[Amnorix]

October 14

1066. The Battle of Hastings. The forces of William II of Normandy defeat the forces of Harold II of England. Henceforth, William is known as William I, King of England, or William the Conqueror. Before all is said and done, the influence of the Normans will be felt far and wide across Europe and even in the Middle East as part of the Crusades. Closer to home, however, the rulership over both England and a part of France will drive English/French politics, and Western European politics, for hundreds of years.

1322. Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing England to (for now) accept Scottish independence.

1586. Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for her efforts to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Her own letters condemned her, though she put up a spirited defense. Found guilty, she was sentenced to execution by beheading. Queen Elizabeth was reluctant to order the sentence carried out, however, mostly out of concern that her son, James of Scotland, might form an alliance with the Catholic powers of Europe. By early the next year, however, she ordered her death, and on February 8, 1587 her head was separate from her shoulders by two or three (there is some dispute) blows from an axe.

1656. The hypocritcal Puritans of Massachusetts, who had fled England to avoid religious persecution, enact punitive legislation against the Religious Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers. The close relationship between church and state in Massachusetts results in the Quakers being, effectively, politically subversive and religiously apostate.

1834. An election battle in Philadelphia turns violent, with a block of the city burning down in the wake of the brick, stone and firearms battle between Whigs and Democrats to control the results in one township.

1867. The last Shogun, of the Tokugawa Shogunate, of Japan resigns as a critical part of the Meiji Restoration and the revival in power of the Emperor.

1912. While campaigning, former President Theodore Roosevelt is shot and slightly wounded by a wanna-be assassin. Carrying the bullet in his chest, Roosevelt gives the planned speech.

1926. Winnie-the-Pooh is first published.

1939. A German U-Boat sinks the British battleship Royal Oak at her mooring at Scapa Flow, Scotland, a main British navy base. While their political leaders are, for lack of a better term, complete s**theads, there's no denying that this is a truly amazing act of bravery and resourcefulness by the Kriegsmarine.

1943. Black Thursday. One of the most dramatic air battles in history takes place in the skies over Germany as the US Army Air Force returns for a second daylight attack on the ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt. Over 60 bombers are shot down by the German fighter swarms and deadly 88mm cannons. Out of 350 bombers, only 17 return undamaged. American bomber command suspends daylight activities due to the losses, only resuming them in February when longer range fighters are available to provide more air support to the bombers.

1944. Athens, Greece, is liberated by British troops. Rumors that the population celebrated by putting nearly everyone on the public dole and avoiding taxes are unfounded.

1962. The Cuban Missile Crisis begins when an American U-2 reconnaissance plane flies over Cuba and takes pictures of Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads being installed.

1964. Partly as a result of the events that will unfold around the Cuban Missile Crisis, on this date Leonid Brezhnev ascends to power in the Soviet Union, sending his predecessor, Nikita Khrushchev, into forced retirement. Khrushchev's name will be systematically erased from nearly all Soviet histories, including his achievements during WWII.

1982. President Reagan declares a war on drugs.