HISTORY TODAY: October 07


2001
The US invasion of Afghanistan in reaction to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 begins; it will become the longest war in US history.


1571In the last great clash of galleys, the Ottoman navy is defeated at Lepanto, Greece, by a Christian naval coalition under the overall command of Spain’s Don Juan de Austria.
1765Delegates from nine of the American colonies meet in New York to discuss the Stamp Act Crisis and colonial response to it.
1780In South Carolina, American Patriot militia defeat Loyalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson in the Battle of Kings Mountain. In South Carolina, American Patriot militia defeat Loyalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson in the Battle of Kings Mountain. [From MHQ—The Quarterly Journal of Military History]
1849Edgar Allan Poe, aged 40, dies a tragic death in Baltimore. Never able to overcome his drinking habits, he is found in a delirious condition outside a saloon that was used as a voting place.
1870French Minister of the Interior Leon Gambetta escapes besieged Paris by balloon, reaching the French provisional government in Tours.
1913In attempting to find ways to lower the cost of the automobile and make it more affordable to ordinary Americans, Henry Ford took note of the work of efficiency experts like Frederick Taylor, the “father of scientific management.” The result was the assembly line that reduced the time it took to manufacture a car, from 12 hours to 93 minutes.
1944A prisoner uprising takes place at Birkenau concentration camp.
1949Iva Toguri D’Aquino, better known as Tokyo Rose, is sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason.
1949East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, is formed.
1976Hua Guofeng, premier of the People’s Republic of China, succeeds the late Mao Zedong as chairman of the Communist Party of China.
1985Four Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) hijackers seize the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and demand the release of 50 Palestinians held by Israel.
2001The US invasion of Afghanistan in reaction to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 begins; it will become the longest war in US history.

Born on October 7

1746William Billings, composer.
1849James Whitcomb Riley, poet.
1885Niels Bohr, physicist whose model of atomic structure helped establish quantum theory.
1900Heinrich Himmler, Nazi leader.
1907Helen MacInnes, writer.
1931Desmond Tutu, South African religious leader.
1934LeRoi Jones (Imamu Amiri Baraka), playwright.
1935Thomas Keneally, novelist, author of Schindler’s Ark, the basis for the film Schindler’s List.
1952Vladimir Putin, former prime minister and current (2013) president of Russia.
1955Yo Yo Ma, cellist.


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