TODAY in HISTORY

Today is Monday, August 20, the 232nd day of 2018. There are 133 days left in the year.

917 Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.

1000 The foundation of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen, celebrated as a National Day in Hungary. 1083 Canonisation of the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen and his son Saint Emeric. 1191 Richard I of England initiates the Massacre at Ayyadieh, leaving 2,600– 3,000 Muslim hostages dead. 1308 Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.

1391 Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. 1672 Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague. 1775 The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona. 1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. 1866 President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American 1882 Civil War over. Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia. 1914 World War I: Brussels is captured during the German invasion of Belgium.

1920 The National Football League is organised as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio

1926 Japan’s public broadcasting company, Nippon Hoso Kyokai ( NHK) is established. 1938 Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez. 1950 Korean War: United Nations repel an offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to cross the Nakdong River and assault the city of Taegu.

1962 The NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclearpowered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.

1986 In Edmond, Oklahoma, U. S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co- workers and then commits suicide. 1988 The Troubles: Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone. 1998 The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.

2006 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.