Today in History – August 27th

Published August 27, 2012 |

410, The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.
1172, Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned as junior king and queen of England.
1593, Pierre Barriere fails in his attempt to assassinate King Henry IV of France.
1689, The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire.
1776, The Battle of Long Island: British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1798, Wolfe Tone’s United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar.
1809, Hannibal Hamlin, Vice President of the United States (d. 1891) was born.
1810, French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Ile de France.
1813, French Emperor Napoleon I defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
1828, Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great Britain b/w Brazil and Argentina.
1832, Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to US authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
1859, Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world’s 1st commercially successful oil well.
1861, Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1865, Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States, Nobel laureate (d. 1951) was born.
1877, Charles Rolls, English automotive engineer (d. 1910) was born.
1890, Man Ray, American photographer and artist (d. 1976) was born.
1896, Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45) between the UK and Zanzibar.
1908, Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States (d. 1973) was born.
1916, Romania declares war against Austria-Hungary, entering WWI as one of the Allied nations.
1918, US Army skirmishes against Mexican Carrancistas and their German advisors in only battle of WWI fought on American soil.
1921, The British install the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali as King Faisal I of Iraq.
1927, 5 Canadian women file petition asking, “Does the word ‘Persons’ in Section 24 of the BNA Act, 1867, include female persons?”
1928, The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by the 1st 15 nations to do so. Ultimately 61 nations will sign it.
1929, Ira Levin, American author (d. 2007) was born.
1939, 1st flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world’s 1st jet aircraft.
1943, Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during WWII.
1957, The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force.
1962, The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.
1964, Gracie Allen, American actress and comedienne (b. 1895) died.
1967, Brian Epstein, English manager of The Beatles (b. 1934) died.
1975, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (b. 1892) died.
1979, Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British WWII admiral Louis Mountbatten and 2 others in Sligo, Ireland.
1990, Stevie Ray Vaughan, American guitarist (b. 1954) died.
1991, Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
1991, The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
2003, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.

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Chris Rivait

Chris loves history and hopes that Yesteeyear becomes a place where everyone can share their history knowledge. Chris owns an Internet Marketing company, Arrivait Marketing. He has a wonderful wife and four great children.