The Black Prince's chevauchée was a large-scale mounted raid carried
out by an Anglo-Gascon force under the command of Edward, the Black
Prince (depiction shown), between 5 October and 2 December 1355 during
the Hundred Years' War. John, Count of Armagnac, who commanded the local
French forces, avoided battle, and there was little fighting during the
campaign. The Anglo-Gascon force of 4,000–6,000 men marched from
Bordeaux in English-held Gascony 300 miles (480 km) to Narbonne and
back to Gascony, devastating a wide swathe of French territory and
sacking many French towns on the way. During the four months following
Christmas, more than 50 French-held towns or fortifications were
captured. In August 1356 the Black Prince headed north on another
chevauchée with 6,000 men; he was intercepted by the main French army,
11,000 strong, at Poitiers, where he decisively defeated them and
captured King John II.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Prince%27s_chevauch%C3%A9e_of_1355>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: Confederate forces were defeated at the
Battle of Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga, Tennessee, opening the door
to the Union's invasion of the Deep South.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Missionary_Ridge>
1936:
Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan signed the Anti-Comintern
Pact, agreeing that, if the Soviet Union attacked one of them, they
would consult each other on what measures to take to "safeguard their
common interests".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Comintern_Pact>
1960:
Three of the four Mirabal sisters, who opposed the dictatorship
of military strongman Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, were
beaten and strangled to death.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabal_sisters>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
vinous:
1. Pertaining to or having the characteristics of wine.
2. Involving the use of wine.
3. Having the colour of red wine; vinaceous.
4. Tending to drink wine excessively.
5. Affected by the drinking of wine.
6. Induced by the drinking of wine.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vinous>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We think we have got freedom of the press. When one millionaire
has ten newspapers and ten million people have no newspapers — that is
not freedom of the press.
--Anastas Mikoyan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anastas_Mikoyan>