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
_______________________________ 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
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
saleable: Suitable for sale; marketable; worth enough to try to sell. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/saleable
___________________________ 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