Browsing: August

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 14th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On August 14, 1480, during the protracted Battle of Otranto in Southern Italy, a siege of the city between the Ottoman Turks and the Italian defenders of their homeland, the Ottomans, who of course were of the Islamic faith, took 800 Christian Italians hostage and gave them a choice, convert to Islam or be executed. On August 14, 1851, John Henry Holliday…

A Brief History On August 14, 1851, John Henry Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia.  He would grow up to become a legend of the Wild West as “Doc” Holliday, a dentist turned gambler, gunman, and friend of Wyatt Earp. Digging Deeper A participant in the most famous Western gunfight, Holliday was the son of a veteran of the Mexican American War and the US Civil War.  His mother and brother both died of tuberculosis, a disease that would eventually take his life. Doc got his nickname when he graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery and became a…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 13th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On August 13, 1521, Cuauhtémoc, ruler of the Aztecs, was captured while fleeing Tenochtitlán by crossing Lake Texcoco in disguise with his wife, family and friends. On August 13, 1779, a combined US Naval and ground expeditionary force was defeated after a three week campaign known as The Penobscot Expedition, the worst defeat in US Navy history until the surprise attack against Pearl Harbor on December 7,…

A Brief History On August 13, 1961, the Soviet occupiers of East Berlin tired of unhappy citizens of the communist “workers’ paradise” defecting to the West via West Berlin and erected a barbed wire fence that would become infamous as “The Berlin Wall.” Digging Deeper The Soviets and East Germans cordoned off West Berlin and began erecting a concrete wall complete with guard towers and barbed wire to prevent their citizens from fleeing to the West. The Berlin Wall stood as an icon of the Cold War between the Democratic Western countries and the Communist bloc, and in a way…

A Brief History This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 12th.  For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event. Digging Deeper On August 12th, 30 B.C., after the naval defeat of her and Mark Antony’s forces against those of Octavian, and in fear of the public humiliation of being dragged through Rome in chains, Cleopatra committed suicide by snake bite. On August 12, 30 BC, Cleopatra VII Philopater committed suicide by means of an asp bite (small cobra snake) to the breast. On…