Saturday, August 13, 2011

TODAY IN HISTORY

AUGUST 13
1961:East Germany erects a barbed wire fence to seal off the border between East and West Berlin. Postal and telephone communication is also halted, and the construction of the concrete Berlin Wall, which will stand until November 1989, will begin several days later.

1521: Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his troops capture the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán after an 80-day siege. Cortés becomes the ruler of a vast empire in what is now present-day Mexico.

1831: Nat Turner sees a second solar eclipse and interprets it as a celestial sign that he should lead a violent rebellion against white slaveholders in Southampton, Va. Turner's uprising begins a week later and kills more than 55 whites; far more blacks die in retaliation for the rebellion.
Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments:

Post a Comment