ON THIS DAY: 10th October 1471 - The Battle of Brunkeberg The Battle of Brunkeberg was fought on 10 October 1471 between the Swedish regent Sten Sture the Elder and forces led by Danish King Christian I.
ON THIS DAY: 10th September 1509 - An estimated 10,000 people died in Constantinople due to an earthquake so strong it was known as "the Lesser Judgement Day". The 1509 Constantinople earthquake, referred to as "The Lesser Judgment Day" (Turkish: Küçük Kıyamet) by contemporaries, was an earthquake that occurred in the Sea of Marmara on September 10, 1509 at about 10 p.m.. The earthquake had an estimated magnitude of 7.2 ± 0.3 on the surface wave magnitude scale. Forty-five days of aftershocks followed the earthquake, as well as a tsunami. Over a thousand houses and 109 mosques were destroyed, and an estimated 10,000 people died.
ON THIS DAY: 1807 – The British Royal Navy began their bombardment of Copenhagen to capture the Dano-Norwegian navy The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 5 September 1807) was a British bombardment of Copenhagen in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet, during the Napoleonic Wars. The attack gave rise to the term to Copenhagenize.
ON THIS DAY: 1st September 1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, struck the Kantō region of Japan, devastating Tokyo and Yokohama, and killing over an estimated 100,000 people.
ON THIS DAY: 31st August 1888 – Mary Ann Nichols' body was found on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, London, allegedly the first victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper (depiction pictured).
ON THIS DAY: August 30th 1942 – World War II: the Battle of Alam el Halfa begins The Battle of Alam el Halfa took place between 30 August and 5 September 1942 south of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. Panzerarmee Afrika—a German-Italian force commanded by Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel—attempted an envelopment of the British 8th Army, commanded by Bernard Montgomery. In the last major Axis offensive (Operation Brandung) of the Western Desert campaign, Rommel had planned to defeat the British 8th Army before Allied reinforcements made an Axis victory in Africa impossible.
ON THIS DAY: 1911 – The last member of the Yahi, known as Ishi (pictured), emerged from the wilderness near Oroville, California, to join European American society. Ishi (c. 1860 – March 25, 1916) was the last member of the Yahi, the last surviving group of the Yana people of the U.S. state of California. Widely acclaimed in his time as the "last wild Indian" in America, Ishi lived most of his life completely outside European American culture. At about 49 years of age, in 1911, he emerged from "the wild" near Oroville, California, leaving his ancestral homeland, present-day Tehama County, near the foothills of Lassen Peak, known to Ishi as Wa ganu p'a.
Ishi means "man" in the Yana language. The anthropologist Alfred Kroeber gave this name to the man because it was rude to ask someone's name in the Yahi culture. When asked his name, he said: "I have none, because there were no people to name me," meaning that no Yahi had ever spoken his name. He was taken in by anthropologists at the University of California, Berkeley, who both studied him and hired him as a research assistant. He lived most of his remaining five years in a university building in San Francisco.
ON THIS DAY: 24th August 1991 – Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
ON THIS DAY: 23rd August 79 - Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
ON THIS DAY: 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
ON THIS DAY: 1940 – In the midst of the Battle of Britain, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a speech thanking the Royal Air Force, declaring, "Never was so much owed by so many to so few." Pictured is the World War II poster containing the quote. Click here to read more.
ON THIS DAY: 917 – Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars: Bulgarians led by Tsar Simeon I drove the Byzantines out of Thrace with a decisive victory in the Battle of Achelous (pictured). Click here to read more.
ON THIS DAY: 1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz – Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon. Click here to find out more about the Battle of Liegnitz.
ON THIS DAY: 1941 – After a secret meeting aboard warships, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (both pictured) issued the Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a post-World War II world despite the fact that the United States had yet to enter the war.
ON THIS DAY: 1828 – William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds, England, for the murder of Maria Marten at the Red Barn The Red Barn Murder was a notorious murder committed in Polstead, Suffolk, England, in 1827. A young woman, Maria Marten, was shot dead by her lover, William Corder. The two had arranged to meet at the Red Barn, a local landmark, before eloping to Ipswich. Maria was never heard from again. Corder fled the scene and, although he sent Marten's family letters claiming she was in good health, her body was later discovered buried in the barn after her stepmother spoke of having dreamt about the murder.
ON THIS DAY: 1988 – The "8888 Uprising" occurs in Burma. The 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests ; MLCTS: hrac le: lum: also known as the People Power Uprising) was a series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (today commonly known as Burma or Myanmar). Key events occurred on 8 August 1988, and therefore it is known as the "8888 Uprising".
ON THIS DAY: 1969 – At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the photo that becomes the cover of the Beatles album Abbey Road, one of the most famous album covers in recording history.