1940

Today in History 09/07 (Brazil Independence)

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The announcement of Brazilian Independence from Portugal (© Revista de Historia da Biblioteca National)(1822) Brazil declares independence from Portugal
Prince Dom Pedro declares Brazil’s independence from Portugal in a dramatic fashion, unsheathing his sword and announcing, ‘For my blood, my honor, my God, I swear to give Brazil freedom.’ A few weeks later, he will be crowned Pedro I, though a formal treaty won’t come for three years.
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At 8.5 million square kilometers and with over 208 million people, Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest country by area and the sixth most populous. The capital is Brasília, and the most populated city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the Federal District, the 26 states, and the 5,570 municipalities. It is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas, besides being one of the most multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to the strong immigration from various places in the world.
Founded: Sep 07, 1822
GDP: $2.14 trillion USD (2018)
Population: 209.29 million (2017)
Calling code: 55
Area: 3.29 million sq miles
Travel tip: The wealth of flora and fauna and opportunities to observe them are unparalleled in the Amazon. Riverboats ply the waters of this fascinating wilderness, home to pink river dolphins, clamorous howler monkeys and raucous toucans. Photograph your adventure, run the rapids or stalk elusive jaguars by night. @tripadvisor

Announcement of Independence
Prince Pedro is surrounded by a cheering crowd in São Paulo after giving the news of the Brazilian independence on 7 September 1822
wiki/Brazil
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(1822) Brazil declares independence from Portugal.
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1940 | Nazi Germany unleashes a blitzkrieg on London
Bombs rain down on the British capital in a ‘lightning war,’ or ‘blitzkrieg,’ a favored tactic for the intimidation of Germany’s enemies. And while Hitler’s Luftwaffe will keep up the relentless attack for more than eight months, London’s populace will rise to the challenge of the Blitz.
1963 | Football gets into the fame game
Canton, Ohio, birthplace of the National Football League, opens the Pro Football Hall of Fame in homage to a sport that’s really catching on with the American public. Seventeen of the best players are inducted in the first ceremony, including Red Grange, Curly Lambeau, and Jim Thorpe.
1979 | Cable viewers get an all-sports network as ESPN launches
‘If you love sports…if you really love sports, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to sports heaven.’ With those words, anchor Lee Leonard introduces the small cable TV audience to the ESPN network and its highlights show, ‘SportsCenter,’ followed by a slow-pitch softball game.

Today in History 09/07/17

The effects of the first big concerted attack of the German air force in London, Sept 7, 1940 (© AP)(1940) Nazi Germany unleashes a blitzkrieg on London
Bombs rain down on the British capital in a 'lightning war,' or 'blitzkrieg,' a favored tactic for the intimidation of Germany's enemies. And while Hitler's Luftwaffe will keep up the relentless attack for more than eight months, London's populace will rise to the challenge of the Blitz.
The Blitz refers to bombing by the Luftwaffe over Britain in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press as an abbreviation of Blitzkrieg. The Germans conducted a mass air offensive against industrial targets, towns and cities, which began with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of Britain, a battle for air superiority over the United Kingdom. By September 1940 the Luftwaffe had failed to gain air superiority and the German air fleets were ordered to attack London, to draw RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation. Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered the new policy on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 out of the following 57 days and nights. In a large daylight attack against London on 15 September, many German aircraft were shot down.
Start date: Sep 07, 1940
End date: May 10, 1941
Air Raid Damage in Britain during the Second World War
Air Raid Damage in Britain during the Second World War St Paul's Cathedral, rising above the bombed London skyline, is shrouded in smoke during the Blitz. The photograph was taken from the roof of the Daily Mail offices in Fleet Street

wiki/The_Blitz
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Today in History 08/20 (Yellowstone on Fire)

A forest fire blazes out of control in Yellowstone National Park, Montana, Sept 2, 1988 (© Tannen Maury/AP)(1988) Massive fires consume 150,000 acres of Yellowstone
Drought, winds, lightning, and nearly 250 small blazes in just two months all combine to create the largest conflagration in Yellowstone National Park’s recorded history, hitting a peak today on ‘Black Saturday’ with firestorms burning 150,000 acres and smoke so dense that day turns to night.
The Yellowstone fires of 1988 collectively formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control due to drought conditions and increasing winds, combining into one large conflagration which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time in its history. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. A total of 793,880 acres, or 36 percent of the park was affected by the wildfires.
Date: 1988

Firestorm Mirror Plateu
The Clover Mist fire races north across the Mirror Plateau
wiki/Yellowstone_fires_of_1988
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(1988) Massive fires consume 150,000 acres of Yellowstone.
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636 BCE | Decisive Arab victory at Battle of Yarmouk banishes the Byzantines from Syria
The seesawing power grabs between Arabs and the Byzantine Empire in the Levant comes to a close as Khālid ibn al-Walīd and his 40,000 troops take on Emperor Heraclius’ 150,000-strong force and decisively defeat them. The win will be a springboard for Arab expansion in the region.
1882 | Napoleon’s Russian loss inspires a sonic boom and ‘1812 Overture’ premieres
Listeners gather under a Moscow tent to get the first public earful of Tchaikovsky’s new ‘Festival overture.’ Blasts of cannon fire finish this feisty 70th anniversary tribute to Russia’s rout of Napoleon, and the ‘1812 Overture’ will survive down the ages as everyone’s favorite fireworks soundtrack.
1940 | Former Bolshevist hero Trotsky gets on the wrong side of Stalin and is assassinated
Twice exiled to Siberia for revolutionary acts, then a key player in the Bolshevik Revolution, Leon Trotsky has fallen out of favor with the new Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin, and is living in Mexico City when an assassin’s ice-axe attack fatally wounds him, killing him the next day.

Today in History 08/20/17

Leon Trotsky on Aug 9, 1940, just 11 days before an attack made on him at his home in Mexico City (© AP)(1940) Former Bolshevist hero gets on the wrong side of Stalin
Twice exiled to Siberia for revolutionary acts, then a key player in the Bolshevik Revolution, Leon Trotsky has fallen out of favor with the new Soviet premier, Joseph Stalin, and is living in Mexico City when an assassin's ice-axe attack fatally wounds him, killing him the next day.
Leon Trotsky was a Marxist revolutionary, theorist, and Soviet politician. Initially supporting the Menshevik Internationalists faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, he joined the Bolsheviks just before the 1917 October Revolution, immediately becoming a leader within the Communist Party. He would go on to become one of the seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 to manage the Bolshevik Revolution. During the early days of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union, he served first as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and later as the founder and commander of the Red Army, with the title of People's Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs. He became a major figure in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War.
Lived: Nov 07, 1879 - Aug 21, 1940 (age 60)
Height: 5' 9" (1.74 m)
Spouse: Natalia Sedova (m. 1903 - 1940) · Aleksandra Sokolovskaya (m. 1899 - 1902)
Children: Zinaida Volkova (Daughter) · Lev Sedov (Son) · Sergei Sedov (Son) · Nina Nevelson (Daughter) · Howard Fung (Son)
Movies: The Assassination of Trotsky
Founded: Red Army · Fourth International · Communist International · Left Opposition · Petrograd Soviet · International Committee of the Fourth International
Highlights
  • 1903: Leon Trotsky married Natalia Sedova in 1903.

  • 1917: He was, alongside Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Stalin, Sokolnikov and Bubnov, one of the seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 to manage the Bolshevik Revolution.

  • 1920: The Red Army was defeated by Poland and the offensive was turned back during the Battle of Warsaw in August 1920, in part because of Stalin's failure to obey Trotsky's orders in the run-up to the decisive engagements.

  • 1924: Shortly after Lenin's death in 1924, the letter was found and publicized by Trotsky's opponents within the Communist Party to portray him as Lenin's enemy.

  • 1926: In early 1926, Zinoviev, Kamenev and their supporters in the "New Opposition" gravitated closer to Trotsky's supporters, and the two groups soon formed an alliance, which also incorporated some smaller opposition groups within the Communist Party.

  • 1940: On Stalin's orders, he was assassinated in Mexico in August 1940 by Ramón Mercader, a Spanish-born Soviet agent.

wiki/Leon_Trotsky
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Today in History 07/27 (Vincent van Gogh)

Self-portrait of Vincent van Gogh in 1889 (© De Agostini Picture Library/Getty Images)(1890) Brilliant and tortured artist turns gun on himself
Vincent van Gogh, 37, a Dutch-born artist living in France, shoots himself once in the chest. He’ll live for two days before dying in the company of his beloved brother Theo. He dies broke and unknown, but will later come to be considered one of history’s greatest artists.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade he created about 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. They include landscapes, still lifes, portraits and self-portraits, and are characterised by bold colours and dramatic, impulsive and expressive brushwork that contributed to the foundations of modern art. His suicide at 37 followed years of mental illness and poverty.
Lived: Mar 30, 1853 – Jul 29, 1890 (age 37)
Height: 5′ 7″
Siblings: Theo van Gogh (Brother) · Wil van Gogh (Sister) · Elisabeth Huberta Du Quesne-van Gogh (Sister) · Anna Cornelia van Gogh (Sister) · Cornelis Vincent van Gogh (Brother)
Periods: Post-Impressionism · Divisionism
Education: Willem II College (1866 – 1868) · Royal Academy of Fine Arts · Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts
Parents: Theodorus van Gogh (Father) · Anna Carbentus van Gogh (Mother)
Highlights
  • 1857: His brother Theo was born on 1 May 1857.

  • 1886: In February 1886 he wrote to Theo that he could only remember eating six hot meals since the previous May.

  • 1886: Van Gogh moved to Paris in March 1886 where he shared Theo’s rue Laval apartment in Montmartre, and studied at Fernand Cormon’s studio.

  • 1888: The Flowering Orchards (also the Orchards in Blossom) are among the first groups of work completed after Van Gogh’s arrival in Arles in February 1888.

  • 1890: In May 1890 Van Gogh left the clinic in Saint-Rémy to move nearer to both Dr Paul Gachet in Auvers-sur-Oise and to Theo.

  • 1890: Between 1885 and his death in 1890, Van Gogh appears to have been building an oeuvre, a collection that reflected his personal vision, and could be commercially successful.

Vincent van Gogh January 1873
Vincent van Gogh in 1873, when he worked at the Goupil & Cie’s gallery in The Hague.
wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh
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(1890) Brilliant and tortured artist turns gun on himself.
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1794 | ‘Incorruptible’ Robespierre arrested in Paris
It’s the best of times, it’s the worst of times, and few figures from the French Revolution embody this contradiction better than Maximilien Robespierre, a fervent believer in Enlightenment ideals whose involvement in ‘the Terror’ leads to his arrest. He will be guillotined the following day.
1940 | Brazen bunny saunters onto the screen
Huntsman Elmer J. Fudd meets “that pesky wabbit” for the first time in ‘A Wild Hare,’ an animated short subject from Warner Bros. What’s up, Doc? For Bugs Bunny, it’ll be crazy popularity, decades of movie releases, an Oscar win, and a TV compilation show that runs for 40 years.
1996 | Centennial Olympic Park celebrations shattered by pipe bomb
A pipe bomb detonates after midnight at an outdoor music venue in Atlanta during the Summer Olympic Games, and although crowds had been mostly evacuated from the area, the explosion kills two and injures 111 others. A religious extremist, Eric Rudolph, will be convicted of committing the attack.

Today in History 07/27/17

Officials inspect the scene of the explosion at the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta on July 27, 1996 (© Eric Draper/AP)(1996) Centennial Olympic Park celebrations shattered by pipe bomb
A pipe bomb detonates after midnight at an outdoor music venue in Atlanta during the Summer Olympic Games, and although crowds had been mostly evacuated from the area, the explosion kills two and injures 111 others. A religious extremist, Eric Rudolph, will be convicted of committing the attack.
The Centennial Olympic Park bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack on the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 27 during the 1996 Summer Olympics. The blast directly killed 1 person and injured 111 others; another person later died of a heart attack. It was the first of four bombings committed by Eric Robert Rudolph. Security guard Richard Jewell discovered the bomb before detonation and cleared most of the spectators out of the park. Rudolph, a carpenter and handyman, had detonated three pipe bombs inside a U.S. military ALICE Pack. Motivated by what he considered to be the government's sanctioning of "abortion on demand," Rudolph wanted to force the cancellation of the Olympics.
Date: Jul 27, 1996
Fatalities: 2

wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing
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Today in History 07/03 (Battle of Mers-el-Kébir)

The French warship Bretagne is shown partly submerged and enveloped in smoke after being attacked by British warships on July 3, 1940 (© Central Press/Getty Images)(1940) Britain destroys French ships to keep them from Germany
With France in the hands of the Nazi-collaborating Vichy government, Great Britain launches an air-and-sea attack to prevent the Germans from capturing a flotilla of battleships and other French Navy armaments. In the scuttling, 1,200 sailors die and three battleships are destroyed.
The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir, was part of Operation Catapult. The operation was a British naval attack on French Navy ships at the base at Mers El Kébir on the coast of French Algeria. The bombardment killed 1,297 French servicemen, sank a battleship and damaged five ships, for a British loss of five aircraft shot down and two crewmen killed.
Date: Jul 03, 1940

French destroyer leader Mogador
The French destroyer Mogador running aground, after having been hit by a 15-inch shell
wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-Kébir
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(1940) Britain destroys French ships to keep them from Germany.
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1844 | Early environmental activism not enough to save great auk
A cruel irony finishes off a large penguin-like denizen of the North Atlantic, the great auk, when their dwindling numbers increase the desire of collectors to get their hands on one to stuff and put on display. The last known pair is killed on Eldey, an island off the coast of Iceland.
1886 | Karl Benz presents his Benz Patent Motorwagen
A three-wheeled vehicle, the Benz Patent Motorwagen is the first automobile built to be propelled by an internal combustion engine, and its inventor Karl Benz presents it publicly for the first time in Mannheim, Germany. Benz will go on to help co-found the Mercedes-Benz car company.
1913 | Blue and Gray meet again a half-century on at Gettysburg
The Great Reunion gathers veterans of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg 50 years after the US Civil War’s bloodiest battle was waged. More than 53,000 camp on the Pennsylvania battlefield site, and a reenactment of Pickett’s Charge ends in clasped hands between the former enemies.

Today in History 09/07/17

The effects of the first big concerted attack of the German air force in London, Sept 7, 1940 (© AP)(1940) Nazi Germany unleashes a blitzkrieg on London
Bombs rain down on the British capital in a ‘lightning war,’ or ‘blitzkrieg,’ a favored tactic for the intimidation of Germany’s enemies. And while Hitler’s Luftwaffe will keep up the relentless attack for more than eight months, London’s populace will rise to the challenge of the Blitz.
The Blitz refers to bombing by the Luftwaffe over Britain in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press as an abbreviation of Blitzkrieg. The Germans conducted a mass air offensive against industrial targets, towns and cities, which began with raids on London towards the end of the Battle of Britain, a battle for air superiority over the United Kingdom. By September 1940 the Luftwaffe had failed to gain air superiority and the German air fleets were ordered to attack London, to draw RAF Fighter Command into a battle of annihilation. Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, ordered the new policy on 6 September 1940. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 out of the following 57 days and nights. In a large daylight attack against London on 15 September, many German aircraft were shot down.
Start date: Sep 07, 1940
End date: May 10, 1941
Air Raid Damage in Britain during the Second World War
Air Raid Damage in Britain during the Second World War St Paul’s Cathedral, rising above the bombed London skyline, is shrouded in smoke during the Blitz. The photograph was taken from the roof of the Daily Mail offices in Fleet Street

wiki/The_Blitz
4.4.j17