1941 The German U-boat U-570 is captured by the British and renamed
Graph.
1941 Price controls and rationing
^top^
With the US on the verge of entering
World War II and prices threatening to skyrocket, President
Franklin Roosevelt, by an executive order, creates the Office
of Price Administration (OPA). Charged with controlling consumer
prices in the face of war, the OPA imposed rent controls and
a rationing program which initially targeted auto tires. Soon,
the agency was producing coupon books for sugar, coffee, meat,
fats, oils, and numerous other items.
With goods in tight supply, people
in the US were urged to stick to the system of rationing. Some
even took the Home Front Pledge, a declaration of their commitment
to avoiding the black market in favor of buying the OPA way.
The end of the war didn' t prompt an instant shutdown of the
OPA. Reasoning that some goods were still quite scarce, President
Truman kept the agency running. However big business objected
to the controls, as did farmers, who suffered under continued
meat rationing.
Soon after the 1946 election,
the OPA was relieved of its duties, with only rents, sugar,
and rice still subject to controls. The agency's record of service
during the war was fairly impressive: by V-J Day, consumer prices
had increased by 31%, compared with 62% during World War I.
|
1933 In the Great Depression in the US, an executive order prohibits
"hoarding" gold and places limits on its exportation.
1916 Italy's declaration of war against Germany took effect during
World War I.
1914 Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy
in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World
War I.
1879 Last independent Zulu king
captured ^top^
King Cetshwayo, the last great
ruler of Zululand, is captured by the British following his
defeat in the British-Zulu War. He was subsequently sent into
exile. In 1843, Britain succeeded the Boers as the rulers of
Natal, which administered Zululand, the neighboring kingdom
of the Zulu people. Boers, also known as Afrikaners, were the
descendants of the original Dutch settlers who came to South
Africa in the seventeenth century. Zulus, a migrant people from
the north, had also come to southern Africa during the seventeenth
century, settling around the Tugela River region.
In 1838, the Boers, migrating
north to elude the new British dominions in the south, first
came into armed conflict with the Zulus, who were under the
rule of King Dingane at the time. The European migrants succeeded
in overthrowing Dingane in 1840, replacing him with his son
Mpande, who became a vassal of the new Boer republic of Natal.
In 1843, the British took over
Natal and Zululand. In 1872, King Mpande died and was succeeded
by his son Cetshwayo, who was determined to resist European
domination in his territory. In December 1878, King Cetshwayo
rejected the British demand that he disband his troops, and
in January of the next year, British forces invaded Zululand
to suppress Cetshwayo. The British suffered grave defeats at
Isandlwana, where 1300 British soldiers were killed or wounded,
and at Hlobane Mountain, but, on 29 March 1879, the tide turned
in favor of the British at the Battle of Khambula.
At Ulundi in July 1879, Cetshwayo's
forces were utterly routed and the Zulus surrendered. King Cetshwayo
was subsequently captured and sent into exile, but in 1883 he
was reinstated to rule over part of his former territory. However,
because of his defeats he was discredited in the eyes of his
subjects, and they soon drove him out of Zululand. He died in
exile in the next year. In 1887, faced with continuing Zulu
rebellions, Britain formally annexed Zululand and, in 1897,
it became a part of Natal, which joined the Union of South Africa
in 1910. |
1867 US occupies Midway Islands in the Pacific
1864 Terry promoted to Major
General. ^top^
Union General Alfred Terry is
promoted from brigadier general to major general of the United
State Volunteers. A native of Connecticut, Terry studied law
and became a clerk of the New Haven Superior Court before the
war. He was a colonel in the Second Connecticut when the war
began, and his regiment fought at the First Battle of Bull Run.
Terry and his regiment fought at Port Royal, South Carolina,
in the fall of 1861. He spent the next two and a half years
fighting along the southern coast. For his service, he was promoted
to brigadier general and given temporary command of the captured
Fort Pulaski in Georgia. At the end of 1863, Terry was assigned
to General Benjamin Butler's Army of the James. He participated
in the early stages of the siege of Petersburg, Virginia, before
his promotion to major general, and assumed temporary command
of the Tenth Corps when General David Birney died of malaria.
At the end of 1864, Terry participated
in an attempt to capture Fort Fisher in North Carolina, a stronghold
that protected the approach to Wilmington, the Confederacy's
most important blockade-running port. Led by General Benjamin
Butler, the expedition was a dismal failure. General-in-chief
Ulysses S. Grant was so disappointed with Butler that he removed
him from command and placed Terry in charge of the next attempt.
In January 1865, Terry teamed with Admiral David Porter to make
another attempt on Fort Fisher. Porter's ships shelled the fort,
and Terry led nearly 10'000 soldiers on multiple attacks that
effected a surrender by the Confederate garrison inside. Terry
went on to a distinguished postwar military career. He commanded
the Department of Dakota in the late 1860s, then took over the
Department of the South during Reconstruction. He returned to
the Department of Dakota, and he was the overall commander of
the expedition that resulted in the massacre of George Custer
and his entire command at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on
June 25, 1876. Terry retired in 1888, and he died in New Haven,
Connecticut, in 1890 at age 63. |
1862 Battle of Groveten begins as, mistakenly believing the Confederate
Army to be in retreat, Union General John Pope attacks. Both sides sustain
heavy casualties.
1861 Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, falls to Union troops after
a two-day operation, closing an important outlet from Pamlico Sound to
Confederate blockade runners.
1830 Autonomie de la Serbie
^top^
Le sultan turc d'Istanbul reconnaît
l’autonomie de la Serbie. La même année, la Grèce
obtient son indépendance. Ayant conquis les Balkans quatre siècles
plus tôt, les Turcs n'ont rencontré de résistance que dans les
forêts de sapins du petit Monténégro. Au début du XIXe siècle,
l'empire ottoman n'est plus que l'ombre de lui-même.
En 1804, le pacha qui réside
à Belgrade est éliminé par ses janissaires. Chassés par les
troubles, les habitants de Belgrade se prennent à rêver à l'exemple
de leurs cousins monténégrins. Un ancien éleveur de porcs prend
la tête de leur révolte. Les Turcs le surnomment Karageorges
(Georges le Noir) en raison de son tempérament. Karageorges
rentre triomphalement à Belgrade le 12 decembre 1806 et érige
la Serbie en principauté autonome. Mais finalement battu et
chassé de sa capitale, il doit se réfugier en Autriche.
Le flambeau de la révolte est
repris par un autre éleveur de porcs, Miloc
Obrénovic. Il fait assassiner Karageorges en 1817 avant
de se faire reconnaître prince héréditaire de Serbie par le
sultan. Les propriétaires turcs quittent le pays mais quelques
garnisons ottomanes restent sur place.
En 1839, les Serbes, lassés par
la brutalité de leur prince, l'obligent à abdiquer au profit
de son fils. Deux ans plus tard, ils chassent les Obrénovic
et appellent au pouvoir le fils de Karageorges. Celui-ci sera
à son tour chassé pour cause d'excessive complaisance envers
le sultan. Les Serbes, par un singulier retour de balancier,
rendront le pouvoir au vieux Miloc Obrénovic.
Les familles des Karageorgevic
et des Obrénovic ne cesseront dès lors de se disputer le trône
à coup d'assassinats et de complots. En 1867, Michel Obrénovic,
le fils et le successeur de Miloc, obtiendra le départ définitif
des garnisons ottomanes. Devenu "l'homme malade de l'Europe",
l'empire ottoman octroiera enfin une complète indépendance à
la Serbie en 1878, sous la pression des grandes puissances occidentales
réunies en congrès à Berlin.
L’empire ottoman reconnaît l’autonomie
de la principauté de Serbie. Presque au même moment, la Grèce
acquiert son indépendance. Le sultanat d'Istanbul est devenu
"l'homme malade de l'Europe" et les grandes puissances s'appliquent
à le dépecer. La Serbie se soulève dès 1804 sous la conduite
d'un paysan, Karageorges (Georges le Noir). Belgrade est prise
le 12 decembre 1806. Mais, devenu prince, Karageorges est finalement
battu et chassé de sa capitale. Le flambeau de la révolte est
repris par un notable, Miloc Obrénovic. Il fait assassiner Karageorges
le 25 Jul 1817 avant de se faire reconnaître, enfin, prince
héréditaire de Serbie par les Turcs. Les propriétaires turcs
quittent le pays et seules quelques garnisons restent sur place.
Mais à Belgrade, les familles des Karageorgevic et des Obrénovic
ne cesseront d'ensanglanter le pays en se disputant le trône
au cours du XIXe siècle. |
1814 In the War of 1812, by 28 August 1814, the British had captured
a large portion of the East Coast, including Washington, D.C., prompting
New York banks to halt specie payments.
1789 Sir William Herschel discovers Saturn's moon Enceladus
1776 Battle of Long Island
1655 New Amsterdam & Peter Stuyvesant bars Jews from military
service
1645 In Poland, King Vladislav IV convenes the Conference of
Thorn. He seeks to bring reunion among the 26 Catholic, 28 Lutheran and
24 Calvinist theologians in attendance. Discussions would continue through
November, but no theological agreement be achieved.
1609 Delaware Bay discovered by Henry Hudson for the Netherlands.
|
On
a 28 August: 
