Wikipedia:Main Page history/2019 August 24

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From today's featured article

"Edward III Crossing the Somme" by Benjamin West, 1788 (detail)

The Battle of Blanchetaque was fought on 24 August 1346, during the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, between an English army under King Edward III and a French force commanded by Godemar du Fay. The English army had burnt a path of destruction through some of the richest lands in France to within 20 miles (32 km) of Paris, then had marched north, hoping to link up with an allied Flemish army. The French king, Philip VI, garrisoned all of the bridges and fords over the River Somme and followed the English with his own field army. The area had previously been stripped of food stocks, and the English were essentially trapped. They launched an attack across a tidal ford at Blanchetaque, and after a disorderly mêlée the French blocking force there broke and fled. French casualties were reported as over half of their force, while English losses were light. Two days later, the main army under Philip was defeated at the Battle of Crécy. (Full article...)

Part of the Crécy campaign series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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In the news

Ural Airlines Airbus A321 in 2013

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research announces that it has detected more than 39,000 wildfires in the Amazon rainforest since January.
At least 80 people are killed and 160 others injured in a bombing at a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan.
All 233 people on board Ural Airlines Flight 178 (aircraft pictured) survive a crash following bird strikes in both engines of an Airbus A321.
Typhoon Lekima impacts the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan and East China, killing at least 80 people.

On this day

August 24: Independence Day in Ukraine (1991)

Pluto

1456 – The oldest known version of the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book produced on a printing press, was completed.
1643 – A Dutch expedition arrived at the mouth of the Valdivia River in what is now Chile, with the aim of establishing a new colony in the ruins of the abandoned Spanish settlement of Valdivia.
1857 – The New York City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. collapsed following widespread embezzlement, leading to a severe recession that caused about 5,000 businesses to fail.
1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer ended as the first Allied victory in the war.
2006 – The International Astronomical Union redefined the term "planet", reclassifying Pluto (pictured) as a dwarf planet since it has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

Magnus Barefoot (d. 1103) · William Wilberforce (b. 1759) · Anže Kopitar (b. 1987)

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Today's featured picture

Napoleon Crossing the Alps is the title given to the five versions of an oil-on-canvas equestrian portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, painted by French artist Jacques-Louis David between 1801 and 1805. Initially commissioned by the King of Spain, Charles IV, the composition shows a strongly idealized view of the real crossing that Napoleon and his army made across the Alps in May 1800, through the Great St Bernard Pass in Switzerland. Having taken power in France during the Coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799, Napoleon was determined to return to Italy to reinforce the French troops in the country and retake the territory seized by the Austrians in the preceding years. The Austrian forces, under Michael von Melas, were laying siege to Masséna's troops in Genoa; Napoleon hoped to gain the element of surprise by taking the trans-Alpine route. By the time his troops arrived, Genoa had fallen, but he pushed ahead, hoping to engage the Austrians before they could regroup. The Reserve Army fought a battle at Montebello in June before eventually securing a decisive victory at the Battle of Marengo.

This picture is the fourth version of the painting, produced by David in 1803 for the palace of the Cisalpine Republic in Milan. It was confiscated by the Austrians in 1816 and later installed in the Belvedere, Vienna, where it is now part of the collection of the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere.

Painting credit: Jacques-Louis David

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