The Battle of Winterthur (27 May 1799) was fought between French forces
under André Masséna and elements of the Austrian army under Friedrich
Freiherr von Hotze during the War of the Second Coalition, part of the
French Revolutionary Wars. The town of Winterthur lies 18 kilometers
(11 mi) northeast of Zürich, in Switzerland. Any army holding the
town, at the junction of seven crossroads, controlled access to most of
Switzerland and entry points into southern Germany. By mid-May 1799, the
Austrians had wrested control of parts of Switzerland from the French.
After defeating Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's 25,000-man Army of the Danube at
the battles of Ostrach and Stockach, the Austrian army prepared to unite
its three main forces on the plains surrounding Zürich. The French Army
of Switzerland and the Army of the Danube, now both under the command of
Masséna, sought to prevent this merger. The Austrians pushed the French
out of the Winterthur highlands and consolidated their forces on the
plateau north of Zürich, leading to the French defeat in the First
Battle of Zürich a few days later.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Winterthur>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1703:
The Great Storm of 1703, one of the most severe storms to
strike southern Great Britain, destroyed the first Eddystone Lighthouse
off Plymouth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Storm_of_1703>
1856:
King-Grand Duke William III unilaterally revised the
constitution of Luxembourg, greatly expanding his powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg_Coup_of_1856>
1919:
The first fraternity exclusively for collegiate band members,
Kappa Kappa Psi, was founded on the campus of Oklahoma State University
in Stillwater.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_Kappa_Psi>
1944:
Between 3,500 and 4,000 tonnes of ordnance exploded at the RAF
Fauld underground munitions storage depot in the largest non-nuclear
explosion in the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Fauld_explosion>
2009:
A bomb exploded under a high-speed train travelling between
Moscow and Saint Petersburg derailing it, killing 28 passengers and
injuring more than 90 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Nevsky_Express_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
saleable:
Suitable for sale; marketable; worth enough to try to sell.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/saleable>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is in silence, denial, evasion and suppression that danger
really lies, not in open and free analysis and discussion … everywhere
there seems to be a fear of reliance upon that ancient device so
gloriously celebrated by John Milton three hundred years ago — the
device of unlimited inquiry. Let us put aside resolutely that great
fright, tenderly and without malice, daring to be wrong in something
important rather than right in some meticulous banality, fearing no evil
while the mind is free to search, imagine, and conclude, inviting our
countrymen to try other instruments than coercion and suppression in the
effort to meet destiny with triumph, genially suspecting that no creed
yet calendared in the annals of politics mirrors the doomful
possibilities of infinity.
--Charles A. Beard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_A._Beard>