1916: The Battle of Verdun ends
The Battle of
Verdun, the longest engagement of the
Second World War, ends after 10 months and massive loss of life. In February 1916,
German forces launched an offensive against Verdun, a city 137 miles east of Paris. The outlying forts of Hardaumont and
Douaumont soon fell, but the French rallied under General Henri Pétain, and a bloody stalemate ensued. On 1st July, a major British offensive in the Somme River region relieved some of the pressure on Verdun, as did the Brusilov Offence by Russia on the
Eastern Front. By mid-December, the French had recovered most of the ground lost in the early days of the battle. When the Battle of Verdun ended with a French victory on 18th December, 23 million shells had been fired and 650,000 lives lost.
2006
Following a poor performance for the
Republican Party in the Congressional mid-term elections explained largely by America’s failing policy in
Iraq, U.S. Defence Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld resigns.
1985
A Malaysian court rejects an appeal for clemency in the case of Kevin Barlow and Brian Chambers, two Australians who were convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to death. Both men were hanged in July 1986.
1982
A fire begins in a power plant begins in
Venezuela. By the time it ended, the fire killed 128 people and injured hundreds more. Half the capital city of Caracas lost electrical power and 40,000 people had to be evacuated.
1973
A second test flight of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 13 takes off.
1972
The
Vietnam War: Following the breakdown of peace negotiations in
Paris, U.S. President Richard Nixon announces the resumption of American bombing in North Vietnam – the Linebacker II Operation.
1912
In England, the ‘Piltdown Man’ is discovered in Sussex. It’s claimed to be the fossilised skull and remains of the earliest known European but in 1953 it is proved to be a hoax - the skull was that of an orangutan.
1898
Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat set the world’s first official land-speed record in Acheres Park near Paris, France clocking 39.245mph in his Jeantaud automobile.
1892
Tchaikovsky’s ballet, ‘The Nutcracker’, premiers at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia.
1865
Slavery is officially abolished in the
United States of America with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution by the requisite three-quarters of the states.
1620
Passengers on the British ship
Mayflower come ashore at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S.A. to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.
1352
Étienne Aubert is elected Pope Innocent VI.
218 BC
The Second
Punic War: Hannibal’s Carthaginian army defeats the Roman Republic at the Battle of the Trebia in
Italy. 1947
American film
director Steven Spielberg.
1943
English musician Keith Richards.1916
American actress Betty Grable.1786
German composer Carl Maria Von Weber.1709
Elizabeth Petrovina, Empress of Russia.
