Day: April 21, 2017

Today in History 04/21/17

The bronze sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf with the mythological founders of the city of Rome, Romulus and Remus, displayed at the Campidoglio in central Rome (© Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)(753 BCE) Rome is founded
According to tradition, orphaned twins Romulus and Remus establish what will become one of the world’s great cities. Legend holds that the twins had been saved from starvation by a she-wolf who’d found them abandoned in a cave on Palatine Hill. This area will eventually become Rome’s center.

The founding of Rome can be investigated through archaeology, but traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth.

The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf. This story had to be reconciled with a dual tradition, set earlier in time, the one that had the Trojan refugee Aeneas escape to Italy and found the line of Romans through his son Iulus, the namesake of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.


wiki/Founding_of_Rome
The Battle of San Jacinto' 1895 painting by Henry Arthur McArdle (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1836) Texas wins independence at Battle of San Jacinto
The Texas Revolution ends as General Sam Houston and his Texian Army soundly defeat the forces of Mexican General Santa Anna in a surprise attack. The Battle of San Jacinto lasts just 18 minutes, and will lead to the independence of the Republic of Texas.
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes.
Date: Apr 21, 1836

wiki/Battle_of_San_Jacinto
Manfred von Richthofen, widely known as the Red Baron, in his Albatros aircraft, 1917 (© ullstein bild/Getty Images)(1918) Fabled and feared WWI flying ace ‘The Red Baron’ shot down
Although hit in the chest with a fatal bullet during an aerial dogfight, 25-year-old German fighter pilot Baron Manfred von Richthofen, famed for his unmatched run of 80 combat victories, lands his plane near the French village of Vaux-sur-Somme, and utters “kaputt” before dying in the cockpit.
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during the First World War. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
Born: May 02, 1892 · Wrocław, Poland
Died: Apr 21, 1918 · Vaux-sur-Somme, France
Siblings: Lothar von Richthofen (Brother) · Ilse von Richthofen (Sister) · Bolko von Richthofen (Brother)
Parents: Albrecht Philipp Karl Julius Freiherr von Richthofen (Father) · Kunigunde Hildegard Marie Luise Elisabeth von Schickfus (Mother)
Founded: Jagdgeschwader 1
Highlights
  • 1915: After a chance meeting with the German ace fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke, Richthofen entered training as a pilot in October 1915.

  • 1916: In February 1916 Manfred “rescued” his brother Lothar from the boredom of training new troops in Luben and encouraged him to also transfer to the Fliegertruppe.

  • 1917: He switched to the Albatros D.III in January 1917, scoring two victories before suffering an in-flight crack in the spar of the aircraft’s lower wing on 24 January.

  • 1917: In January 1917, after his 16th confirmed kill, Richthofen received the Pour le Mérite (informally known as “The Blue Max”), the highest military honour in Germany at the time.

  • 1917: He returned to his Albatros D.III on 2 April 1917 and scored 22 victories in it before switching to the Albatros D.V in late June.

  • 1918: Richthofen was shot down and killed near Amiens on 21 April 1918.

wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen
Andrea McArdle as Annie with costar Sandy in 1977 (© Bettman/Getty Images)​(1977) ‘Annie’ opens on Broadway
The musical version of the newspaper comic strip finds a home in New York’s Alvin Theatre and goes on to win seven Tony Awards. Andrea McArdle stars in the title role, and will later be replaced by Sarah Jessica Parker, Allison Smith and others during the show’s six-year run.
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre. It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical’s songs “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life” are among its most popular musical numbers.
Authors: Charles Strouse · Thomas Meehan
First performed: Aug 10, 1976
First published: Nov 14, 2013
Adaptations: Annie (1982) · Annie (2014) · Annie (1999)

wiki/Annie_(musical)
4.0.a17