TODAY IN HISTORY

Blackleaf

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31st May 1678 - The Godiva Procession begins in Coventry. This event, held annually ever since, re-enacts the moment that Lady Godiva rode through the city of Coventry on horseback and completely naked. Legend has it that she told the people of Coventry to stay indoors and to close their windows so that they couldn't see her when she rode through the city naked. But one man, a tailor, disobeyed and decided to get a glimpse of her passing by - and is where the expression "Peeping Tom" comes from.
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Godiva (sometimes Godgifu) (c. 980 – September 10, 1067) was an Anglo-Saxon lady, who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in England in order to gain a remission of the oppressive toll imposed by her husband on his tenants.


Lady Godiva by John Collier, ca 1898

Legend
According to the story, Lady Godiva was the beautiful wife of Leofric III (968 – 1057), Earl of Mercia and lord of Coventry. The people of that city were suffering grievously under the earl's oppressive taxation. Lady Godiva appealed again and again to her husband, who obstinately refused to remit the tolls. At last, weary of her entreaties, he said he would grant her request if she would ride naked through the streets of the town. Lady Godiva took him at his word, and after issuing a proclamation that all persons should keep within doors or shut their windows, she rode through, clothed only in her long hair. One person disobeyed her proclamation, a tailor, ever afterwards known as Peeping Tom. He bored a hole in his shutters that he might see Godiva pass and is said to have been struck blind. Her husband kept his word and abolished the onerous taxes.

The oldest form of the legend has Godiva passing through Coventry market from one end to the other while the people were assembled, attended only by two female (clothed) riders. This version is given in Flores Historiarum by Roger of Wendover (died 1236), a somewhat gullible collector of anecdotes, who quoted from an earlier writer. The still later story, with its episode of Peeping Tom, appeared first among 17th century chroniclers. Whether the Lady Godiva of this story is the Godiva or Godgifu ("gift of God") of history is undecided.

Roger of Wendover may not have understood the power and rights of women in preconquest England. Godiva belonged to the second-wealthiest family in Britain at the time—second only to the Godwins—and she ruled Coventry in her own right at the time of the Domesday Book. Though she may have inherited the land from her husband, she did own her land herself. Some scholars speculate that she was also the harsh landlady.

It was customary at that time for penitents to make a public procession in only their shift—a sleeveless white garment similar to a slip today, and one which was certainly considered "underwear". Godiva may have repented of her harshness, traveled through town as a penitent, her people witnessing their feared landlady humilated in her shift. Thus, scholars speculate, Godiva's story may have passed into folk history to be recorded in a rather, but not substantially, romanticized version.

The claim that Godiva's long hair effectively hid her from sight is generally believed, like the story of Peeping Tom, to have been a later addition, but compare Rapunzel. Certain other thematic elements are familiar in myth and fable: the resistant Lord (Esther and Ahasuerus), the exacted promise, the stringent condition, the test of chastity. Even if Peeping Tom is a late addition, his being struck blind demonstrates the closely knit themes of the violated Mystery and the punished intruder (compare Diana and Actaeon).

It is also thought that Lady Godiva's "nakedness" may well refer to her riding through the streets stripped of her jewelery & trademark of her upper class rank.


A statue of Lady Godiva in Coventry.


Historical corroboration
Nevertheless, the fact that a lady of this name existed in the early part of the 11th century is certain, as evidenced by several ancient documents, such as the Stow charter, the Spalding charter, and the Domesday survey, though the spelling of the name varies considerably. It would appear from the chronicles of Ely, Liber Eliensis (end of 12th century), that she was a widow when Leofric married her in 1040. In or about that year she aided in the founding of a monastery at Stow, Lincolnshire. In 1043 she persuaded her husband to build and endow a Benedictine monastery at Coventry. Her mark, "di Ego Godiva Comitissa diu istud desideravi", was found on the charter given by her brother, Thorold of Bucknall, sheriff of Lincolnshire, to the Benedictine monastery of Spalding; and she is commemorated as benefactress of other monasteries at Leominster, Chester, Wenlock, Worcester, and Evesham. She is mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1085, as one of the few Anglo-Saxons to retain land after the conquest, and the only woman mentioned as a landholder. She probably died a few years later and was buried in one of the porches of the abbey church. Dugdale (1656) says that a window, with representations of Leofric and Godiva, was placed in Trinity Church, Coventry, about the time of Richard II.

The Godiva procession—a commemoration of the legendary ride instituted on May 31, 1678, as part of Coventry fair—was celebrated at intervals until 1826. From 1848 to 1887 it was revived, and continued into the 21st century.

The wooden effigy of Peeping Tom which, since 1812, has looked out on the world from a house at the northwest corner of Hertford Street, Coventry, represents a man in armour, and was probably an image of Saint George. It was removed from another part of the town to its present position.

From the mid 1980s a Coventry resident, Pru Porretta, has adopted a Lady Godiva role to promote community events and good works in the city. In 1999 Coventry councillors considered eliminating Poretta's character from the city's public identity 1. As of 2005 Porretta retains the status of Coventry's unofficial ambassador.


The Godiva Procession (except, for decency, she is fully clothed during the event).

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Blackleaf

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1st June 1794 - the battle of the Glorious First of June was fought between the Royal Navy and the navy of Revolutionary France. As in the vast majority of battles between the British and the French, it was a British victory.
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Lord Howe's action, or the Glorious First of June by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, painted 1795, shows the two flagships engaged on 1 June 1794. Queen Charlotte is to the left and Montagne to the right.


Combatants

Great Britain VS France
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Commanders

Great Britain - Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe

France - Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse
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Strength

Great Britain - 25 ships of the line

France - 26 ships of the line
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Casualties
Great Britain - 0 ships lost, 8 ships damaged, 287 men killed, 811 wounded

France - 7 ships lost, 13 damaged, 1,500 men killed, 2,000 wounded, 3,000 captured

(One less ship, but an overwhelming victory)
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Glorious First of June (also known as the Third Battle of Ushant and in French as the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2) was a naval battle fought in the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 1794 between the Royal Navy and the navy of Revolutionary France. It was the first major naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars.



Origin
The French people were suffering much distress from the bad harvest of the previous year, and a great convoy of 117 merchant ships laden with corn was expected from America. Admiral Vanstabel of the French navy had been sent to escort it with two ships of the line in December of 1793. He sailed with his charge from the Chesapeake on the 11th of April 1794. On the previous day six French ships of the line left Brest to meet Vanstabel in mid ocean. The British force designed to intercept the convoy was under Admiral Lord Howe, then in command of the channel fleet. He sailed from Spithead on the 2nd of May with 34 sail of the line and 15 smaller vessels, having under his charge nearly a hundred merchant ships which were to be seen clear of the Channel. On the 4th, when off the Lizard, the convoy was sent on its way protected by 8 line of battle ships and 6 or 7 frigates. Two of the line of battle ships were to accompany them throughout the voyage. The other six under Rear-admiral Montagu were to go as far as Cape Finisterre, and were then to cruise on the look-out for the French convoy between Cape Ortegal and Belle Isle. These detachments reduced the force under Lord Howe's immediate command to 26 of the line and 7 frigates. On the 5th of May Howe was off Ushant, and sent frigates to reconnoitre the harbour of Brest. They reported to him that the main French fleet, which was under the command of Villaret-Joyeuse, and was of 25 sail of the line, was lying at anchor in the roads. Howe then sailed to the latitude on which the convoy was likely to be met with, knowing that if the French admiral came out it would be to meet the ships with the food and cover them from attack. To seek the convoy was therefore the most sure way of forcing Villaret-Joyeuse to action. On 19 May the French Brest fleet sailed to meet the convoy. The British fleet continued cruising in the Bay of Biscay until the 18th. On the 19th Lord Howe returned to Ushant and again reconnoitred Brest. It was then seen that Villaret-Joyeuse had gone to sea. He had sailed with his whole force on the 16th and had passed close to the British fleet on the 17th, unseen in a fog. On the 19th the French admiral was informed by the Patriote (74) that Nielly had fallen in with, and had captured, the British frigate Castor 32, under Captain Thomas Troubridge, together with a convoy from Newfoundland. On the same day Villaret-Joyeuse captured part of a Dutch convoy of 53 sail from Lisbon. On the 19th a frigate detached by Admiral Montagu joined Howe. It brought information that Montagu had recaptured part of the Newfoundland convoy, and had learnt that Nielly was to join Vanstabel at sea, and that their combined force would be 9 sail of the line. Montagu himself had steered to cruise on the route of the convoy between the 45th and 47th degrees of north latitude. Howe now steered to meet his subordinate who, he considered, would be in danger from the main French fleet. On the 21st he recaptured some of the Dutch ships taken by Villaret-Joyeuse. From them he learnt that on the 19th the French fleet had been in latitude 47 46 N. and in longitude 11 22 N. and was steering westward. Judging that Montagu was too far to the south to be in peril from Villaret-Joyeuse, and considering him strong enough to perform the duty of intercepting the convoy, Lord Howe decided to pursue the main French fleet. The wind was changeable and the weather hazy.

On the 1st of June (13 prairial An 2 in the French Revolutionary calendar) they were in the same relative positions, and at about a quarter past eight Howe bore down on the French, throwing his whole line on them at once from end to end, with orders to pass through from windward to leeward, and so to place the British ships on the French ships' line of retreat. It was a bold departure from the then established methods of fighting, and most honourable in a man of sixty-eight, who had been trained in the old school. Its essential merit was that it produced a close mêlée, in which the better average gunnery and seamanship of the British fleet would tell. Lord Howe's orders were not fully obeyed by all his captains, but a signal victory was won. The battle rapidly turned into a general mêlée which lasted all day. The French ships Sans-Pareil, Juste, America, Impétueux, Northumberland, and Achille were taken, and the Vengeur du Peuple sank after a four-hour duel with HMS Brunswick. When the French withdrew, many of the British ships were in no condition to pursue: Defence and Marlborough were completely dismasted and had to be towed back to port.

Aboard the Tremendous, Mrs Daniel Mackenzie gave birth to a boy, Daniel "Tremendous" Mackenzie, who was later awarded the Naval General Service medal in recognition of his presence at the action (with a rating of "baby").



Aftermath
The convoy escaped capture, having passed over the spot on which the action of the 28th May was fought, on the following day, and it anchored at Brest on the 3rd of June. Its safe arrival went far to console the French for their defeat. The failure to stop it was forgotten in England in the pleasure given by the victory.

The French had lost 7 ships, with a further 13 severely damaged, and had suffered perhaps 1,500 killed, 2,000 wounded and 3,000 captured, while the British had 8 seriously damaged ships, 287 killed and 811 wounded.

Both sides could claim a victory: the British in the tactical battle itself, but the French achieved the strategic object of their campaign, since the grain convoy reached Brest safely.

Strategically the battle was a victory for the British: the French navy never again tried to fight a convoy through the British blockade, resorting to blockade-running, privateering and trade through neutral countries.

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Also on this day -

1542 - the approximate date of the start of the War of the Rough Wooing between England and Scotland which last to 1550. The Scots won a limited victory at the Battle of Ancrum Moor, but then the English won a more serious victory at the Battle of Pinkie.

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Blackleaf

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2nd June 1953 - the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. This event also marked the dawn of the television age - the first mass TV audience of all time tuned in to watch her coronation. She was only 27 years old when she became Queen.
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Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, 2nd June 1953. Her Coronation was a bright spot in a country suffering from rationing and the rebuilding of its bombed towns and cities.



Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor) (born 21 April 1926) is Queen of sixteen independent nations known as the Commonwealth Realms. These are Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. By the Statute of Westminster 1931 she holds these positions equally; no one nation takes precedence over any other (so she is no more Britain's Queen than she is Canada's Queen). She is the world's only monarch who is simultaneously Head of State of more than one independent nation, with realms in Europe, North and Central America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. She is one of the most powerful heads of state in the world although she exercises little executive power personally (probably THE most powerful, more so than even America's George W Bush).

She became Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan and Ceylon upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. As other colonies of the British Commonwealth (now Commonwealth of Nations) attained independence from the UK during her reign she acceded to the newly created thrones as Queen of each respective realm so that throughout her 54 years on the throne she has been Monarch of 32 nations. Elizabeth II has seen a number of her former territories and realms leave this shared relationship and become kingdoms under a different dynasty, or republics.

Today about 128 million people live in the 16 countries of which she is head of state.

She also holds the positions of Head of the Commonwealth, Lord High Admiral (of the Royal Navy), Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Lord of Mann (the Head of State of the Isle of Man). Following tradition, she is also styled Duke of Lancaster and Duke of Normandy.

She is currently the second-longest-serving head of state in the world, after King Bhumibol of Thailand and the third-longest serving British monarch (after George III, and Queen Victoria). Her reign of over half a century has seen ten different Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and numerous Prime Ministers in the other Commonwealth Realms of which she is or was Head of State.


Elizabeth was born at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London on 21 April 1926. Her father was The Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI), the second eldest son of King George V and Queen Mary. Her mother was The Duchess of York (née Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), the daughter of Claude George Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and his wife, the Nina Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck, the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.

She was baptised in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace by Cosmo Lang, the then Archbishop of York and her godparents were King George and Queen Mary, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Connaught, the Earl of Strathmore and Lady Elphinstone.



"Princess Lilibet" (here spelled "Lilybet") made the cover of Time in 1929, at age three.

Elizabeth was named after her mother, while her two middle names are those of her paternal great-grandmother Queen Alexandra and grandmother Queen Mary respectively. As a child her close family knew her as ‘Lilibet’.

As a granddaughter of the British sovereign in the male line, she held the title of a British princess with the style Her Royal Highness. Her full style was Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. At the time of her birth, she was third in the line of succession to the crown, behind her father and her uncle, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII). Although her birth generated public interest, no one could have predicted that she would become Queen. It was widely assumed that her uncle, the Prince of Wales, would marry and have children in due course. Had Edward stayed on the throne and produced no heirs (which would have been likely due to his wife Wallis Simpson's reproductive issues), Elizabeth would still have become Queen



Succession
King George's health declined during 1951 and Elizabeth frequently stood in for him at public events. She visited Greece, Italy and Malta (where Philip was then stationed) during the year. In October she toured Canada and visited President Harry S. Truman in Washington, DC. In January 1952 Elizabeth and Philip set out for a tour of Australia and New Zealand. They had reached Kenya when word arrived of the death of her father, on 6 February 1952, from lung cancer.

At the moment she became aware she was now queen, she was in a treetop hotel; a unique circumstance for any such event. She was the first British monarch since the Act of Union in 1801 to be out of the country at the moment of succession, and also the first in modern times not to know the exact time of her accession (because George VI had died in his sleep at an unknown time). The Treetops Hotel, where she "went up a princess and came down a queen", is now a very popular tourist retreat in Kenya. The following year, the Queen's grandmother, Queen Mary, died of lung cancer on March 24, 1953. Reportedly, the Dowager Queen's dying wish was that the coronation not be postponed. Elizabeth's coronation took place in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953.



Life as Queen


Elizabeth II wearing the Imperial State Crown and fur cape and holding the Sceptre with the Cross and the Orb at her Coronation (2 June 1953).


After the Coronation, Elizabeth and Philip moved to Buckingham Palace in central London. It is believed, however, that like many of her predecessors she dislikes the Palace as a residence and considers Windsor Castle, west of London, to be her home. She also spends time at Balmoral Castle in Scotland and at Sandringham House in Norfolk.

Queen Elizabeth is the most widely travelled head of state in history. In 1953–54 she and Philip made a six-month round-the-world tour, becoming the first reigning monarch to circumnavigate the globe, and also the first to visit Australia, New Zealand and Fiji (which she visited again during the 1977 jubilee). In October 1957 she made a state visit to the United States and toured Canada, opening the first session of the 23rd parliament. In 1959 she made a tour of Canada, as well as undertaking a state visit to the United States as Queen of Canada, hosting the return dinner for then US President Dwight D. Eisenhower at the Canadian embassy in Washington. In February 1961 she visited Ankara as the guest of Turkish President Cemal Gürsel and later toured India and Pakistan for the first time. She has made state visits to most European countries and to many outside Europe. She regularly attends Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings.

At the time of Elizabeth's accession there was much talk of a "new Elizabethan age". Elizabeth's role has been to preside over the United Kingdom as it has shared world economic and military power with a growing host of independent nations and principalities. As nations have developed economically and in literacy, Queen Elizabeth has witnessed over the past 50 years a gradual transformation of the British Empire into its modern successor, the Commonwealth. She has worked hard to maintain links with former British possessions, and in some cases, such as South Africa, she has played an important role in retaining or restoring good relations.

Despite a series of controversies about the rest of the royal family, particularly the marital difficulties of her children throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Queen Elizabeth remains a remarkably uncontroversial figure and is generally well respected by the people of her Realms. However, her public persona remains formal, though more relaxed than it once was.

Elizabeth remains a highly respected head of state. However, she and her family have come under increasing pressure from UK based newspapers. In 2002 she celebrated her Golden Jubilee, marking the 50th anniversary of her accession to the Throne. The year saw an extensive tour of the Commonwealth Realms, including numerous parades and official concerts.

The Jubilee year coincided with the deaths, within a few months, of Elizabeth's mother and sister. Elizabeth's relations with her children, while still somewhat distant, have become much warmer since these deaths. She is particularly close to her daughter-in-law Sophie, The Countess of Wessex. She is known to have disapproved of Prince Charles's long-standing relationship with Camilla Parker-Bowles, but with their recent marriage, has come to accept it. On the other hand, she is very close to her grandchildren, noticeably Prince William and Zara Phillips.

In 2003 Elizabeth, who is often described as robustly healthy, underwent three operations. She had two operations by the end of the year concerning each of her knees, and also had several lesions removed from her face. This had prompted some debate in the media about whether the evolving monarchy should have monarchs abdicating as in some other nations, or even enforce a retirement age for reigning monarchs. In June 2005 she was forced to cancel several engagements after contracting what the Palace described as a bad cold. Nonetheless the Queen has been described as being in excellent health and is rarely ill.

On Friday April 21, 2006 the Queen turned 80, making her the third oldest reigning monarch in British and Commonwealth history. While she has begun to hand over some public duties to her children, as well as to other members of the royal family, the Palace has made it clear that she intends to do as much as she can until she is physically unable.

In early 2006, reports began to surface that the Queen planned to significantly reduce her official duties, though she has made it clear that she has no intention of abdicating. It is believed by both the press and palace insiders that Prince Charles will start to perform many of the day-to-day duties of the Monarch, while the Queen will effectively go into retirement (but will fall short of abdication). It was later confirmed by the Palace that Prince Charles will begin to hold the regular audiences with the Prime Minister and other Commonwealth leaders, but also that while the Queen would be increasing the length of her weekends by two days, she would continue with public duties well into the future. Buckingham Palace is also reported to be considering giving the Prince more access to government papers, and is to allow him to preside over more investitures, meet more foreign dignitaries and take the place of the Queen in welcoming ambassadors at the Court of St. James's.

It has been rumoured that her recent trip to Canada and Australia will be amongst her last visits to her Commonwealth Realms, though both the Canadian and Australian governments and the Palace have denied it.

Despite her good health and intention to stay on the throne, there are signs that it may be near the final years of the Queen's reign. Many saw the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla as a message from the Queen to that effect – by allowing Charles to marry, she is attempting to ensure that Charles' succession to the throne will go as smoothly as possible. In 2004, a copy of the Queen's newly revised funeral plans were stolen, much to the Queen's anger. And for the first time in September 2005, a mock version of the Queen's funeral march was held in the middle of the night (this was also done once a year after the late Queen Mother turned 80).

If the Queen lives until 21 December 2007, she will become the oldest reigning monarch in both British and the Commonwealth Realms' history, surpassing King George III and Queen Victoria, both of whom died before the age of 82.

Should she still be reigning on September 9, 2015 at the age of 89, her reign will surpass that of Queen Victoria and she will become the longest reigning monarch in British history. If she lives that long, and the Prince of Wales does also, he would be the oldest to succeed to the throne, passing William IV, who was 64.

Shortly before her 80th birthday, polls were conducted that showed the majority of the British public wish for the Queen to remain on the throne until her death. But some are not keen on the idea as they feel the Queen has become an institution within herself.




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Blackleaf

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3rd June 1647 - King Charles I is captured by Parliamentary (or Roundhead) forces during the English Civil War. He was put on trial and eventually beheaded in 1649, leading to the formation of an English Republic from 1649 - 1660.
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King Charles I, 1600-1649
King of England, Scotland and Ireland whose refusal to compromise over complex religious and political situations led to civil war, his own execution and the abolition of the Monarchy.


Soldier of the New Model Army, the new army that was created by Parliament to fight the Royalists during the Civil War. A New Model Navy was also created. Parliament's new army was planned to comprise of 22,000 men: twelve regiments of foot of 1,200 men each in the proportion two-thirds musketeers, one-third pikemen; eleven regiments of horse of 600 men each, one regiment of 1,000 dragoons (mounted infantrymen) and an artillery train of 50 guns.



The second son of James VI of Scotland, I of England and Anne of Denmark, Charles was born at Fife in Scotland on 19 November 1600. His father succeeded Queen Elizabeth I and came to the throne of England as King James I in 1603. Charles was created Duke of Albany at his baptism (December 1600) and Duke of York in 1605. He was placed in the care of Lord and Lady Fyvie until the age of four, then moved to England where he was brought up in the household of Sir Robert and Lady Carey. As a child, Charles suffered from weak ankle joints (probably the result of rickets) which slowed his physical development. He was also slow in learning to speak. He outgrew these defects, except for a slight stammer which he never overcame. His education was overseen by Thomas Murray, a Scottish Presbyterian who later became Provost of Eton. Charles was a serious student who excelled at languages, rhetoric and divinity.

Charles was overshadowed by his brilliant elder brother Prince Henry, to whom he was devoted, but Henry died when Charles was 12 years old. Charles and his sister Elizabeth mourned Henry together, which created a bond between them that affected English foreign policy after Elizabeth married the Elector of the Palatinate. Henry's death made Charles heir to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland. By strength of will, he overcame his physical weaknesses to become a good horseman and huntsman. He developed sophisticated tastes in the arts and earnestly applied himself to his religious devotions. Created Prince of Wales in 1616, he was instructed by King James in every aspect of ruling a kingdom. With a profound belief that Kings were appointed by God to rule by Divine Right, Charles succeeded as the second Stuart King of England in 1625.

Charles came to the throne amid pressure from English Protestants for intervention against Spain and the Catholic powers in the religious wars raging in Europe (the Thirty Years War, 1618-48 ). He allowed England's foreign policy to be directed by the unpopular Duke of Buckingham, who launched a series of disastrous military expeditions against Spain and France with the aim of indirectly assisting the Palatinate. Charles dissolved his first two Parliaments when they attempted to impeach Buckingham but he was forced to call a third because he needed funds to pursue his warlike policies. In 1628, Charles' opponents formulated the Petition of Right as a defence against the King's arbitrary use of his powers. Charles grudgingly accepted the Petition in the hope that Parliament would grant him subsidies, but in practice he ignored its provisions.


After the assassination of Buckingham in 1628, critics in Parliament turned their attention to Charles' religious policy. He angrily dismissed his third Parliament in 1629, imprisoned several of his leading opponents, and declared his intention of ruling alone. The eleven-year period of the King's Personal Rule was also described as the "Eleven Year Tyranny". It was initially successful — during the turmoil of the Civil Wars, many people looked back upon it as a golden age of peace and prosperity. Charles had made peace with Spain and France by 1630. Trade and commerce grew; the King's finances were stable by 1635. This enabled him to commission great works of art by Rubens and Van Dyck, and also to build up the Royal Navy for England's defence. But without Parliament to grant legal taxes, Charles was obliged to raise income by obscure and highly unpopular means including forced loans, the sale of commercial monopolies and, most notoriously of all, Ship Money. Along with Charles' controversial religious policies, these measures alienated many natural supporters of the Crown, including powerful noblemen like Lord Saye and Sele, and wealthy landowners like John Hampden.

In religion, Charles favoured the elaborate and ritualistic High Anglican form of worship. He appointed William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. Laud insisted upon strict compliance to the established tenets of the Church and vigorously supported the King's Divine Right. Much of the Laudian liturgy was interpreted by Puritans as being dangerously close to Roman Catholic practices.

The King's marriage to the French Catholic princess Henrietta Maria in 1625 had also caused consternation amongst English Protestants, particularly as she was allowed to practise her religion openly and freely. In some quarters, Henrietta Maria's influence over the King and the royal children was regarded as part of an international Papist conspiracy against the Protestant faith.

Although Charles himself was high-minded and devout, his religious policies were deeply divisive and turned Puritans like Pym and Cromwell against him. In collaboration with Archbishop Laud, he insisted upon religious conformity across England, Scotland and Ireland. This went disastrously wrong when the Anglican liturgy and Laudian Prayer Book were forced upon the Scottish Kirk in 1637, resulting in the creation of the Scottish National Covenant against interference in religion, and the Bishops' Wars between the two nations. In order to finance war against the Scots, Charles was obliged to recall Parliament in 1640, bringing his eleven-year personal rule to an end.

The strength of feeling against the King's policies in Church and State resulted in vehement opposition from the Short Parliament of April 1640 and its successor the Long Parliament. Rather than attack the King himself, however, Parliament impeached and condemned to death his principal ministers Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford, with Charles doing little to help them.

In November 1641, news of the Irish uprising reached London, provoking a crisis over whether King or Parliament should control the army that was needed to quell the rebellion. Against a background of riots and civil unrest, the King and Royal Family were driven from London in January 1642 following Charles' disastrous attempt to arrest the Five Members regarded as his leading opponents in Parliament. During the spring and summer of 1642, as King and Parliament appealed for the support of the nation and manoeuvred to gain control of the armed forces, a violent confrontation became inevitable. King Charles raised his standard at Nottingham Castle on 22 August 1642, which was his call-to-arms and the beginning of the First Civil War. Ironically, the navy that Charles had built on the proceeds of Ship Money declared for Parliament. Having lost London to the Parliamentarians, Charles set up his court and military headquarters at Oxford.

Although he lacked military experience, Charles was courageous and developed strategic skills as the war went on. He personally commanded the army that defeated Sir William Waller at Cropredy Bridge, then pursued and defeated the Earl of Essex at Lostwithiel in the summer of 1644. But the Royalist war effort was hampered by arguments and jealousies amongst its senior officers, with Charles himself frequently indecisive or capricious. He was easily swayed by his counsellors, notably Lord Digby, who was himself conducting a personal vendetta against Prince Rupert. When the King attempted to bring government troops over from Ireland, Parliament mounted a successful propaganda campaign, raising fears of a Catholic conspiracy which greatly damaged the Royalist cause. The combination of Parliament's alliance with the Scottish Covenanters and the formation of the professionally-run New Model Army brought about the defeat of the Royalists in 1645-6.

Charles fled from Oxford in April 1646 and surrendered to the Scottish army rather than to Parliament. He attempted to exploit divisions between the Parliamentarians and their allies, continually involving himself in plots and intrigues with the exiled Henrietta Maria in the vain hope of gaining military help from Ireland and France. Charles failed to recognise the damage done to his cause by his association with foreigners and Catholics. The Scots handed him over to Parliament for money in January 1647. The New Model Army — which was itself in disagreement with the Presbyterian faction in Parliament — secured the King in April 1647.

Charles was held at Hampton Court Palace, where he continued to play off the Army, Parliament and Scots against one another. He hoped that the Monarchy would be seen as a beacon of stability amongst the political turmoil, but his obstructiveness and duplicity in negotiations alienated Cromwell and others who had been anxious to reach a settlement. Believing that Army radicals were planning to murder him, Charles escaped from Hampton Court in November 1647. He went to the Isle of Wight where he sought the protection of the governor, Colonel Hammond, intending to take ship from there to France. Torn between loyalty to the King and his duty to Parliament, Hammond confined King Charles at Carisbrooke Castle.

Refusing to compromise over a settlement with the Army or with Parliament, Charles turned to the Scots. Under the terms of the Engagement signed in December 1647, Charles promised to impose the Covenant in England in exchange for a Scottish army to fight against Parliament. The Marquis of Argyll and other leading Scottish Presbyterians opposed the Engagement because Charles refused to take the Covenant personally, but Argyll's rival the Duke of Hamilton put himself at the head of the Engager army and prepared to invade England. The Scottish invasion and simultaneous Royalist uprisings in England and Wales resulted in the short but bitterly-fought Second Civil War, culminating in Cromwell's victory over the Scots at the battle of Preston in August 1648.

Army officers were furious that Charles could deliberately provoke a second war when his defeat in the first had been so clear an indication of God's favour to the Parliamentarian cause. Tired of his deceptions and intrigues, the Army denounced King Charles as the "Man of Blood". Parliament was purged of Presbyterian sympathisers and moderates in December 1648 and left with a small "Rump" of MPs that was totally dependent on the Army. The Rump appointed a High Court of Justice in January 1649 and Charles was charged with high treason against the people of England. The King's trial opened on 20 January. He refused to answer the charges, saying that he did not recognise the authority of the High Court, but he was found guilty and sentenced to death on 27 January 1649. The King was beheaded on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House at Whitehall on 30 January.


Charles I loses his head. 30th January 1649. One 17 year old watching the execution said the crowd made the most terrible groan he had ever heard when the King's head was chopped off.


The King's execution shocked the whole of Europe. He was buried on 9 February at Windsor rather than Westminster Abbey to avoid the possibility of public disorder. Charles' personal dignity during his trial and execution had won him much sympathy. His death created a cult of martyrdom around him, which was encouraged by the publication of a book of his supposed meditations during his final months, Eikon Basilike. The ideal of Charles the Martyr helped to sustain the Royalist cause throughout the Commonwealth and Protectorate years. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, it was sanctified in the Anglican Church. To this day, wreaths of remembrance are laid on the anniversary of King Charles' death at his statue, which faces down Whitehall to the site of his beheading.

http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/charles1.htm
 

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4th June 1738 - King George III ("Farmer George"/"Mad King George") is born. He's the Monarch who lost the American colonies. He was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, and then King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when Ireland joined the Union in 1801. He was also, I suppose, the King of the 13 American colonies and other British territories. He's Britain's 2nd-longest reigning monarch ever - surpassed only by Queen Victoria (his granddaughter), although Queen Elizabeth II is not far behind. He ruled for 59 years and Elizabeth II has ruled for 54 years. He also ended up going completely insane and mad.
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George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and thus Elector (and later King) of Hanover. The Electorate became the Kingdom of Hanover on 12 October 1814. George was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, but the first to be born in Britain and use English as his first language. During George III's reign, Britain lost many of its colonies in North America, which became the United States. Also during his reign, the realms of Great Britain and Ireland were joined together to form the United Kingdom.


Later in his reign George III suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness. It is thought now that he suffered from mental and nervous disorders as a consequence of the blood disease porphyria, which struck several British monarchs. Recently, owing to studies showing high levels of the poison arsenic in King George's hair, arsenic is also thought to be a possible cause of King George's insanity and health problems. After a final relapse in 1811, George's eldest son, The Prince George, Prince of Wales ruled as Prince Regent. Upon George's death, the Prince of Wales succeeded his father as George IV.

George III has been nicknamed Farmer George, for "his plain, homely, thrifty manners and tastes" and because of his passionate interest in agriculture


Early life
His Royal Highness Prince George of Wales was born prematurely at Norfolk House in London at 7:45 A.M. on June 4, 1738. He was the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and the grandson of George II. Prince George's mother was Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

Because Prince George was born prematurely, he was baptised that same day at Norfolk House by the Bishop of Oxford, Thomas Secker. He was publicly baptised again at Norfolk House by Secker, on 4 July 1738. His godparents were the King of Sweden (for whom Lord Baltimore stood proxy), the Duke of Saxe-Gotha (for whom the Duke of Chandos stood proxy) and the Queen of Prussia (for whom Lady Charlotte Edwin, a daughter of the Duke of Hamilton, stood proxy).

George II and the Prince of Wales had an extremely poor relationship. Prince George was consequently isolated from court in his early years. In 1751 the Prince of Wales died from a head injury, and Prince George became the Duke of Edinburgh. The new Duke of Edinburgh was Heir Apparent to the Throne, and was subsequently created Prince of Wales. His mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, mistrusted her father-in-law; thus, she kept the Prince of Wales separate from his grandfather. An important influence on the new Prince of Wales' childhood was John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, who would later serve as Prime Minister.

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Several changes were made to the structure of the British government after the loss of the colonies. Since 1660, there had been two chief cabinet officials, the Secretary of State for the Southern Department and the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. The former was responsible for Southern England, Ireland, and relations with non-Protestant European nations, and the latter for Northern England, Scotland, and relations with Protestant European nations. The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was formerly responsible for the colonies, but this responsibility was transferred to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1768. All three positions were abolished after the British lost in North America. They were replaced with two new positions, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Foreign Secretary) and Secretary of State for the Home Office (Home Secretary).

In 1782, after 12 years in office, the ministry of Lord North ended. The Whig Lord Rockingham became Prime Minister for the second time, but died within months. The King then chose William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne to replace him. Charles James Fox, however, refused to serve under Lord Shelburne, and demanded the appointment of William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. In 1783, the House of Commons forced Lord Shelburne from office and his government was replaced by the Fox-North Coalition. The Duke of Portland became Prime Minister; Fox and Lord North, Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary respectively, really held power, with the Duke of Portland acting as a figurehead.

George III was distressed by the attempts to force him to appoint ministers not of his liking. But the Portland ministry quickly built up a majority in the House of Commons, and could not be easily displaced. He was, however, extremely dissatisfied when the government introduced the India Bill. Immediately after the House of Commons passed it, George informed the House of Lords that he would regard any peer who voted for the bill as his enemy. On 17 December 1783, the bill was rejected by the Lords; on the next day, the Portland ministry was dismissed, and William Pitt the Younger was appointed Prime Minister. George III dissolved Parliament in March 1784; the subsequent election gave Pitt a firm mandate.




Later life

The Prince George, Prince of Wales, acted as Prince-Regent from 1811 to 1820.In 1810, George III became dangerously ill, the malady possibly having been triggered by the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, Princess Amelia, from erysipelas or porphyria. Arsenic poisoning is also a possible cause. By 1811, George III had become permanently insane and was locked away at Windsor Castle until his death. Sometimes speaking for many hours without pause, he claimed to talk to angels and once greeted an oak tree as King Frederick William III of Prussia. His doctors gave him James's Powder (calomel and tartar emetic) and bled him regularly. They also advised him to bathe in the sea (thus encouraging seaside holidays).

Parliament then passed the Regency Act 1811, to which the Royal Assent was granted by the Lords Commissioners, appointed under the same irregular procedure as was adopted in 1788. The Prince of Wales acted as Regent for the remainder of George III's life.

Spencer Perceval was assassinated in 1812 (the only British Prime Minister to have suffered such a fate) and was replaced by Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. Lord Liverpool oversaw British victory in the Napoleonic Wars. The subsequent Congress of Vienna led to significant territorial gains for Hanover, which was upgraded from an electorate to a kingdom.

Meanwhile, George's health deteriorated. Over the Christmas of 1819, he suffered a further bout of madness and spoke nonsense for 58 hours, then sank into a coma. On 29 January 1820, he died, blind, deaf and insane, at Windsor Castle. George lived for over 81 years and reigned for more than 59 years — in each case, more than any other English or British monarch until that point. This record has been surpassed only once, by George's granddaughter Queen Victoria. George III's reign was longer than the reigns of all three of his immediate predecessors (Queen Anne, King George I and King George II) combined. George III was buried on 16 February in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. His death came six days after that of his fourth son, Prince Edward Augustus, the father of Queen Victoria.

George was followed by his eldest son George IV. Next came another of George III's sons, who became William IV. William IV, too, died without legitimate children, leaving the throne to his niece, Victoria, the last monarch of the House of Hanover.

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Legacy
While tremendously popular in Britain, George was hated by the rebellious American colonists. The United States Declaration of Independence held him personally responsible for the political problems faced by the United States. The Declaration does not blame either Parliament or the ministers, and exposure to the views expressed in the Declaration has led the American public to perceive George as a tyrant. This view is a historical consequence of the political climate of the times, wherein the true state of the King's governing powers and mental health were practically unknown by the general public, and even less so by the distant North American colonies ruled under his crown. Another factor that exacerbated American resentment was the King's failure to intercede personally on the colonists' behalf after the Olive Branch Petition.

George was hated in Ireland for the atrocities carried out in his name during the suppression of the 1798 rebellion.

George's insanity is the subject of the film The Madness of King George (1994), based on the play The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett. The film concerns George's first bouts of insanity. He was portrayed by Nigel Hawthorne, who received the Laurence Olivier Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role.

George may have suffered from a disease now known as porphyria. It had struck at various times, and made him appear to be mentally ill, also making him incapable of logical acts. This may be part of why he was thought to be insane.

There are cities and towns in former British colonies which are named Georgetown. Some of these may be named after George III and some after his son George IV. Statues of George III can be seen today in (amongst other locations) the courtyard of Somerset House in London, and in Weymouth, Dorset, which he popularised as a seaside resort (one of the first in England). A statue of George III was pulled down in New York at the beginning of the War of Independence in 1776 and two engravings of its destruction still exist.

The British Agricultural Revolution reached its peak under George III, providing for an expanded population and freeing up much of the workforce to drive the Industrial Revolution, which also began under George III.

wikipedia.org


Also on this day -

1913
British suffragette Emily Wilding Davison is trampled to death at Tattenham Corner on the Epsom racecourse during the running of the 1913 Derby. She dies under the hooves of the King's horse, Anmer.


1805
In Britain, the first official Trooping The Colour takes place at Horse Guards Parade in London.
 

Blackleaf

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5th June 1798 - the Battle of New Ross took place during the Irish Rebellion. It was fought between Irish Republican insurgents and British Crown forces. It was a British victory which halted the spread of the rebellion into county Kilkenny and Munster.
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Loyalist View of Battle of New Ross George Cruikshank (1848)


The Battle of New Ross took place in county Wexford in south-eastern Ireland, during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. It was fought between the Irish Republican insurgents called the United Irishmen and British Crown forces composed of regular soldiers, militia and yeomanry. The attack on the town of New Ross on the River Barrow, was an attempt by the recently victorious rebels to break out of county Wexford across the river Barrow and to spread the rebellion into county Kilkenny and the outlying province of Munster.

Preparations
The battle, the bloodiest of the 1798 rebellion, began at dawn on 5th June 1798 when the Crown garrison was attacked by a force of almost 10,000 rebels, massed in three columns outside the town. The attack had been expected since the fall of Wexford town to the rebels on 30th May and the British garrison of 2,000 had prepared defences both outside and inside the town. Trenches were dug manned by skirmishers on the approaches to the town while cannon were stationed facing all the rapidly falling approaches and narrow streets of the town to counter the expected mass charges by the rebels, who were mainly armed with pikes.


Attack
Bagenal Harvey, the United Irish Leader recently released from captivity following the rebel seizure of Wexford town, attempted to negotiate surrender of New Ross but the rebel emissary Matt Furlong was shot down by Crown outposts while bearing flag of truce. His murder provoked a furious charge by an advance guard of 500 insurgents led by John Kelly (of ballad fame) who had instructions to seize the Three Bullet Gate (the bearna bhaoil or "Gap of Danger" in the Irish national anthem) and wait for reinforcements before pushing into the town. Another rebel column attacked the Priory Gate but the third pulled back from the Market Gate intimidated by the strong defenses. Seizing the opportunity the garrison sent a force of cavalry out the Market Gate to attack and scatter the remaining two hostile columns from the flanks. However the rebel rump had not yet deployed and upon spotting the British manouvre, rallied the front ranks who stood and broke the cavalry charge with massed pikes.


Street Fighting
The encouraged rebel army then swept past the Crown outposts and seized the Three Bullet Gate causing the garrison and populace to flee in panic. Without pausing for reinforcement, the rebels broke into the town attacking simultaneously down the steeply sloping streets but met with strong resistance from well-prepared second lines of defence of the well armed soldiers. Despite horrific casualties the rebels managed to seize two-thirds of the town by using the cover of smoke from the blazing town and forced the near withdrawal of all Crown forces from the town. However the rebels limited supplies of gunpowder and ammunition forced them to rely on the pike and blunted their offensive. The military managed to hold on and following the arrival of reinforcements, launched a counterattack before noon which finally drove the exhausted rebels from the town.


Massacres
No effort to pursue the withdrawing rebels was made but when the town had been secured, a fearful massacre of prisoners, trapped rebels and civilians of both sympathies alike began which continued for days. Some hundreds were burned alive when rebel casualty stations were torched by victorious troops and more rebels are believed to have been killed in the aftermath of the battle than during the actual fighting. Reports of such atrocities brought by escaping rebels are believed to have influenced the retaliatory murder of over 100 loyalists in the flames of Scullabogue Barn.


Aftermath
Casualties in the Battle of New Ross are estimated at 2,500 rebels and 200 Garrison dead. The rebel army reorganised and formed a camp at Sliabh Coillte some five miles to the east but never attempted to attack the town again. They later attacked General John Moores invading column but were defeated at the battle of Foulksmills on 20 June 1798.

1798 Rebellion
Ballymore-Eustace – Naas – Prosperous – Kilcullen – Carlow – Tara Hill – Oulart Hill – Newtownmountkennedy – Gibbet Rath – Three Rocks – Bunclody – Tuberneering – New Ross – Antrim – Arklow - Saintfield – Ballynahinch – Ovidstown – Foulksmills – Vinegar Hill – Ballyellis – Castlebar – Collooney – Ballinamuck – Killala

wikipedia.org
 

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6th June 1813 - the Battle of Stoney Creek took place between Britain and the United States. It was a British victory, despite the Americans having a force that was FIVE TIMES bigger than the British. But, of course, the British - notoriously dangerous and difficult to fight against - have a long history of winning battles and wars against armies that were larger than them.
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The Battle of Stoney Creek was a battle fought on June 6, 1813 during the War of 1812 near Stoney Creek, Ontario. Withdrawing British forces encamped on Burlington Heights were informed of the American position at the Gage Farm by Billy Green, a farm hand. They marched through the night to attack the American encampment before dawn. In the battle, a British, Canadian and Mohawk force of 700 under John Vincent defeated an American force of 3500 under William Winder and John Chandler. Both American generals were taken prisoner, Chandler when he inadverently walked into the British line in the dark, thinking it was his own. This prompted an American withdrawal back to the Niagara River. Although a monument is raised in honour of the soldiers involved, to this day no Mohawk warriors are credited in it for doing battle. This battle is now re-enacted annually, by Canadians and Americans, in a public park (called Battlefield Park) located in Stoney Creek (now part of the City of Hamilton), Ontario.

Commanders

Britain - John Vincent

United States - John Chandler, William Winder
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Strength

Britain - 700 regulars and militia

United States - 3,500
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Casualties

Britain - 22 dead, 134 wounded

United States - 55 dead or wounded and 100 missing



Niagara campaigns

Queenston Heights – York – Fort George – Stoney Creek – Beaver Dams – 1st Fort Erie – Chippawa – Lundy's Lane – Cook's Mills – 2nd Fort Erie
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Also on this day -

1683 - The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world's first university museum.

1752 - A devastating fire destroys one-third of Moscow, including 18,000 homes.

wikipedia.org
 

Blackleaf

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7th June 1497 - the Battle of Deptford Bridge (aka Battle of Blackheath) took place during the Cornish Rebellion between forces of Henry VII and Cornish rebels led by Michael An Gof and Thomas Flamank. The rebels were protesting against the unfair taxation of Cornwall. After the battle, An Gof, Flamank and Lord Audley, leader of the forces who fought for the rebels, were hanged, drawn and quartered at the dreaded Tyburn and their heads were displayed on pike-staffs ("gibbeted") on London Bridge as a deterrent. Throughtout history, even today, some, but not all, Cornish people consider the English county of Cornwall to be not a part of England but a Celtic nation in its own right, like Scotland and Wales. It used to have its own Celtic language called Cornish but is now extinct.
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London Bridge in 1616. Up until 1750 it was the only bridge that spanned the Thames and had shops, inns and houses on it. At the entrance/exit to the bridge, the heads of traitors were displayed on spikes as a warning to others, as can be seen in the picture.
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The Battle of Deptford Bridge (or Blackheath) was the culminating event of the Cornish Rebellion of 1497. It took place on 17 June 1497 on a site in present-day Deptford in south-east London, adjacent to the River Ravensbourne.

Rebels from Cornwall, led by Michael An Gof (also known as Michael Joseph; An Gof is Cornish for blacksmith) and Thomas Flamank (a Bodmin landowner's son), had marched to London to protest about the unfair taxation of Cornwall (the money was being raised in order to finance an invasion of Scotland). En route, they gathered support from the yeomen of Plymouth and forces led by James Touchet, Lord Audley in Somerset.

After fighting a minor battle near Guildford, Surrey, they were hopeful of gaining further support from people in Kent (the focus of Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450), but despite rallying at Cade's meeting place at nearby Blackheath were disappointed. Estimates vary, but it is said that at Blackheath some 15,000 Cornish faced 25,000 troops of the King. The Cornish lacked the horse and artillery possessed by the King's army, and the result was inevitable.

As a result, the Cornish rebels were soundly beaten by King Henry VII's forces led by Lord Daubeney. Much of the battle took place on the eastern side of the Ravensbourne, on the hillside up to the plateau of Blackheath - as a result, it is sometimes called the 'Battle of Blackheath'. Figures from the battle vary though they generally place the losses of Daubeney's forces within single figures next to perhaps 1000 Cornishmen.

Two of the leaders (An Gof and Flamank) were executed, on 24 June 1497. An Gof and Flamank suffered the traitor's fate of being hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, while Audley was beheaded on the 25 June Tower Hill. Their heads were displayed on pike-staffs ("gibbeted") on London Bridge. An Gof before his execution is recorded to have said that he should have "a name perpetual and a fame permanent and immortal". Thomas Flamank was quoted as saying - "Speak the truth and only then can you be free of your chains"

1997 was the 500th anniversary of the An Gof uprising and a commemorative march (Keskerdh Kernow 500) was held, which retraced the route of the original march from St Keverne, Cornwall to London. A statue depicting An Gof and Flamank was unveiled at An Gof's home town of St. Keverne and a commemorative plaque was also unveiled on Blackheath common.

wikipedia.org
 

Blackleaf

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8th June 1492 - the death of Elizabeth Woodville (or Wydville) the Queen consort of King Edward IV, a Yorkist who fought against the Lancastrians during the Wars of the Roses. She was also the mother of King Edward V, who was King aged just 12, and who was one of the "Princes in the Tower" during the War.
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Elizabeth Woodville or Wydville (c. 1437 – 7/8 June 1492) was the Queen consort of King Edward IV of England from 1464 until his death in 1483.

Early life and first marriage
She was born circa 1437 at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, the daughter of Sir Richard Woodville (later made first Earl Rivers) and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. She was a maid of honour to Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI. In about 1452, she married Sir John Grey, 7th Baron Ferrers of Groby, who was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, fighting for the Lancastrian cause. (This was ironic, as Edward IV was the Yorkist claimant to the throne.) Elizabeth had two sons from the marriage, Thomas (later Marquess of Dorset) and Richard.

[edit]
Queen consort
Edward IV had many mistresses, the most notorious being Jane Shore, but Elizabeth insisted on marriage, which took place secretly (with only the bride's mother and two ladies in attendance) on May 1, 1464, at her family home in Northamptonshire. At the time, Edward's adviser, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, was negotiating a marriage alliance with France. When the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville became common knowledge, it was the cause of considerable rancour on Warwick's part, and when Elizabeth's relatives, especially her brother, Earl Rivers, began to be favored over him, he changed sides.

Nor was Warwick the only one who resented the way the queen's relatives scooped up favours and lucrative opportunities; in 1480, for example, when Elizabeth's obscure brother-in-law Sir Anthony Grey died, he was interred in St Albans Cathedral with a brass marker to rival the one for that abbey's greatest archbishop. That was nothing compared to the marriages the queen arranged for her family, the most outrageous being when her 20-year-old brother John Woodville married Lady Katherine Neville, daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland by Joan Beaufort, widow of John Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk and dowager Duchess of Norfolk. Katherine had been widowed three times and was nearly 80 years old but very wealthy. The queen also married her sister, Catherine Woodville, to her 11-year-old ward Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. another sister, Mary Woodville, married William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.

[edit]
Queen Dowager
Elizabeth and Edward's marriage had produced ten children, including two sons who were still living at the time of the king's sudden death in 1483. The elder, Edward, had been born in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey in 1470, during the period when Edward IV was out of power during the Wars of the Roses. Elizabeth now, briefly, became Queen Mother, but on June 25, 1483, her marriage was declared null and void by Parliament in the act Titulus Regius on the grounds that Edward had previously promised to marry Lady Eleanor Butler, which was considered a legally binding contract that rendered any other marriage contract invalid as bigamous. (It was said that Eleanor Butler had done the same thing Elizabeth Woodville did later: A widow who caught Edward's eye, she refused to give in to him until he promised to marry her.) This information came to the fore when a priest (believed to be Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells), testified that he had carried out the ceremony.

On the basis of his evidence, all Elizabeth's children by Edward, including King Edward V, were declared illegitimate, and her brother-in-law, Richard III, accepted the crown and kept the two princes in the Tower of London, where they had already been lodged to await the coronation. The exact fate of the so-called Princes in the Tower is unknown but both were dead in this or the next reign. Elizabeth now lost the title of Queen Mother and was referred to as Dame Elizabeth Grey. She and her other children were in sanctuary again, fearing for their safety. This may have been to protect themselves against jealous courtiers who wanted their own back on the entire Woodville clan.

Elizabeth then conspired with Lancastrians, promising to marry her eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, to the Lancastrian claimant to the throne, Henry Tudor (later King Henry VII), if he could supplant Richard. Following Henry's accession in 1485, Elizabeth Woodville's marriage to Edward IV was declared to have been valid, and thus their children were once again legitimised (because Henry wanted his wife to be the Yorkist heir to the throne, to cement his hold on it). At this point, Elizabeth was accorded the title of Queen Dowager. She died on June 8, at Bermondsey in London and was buried on June 12 in the same chantry as her husband King Edward in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.
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Children of Elizabeth Woodville

By Sir John Grey

Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset
Richard Grey


By King Edward IV

Elizabeth of York (1466-1503), Queen Consort of England
Mary of York (1467-1482), buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Cecily of York (1469-1507), Viscountess Welles
Edward V of England (1470-1483/5), one of the Princes in the Tower
Margaret of York (Apr. 1472-Dec. 1472), buried in Westminster Abbey
Richard, Duke of York (1473-1483/5), one of the Princes in the Tower
Anne of York (1475-1511), Duchess of Norfolk
George Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford (1477-1479), buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle
Catherine of York (1479-1527), Countess of Devon
Bridget of York (1480-1517), nun at Dartford Priory, Kent

wikipedia.org

Also on this day -

452 - Atilla the Hun invades what is now Italy.

632 - Muhammad dies.

1536
English Parliament agrees that the succession to the throne should go to the future children of King Henry VIII and his new wife Jane Seymour - declaring Princesses Mary and Elizabeth (by previous wives) to be illegitimate.

1982
Falklands War: Almost 50 British troops are killed at Bluff Cove when Argentinian aircraft bomb British troops ships.
 

Blackleaf

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9th June 1780 - The Gordon Riots ended, after raging for more than a week. A large mob marched to Parliament at the beginning of June carrying banners saying "No Popery!". They protested against the emancipation of Catholics. They delivered a petition to Parliament demanding the repeal of the Roman Catholic Relief Act. Anti-Catholicism was rife in Britain at the time. Outide Parliament, the situation got out of hand and, in the Great British tradittion, riots ensued. Duriong the riots, Newgate gaol was attacked - its cells were opened, its prisoners freed and then it was burnt to the ground. Another one had to be built. The army was called in and 285 rioters were killed. Of those arrested, 20-30 were executed.
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Newgate Gaol, London, being attacked by the Gordon Rioters, 1780.


The Gordon Riots is a term used to refer to a number of events in a predominantly Protestant religious uprising in London in 1780, aimed against the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1778, "relieving his Majesty's subjects, of the Catholic Religion, from certain penalties and disabilities imposed upon them during the reign of William III."

The ostensible intention of this piece of legislation was, as the Act's preamble states, to mitigate some of the more extreme manifestations of official discrimination against Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom at the time, particularly and notably absolving Catholics from taking the religious oath when joining the British military. There were very strong expedient reasons for this particular act of seeming benevolence, notably the fact that British military forces at the time were stretched very thin, with conflicts ongoing with France, Spain and America, and opening the door to recruitment of Catholics was a significant factor in the eventual resolution of this shortfall of manpower.

The Protestant Association was an organisation set up by Lord George Gordon in 1780 to force the repeal of this legislation. An articulate, albeit eccentric, propagandist, Gordon inflamed the mob with fears of papism and a return to absolute monarchical rule, intimating that Catholics within the military would, given a chance, join forces with their co-religionists on the Continent, and attack England.

The political climate deteriorated rapidly. Gordon called a meeting of the Protest Association on May 29, 1780 called for a march on the House of Commons to deliver a petition demanding the repeal of the Roman Catholic Relief Act the following week.

On June 2, 1780 a huge crowd, many carrying flags and banners proclaiming "No Popery", and estimated to be between 40,000 to 60,000 strong, assembled and marched on the Houses of Parliament. As they marched, their numbers gathered and swelled. They attempted to force their way in to the House of Commons but without success. Gordon, petition in hand, and wearing the blue cockade in his hat, the symbol of the Protestant Association, entered the Lower House and presented the petition. Outside, however, the situation quickly got out of hand and a riot erupted.

Newgate Prison was attacked, and largely destroyed. Severe destruction was inflicted on Catholic churches and homes, including the chapels on the grounds of several embassies, as well as the Bank of England, Fleet Prison, and the house of the Lord Chief Justice, William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield.

The army was called out on June 7 and 285 rioters were killed. Of those arrested, about 20 or 30 were executed. Gordon was arrested and charged with high treason, but was found not guilty.

The riots are described at second-hand by Charles Dickens in his historical novel Barnaby Rudge.

Also on this day -

1870 - Charles Dickens dies.
 

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10th June 1719 - the Battle of Glen Shiel was fought, during the First Jacobite Rising, between the Hanoverians and an army of Jacobites (in this case, mostly Scots) and Spaniards in the West Highlands of Scotland. It was the last proper battle between the British military and foreign ones on British soil (the last actual battle in Britain was fought in the air in 1940/41 between the RAF and Luftwaffe). The Jacobites wanted the Stuarts back onto the Throne, and had a lot of support in Scotland, although not all British Jacobites were Scots.
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Battle of Glen Shiel

The Battle of Glen Shiel was a battle in Glen Shiel, in the West Highlands of Scotland on June 10, 1719 between the Hanoverians and an alliance of Jacobite Highlanders and Spaniards, resulting in a victory for the British forces.

It was the last close engagement of British troops and foreign ones in Great Britain itself.
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The preparation

After the Treaty of Utrecht, Philip V was accepted as king of Spain in exchange for several concessions. Great Britain had received control over Menorca and Gibraltar and had the biggest navy in the world.

Philip's plans to restore Spanish power would lead to a violent clash with Britain. Philip and his Italian counselor Cardinal Giulio Alberoni carried out a campaign in the western Mediterranean.

In 1717, 8500 infantry men and 500 cavalry men sailed from Barcelona and occupied Sardinia without difficulty.

Next year, 38,000 troops did the same with Sicily.

The British response occurred on 11 August:

The fleet of José Antonio de Gaztañeta moving about Cape Passaro, near Syracusa, was surprised and destroyed by the British navy, claiming a violation of Utrecht.

Spain declared war. Alberoni decided to take the initiative and carry war to Britain before an attack on the Iberian Peninsula could take place.
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The Alberoni plan

Alberoni decided to meddle in the throne disputes, supporting the Jacobite claims and its Highland allies.

The original plan had two phases:

1) George Keith, tenth Earl Marischal would infiltrate Scotland with 300 Spanish marines to raise the Western clans and take some positions. It was a distraction manoeuvre to take defences from South Britain.

2) The main fleet, with 27 ships and 7000 men under James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde (the former Captain General of the British army, exiled in Spain), would disembark in Southwest England or Wales, where Jacobites were abounding. The resulting alliance would march east to siege London, depose George I and enthrone James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender).
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The plot thickens

Three weeks after leaving Cadiz, Ormonde's fleet was surprised by a storm near Cape Finisterre (29 March). Most of the ships were dispersed and damaged. The mission was aborted and the ships taken to several Spanish havens. (Compare with the fate of the Spanish Armada of 1588) By then, Keith had already left the Spanish port of Pasajes and occupied the Isle of Lewis, including Stornoway where he set camp. On 13 April 1719, they disembarked on the Highlands near Lochalsh. The Highlanders however did not join the "Little Rising" in the expected number (the Spaniards carried 2000 guns to distribute), mistrusting the enterprise and waiting for news from the South. Keith could not proceed to Inverness and established his headquarter in the castle of Eilean Donan. The two Spanish frigates returned to Spain. The Spaniards were accompanied by William Mackenzie, 5th Earl of Seaforth, who was chief of the Clan Mackenzie; the Earl Marischal; and the Marquess of Tullibardine; and some Irish officers. They were joined by a few hundred Highlanders including members of the Clan MacRae, Robert Roy MacGregor, and a party of MacGregors. Some days later, the main of the troop went south to stir again the Highlanders, leaving a small garrison (40-50 men) at the castle. The Jacobite forces were to be led by the Earl of Seaforth and also by John Cameron of Lochiel, 18th Captain and Chief of Clan Cameron; along with Lord George Murray. Their plan of action was to advance upon and capture Inverness.
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The capture and destruction of Eilean Donan castle


Eilean Donan castle.

At the beginning of May the Royal Navy sent five ships to the area for reconnaissance: two patrolling off Skye and three around Lochalsh, adjacent to Loch Duich. Early in the morning on Sunday 10 May these latter three, HMS Worcester, HMS Flamborough, and HMS Enterprise, anchored off Eilean Donan, where the Spanish forces had established a base.

Their first move was to send a boat ashore under a flag of truce to negotiate, but when the Spanish soldiers in the castle fired at the boat it was recalled and all three ships opened fire on the castle for an hour or more. They then shifted anchorage and waited, the wind blowing a fresh gale.

The next morning acting on intelligence from a Spanish deserter, the commanding officer, Captain Boyle of HMS Worcester, sent HMS Enterprise up the river to capture a house being used to store gunpowder but, according to the naval logs, the rebels on the shore set fire to the house as the ship approached. Meanwhile the other two ships continued to bombard the castle at intervals while they prepared a landing party.

In the evening, under the cover of an intense cannonade, the ships' boats went ashore and captured the castle against little resistance. According to HMS Worcester's log, in the castle they found "an Irishman, a captain, a Spanish lieutenant, a serjeant, one Scotch rebel and 39 Spanish soldiers, 343 barrels of powder and 52 barrels of musquet shot". Having captured the castle the British then "burnt several barns etc where they had a quantity of corn for the use of their camp".

The Naval force spent the next two days demolishing the castle (it took 27 barrels of gunpowder). The Spanish prisoners were put on board HMS Flamborough and taken away to Edinburgh.

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Glen Shiel


Glen Shiel, Scotland.

After moving around for one month, the Spaniards learnt by the beginning of June that Ormonde would never come. In spite of this, they gathered clansmen for a last action summing 1000 troops.

On 5 June, government forces under General Joseph Wightman came from Inverness to block their march. They consisted of 850 infantry, 120 dragoons and 4 mortar batteries. They confronted the Jacobites at Glen Shiel, just a few miles from Loch Duich, on June 10, near the Five Sisters hills. The Spanish took their advantage to occupy the top and the front of one of the hills while the Scots mounted barricades on the sides.

The first clash was adverse for Wightman, but he constated that the Scots were the weak point of the enemy, due to their poor organisation. He concentrated his troops on the flanks while the mortars battered the whole and kept the Spaniards in their positions. Rob Roy became severely wounded and his clan McGregor left the battle to save him. Other clans followed and left their allies retreating uphill. At 9 o'clock in the evening, they surrendered, three hours after the start of the combat, while the remaining Scots fled into the fog, to escape an execution as traitors. The total losses are unknown. British historians calculate no more than 100 deaths between both sides.

The Jacobites were poorly provisioned and armed, and when expected Jacobite support from the Lowlanders was minimal, spirits fell completely. The Rising was abandoned and the Highlanders dispersed to their homes.

The 274 Spanish prisoners were reunited with their comrades in Edinburgh. In October, negotiations allowed their return to Spain. George Keith escaped the gallows fleeing with the Scots, and exiled to Prussia, where his brother Francis wrote a narration of the battle. In spite of a later pardon, Keith never returned to Great Britain and was the Prussian ambassador to France and later Spain. John Cameron of Lochiel, after hiding for a time in the Highlands, made his way back to exile in France. Bruce Lenman refers that to this day a corridor in Glen Shiel is called Bealach-na-Spainnteach ("Pass of the Spaniards") in the Scottish Gaelic language.

First Jacobite Rising.
Preston – Sheriffmuir – Glen Shiel
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11th June 1727 - George II becomes King of Great Britain and Ireland. On the same day, he also became Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the last British monarch to personally lead his troops into battle (at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 between Britain and France). He also went to war with Spain (the War of Jenkins' Ear) and had trouble with the Jacobites. He was also the last British monarch to have been born outside of Great Britain. He reigned until his death in 1760, when George III became the King.
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George II (George Augustus) (10 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death. He was the second British monarch of the House of Hanover, and the last British monarch to personally lead his troops into battle (at Dettingen in 1743). He was also the last British monarch to have been born outside of Great Britain.

George II was famous for his numerous conflicts with his father and afterwards with his son (a seemingly common problem for members of the Hanoverian dynasty). His relationship with his wife was much better, despite his numerous mistresses. George II exercised little control over policy during his early reign, the government instead being controlled by Great Britain's first (unofficial) "Prime Minister", Sir Robert Walpole.
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Early life

Duke George Augustus of Hanover was born at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover. He was the son of the then-George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife, Sophia of Celle; the latter's alleged adultery led to them being divorced in 1694. George never saw his mother again, though it is said he once tried to swim the moat of the castle of Ahlden in order to reach her. When his father succeeded to the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1698, Prince George became Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He married Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1705.

The Act of Settlement 1701 devised the British Crown to the Hereditary Prince's grandmother Sophia of Hanover if the then-ruling monarch, William III, and his sister-in-law, the Princess Anne of Denmark, both died without issue. Under the Act of Settlement, the Hereditary Prince became a naturalised English subject in 1705. Anne, who had succeeded to the English Throne in 1702, admitted the Hereditary Prince to the Order of the Garter in 1706. She created him Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton and Baron Tewkesbury later the same year.

Queen Anne died on August 1, 1714, shortly after the demise of the Electress Sophia (d. June 8, 1714). Consequently, Sophia's son George inherited the Throne. George I's son, the Prince George, automatically became Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay and Earl of Carrick. His father created him Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 27 September 1714.

The Prince of Wales had an extremely poor relationship with his father. When the Princess of Wales gave birth to Prince George William in 1717, a family quarrel ensued; at the baptism, the Prince of Wales insisted on having the Duke of Newcastle (whom the King detested) as a godfather, whilst the King chose his brother, the Duke of York and Albany. When he publicly vituperated his father, the Prince of Wales was temporarily put under arrest. Afterwards, the King banished his son from St. James's Palace, the King's residence, and excluded him from all public ceremonies.

The Prince of Wales did all in his power to encourage opposition to George I's policies. His London residence, Leicester House, became a meeting place for his father's opponents, including Sir Robert Walpole and Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend. In 1720, Walpole encouraged George I and his son to reconcile. In the same year, Walpole made a return to political office, from which he had been excluded since 1717.

In 1721, the economic disaster of the South Sea Bubble allowed Sir Robert Walpole to rise to the pinnacle of government. Walpole and his Whig Party were dominant in politics, for George I feared that the Tories did not support the succession laid down in the Act of Settlement. The power of the Whigs was so great that the Tories would not come to hold power for another half-century. Sir Robert Walpole essentially controlled British government, but, by joining the King's side, lost the favour of the Prince of Wales.
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Early life

Duke George Augustus of Hanover was born at Schloss Herrenhausen, Hanover. He was the son of the then-George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife, Sophia of Celle; the latter's alleged adultery led to them being divorced in 1694. George never saw his mother again, though it is said he once tried to swim the moat of the castle of Ahlden in order to reach her. When his father succeeded to the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1698, Prince George became Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg. He married Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1705.

The Act of Settlement 1701 devised the British Crown to the Hereditary Prince's grandmother Sophia of Hanover if the then-ruling monarch, William III, and his sister-in-law, the Princess Anne of Denmark, both died without issue. Under the Act of Settlement, the Hereditary Prince became a naturalised English subject in 1705. Anne, who had succeeded to the English Throne in 1702, admitted the Hereditary Prince to the Order of the Garter in 1706. She created him Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton and Baron Tewkesbury later the same year.

Queen Anne died on August 1, 1714, shortly after the demise of the Electress Sophia (d. June 8, 1714). Consequently, Sophia's son George inherited the Throne. George I's son, the Prince George, automatically became Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay and Earl of Carrick. His father created him Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 27 September 1714.

The Prince of Wales had an extremely poor relationship with his father. When the Princess of Wales gave birth to Prince George William in 1717, a family quarrel ensued; at the baptism, the Prince of Wales insisted on having the Duke of Newcastle (whom the King detested) as a godfather, whilst the King chose his brother, the Duke of York and Albany. When he publicly vituperated his father, the Prince of Wales was temporarily put under arrest. Afterwards, the King banished his son from St. James's Palace, the King's residence, and excluded him from all public ceremonies.

The Prince of Wales did all in his power to encourage opposition to George I's policies. His London residence, Leicester House, became a meeting place for his father's opponents, including Sir Robert Walpole and Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend. In 1720, Walpole encouraged George I and his son to reconcile. In the same year, Walpole made a return to political office, from which he had been excluded since 1717.

In 1721, the economic disaster of the South Sea Bubble allowed Sir Robert Walpole to rise to the pinnacle of government. Walpole and his Whig Party were dominant in politics, for George I feared that the Tories did not support the succession laid down in the Act of Settlement. The power of the Whigs was so great that the Tories would not come to hold power for another half-century. Sir Robert Walpole essentially controlled British government, but, by joining the King's side, lost the favour of the Prince of Wales.

George II suffered from a poor relationship with his son, The Prince Frederick, Prince of Wales (depicted above).George II succeeded to the throne at the time of his father's death on June 11, 1727, but a battle of wills continued with his son and heir, The Prince Frederick, Prince of Wales. George II may have planned to exile his son to the British colonies, but, in any event, did not actually do so. George was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 4 October. The Hanoverian composer George Frideric Handel was commissioned to write four new anthems for the coronation; one of them, Zadok the Priest, has been sung at every coronation since.

It was widely believed that George would dismiss Sir Robert Walpole, who had distressed him by joining his father's government. It was widely believed that Walpole would be replaced by Sir Spencer Compton; George requested Compton—not Walpole—to write his first speech for him. Compton, however, requested Walpole for aid in the task, leading George's wife, Queen Caroline, an ardent supporter of Sir Robert Walpole, to claim that he was incompetent. George did not behave obstinately; instead, he agreed with his wife and retained Sir Robert Walpole as Prime Minister. Walpole slowly gained the royal favour, securing a generous civil list of £800,000 for the King.

He also persuaded many Tory politicians to accept the succession laid down in the Act of Settlement as valid. In turn, George II helped Sir Robert Walpole gain a strong parliamentary majority by creating peers (who sat in the House of Lords) sympathetic to the Whigs.

Whilst Queen Caroline was still alive, Sir Robert Walpole's position was secure. He was the master of domestic policy, and he still exerted some control over George II's foreign policy. Whilst George was eager for war in Europe, Walpole was more cautious. Thus, in 1729, he encouraged George II to sign a peace treaty with Spain.

George's relationship with the Prince of Wales worsened during the 1730s. When the Prince of Wales married Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, an open quarrel broke out; George II banished him and his family from the royal court in 1737. After losing his son, George also lost his wife, who died on November 20, 1737. When she reputedly asked George II to remarry, he said "Non, j'aurai des maitresses!" (French for "No, I will have mistresses!"). George had already had (1736) an illegitimate son, Johann Ludwig, Graf von Wallmoden-Gimborn. The most famous of his mistresses was Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk, who was one of Caroline's ladies of the bedchamber.

In 1734 George II founded the Georg August University of Göttingen.
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War and rebellion
Against Walpole's advice, George II once again entered into war with Spain in 1739 (the War of Jenkins' Ear). The entire continent of Europe was plunged into war upon the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1740. At dispute was the right of his daughter, Maria Theresa, to succeed to his Austrian dominions. George II's war with Spain quickly became part of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Sir Robert Walpole was powerless to prevent a major European conflict. He also faced the opposition of several politicians, led by John Carteret, 2nd Baron Carteret (afterwards 2nd Earl Granville). Accused of rigging an election, Walpole retired in 1742 after over twenty years in office. He was replaced by Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, George II's original choice for the premiership, who had previously failed to gain office due to the manœuvres of Queen Caroline. Lord Wilmington, however, was a figurehead; actual power was held by Lord Carteret. When Lord Wilmington died in 1743, Henry Pelham took his place.

The pro-war faction was led by Lord Carteret, who claimed that if Maria Theresa failed to succeed to the Austrian Throne, then French power in Europe would increase. George II agreed to send more troops to Europe, ostensibly to support Maria Theresa, but in reality to prevent enemy troops from marching into Hanover. The British army had not fought in a major European war in over twenty years, during which time the government had badly neglected their upkeep. Nevertheless, George II enthusiastically sent his troops to Europe. He personally accompanied them, leading them into the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. (He thus became the last British monarch ever to lead troops into battle.) His armies were controlled by his military-minded son, the Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. The war was not welcomed by the British public, who felt that George II and Lord Carteret were subordinating British interests to Hanoverian ones.

Shrewdly, George II's French opponents encouraged rebellion by the Jacobites during the War of the Austrian Succession. The Jacobites were the supporters of the Roman Catholic James II, who had been deposed in 1689 and replaced not by his Catholic son, but by his Protestant daughter. James II's son, James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender") had attempted two prior rebellions; the rebellion of 1715 ("the Fifteen") was after he fled to France, and the rebellion of 1719 ("the Nineteen") was so weak that it was almost farcical. The Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie"), however, led a much stronger rebellion on his father's behalf in 1745.

Bonnie Prince Charlie landed in Scotland in July 1745. Many Scotsmen were loyal to his cause; he defeated British forces in September. He then attempted to enter England, where even Roman Catholics seemed hostile to the invasion. The French monarch, Louis XV, had promised to send twelve thousand soldiers to aid the rebellion, but did not deliver. A British army under the Duke of Cumberland, meanwhile, drove the Jacobites back into Scotland. On 16 April 1746, Bonnie Prince Charlie faced the Duke of Cumberland in the Battle of Culloden, the last battle ever fought on British soil. The ravaged Jacobite troops were routed by the British Government Army. Bonnie Prince Charlie escaped to France, but many of his Scottish supporters were caught and executed. Jacobitism was all but crushed; no further serious attempt was made at restoring the House of Stuart.

After the Forty-Five, the War of the Austrian Succession continued. Peace was made in 1748, with Maria Theresa being recognised as Archduchess of Austria. She subsequently dropped Great Britain as a key ally, deeming it too unreliable.

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12th June 1683 - the Rye House Plot was discovered. This was a plan to assassinate King Charles II and his brother James, Duke of York, who later became King James II of England, VII of Scotland. The plot was so called because it was thought up in a a manor house called Rye House in Hertfordshire.
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Rye House.

The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne) James, Duke of York.

After the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles in 1660 there was a concern among many members of Parliament, former republicans and the general Protestant population of England that the King's relationship with France under Louis XIV and the other Catholic rulers of Europe was a little too close. Anti-Catholic sentiment, associated with absolutism, was widespread, and in particular focused on the succession to the throne. While Charles was publicly Anglican, he and his brother were known to have Catholic sympathies. These suspicions were confirmed in 1670 when James announced his intention to convert to Catholicism - a Catholic would now be first in line to the throne.

In 1681 the Exclusion Bill was introduced in the House of Commons, an attempt to pass an Act of Parliament excluding James from the succession. Charles outmaneuvered his opponents and dissolved Parliament for the final time. This left his opponents with no legal method of preventing James's succession, and rumours of plots and conspiracies abounded.

Rye House, a manor house in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, was owned by a well known Republican, Richard Rumbold. The plan was to conceal a force of 100 men in the grounds of the house and ambush the King and the Duke on their way back to London from the horse races at Newmarket.

They were expected to make the journey on April 1, 1683, but there was a great fire in Newmarket on March 22, which destroyed half the town. The races were cancelled, and the King and the Duke returned to London early. As a result, the planned attack never took place.

News of the plot leaked out, and Charles and his supporters were quick to act. Many well-known members of Parliament and noblemen of the "country party", which opposed the Court party and would soon be known as Whigs, were arrested. Although the actual conspirators were minor figures, the great leaders Lord William Russell, a son of the Earl of Bedford, and Algernon Sidney were convicted on flimsy evidence of guilt by association by Judge George Jeffreys— who was to preside over the "Bloody Assizes" in the West Country after the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685— and were executed. Lord Shaftesbury, leader of the opposition to Charles's rule, fled into exile. The Duke of Monmouth, Charles' favored but illegitimate son, was implicated and obliged to retire to the United Provinces (now Holland).

Historians have suggested the story of the plot may have been largely manufactured by Charles or his supporters to allow the removal of most of his strongest political opponents.

Also on this day -

1898 - The Phillippines gets its independence from Spain and the United States.

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13th June 1306 - The Battle of Methven took place between Scotland and England at Methven in Scotland, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. It was a decisive English victory, despite having a slightly smaller number of troops.
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Background
Despite the excommunication of the Scottish king, Robert I (Robert the Bruce) for the killing of John Comyn of Badenoch in the chapel of the Minorites at Dumfries in February 1306, he was crowned King of Scots at Scone on March 25, 1306. King Edward I of England responded by sending an army of 3000 cavalry, under the dreaded Dragon Banner, to capture Bruce and anyone who supported his cause. As commander Edward chose Aymer de Valence, the later Earl of Pembroke, brother in law of the recently murdered John Comyn.
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Battle
Perth had fallen to the English in mid-June and Bruce decided to retake the city with the 4500 men he had mustered since his coronation. Bruce's army reached the city walls on 18 June but agreed to Pembroke's proposal for a postponement of battle to the following day. The Scottish army camped for the night a few miles west of Perth at Methven, but during the night the English forces conducted a surprise attack on the Scots. In the ensuing chaos only a few hundred Scots left with their lives.
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Aftermath
Guided by monks sent by Abbot Maurice of Inchaffray Abbey, Bruce and his small band of followers fled westward, constandly harassed by warriors of John Macdougall, son of the Lord of Argyll and Lorne, sworn enemy of Bruce. After finally escaping to the Western Isles where he and a few friends spent the winter, he returned to the Scottish mainland the following spring to continue the fight for Scottish independence.
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Commanders

Scotland - King Robert I
England - Aymer de Valence, 1st Earl of Pembroke
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Strength

Scotland - 4500
England - 3000
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Casualties

Scotland - 3500
England - ?

Wars of Scottish Independence
Dunbar – Stirling Bridge – Falkirk – Stirling Castle – Methven – Bannockburn – Dupplin Moor – Halidon Hill
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Also on this day -

1390 - Alexander Stewart, the illegitimate son of King Robert II of Scotland, more familiarly known as the "Wolf of Badenoch", plundered and burned the towns of Forres and Elgin, including the Cathedral.

1625 - King Charles I is married to the French princess Henrietta Maria de Bourbon. She becomes England's Queen Consort.

1774 - Rhode Island becomes the first of Britain's North American colonies to ban the importation of slaves.
 

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14th June 1645 - the Battle of Naseby took place during the English Civil War. It was a decisive victory for the Parrliamentarian New Model Army and, within a year, the First English Civil War ended with a Parliamentarian military victory. But, within a few years after that, the Second English Civil War would start, although we now just consider both as just ONE war. Just after the battle, Parliamentarian troops also hacked to death at least 100 women camp-followers in the apparent belief they were Irish, though they were probably Welsh whose language was mistaken for Irish.
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The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On June 14, 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax.
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Last stand of Prince Rupert's Bluecoats, Battle of Naseby.

The Campaign
At the start of 1645, most of King Charles's advisers wished to attack the New Model Army while it was still forming. Prince Rupert of the Rhine proposed instead to march north, to recover the north of England and join forces with the Royalists in Scotland under Montrose. This course was adopted, even though the King's army had to be weakened by leaving a detachment under Goring to hold the west country and maintain the Siege of Taunton.

Meanwhile, after an aborted attempt to relieve Taunton, Parliament's Committee of Both Kingdoms had directed Fairfax to besiege the King's wartime capital at Oxford. Initially, Charles welcomed this move, as Fairfax would be unable to interfere with his move north. Then at the end of May he was told that Oxford was short of provisions and could not hold out long. To distract Fairfax, the Royalists stormed the Parliamentarian garrison at Leicester on May 31. Having done so, Prince Rupert and the King's council reversed their former decision and decided to march south to relieve Oxford.

Parliament had indeed been alarmed by the loss of Leicester, and Fairfax was now instructed to engage the King's main army. He accordingly marched north from Oxford on June 5. His leading detachments of horse clashed with Royalist outposts near Daventry on June 12, alerting the King to his presence. On June 13, the Royalists, who were now making for Newark so as to receive reinforcements, were at Market Harborough.

Fairfax was eager to engage them, and held a Council of War, during which Oliver Cromwell, recently re-appointed Lieutenant General, arrived with some cavalry reinforcements. The New Model Army moved in pursuit, and late in the day Henry Ireton attacked a Royalist outpost at Naseby, six miles (10 km) to the south of the royalist army. The King now had to accept battle, or retreat with Fairfax at his heels. On June 14, urged on by Rupert, he took the former course.
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The battle
Fairfax had drawn up his army on a ridge a mile north of Naseby, with Ireton's wing of cavalry on the left, Cromwell's cavalry on the right and the infantry (eight large regiments) under Sir Philip Skippon in the centre. Royalist horse under Rupert and his brother Prince Maurice faced Ireton, while 1500 truculent "Northern Horse" under Sir Marmaduke Langdale faced Cromwell. In the centre, the Royalist foot were organised as three "tertias" commanded by Lord Astley. The King commanded a small reserve of infantry and his Lifeguard of Horse.

Battle began when Parliamentarian dragoons under Colonel Okey occupied hedges on the Royalist right flank. They opened fire and goaded Rupert into a charge. Most of Ireton's regiments were broken and put to flight, some not stopping until they reached Northampton. Rupert led his men in all-out pursuit, leaving some of Ireton's men behind them, only temporarily disordered. There followed a general advance of the Royalist infantry. Initially, the Royalist centre and left advanced while the right wing appeared to hesitate due to the Parliamentarian infantry being out of sight behind the crest of the ridge. Suddenly the roundhead infantry moved to the crest of the ridge and both sides fired a volley. With the Parliamentarian centre under pressure from the veteran Royalist foot, Ireton led the remanants of his horse to their support, and was unhorsed, wounded and captured. At this point the whole line of Parliamentary Foot might have crumbled and fled if not for the inspiring leadership of Philip Skippon, their General of Foot.

Meanwhile on the Parliamentarian right, Cromwell's Ironsides, possibly commanded by Thomas Fairfax faced the Royalist Northern horse, neither willing to charge to the aid of their infantry while the other could threaten their flank. Eventually after an hour, the Royalist cavalry began to charge and Cromwell's troops moved to meet them. Langdale's men were not only outflanked and outnumbered two to one, but forced to charge up a slope broken up by bushes and a rabbit warren. After a brief contest they were routed. Unlike Rupert, Cromwell sent only two regiments after them, and turned his reserves against the Royalist centre. Oakey's dragoons and some of Ireton's horse also attacked on the other flank. Outnumbered and surrounded, the Royalist foot were killed or forced to retreat after a desperate resistance. One regiment, Prince Rupert's Bluecoats, stood their ground and resisted the victorious Parliamentarian forces in a desperate last stand, but they too eventually succumbed to the sheer weight of numbers. The King attempted to lead his Lifeguard of Horse to their rescue, but was prevented from doing so by the Scottish Earl of Carnwath, who seized his bridle crying, "Would you go on your death so easily?", and forced him to halt.

Rupert's cavalry had galloped two miles and reached the Parliamentarian baggage train, defended only by a small guard. They refused his summons to surrender, and Rupert belatedly led his cavalry back to the battlefield, where they were too late to save the Royalist infantry. They reformed a mile north of their original positions, but would not make another attack. When Fairfax regrouped and advanced, they rode off the field. Fairfax's forces pursued Royalist survivors fleeing north to Leicester in an attempt decisively to destroy their army as a fighting force. Many were butchered when they mistakenly followed what they thought was the main road to Leicester into a church yard, and were unable to escape their pursuers. Parliamentarian troops also hacked to death at least 100 women camp-followers in the apparent belief they were Irish, though they were probably Welsh whose language was mistaken for Irish. The massacre was widely celebrated by the Parliamentarians.[1]
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Aftermath
Fairfax recovered Leicester on May 18. Royalist military force had been shattered at Naseby. The King had lost his veteran infantry (including 500 officers), all his artillery, and many arms. He was unable to take the field again until they had been replaced, and he could never again raise an army of similar quality. Within a year, the First Civil War ended in a Parliamentarian military victory.


Location: Naseby, near Market Harborough, Northamptonshire

Result: Decisive Parliamentarian victory

Commander of the Parliamentarians - Sir Thomas Fairfax

Commander of the Royalists - King Charles I

Strength of the Parliamentarians - 6000 horse, 7000 foot

Strength of the Royalists - 4100 horse, 3300 foot

Parliamentarian casualties - Unknown

Royalist casualties - 3500

wikipedia.org
 

Blackleaf

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15th June 1215 - King John signs the Magna Carta at Runnymede, Surrey. It is the most significant early influence on the long historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. Even though Magna Carta is essentially English, and not Welsh, Scottish nor Northern Irish, 15th June is one of the dates recommended for a "British Day", a day when the people of these islands can celebrate their Britishness.
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Magna Carta (Latin for "Great Charter", literally "Great Paper"), also called Magna Carta Libertatum ("Great Charter of Freedoms"), was an English charter originally issued in 1215. Magna Carta is the most significant early influence on the long historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. Magna Carta was originally created because of disagreements between the Pope, King John and his English barons about the rights of the King. Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and accept that the will of the king could be bound by law.
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Events Leading to Magna Carta


King John signs Magna Carta

After the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and advances in the 12th century, the English king had by 1199 become the most powerful monarch in Europe. This was due to a number of factors including the sophisticated centralised government created by the procedures of the new Norman rulers combined with the native Anglo-Saxon systems of governance, and extensive Anglo-Norman land holdings in Normandy. But after King John was crowned in the early 13th century, a series of stunning failures on his part led the barons of England to revolt and place checks on the king's power.

France
One major cause of discontent in the realm were John’s actions in France. At the time of John’s accession to the throne after Richard's death, there were no set rules to define the heredity of the crown. John, as Richard’s younger brother, was crowned over Richard's nephew, Arthur of Brittany. But Arthur still had a claim over the Anjou empire and so John needed the approval of the French King, Philip Augustus. To get it, John gave to Philip vast tracts of the French-speaking territories of the Anjou empire.

Later John married Isabella d’Angoulême, and her previous fiancé, one of John’s vassals, appealed to Philip, who then forfeited all of John’s French land, including the rich Normandy. Philip declared Arthur as the true ruler of the Anjou throne and invaded in mid 1202 to give it to him. John had to act to save face, but his eventual actions did not achieve this, as he ended up killing Arthur in suspicious circumstances, thus losing the little Baronial support he had in France who saw it as a black mark that John would kill his own family to be king.

After the defeat of John's allies at the Battle of Bouvines, Philip retained all of John’s Northern French territories, including Normandy (the Aquitaine remained in English hands for a time). However short-sighted John may have been, he must have realised this would not only reveal him as a weak military leader, but it also lost him a major source of income, which meant that he would have to further tax the already unhappy Barons who were starting to see him as weak.

Note: John was given the nickname of "Lackland" not because of the losses to France, but because he had received no land rights (at birth) in the continental provinces, unlike his elder brothers.


The Church
At the time of John’s reign there was still a great deal of controversy as to how the Archbishop of Canterbury was to be elected, although it had become traditional that the monarch would appoint a candidate with the approval of the monks of Canterbury.

But in the early 13th century, the bishops began to want a say. To retain control, the monks elected one of their number to the role. But John, incensed at his lack of involvement in the proceedings, sent the Bishop of Norwich to Rome as his choice. Pope Innocent III declared both choices as invalid and persuaded the monks to elect Stephen Langton, who in fact was probably the best choice. But John refused to accept this choice and exiled the monks from the realm. Infuriated, Innocent ordered an interdict (prevention of public worship) in England in 1208, excommunicated John in 1209, and backed Philip to invade England in 1212.

John finally backed down and agreed to endorse Langton and allow the exiles to return, and to completely placate the pope he gave England and Ireland as papal territories and rented them back as a fiefdom for 1000 marks per annum. This further enraged the Barons as it meant that they had even less autonomy in their own land.


Taxes
Despite all this, England's government could function without a strong king. The efficient civil service, established by the powerful King Henry II had run England throughout the reign of Richard I. But the government needed money, for during this period of prosperity mercenary soldiers cost nearly twice than before. The loss of the French territories, especially Normandy, greatly reduced the state income, and a huge tax would have to be raised in order to attempt to reclaim these territories. Yet it was difficult to raise taxes due to tradition of keeping them the same.

Novel forms of income included a Forest law, a set of regulations about the king’s forest which were easily broken and severely punished. John also increased the pre-existing scutage (feudal payment to an overlord replacing direct military service) eleven times in his seventeen years as king, as compared to eleven times in twice that period covering three monarchs before him. The last two of these increases were double the increase of their predecessors. He also imposed the first income tax, which raised, what was at the time, the extortionate sum of £60,000.


Rebellion and Civil War
John of England signs Magna Carta – illustration from Cassell's History of England (1902)By 1215, some of the barons of England banded together and took London by force on June 10, 1215. They and many of the fence-sitting moderates not in overt rebellion forced King John to agree to a document called the 'Articles of the Barons', to which his Great Seal was attached in the meadow at Runnymede on June 15, 1215. In return, the barons renewed their oaths of fealty to King John on June 19, 1215. A formal document to record the agreement was created by the royal chancery on July 15: this was the original Magna Carta. An unknown number of copies of it were sent out to officials, such as royal sheriffs and bishops.

The most significant clause for King John at the time was clause 61, known as the "security clause", the longest portion of the document. This established a committee of 25 Barons who could at any time meet and over-rule the will of the King, through force by seizing his castles and possessions if needed. This was based on a medieval legal practice known as distraint, which was commonly done, but it was the first time it had been applied to a monarch. In addition, the King was to take an oath of loyalty to the committee.

King John had no intention to honour Magna Carta, as it was sealed under extortion by force, and clause 61 essentially neutered his power as a monarch, making him King in name only. He renounced it as soon as the barons left London, plunging England into a civil war, called the First Barons' War. Pope Innocent III also immediately annulled the "shameful and demeaning agreement, forced upon the king by violence and fear." He rejected any call for rights, saying it impaired King John's dignity. He saw it as an affront to the Church's authority over the king and released John from his oath to obey it.
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Content of Magna Carta


Rights still in force today

Clause 1 of Magna Carta (the original 1215 edition) guarantees the freedom of the English Church. Although this originally meant freedom from the King, later in history it was used for different purposes (see below). Clause 13 guarantees the “ancient liberties” of the city of London. Clause 39 gives a right to due process.

The 1215 edition was annulled in 1216 (see above) but some of the 1297 version is still in force today and preserves the rights listed above.

In 1828 the passing of the first Offences Against the Person Act, was the first time a clause of Magna Carta was repealed , namely Clause 36. With the myth broken, in one hundred and fifty years nearly the whole charter was repealed leaving just Clauses 1, 13, 39, and 63 still in force today after the Statute Laws (Repeals) Act was passed (although interestingly at the same time as the moon landings, possibly to distract public attention for repealing The Charter).


Feudal rights still in place in 1225
These clauses were present in the 1225 charter but are no longer in force, and would have no real place in the post-feudal world. Clauses 2 to 7 refer to the feudal death duties; defining the amounts and what to do if an heir to a fiefdom is underage or is a widow. Clause 23 provides no town or person should be forced to build a bridge across a river. Clause 33 demands the removal of all fish weirs. Clause 43 gives special provision for tax on reverted estates and Clause 44 states that forest law should only apply to those in the King’s forest.


Feudal rights not in the 1225 charter
These provisions have no bearing in the world today, as they are feudal rights, and were not even included in the 1225 charter. Clauses 9 to 12, 14 to 16, and 25 to 26 deal with debt and taxes and Clause 27 with intestacy.

The other clauses state that no one may seize land in debt except as a last resort, that underage heirs and widows should not pay interest on inherited loans, that county rents will stay at their ancient amounts and that the crown may only seize the value owed in payment of a debt, that aid (taxes for warfare or other emergency) must be reasonable, and that scutage (literally, shield-payment, payment in lieu of actual military service used to finance warfare) may only be sought with the consent of the kingdom.

These clauses were not present in the 1225 document, but still this led to the first parliament. Clause 14 provided that the common consent of the kingdom was to be sought from a council of the archbishops, bishops, earls and greater Barons. This later became the great council (see below).


Judicial rights (also in 1225 Charter)
These rights were the beginning of English judicial rights. Clauses 17 to 22 allowed for a fixed law court, which became the chancellery, and defines the scope and frequency of county assizes. They also said that fines should be proportionate to the offence, that they should not be influenced by ecclesiastical property in clergy trials, and that that people should be tried by their peers. Many think that this gave rise to jury and magistrate trial, but its only manifestation in today’s world is the right of a Lord to trial in the House of Lords at first instance.

Clause 24 states that crown officials (such as sheriffs) may not try a crime in place of a judge. Clause 34 forbids repossession without a writ precipe. Clauses 36 to 38 state that writs for loss of life or limb are to be free, that someone may use reasonable force to secure their own land and that no one can be tried on their own testimony alone.

Clause 54 says that no man may be imprisoned on the testimony of a woman except on the death of her husband.


Anti-corruption and fair trade (also in 1225 Charter)
Clauses 28 to 32 say that no royal officer may take any commodity such as corn, wood or transport without payment or consent or force a knight to pay for something they could do themselves and that he must return any lands confiscated from a felon within a year and a day.

Clause 25 sets out a list of standard measures and Clauses 41 and 42 guarantee the safety and right of entry and exit of foreign merchants.

Clause 45 says that the king should only appoint royal officers where they are suitable for the post. Clause 46 provides for the guardianship of monasteries.


Temporary provisions
These provisions were for immediate effect, and were not in any later charter. Clauses 47 and 48 abolish most of Forest Law. Clauses 49, 52 to 53 and 55 to 59 provide for the return of hostages, land and fines taken in John’s reign.

Article 50 says that no member of the D’Athèe family may be a royal officer. Article 51 provides all foreign knights and mercenaries should leave the realm.

Articles 60, 62 and 63 provide for the application and observation of The Charter and say that The Charter is binding on the Kings and his heirs forever, but this was soon deemed to be dependent on that specific King reaffirming The Charter under his own seal.
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Popular perceptions

In 1957 the American Bar Association acknowledged the debt American law and constitutionalism had to Magna Carta by erecting a monument at Runnymede.Magna Carta is often a symbol for the first time the citizens of England were granted rights against an absolute king. However this is not entirely accurate. In practice the commons could not enforce Magna Carta in the very rare situations where it affected them, so its effects in reality were limited. In addition a large part of Magna Carta was copied, nearly word for word, from the Charter of Liberties of Henry I, issued when Henry I ascended to the throne in 1100, which bound the king to certain laws regarding the treatment of church officials and nobles, effectively granting certain civil liberties to the church and the English nobility.

The document commonly known as Magna Carta today is not the 1215 charter, but a later charter of 1225, and is usually shown in the form of The Charter of 1297 when it was confirmed by Edward I. At the time of the 1215 charter many of the provisions were not meant to make long term changes but simply to right the immediate wrongs, and therefore The Charter was reissued three times in the reign of Henry III (1216, 1217 and 1225) in order to provide for an updated version. After this each individual king for the next two-hundred years (Until Henry V in 1416) personally confirmed the 1225 charter in their own charter, so one must not think of it as one document but a variety of documents coming together to form one Magna Carta in the same way many treaties such as the treaties of Rome and Nice come together to form the Treaties of the European Union and the European Community.

The document is revered in America, since it is seen as an antecedent of the Bill of Rights and Constitution. They have contributed the Runnymede Memorial and Lincoln Cathedral offers a Magna Carta USA week [1]. When the Lincoln copy was last exhibited in the USA, at the Pentagon, a US Airforce serviceman said:

“I suppose this is what we fight for”.

In 2006, BBC History magazine held a poll to recommend a date for a proposed "Britain Day". June 15, as the date of the signing of the original 1215 Magna Carta, received most votes, above other suggestions such as D-Day, VE Day, and Remembrance Day. The outcome was not binding, although Chancellor Gordon Brown had previously given his support to the idea of a new national day to celebrate British identity. [1]

wikipedia.org
 

Blackleaf

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16th June 1487 - the Battle of Stoke Field took place. It was the last major battle of the Wars of the Roses, an English civil war fought between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, two branches of the Plantagenet royal house, over the English Throne. This battle was a decisive Lancastrian victory. The end of the Wars heralded the start of the Tudor dynasty.
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The Battle of Stoke Field, which took place on 16 June 1487, marked the last dying breath of the Wars of the Roses.

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The pretender
Henry VII of England now held the throne for the House of Lancaster, and had gained the acceptance of the Yorkist faction by his marriage to their heiress, Elizabeth of York, but his hold on power was not entirely secure.

The best surviving male claimant of the York dynasty was the queen's first cousin, Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of George, Duke of Clarence). This boy was kept confined in the Tower of London.

An impostor named Lambert Simnel came to the attention of John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln. Lincoln, although apparently reconciled with the Tudor king, himself had a claim on the throne; moreover, the last Plantagenet, Richard III of England, had named him as the royal heir. Although he probably had no doubt about Simnel's true identity, Lincoln saw an opportunity for revenge and reparation.

Lincoln fled the English Court on 19 June 1486 and went to the Court of Malines and his Aunt, Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. Margaret provided finanical and military support in the form of 1500 crack German and Swiss mercenaries, under the veteran German commander, Colonel Martin Schwartz. Lincoln was joined by a number of rebel English Lords at Malines, in particular Richard III's loyal supporter, Lord Lovell, Sir Richard Harleston, the former Governor of Jersey and Thomas David, a Captain of the English garrison at Calais.

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The Yorkist rebellion
The Yorkist fleet set sail and arrived in Dublin on 4 May 1487. With the help of Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Lincoln recruited 4,500 Irish mercenaries, mostly Kern: lighly armoured but highly mobile infantry.

With the support of the Irish nobility and clergy, Lincoln had the pretender Lambert Simnel crowned "King Edward VI" in Dublin on the 24 May 1487. Although a Parliament was called for the new "King", Lincoln had no intention of remaining in Dublin and instead packed up the army and Simnel and set sail for north Lancashire.

On landing on the 4 June 1487, Lincoln was joined by a number of the local gentry lead by Sir Thomas Boughton. In a series of forced marches, the Yorkist army, now numbering some 8,000 men, covered over 200 miles in 5 days. On the night of 10 June, at Bramham Moor, outside Tadcaster, Lovell led 2,000 men on a night attack against 400 Lancastrians, lead by Lord Clifford. The result was an overwhelming Yorkist victory.

Lincoln then outmanoeuvred King Henry's northern army, under the command of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland by ordering a force under John, Lord Scrope to mount a diversionary attack on Bootham Bar, York, England on 12 June. Lord Scrope withdrew northwards, taking Northumberland's army with him.

Lincoln and the main army continued southwards. Outside Doncaster, Lincoln encountered Lancastrian cavalry under Lord Scales. There followed 3 days of skimishing through Sherwood Forest. Lincoln forced Scales back to Nottingham. However, the fighting had slowed down the Yorkist advance sufficiently to allow King Henry to receive substantial reinforcements, under the command of Lord Strange on arriving at Nottingham on 14 June.

On the 15th June, King Henry began moving north east toward Newark after receiving news that Lincoln had crossed the Trent. Around 9 in the morning of the 16 June, King Henry's forward troops encountered the Yorkist army ensembled in a single block, on a brow of a hill, surrounded on 3 sides by the Trent at the village of East Stoke.

In an unusual military manoeurve, the Yorkists surrendered the high ground by immediately going on to the attack. The battle was bitterly contested for over 3 hours, but eventually, the lack of body armour on the Irish troops meant that they were cut down in increasing numbers.

Unable to retreat, the German and Swiss mercenaries fought it out. All of the Yorkist commanders: Lincoln, Fitzgerald, Boughton and Schwartz fell fighting. Only Lovell escaped and died hidden in a secret room at his house, Minister Lovell. Simnel was captured, but was pardoned by the king in a gesture of clemency which did his reputation no harm.

Location: Nottinghamshire, England

Yorkist Commander - John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln.

Lancastrian Commander - King Henry VII (who, after the War, combined the red rose of the Lancastrians with the white rose of the Yorkists to form the red and white Tudor rose, and thus starting the Tudor dynasty, whose most famous monarchs were Henry VIII and Elizabeth I)

Yorkist strength - 8000

Lancastrian strength - 12,000

Yorkist casualties - 4000

Lancastrian casualties - 3000


Lancastrian red rose.


Yorkist white rose.


At the end of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VII merged the red rose with the white rose to form the red and white Tudor rose.

wikipdia.org

Also on this day -

1779 - Spain declares war on Britain (as nearly everybody did in those days) and lay siege to Gibraltar.

1903 - the Ford motor compay is formed.
 

Blackleaf

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17th June 1775 - the Battle of Bunker Hill (which actually took place at Breed's Hill) took place between the American colonists and the British. As is normal for the bad guys and the losers, many Americans today believe that they won this battle, as that is what they were wrongly told at school, but it was actually a victory for the British.
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The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull

Bunker Hill was a battle of the American Revolutionary War that took place on June 17, 1775 during the Siege of Boston. It is considered by some to be the bloodiest battle of the American Revolutionary War. General Israel Putnam was in charge of the revolutionary forces, and Major General William Howe commanded the British forces. Colonel William Prescott, the revolutionaries' second in charge, is known as the officer who said: "Don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!" Although the battle is known as "Bunker Hill", most of the fighting did not take place there, occurring on Breed's Hill nearby. On their third assault the British forces overran the revolutionaries' fortified earthworks on Breed's and Bunker Hill. The battle was a Pyrrhic victory for the British who suffered more than 1000 casualties. Howe's immediate objective was achieved.

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Background

Since May of 1774 the Province of Massachusetts Bay had been under martial law under General Thomas Gage. After armed conflict with the colonists started on April 19, 1775 at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Gage's forces had been besieged in Boston by 8,000 to 12,000 militia led mainly by General Artemas Ward. In May, the British garrison was increased by the arrival of about 4,500 additional troops and Major General Howe. Admiral Samuel Graves commanded the fleet within the harbor.

General Gage started work with his new generals on a plan to break the siege of Boston. They would use an amphibious assault to remove the Americans from Dorchester Heights or take their headquarters at Cambridge. To thwart these plans, General Ward gave orders to General Putnam to fortify Bunker Hill.

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The battleground

The Charlestown Peninsula was narrow to the northwest and it extended about 1 mile (1600 meters) toward the southwest into Boston Harbor. At its closest approach less than 1000 feet (300 meters) separated it from the Boston Peninsula. Bunker Hill is an elevation at the north of the peninsula, and Breed's Hill is near the Boston end, while the town of Charlestown occupied the flats at the southern end.

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Description of the battle

On the night of June 16, American Colonel William Prescott led 1,500 men onto the peninsula. At first Putnam, Prescott, and their engineering officer, Captain Richard Gridley, disagreed as to where they should locate their defense. Breed's Hill was viewed as much more defensible, and they decided to locate their primary redoubt there. Prescott and his men, using Gridley's outline, began digging a fortification 160 feet (50 m) long and 80 feet (25 m) wide with ditches and earthen walls. They added ditch and dike extensions toward the Charles River on their right and began reinforcing a fence running to their left.

In the early predawn, around 4 am, a sentry on board HMS Lively was first to spot the new fortification. The Lively opened fire, temporarily halting the Americans' work. Admiral Graves, on his flagship HMS Somerset, woke irritated by gunfire he hadn't ordered. He ordered it stopped, only to reverse himself when he got on deck and saw the works. He ordered all 128 guns in the harbor to open up on the American position. The broadsides proved largely ineffective, since the ships couldn't elevate their guns enough to reach the fortifications.

It took almost six hours to organize an infantry force, gather up and inspect the men on parade. General Howe was to lead the major assault, drive around the American left flank, and take them from the rear. Brigadier General Robert Pigot on the British left flank would lead the direct assault on the redoubt. Major John Pitcairn led the flank or reserve force. It took several trips in longboats to assemble Howe's forces on the northwest corner of the peninsula. On a warm day, with full field packs of about 60 pounds (30 kg), the British were finally ready about two in the afternoon.


The Battle of Bunker Hill, Howard Pyle, 1897.

The Americans, seeing this activity, had also called for reinforcements. The only troops to get to the forward positions were two New Hampshire regiments (1st NH and 3rd NH) of 200 men under John Stark and James Reed. Stark's men took positions along the fence on the left or north end of the American position. Since low tide opened a gap along the Mystic River, they quickly extended the fence with a short stone wall to the north. Gridley or Stark placed a stake about 30 meters in front of the fence and ordered that no one fire until the regulars passed it. Private John Simpson, however, disobeyed orders and fired as soon as he had a clear shot, thus starting the battle (Americans were trigger happy even in those days).

Prescott had been steadily losing men. He lost very few to the bombardment, but had ten volunteers to carry every wounded man to the rear. Others took advantage of the confusion to join the withdrawal. Two generals did join Prescott's force, but both declined command, and simply fought as individuals. One of these was Dr. Joseph Warren, the president of the Council and acting head of Massachusetts' revolutionary government. The second was Seth Pomeroy. By the time the battle started the total involved defenders numbered about 1,400 and they faced 2,600 regulars.

The first assaults both on the fence line and the redoubt were met with massed fire at close range and repulsed, with heavy British losses. The reserve, gathering just north of the town, was also taking casualties due to rifle fire from a company in the town. Howe's men reformed on the field and made a second unsuccessful attack at the wall.

The Americans had lost all fire discipline (no surprises there) In traditional battles of the 18th century, companies of men fired, reloaded, and moved on specific orders, as they had been trained (see the warfare tactics section in "Muskets"). After their initial volley, the Americans all fought as individuals, and every man fired as quickly as he could reload and find a target (thus running out of ammunition too quickly and not being as clever as the British at tactics). The British withdrew almost to their original positions on the peninsula to regroup. The navy, along with artillery from Copp's Hill on the Boston peninsula, fired heated shot into Charlestown. All 400 or so buildings and the docks were completely burned, but the snipers withdrew safely.

The third British assault carried the redoubt, due to a number of factors. The British reserves were included in this assault and both flanks concentrated on the redoubt. Also, the Americans ran out of ammunition, reducing the battle to a bayonet fight, but most of the American soldiers' muskets didn't have bayonets.

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Aftermath


According to the John Trumbull painting, the flag carried by the colonists during the battle was this historical flag of New England

The British had taken the ground, but at a stiff cost; 1,054 were shot (226 dead and 828 wounded), and a disproportionate number of these were officers. The American losses were only about 450, of whom 140 were killed (including Joseph Warren), and 30 captured (20 of whom died). Most American losses came during the withdrawal.

British dead and wounded included most of their officers. Of General Howe's entire field staff, he was the only one not shot. Major Pitcairn was dead, and Colonel James Abercrombie fatally wounded. The American withdrawal and British advance swept right through to include the entire peninsula, Bunker Hill as well as Breed's Hill. But the number of Americans to be faced in new positions hastily created by Putnam on the mainland, the end of the day, and the exhaustion of his troops removed any chance Howe had of advancing on Cambridge and breaking the siege.

The attitude of the British was significantly changed, both individually and as a government. Thomas Gage was soon recalled, and would be replaced by General Howe. Howe himself lost the daring he had shown at Louisbourg, and was cautious through the rest of his service. Gage's report to the cabinet repeated his earlier warnings that "a large army must at length be employed to reduce these people" and would require "the hiring of foreign troops."

The famous order, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes" was popularized by stories about Bunker Hill. However, it is uncertain as to who said it, since various writers attribute it to Putnam, Stark, Prescott and Gridley. Another reporting uncertainty concerns the role of African-Americans. There were certainly a few involved in the battle, but their exact numbers are unknown. One of these was Salem Poor, who was cited for bravery and whose actions at the redoubt saved Prescott's life, but accounts crediting him with Pitcairn's death are highly doubtful. Other African-Americans present were Peter Salem; Prince Whipple; and Brazillari Lew [1]. A mulatto Phillip Abbot of Andover was killed in the battle.

Among the Colonial volunteers in the Battle were James Otis, Henry Dearborn, John Brooks, William Eustis, Daniel Shays, William Barton and Israel Potter. Among the British Officers were General Henry Clinton, General John Burgoyne, and Lord Francis Rawdon.

wikipedia.org
 

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18th June 1685 - the Monmouth Rebellion (or Pitchfork Rebellion) takes place in England. This was an attempt to overthrow King James II, the younger brother of previous monarch Charles II, because he was a Roman Catholic and many people were opposed to a "papist" king. The leader of the Rebellion was the 1st Duke of Monmouth, an illegitimate son of Charles II. Monmouth was eventually executed for treason on 15 July 1685, and many of his supporters were executed or transported in the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys.


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The Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, was an attempt to overthrow the King of England, James II, who became king when his elder brother, Charles II, died on 6 February 1685. James II was unpopular because he was Roman Catholic and many people were opposed to a "papist" king. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, claimed to be rightful heir to the throne and attempted to displace James II.

The rebellion ended with the defeat of Monmouth's forces at Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685 (often, rather incorrectly, said to be the last pitched battle on English soil). Monmouth was executed for treason on 15 July, and many of his supporters were executed or transported in the Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys.
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Duke of Monmouth
Monmouth was an illegitimate son of Charles II. There had been rumours that Charles had married Monmouth's mother, Lucy Walter, but no evidence was forthcoming and Charles always said that he only had one wife, Catherine of Braganza.

Monmouth was a Protestant. He had been appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army by his father in 1672 and Captain-General in 1678, enjoying some successes in the Netherlands in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Monmouth's military reputation, and his Protestantism, made him a popular figure in England. An attempt was made to pass an Act of Parliament to exclude James from the succession and substitute Monmouth in 1681, but Charles outmanoeuvred his opponents and dissolved Parliament for the final time. After the Rye House Plot to assassinate both Charles and James, Monmouth exiled himself to Holland, and gathered supporters in the Hague.

So long as Charles II remained on the throne, Monmouth was content to live a life of pleasure in Holland, while still hoping to accede peaceably to the throne. The accession of James II to the throne put an end to these hopes. Prince William of Orange, although also a Protestant, was bound to James by treaties and would not accommodate a rival claimant. He suggested Monmouth should take a commission with Emperor Leopold in his fight against the Turks. Monmouth, however, at the urging of his fellow exiles, moved to take the Crown of England by force.
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From Lyme Regis to Sedgemoor



In May 1685, Monmouth set sail for South West England, a strongly Protestant region, with three small ships, four light field guns and 1500 muskets. He landed with 82 supporters, including Lord Grey of Warke, and around 300 men, at Lyme Regis in Dorset on 11 June. Monmouth had been promised a large army and universal support by his supporters in the Hague, thinking that on landing he would be able to march unopposed to London. King James was soon warned of Monmouth's arrival: two customs officers from Lynne arrived in London on 13 June having ridden some 200 miles post haste.

Instead of marching on London, he marched north into Somerset, picking up a disorganised group of around 6,000, mostly nonconformist, artisans and farmer workers armed with farm tools (such as pitchforks): one famous supporter was a young Daniel Defoe. Monmouth proclaimed himself king at Taunton on 18 June, and continued north, via Bridgwater and Shepton Mallet (23 June), hoping to capture the city of Bristol (which at that time was the second largest and second most important city in the country, after London). Meanwhile, the Royal Navy captured Monmouth's ships, cutting off all hope of an escape back to the continent.

After unsuccessful attempts on Bristol and Bath, including inconclusive skirmishes with a force of Life Guards commanded by Louis de Duras, 2nd Earl of Feversham (an elderly nephew of Turenne who had spent some time in English service and later became a Knight of the Garter) at Keynsham on 26 June and Norton St Philip on 27 June, Monmouth's forces turned back.

Monmouth was counting on rebellion in Scotland, led by Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, weakening the King's support and army. Argyll landed at Campbeltown on 20 May and spent some days raising a small army of supporters, but was unable to hold them together while marching through the lowlands towards Glasgow. The Earl and his few remaining companions were captured at Inchinnan on 19 June and he was taken to Edinburgh to be executed on 30 June. Expected rebellions in Cheshire and East Anglia also failed to materialise. The morale of Monmouth's forces started to collapse after news of the setback in Scotland arrived while the makeshift army was resting in Frome on 28 June.

Monmouth retreated via Shepton Mallet, which no longer welcomed him, and Wells. Eventually he was pushed back to the Somerset Levels (where Alfred the Great had found refuge in his conflicts with the Vikings), becoming hemmed in at Bridgwater on 3 July. Monmouth was finally defeated by Feversham (with John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, his second in command) on 6 July at the Battle of Sedgemoor. Monmouth had risked a night attack, but surprise was lost when a musket was discharged. His untrained supporters were quickly defeated by the professionals, and hundreds were cut down by cannon- and musket-fire.

The battle of Sedgemoor is often referred to as the last battle fought on English soil, but this is incorrect: the Battle of Preston in Lancashire was fought on 14 November 1715, during the First Jacobite Rebellion, and the Second Jacobite Rebellion saw a minor engagement at Clifton Moor near Penrith in Cumbria on 18 December 1745.
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After Sedgemoor
Monmouth fled from the field of battle but was captured in a ditch on 8 July (either at Ringwood in the New Forest, or at Horton in Dorset). He was condemned to execution for committing treason against the king, and beheaded in the Tower of London on 15 July. It is said that it took eight blows of the axe from famous executioner Jack Ketch to sever his head.

The subsequent Bloody Assizes of Judge Jeffreys were a series of trials of Monmouth's supporters in which 320 people were condemned to death and around 800 sentenced to be transported to the West Indies.

James II took advantage of the suppression of the rebellion to consolidate his power. He asked Parliament to repeal the Test Act and the Habeas Corpus Act, used his dispensing power to appoint Catholics to senior posts, and raised the strength of the standing army. Parliament opposed many of these moves, and on 20 November 1685 James dismissed it. In 1688, when the birth of James Francis Edward Stuart heralded a Catholic succession, James II was overthrown in a coup d'état by William of Orange in the Glorious Revolution at the invitation of the disaffected Protestant Establishment.
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Literary References
The Monmouth Rebellion plays a key role in Peter S. Beagle's novel Tamsin, about a 300-year-old Ghost who is befriended by the protagonist.

Arthur Conan Doyle's historical novel Micah Clarke deals directly with Monmouth's landing in England, the raising of his army, its defeat at Sedgemoor, and the reprisals which followed.

Several characters in Neal Stephenson's novel Quicksilver play a role in the Monmouth Rebellion.

Dr. Peter Blood, main hero of Rafael Sabatini's Captain Blood novel, was sentenced by Judge Jeffreys for aiding wounded Monmouth rebels. Transported to the Caribbeans, he started his career as a pirate there.

wikipedia.org
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Also on this day -

1815 - the Duke of Wellington defeats Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo.

1822 - London unveils its first nude statue - a bronze figure of Achilles. Because people were more easily shocked in those days, a fig leaf was later added.

1935 - Germany signs a treaty with Britain limiting the size of the German fleet to 35 percent that of the Royal Navy.
 

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Article from World War II Magazine
Operation Bagration: Soviet Offensive of 1944
In size, scope -- and results -- Operation Bagration, the Soviet offensive of 1944, made the Normandy landings look like a mere scuffle.

By Jonathan W. Jordan

Geographically, it dwarfed the campaign for Normandy. In four weeks, it inflicted greater losses on the German army than the Wehrmacht had suffered in five months at Stalingrad. With more than 2.3 million men, six times the artillery and twice the number of tanks that launched the Battle of the Bulge, it was the largest Allied operation of World War II. It demolished three Axis armies and tore open the Eastern Front. Operation Bagration, the Red Army’s spring 1944 blitzkrieg, was designed to support Allied operations in France, liberate Russian territory and break the back of the Wehrmacht once and for all.

In the south, Germany and its allies -- mostly Hungarians and Romanians -- held the line near the Ukraine’s western borders, south of the impassable Pripyat Marshes, with two army groups. To the north, in the Baltic republics, three Red Army groups faced Germany’s Army Group North.



It was in the center, in Belorussia (so-called White Russia), where the main Soviet blow would fall. There Adolf Hitler fielded 38 infantry divisions, two Luftwaffe field divisions, seven security divisions, two Panzergrenadier divisions and one panzer division, all grouped into four armies and led by Field Marshal Ernst Busch, a commander whose promotion was mainly due to his unquestioning loyalty to the Führer.

While Belorussia was the center of gravity for Germany’s eastern forces, it had by no means come fully under Wehrmacht control. Partisan activity was more pronounced there than in other sectors, where Nazi reprisals since 1941 had been brutal even by Eastern Front standards. Punitive operations by the Germans in January, February and April 1944 had left entire villages leveled, their inhabitants lined up and executed. All told, an estimated 1 million people, including the region’s entire Jewish population, had been exterminated. In response to this terror, by mid-1944 partisan numbers had swelled to something between 143,000 and 374,000, depending on who was counting.

What was worse for the occupiers, those partisan forces were becoming increasingly well organized and in better touch with Soviet authorities -- who could direct their activities to maximum advantage.

The Red Army’s earlier progress in the Baltic region and Ukraine left a “Belorussian Bulge” in the center, from which Field Marshal Busch requested permission to withdraw in order to shorten his line and relieve the danger of a pincer movement against the salient. Hitler, concerned with wavering support among his Finnish, Hungarian and Romanian allies, was determined to cling to his defenses at the eastern end of the bulge, and the army high command, Oberkommando des Heeres, or OKH, denied Busch’s request.

Hitler’s no-retreat policy in the east left Busch in a vulnerable position. His sector was a tempting target for the Red Army, since the eastern end of the bulge included the 50-mile-wide land bridge between the Dniepr and Dvina rivers that guarded Russia from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Control of that gap would allow armies to pass overland to Moscow -- or Berlin.

Another problem for Busch was that his army, while strong in raw numbers, included a large proportion of Luftwaffe field units, security troops, Hungarian and Slovak divisions, and Volksdeutsche -- ethnic Germans from the occupied territories whose desire to lay down their lives for the Führer was rightly suspect. By 1944 the German army, still dependent on horse-drawn wagons for supply and movement, was an old-fashioned, slow force compared to its Communist opponents, who had been liberally supplied with the ubiquitous 2.5-ton Studebaker truck manufactured in capitalism’s heartland. Worse yet was the lack of air cover; Germany’s Sixth Air Fleet was vastly outnumbered along Army Group Center’s front.

The offensive would be a characteristically Soviet enterprise, a massive push along a 450-mile-long axis of advance. Four army group fronts would launch artillery barrages and attack simultaneously. To the north, the First Baltic Front under General Ivan Bagramyan, ultimately fielding 359,500 men, would push into Latvia to screen the right flank of the main assault and support forces farther south. Below him, the Third Belorussian Front under General Ivan Chernyakhovsky, with 579,300 men, would capture heavily defended Vitebsk and the area north of Orsha, then push southwest toward Minsk, the Belorussian capital, and Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, crushing or encircling Busch’s Third Panzer Army at Vitebsk and his Fourth Army, centered around Orsha. South of Orsha, General Georgy Zakharov’s Second Belorussian Front, with 319,500 men, would help complete the encirclement of Minsk and push west toward Grodno on the Niemen River as part of a mopping-up operation in the wake of the other fronts.

Farthest south, the First Belorussian Front -- 1,071,100 men commanded by General Konstantin Rokossovsky -- would assault Busch’s Ninth Army, skirting the Pripyat Marshes and pushing due west toward Bobruisk on the Berezina River, then in the general direction of Minsk. The First and Third Belorussian fronts, which held the bulk of the armor and firepower, would attack along converging lines with the aim of encircling the German armies east of Minsk, not simply pushing them back into Poland. To aid the attackers, partisan units coordinated by Stavka, the Red Army high command, would launch demolition attacks against Belorussian railways to prevent reinforcements from reaching the threatened zone. Because the undertaking was so extensive and complex, the four army group fronts would fall under the overall command of two trusted Stavka representatives. Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky, the organizer of victory at Stalingrad, would direct the two northern fronts, while the southern fronts would be supervised by Marshal Georgi Zhukov, who directed the defenses of Leningrad, Moscow and, with Vasilevsky, Stalingrad.

For an offensive of this scope, the Red Army assembled 118 rifle divisions, eight tank and mechanized corps, 13 artillery divisions and six cavalry divisions, a total of approximately 2.3 million frontline and support troops. The attack would be led by the rifle and tank divisions, which collectively fielded 2,715 tanks and 1,355 assault guns. To feed the offensive, the Red Army stockpiled 1.2 million tons of ammunition, rations and supplies behind the front lines.

The assaulting troops would be supported on the ground by 10,563 heavy artillery pieces and 2,306 Katyusha multiple rocket launchers, nicknamed “Stalin’s Organ” because of their pipe-organ appearance. Air cover would be provided by 2,318 fighters of various types, 1,744 Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik ground-attack planes, 655 medium bombers and 431 night bombers; another 1,007 medium bombers would be drawn from the Soviet strategic bomber reserve. The code name selected for the operation referred to General Piotr Bagration, the fiery Russian prince who died fighting Napoleon at Borodino in 1812.

If successful, Operation Bagration promised huge rewards for Stalin. Minsk and other major Belorussian cities would fall back into Soviet hands, and a successful push would isolate Army Group North, which could then be dispatched more or less at Stalin’s leisure. To capitalize on the anticipated success, as Bagration achieved its objectives and the Nazis fed troops from northern Ukraine into Belorussia to stop the onslaught, a secondary Red Army attack would thrust toward Lwow in northern Ukraine, driving Axis troops out of Soviet territory; Romania, Hungary, Warsaw and East Prussia would become the new front lines of the war.

In the days preceding Bagration, Stavka executed a massive deception plan designed to convince its German counterpart, OKH, that the main attack would come farther south. Forces in the Ukraine were ordered to prepare deceptive concentrations similar to the phantom army that had assembled under Lt. Gen. George S. Patton opposite the Pas de Calais prior to the landings at Normandy. The Red Army Air Force clamped down on Luftwaffe reconnaissance missions along the front, allowing only occasional flights that would spot the phony troop concentrations, while headquarter units made greater use of more secure telephone lines in lieu of radio communications.

For its part, OKH concluded that the presence of oil-rich Romania and the more maneuverable terrain of the Ukrainian steppes made that sector the most likely target, particularly since the Red Army had just concluded an offensive in that region during the late winter.

Hitler and OKH were convinced that the next attack would be launched in the northern Ukraine, and reinforcements to the east -- including the potent 56th Panzer Corps -- were diverted to Field Marshal Walter Model’s Army Group North Ukraine, leaving Busch’s Army Group Center with only about 11 percent of the tanks and assault guns allocated to the Eastern Front. While some members of Busch’s intelligence staff predicted a major Belorussian offensive in mid- to late June, Busch himself was evidently persuaded to accept the OKH assessment as more accurate and, following Hitler’s policy to the letter, he refused to let his army commanders pull back to shorten their fronts and pack their defensive lines more tightly.

Operation Bagration was preceded by coordinated partisan attacks on German supply lines, code-named “Rail War” and “Concert.” Between June 19 and 23, Belorussian guerrillas sabotaged rail networks and bridges -- detonating some 10,500 demolition charges during the night of June 19-20 alone -- impeding the movement of ammunition, food and reinforcements to the front.

Originally timed for June 14, 1944, the operation’s start was delayed by Soviet rail congestion until June 22, 1944 -- three years to the day from the Nazi invasion of Soviet territory. The offensive opened at 5 a.m. with a massive artillery bombardment. Each of the thousands of guns along the line was allotted roughly 6 tons of ammunition to fire during a two-hour barrage. The shelling was conducted in a rolling manner so as to destroy the Wehrmacht’s forward trenches and pillboxes, then catch retreating soldiers in the open before they could reach the safety of their intermediate lines. The less precise Katyusha batteries showered artillery targets with 82mm and 132mm rockets to ensure that nothing remained alive in the forward zone. Shocked German survivors described this barrage as the most intense and destructive they had ever witnessed.

The preliminary work on several fronts began the same day with a reconnaissance in force, with company- to brigade-size raids designed to gather intelligence and fix German troops in place so they could later be destroyed. Several divisions also launched attacks against Busch’s Third Panzer Army to bore openings in the line, while the flanks of a four-division German salient at Vitebsk were squeezed to create jumping-off points for the encirclement of that city. That night, Soviet medium bombers flew 1,000 sorties to soften up the German line.

The next day, June 23, the full weight of the assault lurched forward. Abandoning their costly human-wave techniques of 1941, Red Army soldiers concentrated their fire upon tactically valuable ground, seized it, and then called up tanks to the new positions to deliver a larger breakthrough. By the afternoon of the second day, the Third Panzer Army’s line was perforated and Vitebsk was in danger of encirclement by two Soviet armies.

As the Soviet Forty-third Army closed in around Vitebsk from the north and the Thirty-ninth Army attacked from the south, Busch meekly requested permission from OKH to withdraw to a secondary line of defense, called the “Tiger Line.” But Hitler, still waiting for the main blow to fall elsewhere, had designated Vitebsk a “fortified place,” to be held to the last man. By nightfall, two German divisions were encircled and two others were fighting for their lives.

Subsequent attacks by the Soviet Thirty-ninth Army crushed Busch’s LIII Corps, and within three days, five German divisions -- about 28,000 men -- were wiped out. A continued drive west shattered the Third Panzer Army’s IX Corps by the end of the month, effectively destroying the Third Panzer Army.

Fifty miles south of Vitebsk, Busch’s Fourth Army, fielding 12 divisions, was fighting to hold the line around the Dniepr River and Orsha, a critical juncture along the Moscow–Minsk highway. Lead elements of the Eleventh Guards Army ran headlong into the 78th Sturm (Assault) Division, which had been kept at high strength and was heavily supplied with artillery to hold the crucial highway.

Anticipating well-prepared fixed defenses, each of the assaulting rifle divisions was preceded by a company of T-34 tanks fitted with mine-rollers, a heavy tank regiment, a heavy artillery regiment and an engineer assault battalion. Following this came a wave of flamethrower tank companies and light artillery regiments to liquidate pockets of resistance.

This massive push bogged down in a cluster of tank traps, mines and German infantry positions liberally supplied with Panzerfaust antitank rockets. But before long, General Chernyakhovsky managed to move his tanks north of Orsha, and promptly fed a mixed task force through the woods to exploit the gap. By the end of the day, the road to Minsk was within reach of the Third Belorussian Front.

By June 25, Chernyakhovsky had fed the Second Guards Tank Army through the breach, demolishing one of Fourth Army’s two corps. Despite Hitler’s firm refusal to allow a withdrawal from Orsha -- and Busch’s endorsement of this policy -- the commander of Fourth Army quietly pulled his units back toward more defensible lines. The next evening Orsha fell to the Red Army, and the road to Minsk now lay open.

Farther south, 13 divisions of Busch’s Ninth Army successfully resisted initial attacks by Rokossovsky’s First Belorussian Front (consisting of the Third, Forty-eighth and Sixty-fifth armies), which had to contend with bad weather as it worked its way around the north edge of the Pripyat Marshes. During the morning of June 24, the first day of the main assault in this sector, the Soviet Third Army -- equipped with 500 tanks and assault guns and 200 heavy antitank guns -- was repulsed, but at heavy cost to the Axis.

As the weather began to improve, the Third Army mauled two infantry divisions and began to break through German lines, driving a wedge between Busch’s Ninth and Fourth armies. The Ninth Army’s commander, General Hans Jordan, moved up his reserve, the understrength 20th Panzer Division. But as Rokossovsky committed his Sixty-fifth Army and the I Guards Tank Corps to the battle, 20th Panzer began taking losses with no appreciable effect on the advance. Jordan therefore ordered the division to move toward Bobruisk. By the end of June 24, Soviet tanks were six miles behind the Ninth Army’s lines, the vanguard of a spearhead three miles wide at its tip and 18 miles wide at its base.

It was not until June 26, three days after the main assault began, that the first Axis reinforcement, the 5th Panzer Division, arrived from the Ukraine to plug the gap between the Third Panzer and Fourth armies. Boasting 70 Panther and 29 Tiger tanks, 5th Panzer was sent to hold the line east of the Berezina River until Busch’s retreating Fourth Army could establish a proper defensive line. Soon thereafter, the Fourth Army endured a scene reminiscent of Napoleon’s 1812 campaign: A mass of troops retreating from the east had abandoned their heavy equipment on the east side of the Berezina and were fleeing west in disorder, crossing small crowded bridges under fire.

Rokossovsky’s men drove west toward Bobruisk, a critical crossing point on the Berezina, threatening to cut off those German units fighting on the east side of the river. As Rokossovsky’s Third Army crept toward Bobruisk, Busch, following Hitler’s “no retreat” injunction, refused to allow his infantry to cross. When the Soviet IX Tank Corps and I Guards Tank Corps captured Bobruisk and the major crossings over the Berezina, several German infantry divisions found themselves trapped on the east side. Rokossovsky exploited the collapse of German resistance in this sector with a cavalry and a mechanized corps, killing or capturing thousands of German soldiers.

As Soviets were pouring across the Belorussian border, Hitler and OKH were slow to grasp the danger Army Group Center faced. On June 26, Busch and Ninth Army’s General Jordan flew to Hitler’s headquarters to convince the Führer to relent on the no-retreat policy that was destroying armies a division at a time. Furious with the near-collapse of the Ninth Army, Hitler relieved both Jordan and Busch, replacing the latter with Field Marshal Walther Model, commander of Army Group North Ukraine and the Führer’s top troubleshooter.

At the end of June, Model arrived at Minsk to find the Red Army across the Berezina, only eight miles from his new headquarters, and Army Group Center without reserves left to counterattack Soviet bridgeheads. The city of Borisov, the Berezina crossing point for the Moscow–Minsk highway, fell the day after Model’s arrival, and some 40,000 Germans were trapped east of Bobruisk. Soviet artillery and the Red Air Force turned a 15-mile German pocket east of the Berezina into a slaughter pen, and about 10,000 troops were killed and another 6,000 captured. Many of those who escaped the slaughter east of the river became trapped a second time at Bobruisk as two tank corps closed in around the city and captured it on June 29, effectively destroying the Ninth Army. In a week’s fighting, Rokossovsky’s forces had killed about 50,000 German soldiers, captured another 20,000 (including 3,600 wounded prisoners at Bobruisk who would be murdered by their Soviet captors) and destroyed some 3,000 artillery pieces and armored vehicles.

Picking up at the Berezina line, Rokossovsky continued his drive northwest toward Minsk, hoping to trap Model’s retreating Fourth Army along with any remnants of the Ninth Army that had escaped the cauldron at Bobruisk. Meanwhile, farther north, Model’s 5th Panzer Division, on the Moscow highway, braced itself for the onslaught of two converging Belorussian fronts, Rokossovsky’s First and Chernyakhovsky’s Third. Because Hitler refused to permit an orderly withdrawal, the only reinforcements available at Minsk were stragglers who had filtered in from the front, and they were for the most part unarmed, disorganized and demoralized.

On July 1 and 2, the 5th Panzer Division fought a series of intense battles against the Fifth Guards Tank Army northwest of Minsk, buying time for wounded and administrative personnel to be evacuated west along railway lines. By the end of a week’s fighting, 5th Panzer, a supporting Tiger battalion and some smaller reinforcements had knocked out 295 Soviet armored vehicles. By July 8, however, all the Tigers were lost, the division was reduced from 125 tanks to eight, and its position was outflanked to the south. The remaining panzers withdrew westward to regroup, abandoning comrades retiring toward Minsk from the Berezina. When the Fourth Army was permitted to retire west of the Berezina, there was almost nothing left to save. By the end of the operation, it had lost some 130,000 of its 165,000 men.

On the evening of July 2, even Hitler conceded that Minsk was a lost cause, and OKH permitted the evacuation of remaining Axis forces -- some 1,800 organized troops from differing units, another 15,000 unarmed stragglers from the east, 8,000 wounded and 12,000 rear-echelon staffers. The next morning, Chernyakhovsky’s tanks entered Minsk, closing off another large eastern pocket and trapping some 15,000 isolated German soldiers lurching west in division- and brigade-size groups. As food and ammunition ran low for these marooned units, they broke into smaller formations, which quickly became vulnerable to unforgiving partisan bands and special Red Army infantry detachments. About 900 of the 15,000 trapped soldiers managed to reach German lines, and by July 8 the pocket collapsed. Model’s Fourth Army ceased to exist. To the north, other units of the Third Panzer Army became isolated as a result of the rapid advance on Minsk and were quickly crushed. Meanwhile, Stavka expanded the objectives of its exhausted soldiers, ordering them to push westward toward Grodno, Brest and other cities along the Polish and Lithuanian borders despite dwindling supplies of gasoline and ammunition.

As Model’s intermediate lines were collapsing, he tried to form a line of resistance from Vilnius to the Ukraine, partly based on a series of trenches left over from World War I. In the center, he took the remnants of the Ninth Army, reinforced them as best he could, and redesignated the thin group as a component of the Second Army. With a 45-mile gap yawning between the tattered shards of the Third Panzer Army and Army Group North, Model was exceedingly vulnerable, but sooner or later the Soviet tanks had to outrun their fuel and ammunition supplies, and Model could give East Prussia and Poland a respite while he rebuilt his forces.

The Soviet juggernaut was not yet spent, however. By July 8, portions of Model’s line cracked, and Vilnius was soon surrounded. Despite Hitler’s initial orders to hold the Lithuanian capital “at all costs,” on the night of July 12-13 some 3,000 of the 15,000 trapped men broke free, leaving the rest to face the certainty of death or captivity when the city fell on July 13. Pinsk and Grodno fell by July 16, and Third Panzer Army’s line collapsed by the end of the month, pushing Model’s northern flank onto Prussian soil. As Bagration drew to a close, the Red Army held bridgeheads over the Niemen River, the traditional border of Russia and Poland, and had reached the Gulf of Riga at the Baltic, isolating Army Group North. By mid-August Model could do nothing more; he was decorated and transferred to the Western Front for a brief term as supreme commander in that crumbling theater.

All told, Operation Bagration cost Hitler 350,000 men (including 31 generals), plus hundreds of tanks and more than 1,300 guns. Of the men lost, 160,000 were taken prisoner, half of whom were murdered on the way to prison camps or died in Soviet gulags. In a throwback to ancient times, 57,000 German prisoners taken from pockets east of the Berezina were shipped to Moscow and paraded before Muscovites on July 17, partly to refute Nazi claims of a “planned withdrawal” from Belorussia, and partly to rebut suggestions by Western newspapers that the operation had been made easy because large numbers of German troops had been tied down in western France.

During their 400-mile drive from Vitebsk to Warsaw’s outskirts, the Soviets lost some 765,000 troops, of which 178,000 were either killed or missing, plus 2,857 tanks and assault guns, and 2,447 artillery pieces. Despite those losses the Red Army launched a follow-up campaign in northern Ukraine, the Lwow-Sandomierz offensive, employing more than 1 million men, 1,600 tanks and assault guns, 14,000 artillery pieces and mortars, and 2,800 combat aircraft. The offensive, launched on July 13, smashed Army Group North Ukraine, which had released units to help stop the collapse of Army Group Center.

By early August, the German Fourth Army and almost all of the Ninth and Third Panzer armies were gone. Thirty German divisions disappeared, and nearly 30 more were crippled. The Red Army was within striking distance of the Vistula and had reached the outskirts of Warsaw. By mid-August, Red Army soldiers were entrenched on Prussian soil, only 350 miles from Berlin, and Romania, with its vital oil fields, was poised to desert the Axis cause. Until January, however, the exhausted Soviet giant would remain relatively quiet, refitting and re-equipping for the final push from the Vistula to Berlin.

Many German and Soviet accounts agree that Operation Bagration was Hitler’s worst military setback of the war. But the offensive lacked a single, dramatic focal point, such as at Stalingrad, and the commanders and place names sound strange to Western ears. For those reasons, the operation was never acknowledged in the West to the same degree as any number of smaller campaigns -- such as Overlord, the Ardennes Offensive, the Torch landings in Africa or Operation Husky in Sicily. Given the massive waves of soldiers and tanks that Stalin mustered for the offensive and marked improvements in Soviet war-fighting capabilities -- Stavka’s successful deception campaign, the effective use of partisans, improved infantry-armor tactics and superior weaponry such as the Shturmovik ground-attack plane and the T-34 medium tank -- it is an unfortunate omission. Nevertheless, Bagration, combined with the Lwow-Sandomierz offensive in the Ukraine, dramatically turned the tide of war against the Third Reich.

The irreplaceable German losses in Belorussia, in conjunction with the Normandy landings and the July 20 attempt on Hitler’s life, spread demoralization throughout the upper ranks of the Wehrmacht’s command structure, and made certain that the Red Army would ever after move west. Operation Bagration also ensured that the former Soviet republics, from the Baltic Sea to the Crimea, would return to the Communist fold. In so doing, it set the stage for Soviet domination of much of Eastern Europe for the next 40 years.