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On This Day, 7-18-08 Nero’s Rome Burns

Fire of Rome

A fire erupts in Rome, spreading rapidly throughout the market area in the center of the city. When the flames finally died out more than a week later, nearly two-thirds of Rome had been destroyed.

Emperor Nero used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild Rome in a more orderly Greek style and began construction on a massive palace called the Domus Aureus. Some speculated that the emperor had ordered the burning of Rome to indulge his architectural tastes, but he was away in Antium when the conflagration began. According to later Roman historians, Nero blamed members of the mysterious Christian cult for the fire and launched the first Roman persecution of Christians in response.

“Fire of Rome.” 2008. The History Channel website. 17 Jul 2008, 10:35 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=5187.

 

On This Day

1536 – The authority of the pope was declared void in England.

1789 – Robespierre, a deputy from Arras, France, decided to back the French Revolution.

1914 – Six planes of the U.S. Army helped to form an aviation division called the Signal Corps.

1932 – The U.S. and Canada signed a treaty to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway.

1935 – Ethiopian King Haile Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against the invading Italian army.

1936 – The Spanish Civil War began as Gen. Francisco Franco led an uprising of army troops based in Spanish North Africa.

1942 – The German Me-262, the first jet-propelled aircraft to fly in combat, made its first flight.

1944 – U.S. troops captured Saint-Lo, France, ending the battle of the hedgerows.

1944 – Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister due to setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.

1971 – New Zealand and Australia announced they would pull their troops out of Vietnam.

1984 – A gunman opened fire at a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant in San Ysidro, CA. He killed 21 people before being shot dead by police.

1994 – In Buenos Aires, a massive car bomb killed 96 people belonging to Argentinean Jewish organizations.

 

Assault of Battery Wagner and death of Robert Gould Shaw

On this day, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and 272 of his troops are killed in an assault on Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina. Shaw was commander of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, perhaps the most famous regiment of African-American troops during the war.

“Assault of Battery Wagner and death of Robert Gould Shaw.” 2008. The History Channel website. 17 Jul 2008, 10:40 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2251.

Singing Wobbly Joe Hill sentenced to death

Convicted of murder on meager evidence, the singing Wobbly Joe Hill is sentenced to be executed in Utah.

A native of Sweden who immigrated to the U.S. in 1879, Joe Hill joined the International Workers of the World (IWW) in 1910. The IWW was an industrial union that rejected the capitalist system and dreamed one day of leading a national workers’ revolution. Members of the IWW–known as Wobblies–were especially active in the western United States, where they enjoyed considerable success in organizing mistreated and exploited workers in the mining, logging, and shipping industries.

“Singing Wobbly Joe Hill sentenced to death.” 2008. The History Channel website. 17 Jul 2008, 10:43 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=4585.

Charges of communists in the U.S. Army raised

In testimony before the House Military Affairs subcommittee, the subcommittee’s chief counsel, H. Ralph Burton, charges that 16 officers and non-commissioned officers in the U.S. Army have pasts that “reflect communism.” The charges, issued nearly 10 years before Senator Joseph McCarthy would make similar accusations, were hotly denied by the U.S. Army and government.

“Charges of communists in the U.S. Army raised.” 2008. The History Channel website. 17 Jul 2008, 10:41 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2732.

Incident on Chappaquiddick Island

Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy of Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond. Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. The senator did not report the fatal car accident for 10 hours.

“Incident on Chappaquiddick Island.” 2008. The History Channel website. 17 Jul 2008, 10:39 http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=5189.