Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 August 13b

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From today's featured article

The Battle of Blenheim was fought on 13 August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The French were seeking to knock Austria out of the war by seizing its capital, Vienna. An army of the reconstituted Grand Alliance, led by the Duke of Marlborough, marched south from the Dutch Republic to the Danube. There he defeated the Bavarians at the Battle of Donauwörth and joined an Austrian army under Prince Eugene. A French army under Marshal Tallard bolstered the Elector of Bavaria's forces. The opposing armies met on the banks of the Danube near the village of Blindheim. Marlborough unexpectedly attacked the slightly larger Franco-Bavarian army and after a hard day's fighting inflicted a crushing defeat. France suffered around 30,000 casualties, Tallard was taken prisoner and Bavaria was knocked out of the war. Before the campaign ended, the Allies had taken several important towns and were preparing to invade France in 1705. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

St. Patrick's Cathedral

... that New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral (pictured), praised upon completion as the "finest church edifice on the American continent", was funded mostly by poor Irish Catholic parishioners?
... that Mexican theatergoers complained that Olaf's Frozen Adventure, a short that played before the movie Coco, was too long?
... that the English-Australian cricketer Bailey Wightman made his County debut for Kent whilst playing club cricket for Tunbridge Wells after an outbreak of COVID-19?
... that Minnesota went from having more than 9,000 local government entities in 1952 to having fewer than 4,000 in 2012?
... that Chuck McMann led the McGill Redmen football team to five playoff appearances in his six seasons as head coach?
... that South Australia became the first place in the world to give women the right to stand for parliament due to an opponent's "great miscalculation"?
... that while convicted fraudster Anna Sorokin was in jail, one of her visitors was Julia Garner, who will play Sorokin in the Netflix miniseries about her?
... that the Duke of Sussex has been providing drinks in Acton Green for over a century?

In the news

Olympics closing ceremony

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report on the state of knowledge of climate change and its effects.
The Summer Olympics close (ceremony pictured) in Tokyo, Japan, with the United States winning the most gold and total medals.
Belarusian sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya travels to Poland on a humanitarian visa after attempts by the Belarus Olympic Committee to repatriate her against her will.

On this day

August 13: Independence Day in the Central African Republic (1960)

Opha May Johnson

582 – Maurice was crowned to succeed Byzantine emperor Tiberius II Constantine, who then died the following day.
1762 – Anglo-Spanish War: The United Kingdom captured Havana after a five-week siege, holding it until the Treaty of Paris the following year.
1918 – Opha May Johnson (pictured) became the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps.
1961 – Construction began on the Berlin Wall, a long barrier separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany.
2010 – After having been boarded by Canadian authorities, the MV Sun Sea docked in British Columbia and the 492 Sri Lankan Tamil refugee claimants on board were placed into detention.

Gerard David (d. 1523)
Alfred Hitchcock (b. 1899)
Yana Kasova (b. 1981)

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Lake Mead NRA

A national recreation area (NRA) is a protected area in the United States established by an Act of Congress to preserve enhanced recreational opportunities in places with significant natural and scenic resources. There are 40 NRAs, which emphasize a variety of activities for visitors, including hiking, camping, boating, fishing, swimming, biking, horseback riding, and wildlife viewing, in areas that include multiple-use management for both conservation and limited utilization of natural resources. The first, Lake Mead NRA (pictured), was created by a 1936 agreement between the United States Bureau of Reclamation, which had built Hoover Dam, and the National Park Service, which had experience in managing visitors in the outdoors. NRAs are managed by the NPS, the United States Forest Service (USFS), and the Bureau of Land Management. NRAs are located in 26 states; California and Washington have the most, each with four. NRAs of the USFS have a total area of 3,261,818 acres (13,200 km²), and those of the NPS total 3,714,735 acres (15,033 km²). (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The leopard (Panthera pardus) is one of five extant species in the genus Panthera, a member of the cat family, Felidae. This photograph shows a leopard devouring a large antelope in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Compared to other wild cats, the leopard has a relatively large skull with powerful jaws, a long body and short legs. It can climb trees very skilfully, often rests on tree branches and can descend to the ground head first. An adult leopard is strong enough to drag a carcass heavier than itself up into a tree, where the prey may be eaten straight away or cached to be consumed later.

Photograph credit: Diego Delso

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