This Day in History – October 18, 2011

1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church in Jerusalem, is completely destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock. 1356 Basel earthquake, the most significant historic seismological event north of the Alps, destroyes the town of Basel, Switzerland. 1648 Boston Shoemakers form first U.S. labor organization. 1767 Mason-Dixon line, survey separating Maryland from Pennsylvania is completed. 1775 African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery. 1775 American Revolutionary War: The Burning of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine) prompts the Continental Congress to establish the Continental Navy. 1776 In a NY bar decorated with bird tail, customer orders “cock tail” 1779 American Revolutionary War: The Franco-American Siege of Savannah is lifted. 1851 Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London. 1867 United States takes possession of Alaska after purchasing it from Russia for $7.2 million. Celebrated annually in the state as Alaska Day. 1898 United States takes possession of Puerto Rico. 1922 The British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) is founded by a consortium, to establish a nationwide network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service. 1929 The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council overrules the Supreme Court of Canada in Edwards v. Canada when it declares that women are considered “Persons” under Canadian law. 1936 Adolf Hitler announces the Four Year Economic Plan to the German people. The plan details the rebuilding of the German military from 1936 to 1940. 1944 Adolf Hitler orders the establishment of a German national militia. 1945 The USSR’s nuclear program receives plans for the United States plutonium bomb from Klaus Fuchs at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 1954 Texas Instruments announces the first Transistor radio. 1962 Dr Watson (US) & Drs Crick & Wilkins (Britain) win Nobel Prize for Medicine for work in determining structure of DNA 1967 Walt Disney’s “Jungle Book” is released 1967 The Soviet probe Venera 4 reaches Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet. 1968 The U.S. Olympic Committee suspends Tommie Smith and John Carlos for giving a “black power” salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games. 1977 German Autumn: a set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide. 1985 The Nintendo Entertainment System is released. With Super Mario Brothers. 2003 Bolivian Gas War: President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, is forced to resign and leave Bolivia. 2007 Karachi bombings: A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more. Bhutto herself is not injured.]]]]> ]]>