The siege of Thessalonica (1422–1430) was a successful campaign to
capture the city by the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Murad II. It
remained in Ottoman hands until 1912, when it became part of the Kingdom
of Greece. Thessalonica had already been under Ottoman control from 1387
to 1403 before returning to Byzantine rule in the aftermath of the
Battle of Ankara. In 1422 Murad attacked the city. Its ruler, Andronikos
Palaiologos, was unable to provide manpower or resources for the city's
defense, and handed it over to the Republic of Venice in
September 1423. The Ottomans blockaded the city and attacked it by
land. The blockade reduced the inhabitants to near starvation, and many
fled the city. In 1429 Venice declared war on the Ottomans, and on
29 March 1430 Murad's forces took the city. The siege and the
subsequent sack reduced the city to a shadow of its former self, from
perhaps as many as 40,000 inhabitants to around 2,000.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Thessalonica_%281422%E2%80%931430%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1849:
Elizabeth Blackwell graduated from Geneva Medical College in
New York, making her the first woman to receive a medical degree in the
United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Blackwell>
1909:
Two men committed an armed robbery in Tottenham, London, and
led police on a two-hour chase, partially by tram, that ended in the
perpetrators' suicides.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tottenham_Outrage>
1942:
World War II: Japan began an invasion of the island of New
Britain in the Australian Territory of New Guinea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rabaul_%281942%29>
1993:
The first version of Mosaic, created by Marc Andreessen and
Eric Bina, was released, becoming the first popular web browser.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaic_%28web_browser%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
leporine:
1. (chiefly zoology, also figuratively) Of, relating to, or resembling a
hare or rabbit.
2. (zoology, historical) A supposed hybrid between a hare and a rabbit,
now known not to exist; a leporide.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leporine>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Encounters between strangers in the desert, while rare, were
occasions of mutual suspicion, and masked by initial preparations on
both sides for an incident that might prove either cordial or warlike.
--Walter M. Miller, Jr.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_M._Miller,_Jr.>