Evolution of the languages of Iberia.
Probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while
June 14, 1667: The Raid on the Medway ends in a British defeat.
The Second Anglo-Dutch War was one of four wars fought between the Dutch Republic and England (Great Britain after 1707) - at the time Europe’s greatest seafaring and trading powers, and natural rivals in that respect. The first concluded in 1654 (an English victory), and the second began eleven years later, after the restoration of Charles II to the throne, born of widespread pro-war sentiment and the continued competition between the two nations over maritime trade.
The famous Raid on the Medway, also called the Battle of Chatham, was a naval clash that ended in the epic defeat of the Royal Navy, one of the worst in its history, and precipitated a quick end to the war. At this point in the conflict, Charles II was opening peace talks with the Dutch while also soliciting aid from the French, and, with war funds running low, his fleet was left in a temporary state of weakness - ripe for attack, according to the Dutch grand pensionary and planner of the raid, Johan de Witt. On June 9, the Dutch fleet under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter launched an attack on a group of English ships on the poorly-defended River Medway, destroying thirteen ships and capturing the HMS Unity,a Dutch warship-turned-English guard ship, and the fleet’s flagship HMS Royal Charles. The success of the Dutch attack and embarrassing defeat of the Royal Navy struck a blow to English morale; the ignominy of the loss was accompanied by a wave of panic and fear regarding rumors of a full-blown Dutch invasion. This did not come, but the end of the war a little over two weeks later. Of the Dutch fleet’s presence on the Thames, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary:
…it was pretty news come the other day so fast, of the Dutch fleets being in so many places, that Sir W. Batten at table cried, By God, says he, I think the Devil shits Dutchmen.
June 6, 1944: The Allied invasion of Normandy begins.
In June of 1940, Nazi Germany successfully completed its invasion of France with the signing of an armistice at Compiègne, which divided France into two zones - one which was to be henceforth occupied by German troops, and a “free zone”, to be administered by a French government at Vichy. In late 1942 German-Italian forces carried out a complete military occupation of the free zone. By 1944 much of Europe was either occupied by Axis forces or controlled by direct allies; between the neutral Iberian Peninsula to the Eastern Front, France, Greece, the Baltics, the Netherlands, and Denmark were among the states occupied by German or Axis forces. Along the western coast of Europe, Germany established a system of fortifications collectively known as the “Atlantic Wall”, whose construction began in 1942 to thwart any Allied invasion launched across the English Channel from Great Britain.
The landing of Allied forces at Normandy on June 6, 1944 (commonly known as D-Day) marked the beginning of Operation Overlord and the beginning of the liberation of mainland Europe from its occupation by Nazi Germany. As Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower was charged with planning and carrying out the beach landing assault, an enormous and momentous task - in the end, approximately 160,000 troops participated in the assault on an 80 km long stretch of Normandy coast, which was divided into five sectors: Gold, Utah, Sword, Juno, and Omaha, the link between the U.S. and British sectors, the most easily defensible beach, and the area where fighting was bloodiest. The troops were supported by a fleet of nearly 7,000 vessels, directed mostly by the Royal Navy; airborne operations were also a key element of the landings, with at least 13,000 paratroopers taking part. To mislead and confound Axis military leaders regarding the true date and location of the impending assault, the Allies implemented Operation Bodyguard.
The enormously successful operation was a decisive victory for the Allied powers and a major blow to Germany’s psyche and morale. Operation Overlord came to an end with the destruction of German forces at the Falaise Pocket in August of 1944 and the liberation of Paris days later.
History Meme. 3/4 Leaders → Boudica
Boudica (or Bouddica or Boudecia) was queen of the British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire.
Boudica’s husband Prasutagus, ruler of the Iceni tribe, who had ruled as a nominally independent ally of Rome, left his kingdom jointly to his daughters and the Roman Emperor in his will; however, when he died, his will was ignored —the kingdom was annexed as if conquered, Boudica was flogged, her daughters were raped, and Roman financiers called in their loans.
In AD 60 or 61, while the Roman governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, was leading a campaign on the island of Anglesey off the northwest coast of Wales, Boudica led the Iceni, Trinovantes and others in revolt.They destroyed Camulodunum (modern Colchester), earlier the capital of the Trinovantes, then a colonia (a settlement for discharged Roman soldiers) and the site of a temple to the former Emperor Claudius. On hearing the news of the revolt, Suetonius hurried to Londinium (London), the twenty-year-old commercial settlement that was the rebels’ next target. He concluded that they did not have the numbers to defend the settlement, so it was evacuated and abandoned. 100,000 (Iceni, Trinovantes and others) led by Boudica burned and destroyed Londinium and Verulamium (St Albans) and the Legio IX Hispana was cut to pieces. An estimated 70,000–80,000 Romans and British were killed in the three cities by those led by Boudica. Suetonius, meanwhile, regrouped his forces in the West Midlands and, despite being heavily outnumbered, defeated the Britons in the Battle of Watling Street.
The crisis caused the Emperor Nero to consider withdrawing all Roman forces from Britain, but Suetonius’ eventual victory over Boudica re-secured Roman control of the province. Boudica then either killed herself, so she would not be captured, or fell ill and died—the extant sources, Tacitus and Cassius Dio, differ. [more +]
25 de Abril - Revolução dos Cravos
The Carnation Revolution (Portuguese: Revolução dos Cravos), also referred to as the 25 April (Portuguese: 25 de Abril), was a military coup began on 25 April 1974 in Lisbon, Portugal, and which overthrew the dictatorial regime of the Estado Novo. The revolution started as a military coup organized by the Movimento das Forças Armadas (Armed Forces Movement, MFA), composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil resistance. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies.
The name “Carnation Revolution” comes from the fact no shots were fired and when the population started descending the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship and war in the colonies, carnation flowers were put into the muzzles of rifles and on the uniforms of the army.
The Portuguese celebrate the national holiday of Freedom Day (Portuguese: Dia da Liberdade) on 25 April every year to celebrate these events.
April 14, 1865: Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.
Five days after the surrender and deactivation of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House (the effective end of the war), Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth, a stage actor and Confederate sympathizer. The demise of the Confederacy pushed Booth, a strongly pro-South, anti-Lincoln Maryland native, over the edge, and he abandoned a kidnapping plot that he and co-conspirators Lewis Powell, George Atzerodt, David Herold, Samuel Arnold, Michael O’Laughlen and John Surratt had been formulating since 1864 in favor of simple assassination.
On April 14, they learned that President Lincoln would be attending a performance of the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre, in Washington, D.C., later that evening. He and the conspirators gathered once more, and it was decided that Lewis Powell and David Herold would attack Secretary of State William Seward, that George Atzerodt would carry out an assassination attempt on Vice President Andrew Johnson, and that Booth himself would kill Lincoln. The only attack of these that resulted in a death was Booth’s. He entered the Lincolns’ private theatre box during a particularly humorous moment in the play and shot the President once in the head, before leaping onto the stage, where he yelled either the Virginia state motto - “Sic semper tyrannis” - or “the South is avenged!” Booth broke his leg sometime between the fall and his escape, and he went on the run before being shot outside a barn in Virginia on April 26.
Lincoln, meanwhile, was moved to a house across the street from the theatre; he was pronounced dead early the next morning, the day before Easter Sunday. Utterly divisive as a leader in life, Lincoln was nevertheless mourned by millions in both the North and South in death.
VIKING MENAGERIE — Round Box Brooch, 700-900, copper alloy, made on the island of Gotland off the coast of Sweden:
“A menagerie of tiny animals inhabits the interlace patterns on this round brooch. The four oval compartments on the top show beasts with round eyes, open jaws, claw feet, and intricately entwined bodies. Known as a box brooch because it was used as a container for small objects, it would have been worn by a Viking woman on the island of Gotland to secure her shawl at the collar.”
Bonus fact: The local language of Gotland is Gutnish, which was spoken and written until the late medieval period.
Wellington and Blucher Meeting Before the Battle of Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford (1828-1904)
Hillingford was an English painter who specialised in historical paintings, particularly battle scenes. Towards the end of his life, he became increasingly interested in the Napoleonic Wars and this can be seen in his numerous paintings related to either Waterloo or Wellington. Though not always historically accurate (he once puts Wellington in a red coat at Quatre Bras), Hillingford captures and depicts a good likeness of the Duke in his paintings.
Welcome to the new age of Daily History! Curiosities, things you didn’t know and if possible truly daily :)
New Content, New Format!
Well, I know this blog is a bit outdated in content but unfortunately I can’t keep up a historical daily routine. But that doesn’t mean this blog is condemned to failure, its quite the opposite, I’m thinking in a new way - historical of course - of remodeling this page with useful historical information, not with daily posts, but instead with facts and historical curiosities. That implies more work but not a day by day search.
Expect news very soon :)
People it’s time for some vacations and maintenance :)
Thank you to all the followers of Daily History. Unfortunately everyone needs some vacations because of that Daily History will stop for a short time. The blog will return in September! Unfortunately August is a rich historical month with many events that I will have to skip this year, with some luck next year all the missed days will be filled with accurate information. Above you will find some of the events in August and late July.
28 July 1794 - Execution of Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just by guillotine;
3 August 1934 - Adolf Hitler becomes the supreme leader of Germany by joining the offices of President and Chancellor into Führer.
14 August 1385 - Battle of Aljubarrota. Portugal wins the battle against Castille even with much less troops regaining independence and ruling out Castilian ambitions to the Portuguese throne;
18 August 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought;
23 August 1305 - Sir William Wallace is executed for High Treason at Smithfield in London.
PS: 51 post now and 51 followers. Thank you people!!!! ;)
