Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 October 14

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From today's featured article

The fall of the Prussian camp at Hochkirch

The Battle of Hochkirch took place on 14 October 1758 during the Third Silesian War, part of the Seven Years' War. After several weeks of maneuvering for position, an Austrian army commanded by Lieutenant Field Marshal Leopold Joseph von Daun surprised the Prussian army commanded by Frederick the Great. The Austrians overwhelmed the Prussians and forced a general retreat from the village of Hochkirch, 9 kilometers (6 mi) east of Bautzen, Saxony. Most historians consider the battle one of Frederick's greatest blunders. Contrary to the advice of his subordinates, he refused to believe that the cautious Daun would engage him in battle. After a pre-dawn attack, Frederick lost over 30 percent of his army, 5 generals, 70 munitions wagons, and his artillery park. Daun failed to pursue the retreating Prussians, allowing the entire force to escape and regain the momentum over the winter. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Porcelain basket of fruit

... that in the mid-18th century, small "Toys" inscribed with "amorous suggestions" (example pictured) were made in Chelsea?
... that Matt Mobley set an Atlantic 10 basketball tournament record with nine 3-pointers in a victory over Richmond?
... that the contents of the Biblioteca della Comunità Israelitica in Rome, with volumes dating back to the 16th century, were looted by Nazi Germany 75 years ago today, and never recovered?
... that Max Jessner travelled to Buriat-Mongolia as part of the Soviet-German Syphilis Expedition?
... that Bontecou Lake, near Millbrook, New York, is divided between two drainage basins, making it a bifurcation lake?
... that in 1903, the 25-year-old daughter of an illiterate Irish immigrant became the first woman to stand for the Australian House of Representatives?
... that the hymn "Mein ganzes Herz erhebet dich", a paraphrase of Psalm 138 based on the Protestant Genevan Psalter, is also sung by German-speaking Catholics?
... that businessman Jose Yao Campos admitted in 1986 to having organized 40 different shell companies through which Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos could hide his wealth?

In the news

Soyuz MS-10 launch

Both crew members survive an emergency landing when Soyuz MS-10 suffers a booster failure shortly after launch (pictured) from Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Hurricane Michael makes landfall in Florida, United States, as a Category 4 storm, killing 17 people after causing at least 15 deaths in Central America.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases a report on actions urgently needed to confine global warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F).
The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to William Nordhaus and Paul Romer for integrating climate change and technological innovation, respectively, into "long-run macroeconomic analysis".

On this day

October 14: Defender of Ukraine Day

B. R. Ambedkar

1066 – Norman conquest of England: The forces of William the Conqueror defeated the English army at Hastings and killed Harold Godwinson, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England.
1863 – American Civil War: In the Battle of Bristoe Station, the Union II Corps surprised and repelled the Confederate attack on the Union rear guard, resulting in a Union victory.
1943 – The Holocaust: Inmates at the Sobibór extermination camp in eastern Poland led a revolt, killing 11 SS officers; the camp shut down a few days later.
1956 – B. R. Ambedkar (pictured), a leader of India's "Untouchable" caste, publicly converted to Buddhism, becoming the leader of the Dalit Buddhist movement.
2012 – Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon in the stratosphere to become the first person to break the sound barrier without vehicular power.

Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham (b. 1726) · Mary Margaret O'Reilly (b. 1865) · Julius Nyerere (d. 1999)

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Today's featured picture

Crab on its Back (Dutch: Een op zijn rug liggende krab) is an 1888 oil painting by Vincent van Gogh. It is a still life of a crab with a green background. The painting may have been inspired by a Japanese print of a crab by Hokusai. Van Gogh had seen this in a copy of the magazine Le Japon Artistique that his brother Theo van Gogh had sent him in September 1888. The painting is in the permanent collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

Painting: Vincent van Gogh

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