cityXtra Magazine

Today's in History

On August 22, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war against Belgium.

On this date:

In 1485, England's King Richard III was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field, effectively ending the War of the Roses.

In 1787, inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates from the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.

In 1846, Gen. Stephen W. Kearny proclaimed all of New Mexico a territory of the United States.

In 1851, the schooner America outraced more than a dozen British vessels off the English coast to win a trophy that came to be known as the America's Cup.

In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, which remained under Japanese control until the end of World War II.

In 1922, Irish revolutionary Michael Collins was shot to death, apparently by Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Anglo-Irish Treaty that Collins had co-signed.

In 1932, the British Broadcasting Corp. conducted its first experimental television broadcast, using a 30-line mechanical system.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard Nixon were nominated for second terms in office by the Republican National Convention in San Francisco.

In 1962, French President Charles de Gaulle survived an attempt on his life in suburban Paris.

In 1968, Pope Paul VI arrived in Bogota, Colombia, for the start of the first papal visit to South America.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was nominated for a second term of office by the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach. John Wojtowicz (WAHT'-uh-witz) and Salvatore Naturile took seven employees hostage at a Chase Manhattan Bank branch in Brooklyn, New York, during a botched robbery; the siege, which ended with Wojtowicz's arrest and Naturile's killing by the FBI, inspired the 1975 movie "Dog Day Afternoon."

In 1989, Black Panthers co-founder Huey P. Newton was shot to death in Oakland, California. (Gunman Tyrone Robinson was later sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.)

Ten years ago: As shocked spectators watched, armed thieves stole one of four versions of the Edvard Munch (moongk) masterpiece "The Scream" and a second Munch painting, "Madonna," from the Munch museum in Oslo, Norway. (The paintings, visibly damaged, were recovered in August 2006; three men were convicted in connection with the theft and sentenced to prison.)

Five years ago: Dozens of wildfires broke out across Greece, torching olive groves, cutting off villages and sending residents fleeing as one of the largest blazes swept perilously close to the capital's northern suburbs.

One year ago: Egypt's ousted leader Hosni Mubarak was released from prison and transported to a military hospital in a Cairo suburb to be held under house arrest. A day after being sentenced to up to 35 years in prison for leaking secrets, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, in a statement to NBC's "Today" show, announced he intended to live as a woman named Chelsea and undergo hormone treatment. A mysterious glitch halted trading on the Nasdaq for three hours.

Thought for Today: "Life does not give itself to one who tries to keep all its advantages at once. I have often thought morality may perhaps consist solely in the courage of making a choice." — Leon Blum, French statesman (1872-1950).