1775 – American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged.
1830 – Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch. And this is why Algeria is a beacon of democracy in North Africa. Well, compared to Libya (which was an ITALIAN work) it is… which is like questioning the superior morality of a porn star over a prostitute.
1979 – Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross. Man-powered flight is, like, TOTALLY GREEN, if only it weren’t for the mylar and carbon fiber and high-tech composites and synthetics and alloys and they had to follow him in a boat burning all those fossil fuels, but it was, like, TOTALLY GREEN!
1987 – Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate. It becomes a defining moment of the Reagan presidency: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”. For Bill Clinton, it’s “I did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky!” One can only speculate what the defining words of the Obama presidency might be.
