Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
Aug 25, 1944: Liberation of Paris
On this day in 1944, French General Jacques Leclerc enters the free French capital triumphantly. Pockets of German intransigence remained, but Paris was free from German control.
Two days earlier, a French armored division had begun advancing on the capital. Members of the Resistance, now called the French Forces of the Interior, proceeded to free all French civilian prisoners in Paris. The Germans were still counterattacking, setting fire to the Grand Palais, which had been taken over by the Resistance, and killing small groups of Resistance fighters as they encountered them in the city. On August 24, another French armored division entered Paris from the south, receiving an effusion of gratitude from French civilians who poured into the streets to greet their heroes—but still, the Germans continued to fire on French fighters from behind barricades, often catching civilians in the crossfire.
But on August 25, after Gen. Dwight Eisenhower was assured by Gen. Charles de Gaulle, leader of the French Resistant forces, that Allied troops could now virtually sweep into Paris unopposed, Ike ordered Gen. Jacques Philippe Leclerc (a pseudonym he assumed to protect his family while under German occupation; his given name was Philippe-Marie, Vicomte De Hauteclocque) to enter the capital with his 2nd Armored Division. The remnants of German snipers were rendered impotent, and many German soldiers were led off as captives. In fact, the animus toward the Germans was so great that even those who had surrendered were attacked, some even machine-gunned, as they were being led off to captivity.
More than 500 Resistance fighters died in the struggle for Paris, as well as 127 civilians. Once the city was free from German rule, French collaborators were often killed upon capture, without trial.
Aug 25, 1939: The Wizard of Oz debuts
On this day in 1939, The Wizard of Oz, which will become one of the best-loved movies in history, opens in theaters around the United States.
Based on the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum (1856-1919), the film starred Judy Garland as the young Kansas farm girl Dorothy, who, after being knocked unconscious in a tornado, dreams about following a yellow brick road, alongside her dog Toto, to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz. Along the way, Dorothy encounters a cast of characters, including the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Wicked Witch of the West. Though the scenes in Kansas were shot in traditional black and white, Oz appears in vivid Technicolor, a relatively new film process at the time. Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category, The Wizard of Oz lost to the Civil War-era epic Gone With the Wind. The Wizard of Oz won a Best Song Oscar for “Over the Rainbow,” which became one of Garland’s signature hits. Garland won a special award at that year’s Oscar ceremony, for Best Juvenile Performer.
Filmed at MGM Studios in Culver City, California, The Wizard of Oz was a modest box-office success when it was first released, but its popularity continued to grow after it was televised for the first time in 1956. An estimated 45 million people watched that inaugural broadcast, and since then The Wizard of Oz has aired on TV countless times. Today, some of the film’s famous lines, including “There’s no place like home” and “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore” are well-known to several generations of moviegoers.
The Wizard of Oz spawned two sequels, Journey Back to Oz (1974), an animated film featuring the voice of Judy Garland’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, and Return to Oz (1985). A remake with an African American cast, The Wiz, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, was released in 1978 with music arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. The Wizard of Oz was one of the first 25 films to be put on the National Film Registry, which is reserved for culturally or historically significant movies.
Today marks some important anniversaries. Perhaps none of them have had as much of an impact on world history, or particularly at least Western history, as the Council of Nicea, which adopted the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and established set criteria as the official belief of Christianity, which included banning some books and beliefs suddenly considered inconvenient. Montreal was taken by the Iroquois.Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture was imprisoned in France. President Andrew Jackson offered to buy Texas from mexico, but the Mexican govenrment refused. During the first World War, German zeppelins bombed Belgium on this day. This also marks the anniversary of the Liberation of Paris, as Allied forces liberated the French capital from the Nazi occupiers. There were huge celebrations to mark the event. The last Soviet forces left Austria. Arthur Ashe became the first black men's player to win the US Open. Iran and Iraq began negotiations to end their war. the United States authorized the use of force against Iraq on this date in 1990 in the lead up to Gulf War I. Belarus declared it's independence.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
325 - Council of Nicaea ends with adoption of the Nicene Creed establishing the doctrine of the Holy Trinity
357 - Battle at Straatsburg: Julianus beats Alamannen, Chonodomarius caught
1212 - Children's cruisaders under Nicolas (10) reach Genoa
1248 - The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht.
1330 - AntiPope Nicolaas V overthrows himself
1425 - Countess Jacoba of Bavaria escapes from jail
1485 - Battle at Bosworth Fields: Henry Tudor beats king Richard III
1499 - Battle at Sapienza: Turkish fleet beats Venetians
1537 - The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, is formed.
1540 - Explorer Hernando de Alarcon travels up Colorado River
1566 - Iconoclastic fury begins in Dutch province Utrecht
1580 - Battle of Alcantara, Spain defeats Portugal
1609 - Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers
1628 - Assault on sultan of Mantarams of Batavia
1689 - Battle at Charleroi: Spanish & English armies chase French
1689 - Montreal taken by Iroquois
1698 - Czar Peter the Great returns to Moscow after trip through West-Europe
1704 - Battle at Malaga: French vs English & Dutch fleet
1718 - Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans, found
1768 - Captain James Cook departs from Plymouth, England on his 1st voyage onboard the Endeavour bound for the Pacific Ocean
1795 - Curacao slaves opponents returns to St Christopher
1802 - Toussaint L'Ouverture imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France
1804 - Alice Meynell becomes 1st woman jockey (England)
1814 - British forces destroy Library of Congress, containing 3,000 books
1825 - Uruguay declares independence from Brazil (National Day)
1829 - Pres Jackson makes an offer to buy Texas, but Mexican government refuses
1830 - Belgium revolts against Netherlands and begins The Belgian Revolution
1835 - NY Sun publishes Moon hoax story about John Herschel
1862 - Secretary of War authorizes Gen Rufus Saxton to arm 5,000 slaves
1864 - Combination rail & ferry service available from SF to Alameda
1864 - Petersburg Campaign-Battle of Ream's Station
1875 - Matthew Webb becomes 1st to swim English Channel (21h 45m)
1886 - 1st intl polo meet (US vs England)
1888 - 8th US Mens Tennis: Henry W Slocum Jr beats Howard A Taylor (64 61 60)
Russian Tsar Peter the GreatRussian Tsar Peter the Great 1890 - Would be start of Eng/Aust Test Cricket at Old Trafford Washout
1894 - -26] Balinese troops assault Dutch army, 97 killed
1894 - Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet.
1898 - 700 Greeks and 15 Englishmen are slaughtered by the Turks in Heraklion, Greece.
1904 - James J Jeffries TKOs Jack Munroe in 2 for heavyweight boxing title
1908 - Allen Winter wins US 1st $50,000 trotting race
1908 - National Association of Colored Nurses, forms
1910 - 30th US Mens Tennis: Wm Larned beats Thomas Bundy (61 57 60 68 61)
1910 - Yellow Cab is founded.
1912 - 1st time an aircraft recovers from a spin
1912 - Different nationalities battle with each other in Macedonia
1912 - The Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party, is founded.
1914 - -26] Belgian offensive at Antwerp
1914 - Belgium: German army begins 6 week plundering of Leuven Belgium
1914 - German Zeppelins bomb Antwerp Belgium, 10 die
1914 - German troops march into France pushes French army to the Sedan
1915 - Hurricane kills 275 in Galveston, Texas with $50 million damage
1916 - Dept of Interior forms National Park Service
1917 - 37th US Mens Tennis: R Lindley Murray beats N W Niles (57 86 63 63)
1919 - 1st scheduled passenger service by airplane (Paris-London)
1920 - 1st US woman to win in Olympics (Ethelda Bleibtrey)
1920 - Russia suffers a decisive defeat in the battle of Warsaw against Poland
1921 - US signs peace treaty with Germany
1921 - Yankee pitcher Harry Harper hits 3 batters in an inning tying record
1921 - The first skirmishes of the Battle of Blair Mountain occur.
1922 - Cubs beat Phillies 26-23 in highest scoring major-league game
1924 - International maritime treaty drawn
1924 - Wash Senator Walter Johnson 2nd no-hitter beats Browns, 2-0 in 7 inn
1925 - Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters organizes (Harlem NY)
1925 - Last Belgian troops vacate Duisburg
1926 - Pavlos Koundouris becomes president of Greece
1928 - Tri-City Rugby Football Union forms consisting of Moose Jaw, Regina & Winnipeg
1929 - Graf Zeppelin passes over SF for LA after trans-Pacific voyage
1932 - Amelia Earhart completes transcontinental flight
1936 - 3 Braves hit twice in an inning getting 2 hits each
1937 - Japanese fleet blockades Chinese coast
1940 - 1st (British) night bombing of Germany (Berlin)
1940 - Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia incorporated into Soviet Union
1941 - English & Russian troops attack pro-German Iran
1941 - German troops conquer Nowgorod, Leningrad
1942 - SS begins transporting Jews of Maastricht Neth
1943 - 10th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 27, Washington 7 (48,471)
1943 - German occupiers impose 72-hour work week
1943 - Lord Mountbatten appointed Supreme Allied Commander in SE Asia
1943 - Red Army under Gen Vatutin recaptures Achtyrka
1943 - US forces overrun New Georgia in Solomon Islands during WW II
1944 - France 2nd Tank division under General Leclerc reaches Notre Dame
1944 - Gen De Gaulle returns to Paris/walks Champs Elysees Paris
1944 - Paris liberated from Nazi occupation (Freedom Tuesday)
1944 - US 12nd Army corp reaches Troyes
1945 - Jewish immigrants are permitted to leave Mauritius for Palestine
1946 - 28th PGA Championship: Ben Hogan at Portland GC Portland Ore
1947 - Marion Carl in D-558-I sets world aircraft speech record, 1,047 kph
1948 - Bradman scores 150 in 212 minutes in his last innings at Lord's
1950 - Pres Harry Truman orders army to seize control of RR to avert a strike
1950 - Sugar Ray Robinson KOs Jose Basora to win middleweight boxing title
1951 - Cleveland Indians win 16th straight home game
1952 - Det Tiger Virgil Trucks 2nd no-hitter of yr, beats Yankees, 1-0
1952 - Puerto Rico becomes a US commonwealth
1954 - Ivan Filin wins Berne marathon (2:25:26.6) (260m)
1955 - Last Soviet forces leave Austria
1956 - To make room for Enos Slaughter, NY Yanks release Phil Rizzuto
1957 - Prince Suvanna Phuma forms government in LAOS, with Pathet Lao
1960 - 17th summer olympics opens in Rome
1960 - AFL begins placing players names on back of their jersies
1960 - Demonstrations against premier Lumumba
1961 - Brazilian president Janio Quadros, resigns
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1962 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1963 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Ogden Ladies' Golf Open
1963 - Paul McCartney is fined 31 pounds & given a 1 yr suspended license for speeding
1964 - Singapore limits imports from Neth due to Indonesian aggression
1967 - Beatles go to Wales to study TM with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
1967 - Minn Twin Dean Chance 2nd no-hitter of month beats Cleveland, 2-1
1967 - Paraguay accepts its constitution
1967 - Train crash at Beesd, 2 die
1968 - Arthur Ashe becomes 1st black to win US singles championship
1968 - Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Ladies World Series of Golf
1968 - NY Yankee outfield Rocky Colavito pitches 2 2/3 innings & beats Tigers 6-5; he played right field in 2nd game & homered
1969 - Det Lions beat Boston Patriots 22-9 in Montreal (NFL expo)
1970 - Elton John's 1st US appearance (Los Angeles)
1973 - Butch Trucks drummer of Allman Brothers, breaks leg in a car crash
1973 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1973 - Guitarist Henry McCullough quits Wings
1973 - Zambia adopts constitution
1974 - France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1974 - LA Aztecs defeat Miami Toros to win NASL cup
1976 - Harm Wiersma becomes world checker champion
1976 - Yanks beat Twins 5-4 in 19 innings
1978 - Baseball umps stage a 1 day strike
1979 - "Madwoman of Central Park West" closes at 22 Steps NYC after 86 perfs
1979 - California Angels trounce Toronto Blue Jays, 24-2
1979 - Somali adopts constitution
1980 - "42nd Street" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 3486 performances
1980 - Gower Champion's musical "42nd Street," premieres in NYC
1980 - Rangers pitcher Ferguson Jenkins arrested for possession of drugs
1981 - Jeff Schwartz, sets solo record for trampoline bouncing (266:09)
1981 - Voyager 2's closest approach to Saturn (63,000 miles/100,000 km)
1983 - Triple A baseball's Louisville Redbirds breaks 1 million fan mark
1983 - US & USSR sign $10 billion grain pact
1984 - French airship capsizes
1984 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1985 - Met Dwight Gooden becomes youngest pitcher to win 20 games (20y 9m 9d)
1985 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA National Pro-Am Golf Tournament
1985 - STS 51-I scrubbed at T -9m because of an onboard computer problem
1986 - A's Mark McGwire hits his 1st major league home run
1987 - Dow Jones industrial stock avg reaches record 2722.42
1987 - Madonna sings in Rotterdam
1988 - Challenger Center opens its classroom doors in Houston
1988 - Heavy fire destroys historic center of Lisbon
1988 - Iran and Iraq begin talks to end their 8 year war
1988 - NASA launches space vehicle S-214
1989 - After 12-year, 4-billion-mile journey, Voyager 2 flies over cloudtops of Neptune & its moon Triton, sending back photographs of swamps
1989 - Mayumi Moriyama becomes Japan's first female cabinet secretary.
1990 - Li Hui Rong of China sets triple jump woman's record (47'8½")
1990 - UN security council authorizes military action against Iraq
1991 - "Getting Married" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 70 perfs
1991 - 43rd Emmy Awards: LA Law, Cheers, Kirstie Alley & Patricia Wettig
1991 - 91st US Golf Amateur Championship won by Mitch Voges
1991 - Carl Lewis rus 100m in 9.86 seconds
1991 - Cubs Doug Dascenzo commits his 1st career error after 242 games
1991 - Krizstina Egerszegi swims world record 200m backstroke (2:06.62)
1991 - Martha Nause wins LPGA Chicago Sun-Times Shoot-Out Golf Tournament
1991 - Norway & Denmark recognize independence of former USSR Baltic reps
1991 - Wanda Panfil wins 3rd female world champion marathon (2:29:53)
1991 - White-Russia declares it's independence
1991 - Linux was born when Linus Torvalds sent off the email announcing his project to create a new operating system.
1992 - Jamie Solinger, of Iowa, crowned 10th Miss Teen USA
1995 - Andrew Symonds scores 254 Gloucs v Glam, world record 16 x 6
1995 - Indians' Jose Mesa fails in save attempt after 38th consecutive saves
1996 - 96th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Tiger Woods
1996 - Laura Davies wins Star Bank LPGA Golf Classic
1997 - Egon Krenz, the former East German leader, is convicted of a shoot-to-kill Berlin Wall policy.
2003 - The Tli Cho land claims agreement is signed between the Dogrib First Nations and the Canadian federal government in Rae-Edzo (now called Behchoko).
2012 - 330 people are killed as a result of conflict in the Syrian civil war
2012 - 39 people are killed and 80 are injured after a gas leak in North Venezuelan refinery
2012 - 85,000 people are displaced by severe floods in Myanmar
1718 - Hundreds of colonists from France arrived in Louisiana. Some settled in present-day New Orleans. 1814 - The U.S. Library of Congress was destroyed by British forces. 1825 - Uruguay declared independence from Brazil. 1840 - Joseph Gibbons received a patent for the seeding machine. 1875 - Captain Matthew Webb swam from Dover, England, to Calais, France making him the first person to swim the English Channel. The feat took about 22 hours. 1902 - "Al-Hoda" began publication in New York City making it the first Arabic daily newspaper in the U.S. 1916 - The National Park Service was established as part of the U.S. Department of the Interior. 1920 - Ethelda Bleibtrey won the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition in Antwerp, Belgium. She was the first woman to win an Olympic competition for the U.S. 1920 - The first airplane to fly from New York to Alaska arrived in Nome. 1921 - The U.S. signed a peace treaty with Germany. 1939 - The movie "Wizard of Oz" opened around the United States. 1940 - Arno Rudolphi and Ann Hayward were married while suspended in parachutes at the World’s Fair in New York City. 1941 - Soviet and British troops invaded Iran. This was in reaction to the Shah's refusal to reduce the number of German residents. 1941 - Allied forces invaded Iran. Within four days the Soviet Union and England controlled Iran. 1941 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed the bill appropriating funds for construction of the Pentagon. 1944 - Paris, France, was liberated by Allied forces ending four years of German occupation. 1944 - Romania declared war on Germany. 1946 - Ben Hogan won the PGA in Portland, OR. It was his first major golf title. 1949 - NBC Radio debuted "Father Knows Best." The show went to TV in 1954. 1950 - U.S. President Truman ordered the seizure of U.S. railroads to avert a strike. 1972 - In Great Britain, computerized axial tomography (CAT scan) was introduced. 1978 - The Turin shroud believed to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ went on display for the first time in 45 years. 1981 - The U.S. Voyager 2 sent back pictures and data about Saturn. The craft came within 63,000 miles of the planet. 1983 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a $10 billion grain pact. 1987 - Saudi Arabia denounced the "group of terrorists" that ran the Iranian government. 1988 - Iran and Iraq began talks in Geneva after ending their eight years of war. 1990 - Military action was authorized by the United Nations to enforce the trade embargo that had been placed on Iraq after their invasion of Kuwait. 1991 - Byelorussia declared independence from the Soviet Union. 1992 - It was reported by researchers that cigarette smoking significantly increased the risk of developing cataracts. 1993 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 3,652.09, an all-time high. 1995 - Harry Wu, human rights activist, returned to the United States. He said the spying case against him in China was "all lies." 1997 - The tobacco industry agreed to an $11.3 billion settlement with the state of Florida. 1998 - A survey released said that 1/3 of Americans use the Internet.
1718 New Orleans was founded by French settlers and named after the Duke of Orleans. 1825 Uruguay declared its independence from Brazil. 1875 Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English Channel. It took him 21 hours and 45 minutes. 1916 The Department of the Interior created the National Park Service to manage and preserve national parks and monuments for future generations. 1944 Paris was liberated from Nazi occupation by Allied forces. 1984 Author Truman Capote was found dead in Los Angeles. 2001 Singer and actress Aaliyah died in a plane crash in the Bahamas. 2003 NASA launched the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope. 2009 Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy, a fixture in the Senate for 46 years, dies of brain cancer at the age of 77. 2009 Edward "Ted" Kennedy, who served as a Democratic senator from Massachusetts since 1962, dies. He was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in 2008. 2012 The first human to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, died after suffering complications from a heart bypass
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
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