Today in History

Today in History
(79 CE) Vesuvius awakes, darkening skies and burying cities
79 CE An ash and cinder plume rockets into the afternoon sky of southern Italy as Mt. Vesuvius erupts with a terrifying force, killing tens of thousands in Pompeii with searing heat and burying them in ash where they lay. The eruption’s flows also consume the city of Herculaneum..
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD was one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions in European history. Historians have learned about the eruption from the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, a Roman administrator and poet. It is the namesake for Plinian eruptions.
Date: 79 AD, Fatalities: 16,000
(410) ‘The eternal city’ is sacked as the Visigoths invade Rome
A foreign enemy plunders the heart of a once invincible empire for the first time in 800 years as King Alaric I of the Visigoths and his Germanic forces enter Rome. They will leave most citizens alive and most buildings intact, but steal a mass of valuables during the three-day pillage. . 410
The Sack of Rome occurred on August 24, 410. The city was attacked by the Visigoths led by King Alaric. At that time, Rome was no longer the capital of the Western Roman Empire, having been replaced in that position by Ravenna in 402. Nevertheless, the city of Rome retained a paramount position as “the eternal city” and a spiritual center of the Empire. The sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike.
Date: 410 AD
(1814) British set the White House and US Capitol ablaze
1814 President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison flee Washington, DC, just ahead of a British commander bent on destruction. After dining at a deserted White House, Major General Robert Ross’ soldiers set fire to the Presidential Mansion, the Capitol, and other public buildings..
The Burning of Washington in 1814 was an attack during the War of 1812 between British forces and those of the United States of America. On August 24, 1814, after defeating the Americans at the Battle of Bladensburg, a British force led by Major General Robert Ross occupied Washington, D.C., and set fire to many public buildings, including the White House, and the Capitol, as well as other facilities of the U.S. government.
Date: Aug 24, 1814
(1891) Inventor extraordinaire patents a motion picture camera
With the invention of the light bulb, electric power lines, and the phonograph behind him, Thomas Alva Edison patents his newest invention, the Kinetographic Camera, a movie-recording device he describes as “an instrument which does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear.”. 1891

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