A confusingly-named war between Britain and the United States, fought between June 1812 and February 1815.
War of 1812
Fact of the Day
Henry of Grosmont, 1st duke of Lancaster, enjoyed smelling scarlet cloth.
Quote of the Day
"They are well named, for they have the countenance of angels, and as such should be coheirs with the angels in heaven.
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~ Pope Gregory I on the Angles, recorded by Bede
On This Day
1494 Thanks to the bungled diplomacy of Piero the Unfortunate, the Medici family was exiled from Florence, which was free of their rule until 1512.
1799 Napoleon, returned from successful campaigns abroad, started the Coup of 18 Brumaire that overthrew the Directory. It would lead to the establishment of the Consulate and, in many historians' eyes, the end of the French Revolution.
1918 Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated the throne after being presented with a fait accompli.
1923 Hitler and Ludendorff led about 2,000 men out of a Munich beer hall towards the Bavarian Defence Ministry in an attempt to seize power in Munich. They were blocked by a police cordon and four police officers and sixteen NSDAP members were killed. Hitler was arrested shortly afterwards but his trial, instead of putting an end to Nazism, merely gave him an excellent publicity platform.
1938 The Nazis led a wave of anti-Jewish violence across Germany that would become known as Kristallnacht.
1989 The Berlin Wall began to fall as Communist-controlled East Germany opened its border checkpoints.