So much fascinating history goes by daily without anyone realizing. Let’s take a look at what happened on This Day in History!
Edward the Confessor died in early 1066 with no sons, leaving the Anglo-Saxon throne contested. Claimants from across Europe descended upon England in what became known as the Norman Invasion, as William of Normandy won out, but claimant King Harald III of Norway invaded Fulford, near York. Next, the world was forever changed in 1519 as Ferdinand Magellan began the circumnavigation of the globe. During the nearly 3 year, 37,560 mile voyage Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan, where the native Filipinos resisted Magellan and his army’s attempt to claim the island in the name of the Spanish Crown. The voyage would have a new leader for the remaining one and half years to return to Spain. Closer to home, in 1777 British forces attacked Brigadier General Anthony Wayne’s forces in Paoli, Pennsylvania. The American forces were massively outfought by the smaller army, and claims that the British gave no quarter led the battle to be known as “The Paoli Massacre.” In 1881, after the assassination of President Garfield the night prior, Chester A. Arthur was sworn in as the twenty-first president. Lastly, Mahatma Gandhi began his tenth hunger strike, his first in strike against the caste system in India and the labeling of individuals as “untouchables.” This fast lasted for 149 hours and resulted in the British government withdrawing several clauses from the election system in India that relegated untouchables to a different electoral system. Then in 1969 John Lennon privately told Paul and Ringo that he was leaving The Beatles. It would still be until The Beatles officially broke up. Lastly, in 1992 a referendum in France approved the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union.
In addition to events, the world welcomed author of The Jungle which exposed unsanitary factory conditions and led to the Federal Meat Inspection Act Upton Sinclair in 1878, Celtics Coach Red Auerbach in 1917, and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin in 1948. Meanwhile, the world lost Jacob Grimm of the Brothers Grimm in 1863, who helped write the originals of classic stories like Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel, actor Richard Dix in 1949, and Raisa Gorbecheva, wife of Mikhail Gorbachev in 1999.
There is so much more history than a single article can contain, do read more click the link below!
