July 19th..
Beginning of the Franco-German War
Napoleon III, detail of a portrait by Hippolyte Flandrin; in the Versailles Museum.
1870: The French emperor, Napoleon III, declared war on Prussia, on this day, beginning the Franco-German War, at least partly because his military advisers were convinced that the reorganization of the French army in 1866 had made it superior to its German counterparts. They also had great faith in two recently introduced technical innovations: the breech-loading chassepot rifle, with which the entire army was now equipped; and the newly invented mitrailleuse, an early machine gun.
1965: American wild animal tamer Clyde Beatty died in Ventura, California.
1947: Aung San, the Burmese nationalist leader and prime minister, was assassinated in Rangoon (Yangôn, Myanmar).
1886: Franz Liszt played the piano for the last time at a concert in Luxembourg.
1848: The Seneca Falls Convention opened in New York, launching the woman suffrage movement in the United States.
1813: The Sisters of Charity, the first American religious society, was founded by Mother Elizabeth Bayley Seton.
1333: Scottish forces were defeated by the English under Edward III in the Battle of Halidon Hill. |
