Marwan I (c. 625 – 685) was the fourth Umayyad caliph, ruling for
less than a year in 684–685. He was the secretary of his cousin Caliph
Uthman (r. 644–656). During the rebel siege of Uthman's house, Marwan
was wounded and the caliph was slain. Marwan considered Talha ibn Ubayd
Allah, a companion of the prophet Muhammad, culpable in the death of
Uthman, and killed him in the Battle of the Camel in 656. Marwan later
served as governor of Medina under his distant kinsman Caliph
Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), founder of the Umayyad Caliphate. After the
reigns of Yazid I (r. 680–683) and Mu'awiya II (r. 683–684), the
tribal nobility of Syria, led by Ibn Bahdal of the Banu Kalb, elected
Marwan caliph. He reasserted Umayyad rule over Egypt, Palestine and
northern Syria, and dispatched an expedition to reconquer Iraq, but died
while it was underway. His son Abd al-Malik was his designated
successor, and the Umayyads continued to rule until 750.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marwan_I>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1795:
Stanisław II Augustus, the last king of Poland, was forced to
abdicate after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_August_Poniatowski>
1940:
The de Havilland Mosquito (examples pictured), one of the most
successful military aircraft in the Second World War, made its first
flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito>
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>
1984:
Band Aid, a supergroup consisting of more than 30 leading
British and Irish pop musicians, recorded the song "Do They Know It's
Christmas?" to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_They_Know_It%27s_Christmas%3F>
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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:
It is not a simple life to be a single cell, although I have no
right to say so, having been a single cell so long ago myself that I
have no memory at all of that stage in my life.
--Lewis Thomas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Thomas>
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