Roman Empire

Today in History 08/09 (Battle of Adrianople)

Drawing depicting Roman Emperor Valens circa 376 (© ullstein bild/Getty Images)(378) Romans fail to crush a Goth rebellion in the east
Thousands of soldiers mass near Adrianople in present-day Turkey to fight a battle some historians will later cite as the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire. Hoping to crush a Visigoth rebellion in his Eastern Empire, Roman Emperor Valens is instead killed and his army is decimated by Goth horsemen.
The Battle of Adrianople, sometimes known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis, was fought between an Eastern Roman army led by the Eastern Roman Emperor Valens and Gothic rebels led by Fritigern. The battle took place about 13 km north of Adrianople in the Roman province of Thracia. It ended with an overwhelming victory for the Goths and the death of Emperor Valens.
Date: 378 AD

Battle of Adrianople 378 AD
Map of the battle, according to the History Department of the US Military Academy
wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople
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(378) Romans fail to crush a Goth rebellion in the east.
Also on this day,

1854 | Thoreau’s meditation on man and nature is published
Two years of living on the shores of Massachusetts’ Walden Pond have borne literary fruit as Henry David Thoreau’s memoir of his secluded time there is published. ‘Walden’ will sell well, and remain a seminal work of early environmentalism and a celebration of the individual’s spirit.
1945 | A-bomb hits Nagasaki as second nuclear military target
Three days after Hiroshima was destroyed by the first nuclear weapon strike in history, Nagasaki, Japan, is hit by an atomic blast dropped from a US bomber. Upwards of 39,000 people are immediately killed as the city is leveled, and Japan will surrender less than week later, ending World War II.
1969 | Five are found murdered at Sharon Tate’s L.A. home
Pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others are discovered dead in Los Angeles at the Benedict Canyon hillside home she shares with her husband, film director Roman Polanski. The murders will be traced back to Charles Manson and members of his cult, known as ‘The Manson Family.’

Today in History 08/09/17

Remains of a temple after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 (© Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)(1945) Nagasaki is second nuclear military target
Three days after Hiroshima was destroyed by the first nuclear weapon strike in history, Nagasaki, Japan, is hit by an atomic blast dropped from a US bomber. Upwards of 39,000 people are immediately killed as the city is leveled, and Japan will surrender less than week later, ending World War II.
During the final stage of World War II, the United States dropped nuclear weapons on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively. The United States had dropped the bombs with the consent of the United Kingdom as outlined in the Quebec Agreement. The two bombings, which killed at least 129,000 people, remain the only use of nuclear weapons for warfare in history.
Start date: Aug 06, 1945
End date: Aug 09, 1945

wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
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