowly picked off the the English sailors, leading to the surrender of the HMS Serapis.
October 18th, 1851
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as "The Whale" by Richard Bentley of London.
Wikipedia Painting: Herman Melville's Moby-Dick by Ezekiel Fry
October 18th, 1860
Second Opium War: finally ends at the Convention of Peking with the ratification of the Treaty of Tientsin an unequal treaty.
Wikipedia Painting: First Opium War; The Nemesis destroying Chinese war junks during the Second Battle of Chuenpee, 7 January 1841.
October 18th, 1867
United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day.
Wikipedia Photo: Alaska; the largest state in the United States by area, is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait
October 18th, 1898
United States takes possession of Puerto Rico.
Wikipedia Photo: Puerto Rico Morro Castle Puerto Rico; Caleta de las monjas; Viejo San Juan (Old San Juan); El Morro Fortress San Juan Puerto Rico; Cruise Ships
October 18th, 1922
British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service.
Wikipedia Image: British Broadcasting Corporation BBC logo.
October 18th, 1945
The Solviet Union nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Wikipedia Photo: The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945 rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the bomb's hypocenter.
October 18th, 1954
Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio.
Wikipedia Photo: Sony Regency TR-55 transistor radio / British retro 1959 Bush TR-82
October 18th, 1991
The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopts a declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
Wikipedia Photo: Azerbaijan Petroglyphs in Gobustan dating back to 10,000 BC indicating a thriving culture ● Old City (Baku) ● Caucasus Mountains in northern Azerbaijan.
October 18th, 2007
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2007 - Karachi bombings; A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more. Bhutto herself is not 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)