#siege of the british residency in kabul

[illustratus]

Statue commemorating the defence of the British Embassy, Kabul, by Lieutenant Walter Hamilton and soldiers of the Queen's Own Corps of Guides, 1879

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.3 (before 1930)

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1335 – At the congress of Visegrád Charles I of Hungary mediates a reconciliation between two neighboring monarchs, John of Bohemia and Casimir III of Poland. 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. 1650 – Victory over the royalists in the Battle of Dunbar opens the way to Edinburgh for the New Model Army in the Third English Civil War. 1651 – The Battle of Worcester is the last significant action in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly paid professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association. 1911 – A fire that started on Fraser's Million Dollar Pier destroys six to eight square blocks of Ocean Park, California. 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule. 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers. 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil.

[pccf]

Afghanistan Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1296 AH, (1879 AD) Qandahar (قندہار) Mint, 2.81 grams, 24 mm, overstruck AE Falus. Obverse: ADL (عدل) 'Justice' in Hexagram. Reverse: Falue e Qandahar (فلوس قندہار). Rare type strucked just for one year in 1296 AH (1879 AD) during 2nd Anglo-Afghan War. The 2nd Anglo-Afghan War came about because the British were concerned over Tsarist Russian expansion and tried to get the Afghan Amir Sher Ali to agree to a diplomatic mission to Kabul. When this was refused but a Russian mission admitted, the British invaded from three directions. With the country occupied, Sher Ali's son Yaqub Khan signed the Treaty of Gandamak in May 1879. The British forces withdrew but an uprising in Kabul led to the murder of the British Resident Sir Pierre Cavagnari. This provoked a second invasion by the British under Major General Sir Frederick Roberts and the occupation of Kabul following the Battle of Charasia in October 1879. The Afghans were again defeated at the Siege of Sherpur Cantonment in December. A further revolt led to the defeat of the British at the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880 following which Qandahar was besieged. Roberts led a force from Kabul to defeat the Afghans under Ayub Khan at the Battle of Baba Wullee. The Treaty of Gandamak was confirmed and the British withdrew. #PCCF2021POST157 https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYi2LrLnGx/?utm_medium=tumblr

[walaw717]

Drummer James Roddick of the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot , defending Lieutenant Menzies during hand-to-hand fighting in Kandahar, 1880 

William Skeoch Cumming (1864-1929) 

Date 1894 Medium pencil and watercolour, heightened with touches of body colour

Dimensions Height: 71.1 cm (27.9 ″); Width: 107.9 cm (42.4 ″) 

Afghanistan has been the breaker of empire since the time of Alexander the Great. It has been part of the “great Game” between the Russian power and the Various western powers and in the 1970′s and 80″ was instrumental the economic collapse of the Soviet Union, the American creation of the Taliban to fight the Soviets and is now the anvil upon which the West as we know it is finally collapsing to a resurgent Islam and China. 

The Above is a favorite painting. It shows the courage of brothers in battle and the honor and loyalty many soldiers know and few civilians will ever know.

The Battle of Kandahar, 1 September 1880, was the last major conflict of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The battle in southern Afghanistan was fought between the British forces under command of General Roberts and the Afghan forces led by Ayub Khan. It ended with a decisive British victory, having inflicted nearly 3,000 casualties in total. 

In May 1879, after the death of the Amir Sher Ali Khan, Sir Louis Cavagnari negotiated and signed the Treaty of Gandamak with his successor, Mohammad Yaqub Khan. The treaty obliged the Afghans to admit a British resident governor at Kabul; a position Cavagnari himself took up in July. However, on the 3 September, Cavagnari and the other European members of the mission were massacred in a sudden rising of Afghan rebel troops.

After Yakub Khan had been dethroned and exiled for suspected collusion in the murder of Cavagnari, feelers were put out for two replacement candidates: his younger brother, Ayub Khan the Governor of Herat, and his nephew, Abdur Rahman Khan. However, in May 1880, a new British Liberal government recalled the Viceroy of India, Lord Lytton and replaced him with Lord Ripon who had instructions to bring all troops out of Afghanistan. These plans for the evacuation were disrupted by Ayub Khan, who after stirring up anti-British feeling, had sallied out of Herat in early June with 10,000 followers. 1,500 British and Indian troops, together with Afghan levies, were sent to intercept this force.

The British, commanded by Brigadier George Burrows, met Ayub Khan at Maiwand, on 27 July 1880. However, many of the Indian troops in British service were new, inadequately trained recruits, and crumpled under pressure; the Afghan levies had already switched sides, unwilling to fight against their countrymen. Despite a heroic last stand by the 66th Regiment, and inflicting 2,500 casualties on his enemy, General Burrows was defeated by a determined adversary.

After the disastrous defeat at Maiwand, the remnants of General Burrows’ battle-wearied army began the 45 mile retreat to the city of Kandahar. Armed local irregulars, exhaustion and thirst contributed to the breakdown of the column's discipline, and were it not for Captain Slade's rear-guard action, far fewer would have made it to the refuge of the city:

All over the wide expanse of desert are to be seen men in twos and threes retreating. Camels have thrown their loads; sick men, almost naked, are astride donkeys, mules and camels; the bearers have thrown down their dhoolies (palanquins) and left the wounded to their fate. The guns and carriages are crowded with the helpless wounded suffering the tortures of the damned; horses are limping along with ugly wounds and men are pressing eagerly to the rear in the hope of finding water. Hordes of irregular horsemen are to be seen amongst our baggage animals, relentlessly cutting our men down and looting. A few alone remain with Brigadier Burrows to try to turn the rout into an orderly retreat. – Captain Slade.

Of the approximately 2,500 British and Indian troops at Maiwand, a little over 960 succumbed in either the battle or the ensuing retreat. Only 161 of the wounded reached the citadel of Kandahar.

The remnants of the straggling column reached Kandahar on the 28th raising the garrison numbers to 4360 — the Afghan population of 12,000 were compelled to leave. With the abandonment of the cantonments, the whole garrison withdrew behind the walls of the fortified city and organised preparations for its defence. These defences included improving and facilitating communications along the city's walls, plugging breaches, constructing gun platforms and the laying of wire obstacles outside the walls to entangle their foe. The Afghans determined to harass and hinder the defenders’ preparations throughout.

On 8 August, Ayub Khan, the victor at Maiwand, opened fire on the citadel from Picquet hill north west of the city; a few days later other guns volleyed forth from the villages of Deh Khoja and Deh Khati on the east and south. An attempt to neutralise the village of Deh Khoja, led by Brigadier General Brooke on the 16th, proved unsuccessful. During the extrication, both Brigadier General Brooke and Captain Cruickshank fell, adding to the casualty total of over 100.

The Maiwand disaster had altered military plans for the evacuation of the Kabul garrison from Afghanistan.

...the present question is the relief of Kandahar and the defeat of Ayub. I have a fine force ready for the work, and Bobs would go in command of it.[4] – General Donald Stewart, Kabul.

The 'Bobs' in question, General Roberts, would personally lead a division from Kabul to rectify the recent calamity and relieve the besieged city of Kandahar. It was also arranged that General Phayre would march from Quetta in northern India with the same intention, and that General Stewart would proceed to evacuate the rest of the garrison back to India as originally planned. The Viceroy of Afghanistan was informed that Roberts would march on the 8 August with the expectation of reaching Kandahar by 2 September.

Of the 10,000 men under Robert's command, a little over 2800 were Europeans. Because of the unforgiving terrain of the Afghan country, and the necessity of speed, all troops were ordered to travel light (20-30 lbs of kit per trooper) and controversially, no wheeled transport taken, with 6- and 9-pounder mountain guns being the only artillery taken. 8,500 mules, donkeys, and ponies would be utilised to carry the main supplies.

The march from Kabul to Kandahar is approximately 320 miles[5] (although the chosen route through the Logar Valley was not the shortest, the valley's fertile land would supplement their supplies). The army paid for everything they took throughout the march including grain, fresh animals and even firewood – the local Afghans more than pleased to barter with the troops.

The stop at Ghazni proved to be brief; the column set off again very early in the cool of the morning of the 16th. By the end of the day's march in the early afternoon, the temperatures had exceeded 100 °F with very little shade; sore feet and the constant scarcity of water adding to the extreme discomfort.

"The method, of such marching as was now put in practice is not easy to describe; it combined the extreme of freedom in movement with carefully regulated halts, and the closest control in every portion of the column; it employed the individual intelligence of each man composing the masses in motion, and called on all for exertion in overcoming the difficulties of the march, in bearing its extraordinary toil, and in aiding the accomplishment of the object in view." – General Chapman.

By the 24th, the relief column had reached Khelat-i-Ghilzai. General Roberts received a letter from General Primrose at Kandahar describing the sortie in the village of Deh Khoja earlier on the 16th and informing Roberts of the situation. On the 25th, the relief column, joined now by the garrison of Kelat-i-Ghilzai, resumed their march towards Kandahar. General Phayre's relief column however had suffered many problems from his arduous trek and was still some distance from Kandahar.

The following day Roberts' relief force reached Tir Andaz. It was here that Roberts learned that Ayub Khan had lifted the siege of Kandahar and had retired north to the village of Mazra in the Urgundab valley. On the 27th, General Hugh Gough proceeded to Robat with two cavalry regiments, whilst the remainder of the force, moving somewhat slower, joined them in Robat on the 28th. It was now only 19 miles to Kandahar.

The long march from Kabul to Kandahar of the entire column of men, followers and baggage took 20 days – an average of just over 15 miles/day. The followers alone included nearly 2,200 dhooly-bearers, 4,700 transport men and over 1,200 servants. Although the march was unhindered by the Afghans, it was a historic and remarkable feat of human endurance and organisation.

On the morning of the 31 August 1880, the relief force reached Kandahar. However, for the last part of the trek General Roberts, struck down with fever, had to be carried in a dhooly (though for dignity's sake, the general had forced himself upon a horse when within sight of the city).

A rugged and precipitous spur separates the Arghandab valley from the Kandahar plain. Both valley and plain are linked via the Murcha Pass at the end of the spur, and the Babawali Pass cutting through it. The section of the spur from Babawali Pass to its tip, is known as the Pir Paimal Hill.

Behind this spur lies the village of Mazra, around which Ayub Khan had camped. As well as the spur, the Afghans had other geographic advantages. Directly behind Pir Paimal Hill lies the Kharoti Hill (both of which providing excellent firing positions) and, between the hills, deep irrigation channels offered excellent defensive cover.

A reconnaissance of the area on the afternoon of the 31st, carried out by General Gough and Colonel Chapman, garnered valuable information of these Afghan positions. However, their retirement from the reconnaissance came under concerted attack from Afghan regulars and irregulars. The Sikh infantry were so hard pressed that elements of the 1st and 3rd brigades were ordered into the action.

Armed with this hard-won military intelligence, Roberts decided to attack the following day – the morning of 1 September 1880. While the Babawali Pass would be bombarded by artillery, 1st and 2nd Infantry Brigades (3rd in Reserve) would attack the enemy between the Pir Paimal and Kharoti hills and push up the Urgundab valley towards Ayub Khan's main camp at Mazra. The Murcha and Babawali passes were to be covered by cavalry elements supported by General Primrose's infantry and artillery. Gough's cavalry would move across the Urgundab, so as to reach by a wide circuit the anticipated line of the Afghan retreat.

A little after 9am, the artillery to the right of Picquet Hill began its bombardment of the Babawali pass – the Afghans replied with a three field-gun battery. However, before Roberts could push his army forward, Afghan positions in the villages of Gundi Mulla Sahibdad on the British right and Gundigan on the British left, had to be cleared.

The battle at Gundi Mulla Sahibdad was hard-fought. General Macpherson advancing his 92nd Highlanders and 2nd Gurkhas met determined resistance to the attack that included a bayonet charge by the Highlanders. Both sides suffered casualties, but the Afghans came off far worse – possibly losing up to 200 men. After the village had been pacified, the brigade pushed towards the southwesterly point of Pir Paimal, constantly harassed by determined Afghan resistance.

Whilst General Macpherson advanced against Gundi Mulla Sahibdad, General Baker moved against Gundigan – the 72nd Highlanders and the 2nd Sikh Infantry in the van. Again the fighting was hard-fought – the Afghans holding well-defended positions that only a concerted effort by the attackers could dislodge. However, the left wing of the 72nd (supported by 5th Gurkhas) finally took the village, whilst the right wing supported the Sikhs, battling through the orchards between the two villages. As General Baker's brigade moved forward into the open it came under artillery fire from the extremity of the Pir Paimal hill and massed attacks from Ghazis; the latter resolutely repelled by the Highlanders and Sikhs.

The two brigades could now together move forward. Macpherson's brigade moved close around the spur to take the village of Pir Paimal. Having passed the village, the 92nd Highlanders under command of Major White met with determined resistance south west of the Babawali Pass. Despite reinforcements from Ayub Khan's main camp at Mazra, Macpherson stormed the position - Major White's Highlanders in the van supported by the 5th Gurkhas and 23rd Pioneers. Again a determined resistance and steady fire from the Afghans (many of whom firing from the slopes of the Pir Paimal hill) caused many Highlander casualties, but despite heavy losses, the British dispersed some 8000 Afghans at bayonet point.

While Macpherson's brigade advanced close under the ridge, Baker's troops swept wider on the left; Colonel Money having been assigned to take possession of the Kharoti hill. From the northern end of the hill, Colonel Money could see Ayub Khan abandon his camp at Mazra in the face of the advancing forces of Macpherson and Baker.

Roberts had by now ordered MacGregor's 3rd brigade to Pir Paimal village to where he himself and General Ross (commander of the whole infantry division) were to move. Here, General Ross, unable to discern the situation, ordered the forward brigades to halt and replenish their spent ammunition. However, this delay provided Ayub Khan some respite. When the British finally entered the camp at 1pm, it was deserted, save for the smartly abandoned detritus of an army in retreat.

Ayub Khan's army was now in full rout. Although the plan for General Gough's cavalry to intercept the retreating Afghans did not work in practice, it was clear the British had achieved a decisive victory.

The Battle of Kandahar brought a close to the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Ayub Khan had been decisively beaten. He had lost the whole of his artillery, his camp, enormous quantities of ammunition, and about 1,000 men killed. Ayub Khan became a fugitive along with the small remnants of his battered army. The British appointee Abdur Rahman was thus securely established as emir of Afghanistan, under a protectorate which gave Britain control of Afghanistan's foreign policy, while the British government of India retained the frontier territories ceded by the Treaty of Gandamak. Having achieved some of the aims of their invasion of Afghanistan, the British withdrew, due to continuous rebellions. Ayub Khan subsequently raised a fresh rebellion against Abdur Rahman, but was swiftly defeated and killed, ending the threat to the new regime. (Note: according to the Wikipedia entry for Mohammad Ayub Khan, he died in 1914 in India. Also, the same page says that he was unable to attack Abdur Rahman due to not paying his soldiers, who refused to march.) This political settlement was to endure until the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.

Roberts left Kandahar on 9 September 1880 and marched to Quetta with part of his division. On the 15 October 1880, at Sibi, he resigned his command, and sailed from Bombay on the 30th, taking sick leave in England. The exploits of General Roberts in Afghanistan greatly boosted his reputation as a skillful and enterprising soldier. Many years later, Roberts' heroic march was commemorated by a statue in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park upon which the motto Virtute et valore (by Virtue and Courage) is inscribed.

[takenews-blog1]

Save The Youngsters Suspends Afghanistan Operations After Lethal Assault

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/save-the-youngsters-suspends-afghanistan-operations-after-lethal-assault/

Save The Youngsters Suspends Afghanistan Operations After Lethal Assault

Up to date at 1:05 p.m. ET

Save the Youngsters has quickly suspended all of its operations in Afghanistan, after gunmen carried out a brutal assault on its provincial workplace in Jalalabad on Wednesday, killing three workers members in an assault that additionally included explosives.

“All different workers have been safely rescued from the workplace,” Save the Youngsters president and CEO Carolyn Miles mentioned. “4 [staff members] have been injured within the assault and are receiving medical remedy.”

The help group has been working in Afghanistan since 1976. Regardless of the halt, Miles mentioned, “we stay absolutely dedicated to serving to probably the most disadvantaged youngsters of Afghanistan.”

Hours after the assault, SITE Intelligence and different jihad monitoring teams reported that ISIS claimed the assault, referring to a posting by the extremist group’s media arm, Amaq. The discover mentioned the assault focused British and Swedish organizations; Save the Youngsters was based in England in 1919.

In Jalalabad, native officers mentioned that at the least 14 folks have been damage within the assault and have been evacuated to the Nangarhar regional hospital; nonetheless, the variety of casualties might fluctuate, hospital spokesman Inamullah Miakhial mentioned, citing a gun battle that adopted the first assault.

Afghanistan’s Tolo information service, monitored by Al-Jazeera, mentioned an preliminary blast within the assault was brought on by a suicide automobile bomber.

The BBC quoted native journalist Bilal Sarwary as saying police instructed him that Afghan commandos have been making an attempt to flush out the attackers, who have been on higher flooring of the constructing armed with heavy machine weapons, grenades and rocket-propelled grenades.

Islamic State militants have reportedly been energetic in and round Jalalabad, situated about 40 miles from the Pakistan border, since 2015.

In a press release, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the previous Danish prime minister and present CEO of Save the Youngsters Worldwide, mentioned the nongovernmental group was “devastated” at information of the assault. “Our major concern is for the security and safety of our workers,” she mentioned.

Over the many years of its work in Afghanistan, Save the Youngsters says, it has offered “life-saving well being, training, diet and little one safety applications which have helped tens of millions of youngsters.”

The assault on the help group follows a prolonged siege on Kabul’s luxurious Intercontinental Lodge over the weekend that killed at the least 22 folks, together with a number of U.S. residents.

As NPR’s Merrit Kennedy reported, the assault on the closely protected lodge, for which the Taliban claimed duty, is “the most recent in a sequence of huge assaults in Kabul. An assault in December on a cultural heart killed at the least 41 folks. And in Might, a truck bomb in Kabul killed greater than 150 folks.”

And in Jalalabad final month, a motorcycle-riding suicide bomber struck exterior a soccer stadium within the metropolis, killing at the least six folks and wounding 13.

[thefabulousfulcrum]

The Perils of the New, Shiny George W. Bush

The cuddly George W. Bush who paints pictures of dogs and Jay Leno is a war criminal. He doesn’t deserve an inch of rehabilitation.

via Jacobin

by Branko Marcetic

George W. Bush has to be high in the running for the worst president in the history of the republic, and he probably would’ve reigned unchallenged for at least a few decades had Hillary Clinton’s inept campaign not led to her defeat. As it is, the less than two months of Donald Trump’s volatile presidency suggests his full four years will at least be neck and neck with Bush’s eight.

Still, Bush’s presidency was historically disastrous, which makes it understandable that since Trump’s ascent, Bush appears to be waging an understated media campaign to rehabilitate his image — one which the media has happily assisted him with.

Trump’s insanity has led many liberals and other former Bush opponents to start “reconsidering” Bush’s presidency. Slate imploredBush to “speak to his party” about its latest descent into Islamophobia. “Compared to Donald Trump, George W. Bush looks like a paragon of statesmanship,” Francis Fukuyama wrote in 2015. Photos of everyone from Hillary Clinton to Michelle Obama embracing Bush have gone viral, while the former president recently yukked it up with Ellen Degeneres on her talk show.

More recently, Bush earned accolades for saying he didn’t like “the racism” and “name-calling” of the Trump era, and that the media was “indispensable to democracy” — fairly innocuous comments that are apparently grounds for heroism when stated by Bush.

Much of Bush’s rehabilitation is, as the Washington Post recently documented, both a result of the fact that next to Trump, just about anyone compares favorably, and because of a nice speech Bush delivered in 2001 as he prepared to murder and torture thousands of Muslims, telling Americans that “Islam is peace,” speaking out against recent hate crimes, and assuring American Muslims he wouldn’t resurrect Roosevelt-style mass internment. (It is apparently  an admirable and statesmanlike thing to pledge not to round up innocent people in camps without due process based on their religion).

Bush and his supporters have often said that history would vindicate his presidency. It hasn’t and it won’t, even if Trump takes us to new lows.

Style Over Substance

Let’s get the basics out of the way: The cuddly George W. Bush who struggles to put on a rain poncho and paints pictures of dogs and Jay Leno is a war criminal.

In 2011, he had to abruptly cancel a visit to Switzerland after the risk of a criminal complaint against him for torture became a very real possibility. The same year, a seven-member war crimes tribunal in Kuala Lumpur found Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair guilty of “crimes against peace” in absentia. Richard Clarke, a former top counterterrorism official under Bush, is on the recordsaying he thinks he and his administration committed war crimes.

Contrary to Bill Maher’s recent assertion that Bush was an “honorable man” who liberals “cried wolf” over, the well-known broad strokes of Bush’s presidency are enough to show that Bush was easily one of the most vicious presidents to ever take office. Bush and his underlings sold a campaign of outright lies to the public in order to embroil the United States in a totally unnecessary war that killed between 150,000 and 1 million Iraqis and destabilized an entire region.

He instituted a worldwide torture regime that continues to be stain on the United States’s global image, and which ensnared numerous innocent people. He instituted a vast, secret, and illegal surveillance apparatus, most of which survives to this day. He (just barely) spearheaded a government response to one of the twenty-first century’s worst natural disasters — visited on a majority black city — that was slow, often incompetent, and clearly racist.

Bush’s actions killed and maimed far more Muslims than his nice words ever saved. But this has always been the rub: liberals’ preoccupation with symbolic gestures and saying the right thing also led them to largely give Obama an eight-year pass for carrying out policies that were as bad as — and in some cases, worse than — Bush’s.

It’s also worth noting that the things liberals and radicals hate about Trump, such as his promises of torture and war, weren’t policies he invented. Trump didn’t institute torture or establish Guantanamo Bay — his loveable, goofy predecessor did.

These few things alone should be enough to disqualify someone from being suddenly revered as some kind of elder statesman. Yet Bush’s record was even worse than this.

It’s great that Bush promised not to sweep up hundreds of innocent people in a dragnet in a highly publicized speech. But in reality, this is exactly what he did, rounding up and detaining at least 1,200 people, some for as long as eight months. Many of them were Muslims and most were from Middle Eastern, South Asian, and North African countries; some of them citizens, some of them visa holders. A tiny fraction of them were actual security threats with tangible links to terrorists.

As Human Rights Watch detailed, the administration denied many detainees basic rights like the right to an attorney on the basis that they were non-citizens. In one case, a North Carolina Muslim convert, who was a member of the National Guard, had married a Yemeni man who was visiting the United States. He was detained by the military, while she was accused by soldiers of being a spy and pressured to take an honorable discharge; in another, a US citizen from Palestine was sent home with a leg monitor that served as a constant source of humiliation.

The Bush administration also introduced a secret program, the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CAARP), blacklisting people from certain Muslim-majority countries from becoming citizens, residents, or otherwise immigrating to the United States. The administration also spied on prominent Muslim Americans, including Bush supporters and a former member of his administration, one of whom was actually at Bush’s side as he delivered his now-vaunted “Islam is peace” speech. It instituted the notorious no-fly list which in theory keeps security threats off planes, but in practice keeps small children, a senator, Cat Stevens, and other Muslims with similar names to terrorists off planes.

Anyone alarmed by Stephen Miller’s televised declaration that the president’s powers “will not be questioned” should be reminded that this mindset was the core belief system at the heart of, and pioneered by, Bush’s presidency.

This philosophy, espoused by officials like John Yoo, David Addington, and Dick Cheney, was that of a powerful presidency unencumbered by Congress, international treaties, and other checks on executive power. It was something Cheney had pushed ever since, in his view, Watergate had neutered the presidency, instructing Reagan’s incoming chief of staff in a 1980 memo to “restore power & auth to Exec Branch” and “get rid of War Powers Act.”

Whether or not Bush personally subscribed to this ideology was unimportant; either way, Bush aggressively claimed new, extreme powers as president, including the right of preemptive war and the power to indefinitely detain anyone without due process — a colossal abuse of power both at the time and in the context of two centuries of US history.

A True Friend of the Press

Bush’s anger at the “name-calling” of today’s politics and his defense of the importance of a free press should theoretically come as a shock to anyone who lived through his presidency. Bush was hardly a paragon in this respect.

There was the time Bush was actually caught “name-calling” a reporter for doing the job he now considers essential, calling the New York Times’s Adam Clymer a “major league asshole” without realizing it was being picked up by a microphone. Clymer had had the temerity to write articles that suggested Cheney’s charitable donations were less than the average for people with his net worth, and that Bush ads claiming he had a prescription drug plan had “zero” accuracy. Bush refused to apologize for the insult, offering only “regret that it made it to the airways.”

When Bush found out someone had used the domain www.gwbush.com (you can see it here in its heyday) to make a website critical of Bush, complete with a fake image of Bush snorting cocaine, Bush’s reaction was: “There ought to be limits to freedom.”

Bush’s administration also had a habit of bombing journalists, particularly Al Jazeera.

Bush officials tried to delegitimize Al Jazeera’s reporting on the US siege of Falluja in similar terms to Trump, with a military spokesperson terming their reporting “propaganda,” “lies,” and “not legitimate news sources.” Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called their reporting “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.”

Under Bush, the United States bombed Al Jazeera not once, but twice: first in Kabul in 2001, when its office was destroyed for reasons the Pentagon couldn’t explain, even after the news agency had given authorities the location of its office; and again in 2003, this time in Baghdad, after the location had again been disclosed to authorities. In the latter, one journalist was killed.

The same day, an American tank killed two Reuters cameramen after it shelled the Palestine Hotel, where more than one hundred journalists were staying, and US forces attacked an Abu Dhabi TV office. According to the International Federation of Journalists, by 2005, sixteen journalists and other media staff had been killed by US forces in Iraq.

The UK’s Daily Mirror later reported, based on a five-page “Top Secret” memo leaked to the agency, that Bush had told Tony Blair in 2004 of his intention to bomb Al Jazeera at its headquarters in Qatar and elsewhere. The memo never saw the light of day, as the Blair government threatened to prosecute any outlet that wrote anything more about it. Prior to this, the Bush administration had detained and tortured a completely innocent Al Jazeera journalist in Afghanistan, keeping him locked up for a total of seven years, six of those in Guantanamo.

Bush loved the adversarial press so much, he continually tried to undermine it by planting pro-administration propaganda in media outlets.

At least four different reporters were paid by the administration to promote various Bush initiatives. Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to promote Bush’s No Child Left Behind education reform plan and to try to get other black journalists to do the same; columnist Maggie Gallagher was being paid $21,500 by Health and Human Services to promote a Bush initiative encouraging marriage, which she did in outlets like National Review; conservative commentator Michael McManus received $10,000 to do the same; and a freelance writer got at least $7,500 from the Agriculture Department to get articles published in outdoors magazines that put a glowing spin on federal conservation programs.

These efforts were particularly pronounced when it came to the Iraq War. The Bush administration planted hundreds of pre-packaged video news releases in local news broadcasts that mimicked the style and appearance of actual news stories, promoting the Iraq War (as well as a host of other administration programs). It also paid a contractor to pay Iraqi journalists for favorable stories and to insert articles by American soldiers in Iraqi magazines.

A Familiar Pattern

Besides this, what makes the sudden push to rehabilitate Bush particularly puzzling is that in many ways Bush’s approach to government was identical to Trump’s, both in its penchant for scandals and its pro-corporate approach.

His anti-environmental policies were no different from Trump’s, with Bush gutting regulations, pulling the United States out of a landmark international climate deal, and staffing various environmental posts with individuals who had worked in industries opposed to their missions. The administration appointed ninety-two lobbyists to its transition advisory teams in 2000 and 2001.

Bush’s administration was so mired in endless scandals, there was at one point talk of “scandal fatigue.” These ran the gamut from a secret energy task force chaired by Dick Cheney that relied on recommendations from the fossil fuel industry, to Karl Rove helping a GOP strategist secure a job at Enron, and a Bush aide’s involvement in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. There was also the administration’s ties to Halliburton, which couldn’t account for $1.8 billion it had billed the government for contract work in Iraq and Kuwait.

Bush may be dismayed at racism today, but this didn’t stop him from kicking off his 2000 South Carolina campaign at Bob Jones University, which banned interracial dating and called Catholicism a “Satanic counterfeit.” Nor did it stop his campaign from launching a whisper campaign there accusing John McCain of fathering an black child with a woman who was not his wife (his daughter had been adopted from an orphanage in Bangladesh).

As president, Bush would choose Martin Luther King’s birthday as the date to announce his opposition to affirmative action. Even if you care only about symbolic actions, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more pointed symbol than that.

If all of that is not enough, consider this: while governor of Texas, Bush set a record for sending people to die — 119 in five years — after promoting and signing a law limiting prisoners’ rights to appeal. Some of these people included Betty Lou Beets, who killed her husband after a lifetime of abuse, and a convicted rapist who had a mental age of six, had suffered similar childhood abuse (including being forced to drink his own urine out of the toilet), and didn’t even seem aware he was being put to death. Compassionate conservatism indeed.

Bush may not have gone around openly bashing immigrants or shouting his Islamophobia from the hilltops. But if that’s the standard we’re now going to use for decent statesmanship, we’re in trouble. Bush was an arrogant, dangerous president whose recent mild comments criticizing the guy who turned his brother into a national joke in no way outweigh the discriminatory, destructive policies he put in place over eight years, nor the lasting damage he did to the world by launching an illegal war which bathed the Middle East in blood and whose disastrous consequences we will be living with for decades. If the media can’t remember that, one shudders at the thought of how they’ll treat Trump when someone even more reactionary than him ascends to the presidency.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.3 (before 1900)

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1335 – At the congress of Visegrád Charles I of Hungary mediates a reconciliation between two neighboring monarchs, John of Bohemia and Casimir III of Poland. 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. 1650 – Victory over the royalists in the Battle of Dunbar opens the way to Edinburgh for the New Model Army in the Third English Civil War. 1651 – The Battle of Worcester is the last significant action in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly paid professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.3

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1335 – At the congress of Visegrád Charles I of Hungary mediates a reconciliation between two neighboring monarchs, John of Bohemia and Casimir III of Poland. 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. 1650 – Victory over the royalists in the Battle of Dunbar opens the way to Edinburgh for the New Model Army in the Third English Civil War. 1651 – The Battle of Worcester is the last significant action in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association. 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule. 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers. 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil. 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States' first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne. 1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m). 1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph. 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allied nations. The Viceroy of India also declares war, but without consulting the provincial legislatures. 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. 1941 – The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs. 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva (present-day Belarus). 1943 – World War II: British and Canadian troops land on the Italian mainland. On the same day, Walter Bedell Smith and Giuseppe Castellano sign the Armistice of Cassibile, although it is not announced for another five days. 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later. 1945 – A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2. 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix. 1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. 1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight. 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state. 1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars. 1978 – During the Rhodesian Bush War a group of ZIPRA guerrillas shot down civilian Vickers Viscount aircraft (Air Rhodesia Flight 825) with a Soviet-made SAM Strela-2; of 56 passengers and crew 38 people died in crash, 10 were massacred by the guerrillas at the site. 1981 – The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, is instituted by the United Nations. 1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. 1989 – Varig Flight 254 crashes in the Amazon rainforest near São José do Xingu in Brazil, killing 12. 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64. 2001 – In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. 2004 – Beslan school siege results in over 330 fatalities, including 186 children. 2010 – After taking off from Dubai International Airport, UPS Airlines Flight 6 develops an in-flight fire in the cargo hold and crashes near Nad Al Sheba, killing both crew members on board. 2016 – The U.S. and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both formally ratify the Paris global climate agreement. 2017 – North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.2

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. 1650 – Victory over the royalists in the Battle of Dunbar opens the way to Edinburgh for the New Model Army in the Third English Civil War. 1651 – The Battle of Worcester is the last significant action in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association. 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule. 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers. 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil. 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States' first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne. 1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m). 1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph. 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allied nations. The Viceroy of India also declares war, but without consulting the provincial legislatures. 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. 1941 – The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs. 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva (present-day Belarus). 1943 – World War II: British and Canadian troops land on the Italian mainland. On the same day, Walter Bedell Smith and Giuseppe Castellano sign the Armistice of Cassibile, although it is not announced for another five days. 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later. 1945 – A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2. 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix. 1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. 1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight. 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state. 1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars. 1981 – The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, is instituted by the United Nations. 1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64. 2001 – In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. 2004 – Beslan school siege results in over 330 fatalities, including 186 children. 2010 – After taking off from Dubai International Airport, UPS Airlines Flight 6 develops an in-flight fire in the cargo hold and crashes near Nad Al Sheba, killing both crew members on board. 2016 – The U.S. and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both formally ratify the Paris global climate agreement. 2017 – North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

[pccf]

Afghanistan Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1296 AH, (1879 AD) Qandahar (قندہار) Mint, 4.17 grams, 21 mm, overstrucked AE Falus. Obverse: ADL (عدل) 'Justice' in Hexagram overstrucked on earlier type Qandahar mint Falus with representation of Hand of Abbas R.A. Reverse: Falue e Qandahar (فلوس قندہار) blundered because of multiple strikes. Rare type strucked just for one year in 1296 AH (1879 AD) during 2nd Anglo-Afghan War. The 2nd Anglo-Afghan War came about because the British were concerned over Tsarist Russian expansion and tried to get the Afghan Amir Sher Ali to agree to a diplomatic mission to Kabul. When this was refused but a Russian mission admitted, the British invaded from three directions. With the country occupied, Sher Ali's son Yaqub Khan signed the Treaty of Gandamak in May 1879. The British forces withdrew but an uprising in Kabul led to the murder of the British Resident Sir Pierre Cavagnari. This provoked a second invasion by the British under Major General Sir Frederick Roberts and the occupation of Kabul following the Battle of Charasia in October 1879. The Afghans were again defeated at the Siege of Sherpur Cantonment in December. A further revolt led to the defeat of the British at the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880 following which Qandahar was besieged. Roberts led a force from Kabul to defeat the Afghans under Ayub Khan at the Battle of Baba Wullee. The Treaty of Gandamak was confirmed and the British withdrew. #PCCF2021POST151 https://www.instagram.com/p/CRJyIY5Lvzs/?utm_medium=tumblr

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.3

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. 1650 – Victory over the royalists in the Battle of Dunbar opens the way to Edinburgh for the New Model Army in the Third English Civil War. 1651 – The Battle of Worcester is the last significant action in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association. 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule. 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers. 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil. 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States' first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne. 1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m). 1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph. 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allied nations. The Viceroy of India also declares war, but without consulting the provincial legislatures. 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. 1941 – The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs. 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva (present-day Belarus). 1943 – World War II: British and Canadian troops land on the Italian mainland. On the same day, Walter Bedell Smith and Giuseppe Castellano sign the Armistice of Cassibile, although it is not announced for another five days. 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later. 1945 – A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2. 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix. 1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. 1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight. 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state. 1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars. 1981 – The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, is instituted by the United Nations. 1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64. 2001 – In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. 2004 – Beslan school siege results in over 330 fatalities, including 186 children. 2010 – After taking off from Dubai International Airport, UPS Airlines Flight 6 develops an in-flight fire in the cargo hold and crashes near Nad Al Sheba, killing both crew members on board. 2016 – The U.S. and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both formally ratify the Paris global climate agreement. 2017 – North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.3

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. 1650 – Third English Civil War: In the Battle of Dunbar, English Parliamentarian forces led by Oliver Cromwell defeat an army loyal to King Charles I of England and led by David Leslie, Lord Newark. 1651 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Worcester: Charles II of England is defeated in the last main battle of the war. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802". 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association. 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule. 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers. 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil. 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States' first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne. 1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m). 1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph. 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies. 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. 1941 – The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs. 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva (present-day Belarus). 1943 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Italy begins on the same day that U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign the Armistice of Cassibile aboard the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson off Malta. 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later. 1945 – A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2. 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix. 1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. 1954 – The German submarine U-505 begins its move from a specially constructed dock to its site at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. 1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight. 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state. 1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars. 1981 – The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, an international bill of rights for women, is instituted by the United Nations.[1] 1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. 1994 – Sino-Soviet split: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other. 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64. 2001 – In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. For the next 11 weeks, riot police escort the schoolchildren and their parents through hundreds of protesters, some of whom hurl missiles and abuse. The protest sparks fierce rioting and grabs world headlines. 2004 – Beslan school siege results in over 330 fatalities, including 186 children. 2010 – After taking off from Dubai International Airport, UPS Airlines Flight 6 develops an in-flight fire in the cargo hold and crashes near Nad Al Sheba, killing both crew members on board. 2016 – The U.S. and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both formally ratify the Paris global climate agreement. 2017 – North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.3

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. 1650 – Third English Civil War: In the Battle of Dunbar, English Parliamentarian forces led by Oliver Cromwell defeat an army loyal to King Charles II of England and led by David Leslie, Lord Newark. 1651 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Worcester: Charles II of England is defeated in the last main battle of the war. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802. 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association. 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule. 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers. 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil. 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States' first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne. 1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m). 1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph. 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies. 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. 1941 – The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs. 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva (present-day Belarus). 1943 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Italy begins on the same day that U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign the Armistice of Cassibile aboard the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson off Malta. 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later. 1945 – A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2. 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix. 1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. 1954 – The German submarine U-505 begins its move from a specially constructed dock to its site at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. 1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight. 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state. 1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars. 1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. 1994 – Sino-Soviet split: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other. 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64. 2001 – In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. For the next 11 weeks, riot police escort the schoolchildren and their parents through hundreds of protesters, some of whom hurl missiles and abuse. The protest sparks fierce rioting and grabs world headlines. 2004 – Beslan school siege results in over 330 fatalities, including 186 children. 2016 – The U.S. and China, together responsible for 40% of the world's carbon emissions, both formally joined the Paris global climate agreement. 2017 – North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.3

36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate. 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus. 590 – Consecration of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great). 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne. 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid. 1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. Richard "the Lionheart") is crowned at Westminster. 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire. 1650 – Third English Civil War: In the Battle of Dunbar, English Parliamentarian forces led by Oliver Cromwell defeat an army loyal to King Charles II of England and led by David Leslie, Lord Newark. 1651 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Worcester: Charles II of England is defeated in the last main battle of the war. 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England. 1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch's Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain. 1798 – The week long battle of St. George's Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize. 1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802. 1812 – Twenty-four settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana. 1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery. 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens. 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children. 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on October 23. 1875 – The first official game of polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British ranchers. 1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames. 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire. 1895 – John Brallier becomes the first openly professional American football player, when he was paid US$10 by David Berry, to play for the Latrobe Athletic Association in a 12–0 win over the Jeanette Athletic Association. 1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule. 1914 – French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers. 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy. 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil. 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States' first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio. Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne. 1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m). 1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph. 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies. 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic. 1941 – The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs. 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva (present-day Belarus). 1943 – World War II: The Allied invasion of Italy begins on the same day that U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Italian Marshal Pietro Badoglio sign the Armistice of Cassibile aboard the Royal Navy battleship HMS Nelson off Malta. 1944 – Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later. 1945 – A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2. 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix. 1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. 1954 – The German submarine U-505 begins its move from a specially constructed dock to its site at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. 1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight. 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state. 1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars. 1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. 1994 – Sino-Soviet split: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other. 1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev Tu-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64. 2001 – In Belfast, Protestant loyalists begin a picket of Holy Cross, a Catholic primary school for girls. For the next 11 weeks, riot police escort the schoolchildren and their parents through hundreds of protesters, some of whom hurl missiles and abuse. The protest sparks fierce rioting and grabs world headlines.