First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - OCTOBER 20th

Leo Tolstoy, Quote

“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.”

~ Leo Tolstoy

Wikiquote (Leo Tolstoy (Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910, also known as Leo Tolstoy), a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays.)

This Day in History

October 20th, 1720

Caribbean pirate Calico Jack is captured by the Royal Navy

Caribbean pirate Calico Jack is captured by the Royal Navy.

Wikipedia  Image: Artist rendition of (Caribbean pirate Calico Jack; 1655 Pirate Themed Chart of the Caribbean); The Sheba Queen, John Rackham, known as Calico Jack for his costumes of colourful cotton who sailed with him in the 40-gun Sheba Queen, came up against two Spanish men-of-war sent to capture and sink them because of their persistent attacks on Spanish merchant shipping. by John Michael Groves


October 20th, 1818

The Convention of 1818: signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada – United States border

Treaty of 1818: signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada - United States border.

Wikipedia  Map: The Treaty of 1818 set the boundary between the United States and British North America along the 49th parallel. Oregon Treaty of 1845 set the U.S. and British North American border at the 49th parallel with the exception of Vancouver Island, which was retained in its entirety by the British and constituted, with all coastal islands, as the Colony of Vancouver Island in 1849.


October 20th, 1873

Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules

American football: Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.

Wikipedia  Image: The U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen (left) face off against the Colorado State Rams.


October 20th, 1935

The Long March ends

Chinese Civil War:
1935 - The Communists Long March ends.

Wikipedia  Photo: In 1934, Mao Zedong headed the Long March. The Long March was when the Chinese Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, forced the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong, on a march to the caves of Shaanxi. (colorized)


October 20th, 1943

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: United States forces land in the Philippines

1943 - The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Suda Bay, Crete, and sunk. 2,098 Italian prisoners of war drown with it.
1944 - Soviet Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia
1944 - Battle of Leyte; General Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an forces land in the Allied assault on the islands, reclaiming them from the Japanese.

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;
Invasion of Leyte, October 1944 - General Douglas MacArthur (right) and Philippine President Sergio Osmeña (center) on board a landing craft en route to the Leyte landing beaches, October 20-23, 1944. credit History.navy.mil


October 20th, 1951

'Johnny Bright Incident' occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma

"Johnny Bright Incident" occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Wikipedia  Photo: Johnny Bright Incident - Oct. 21, 1951 Des Moines Register newspaper cover showing Robinson and Ultang photo sequence; Football Games John Robinson and Don Ultang 1951.


October 20th, 1973

Watergate Scandal: was a political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement

Watergate Scandal:
1973 - "Saturday Night Massacre" - United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.

Wikipedia  Photo: Watergate Scandal: was a political scandal that occurred in the United States in the 1970s as a result of the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., and the Nixon administration's attempted cover-up of its involvement.
Watergate Complex Washington, DC, credit Watergate Notes; President Richard M. Nixon defended himself against many allegations, National Archives; Oliver F. Atkins' photo of Nixon leaving the White House shortly before his resignation became effective, August 9, 1974.


October 20th, 1991

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake:
1991 - Uttarkashi earthquake; a 6.8 magnitude earthquake strikes the Uttarkashi region of India, killing more than 1,000 people.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.


October 20th, 2011

The former leader of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, and his son Mutassim Gaddafi are killed shortly after the Battle of Sirte while in the custody of NTC fighters

The former leader of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi, and his son Mutassim Gaddafi are killed shortly after the Battle of Sirte while in the custody of NTC fighters.

Wikipedia  Photo: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi some time after seizing power in 1969 as a 27-year-old army captain. 1969 - 2011. Associated Press ● Protesters opposed to leader Muammar Gaddafi on a tank in Libya, Ahmed Jadallah, Reuters.