Today in History – October 16th

Published October 16, 2012 |

1384, Jadwiga is crowned King of Poland, although she is a woman.
1758, Noah Webster, American lexicographer (d. 1843) was born.
1780, Royalton, Vermont and Tunbridge, Vermont are the last major raids of the American Revolutionary War.
1781, George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia after the Siege of Yorktown.
1791, Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin, Russian general and statesman (b. 1739) died.
1793, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France (executed) (b. 1755) died.
1793, Marie Antoinette, widow of Louis XVI, is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution.
1793, The Battle of Wattignies ends in a French victory.
1813, The Sixth Coalition attacks Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Leipzig.
1834, Much of the ancient structure of the Palace of Westminster in London burns to the ground.
1841, Queen’s University is founded in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
1854, Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900) was born.
1859, John Brown leads a raid on Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.
1869, The Cardiff Giant, one of the most famous American hoaxes, is “discovered”.
1886, David Ben-Gurion, Israeli statesman (d. 1973) was born.
1890, Michael Collins, Irish politician (d. 1922) was born.
1905, The Partition of Bengal in India takes place.
1923, The Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney.
1934, Chinese Communists begin the Long March; ended year and 4 days later, Mao Zedong had regained his title as party chairman.
1939, WWII: 1st attack on British territory by the German Luftwaffe.
1940, Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto is established.
1944, Wally Walrus, Woody Woodpecker’s 1st steady foil, was debuted at the The Beach Nut, a Walter Lantz’s cartoon.
1945, The Food and Agriculture Organization is founded in Quebec City, Canada.
1946, Nuremberg Trials: Execution of the convicted Nazi leaders of the Main Trial.
1951, 1st Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.
1959, George Marshall, United States Secretary of State, Nobel laureate (b. 1880) died.
1962, Cuban Missile Crisis between the US, and Cuba and the USSR, begins.
1962, Manute Bol, Sudanese basketball player (d. 2010) was born.
1964, The People’s Republic of China detonates its 1st nuclear weapon.
1970, In response to October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada invokes the War Measures Act.
1973, Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1978, Pope John Paul II is elected after the October 1978 Papal conclave.
1984, Desmond Tutu is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1995, The Million Man March occurs in Washington, D.C.
2005, Eugene “Porky” Lee, American child actor (b. 1933) died.
2010, Barbara Billingsley, American actress (b. 1915) died.

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.