The War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809 pitted a coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom against Napoleon's French Empire and Bavaria. Major engagements between France and Austria, the main participants, unfolded over much of Central Europe from April to July, producing horrific casualty rates. Britain, already involved on the European continent in the ongoing Peninsular War, sent another expedition to the Netherlands to take pressure off the Austrians, although this had little impact on the outcome of the conflict. After much campaigning in Bavaria and across the Danube valley, the war ended favorably for the French after the bloody struggle at the Battle of Wagram. The resulting Treaty of Schönbrunn imposed harsh terms upon Austria, forcing her to concede territory accounting for over three million subjects, about one-fifth of her total population. France received Carinthia, Carniola, and the Adriatic ports, while Galicia was given to the Poles and the Salzburg area of the Tyrol went to the Bavarians. While fighting in the Iberian Peninsula would continue, the War of the Fifth Coalition was the last major conflict on the European continent until the French invasion of Russia in 1812 sparked the rise of the Sixth Coalition.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Fifth_Coalition

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1773:

The first recorded ministry of education, the Commission of National Education, was formed in Poland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_of_National_Education

1888:

French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed Roundhay Garden Scene, the earliest surviving motion picture, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundhay_Garden_Scene

1926:

The first book featuring English author A. A. Milne's fictional bear Winnie-the-Pooh was first published. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh

1939:

World War II: The German submarine U-47 torpedoed and sunk the British Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak while the latter was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_%2808%29

1947:

Flying at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13.7 km) in an experimental Bell X-1 rocket-powered aircraft, American test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager

1953:

Israeli military commander Ariel Sharon and his Unit 101 special forces attacked the village of Qibya on the West Bank, destroying 45 buildings, killing 42 villagers, and wounding 15 others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qibya_massacre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

gratuitously (adv): 1. Freely; in the manner of a gift, without being earned. 2. In a manner not demanded by the circumstances, without reason, justification, cause, or proof http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gratuitously

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both. --Dwight D. Eisenhower http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower