John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722) was a prominent
English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five
monarchs throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Churchill's
role in defeating the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 helped secure James,
the Duke of York on the throne, yet just three years later he abandoned
his Catholic mentor for the Protestant Dutchman, William of Orange.
Churchill served with distinction in the early years of the Nine Years'
War, but persistent charges of Jacobitism brought about his fall from
office and temporary imprisonment in the Tower. His marriage to Sarah
Jennings – Queen Anne's friend – ensured Marlborough's rise to a
dukedom. Becoming de facto leader of Allied forces during the War of
the Spanish Succession, his victories in battles ensured his place in
history as one of Europe's great generals. But his wife's stormy
relationship with the Queen, and her subsequent dismissal from court,
was central to him being forced from office and into self-imposed
exile. He returned to England and to influence under the House of
Hanover with the accession of George I to the British throne in 1714,
but his health gradually deteriorated, and he died on 16 June 1722
(O.S).
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Churchill%2C_1st_Duke_of_Marlborough>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1828:
Kaspar Hauser , a foundling with suspected ties to the Royal House of
Baden, first appeared in the streets of Nuremberg, Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser>
1896:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, representing twelve stocks from
various American industries, was first published by journalist Charles
Dow as a stock market index.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dow_Jones_Industrial_Average>
1918:
The Democratic Republic of Georgia was proclaimed following the breakup
of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Georgia>
1972:
U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev signed
the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in Moscow, concluding the first round
of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Ballistic_Missile_Treaty>
2006:
An earthquake measuring about 6.3 Mw struck near the Indonesian city of
Yogyakarta on the southern side of the island of Java, killing at least
5,700 people, injuring at least 36,000, and leaving at least 1.5
million homeless.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_2006_Java_earthquake>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
you-know-who (pron):
Person or entity whose name one does not want to mention but which is
known to the person to whom one is speaking
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/you-know-who>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
You have so many things in the background that you're supposed to do,
there's no room left to think. I say, forget all that and ask yourself,
"What's the simplest thing that could possibly work?"
--Ward Cunningham
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham>