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Today's featured article
12th-century illustration of the use of Greek fire The first Arab siege of Constantinople in 674–678 was a major conflict of the Arab–Byzantine wars, and the first culmination of the Umayyad Caliphate's expansionist strategy towards the Byzantine Empire. In 672–673 Arab fleets secured bases along the coasts of Asia Minor, and set up a loose blockade around Constantinople. They used the peninsula of Cyzicus near the city as a base to spend the winter, and returned every spring to launch attacks against the city's fortifications. Finally the Byzantines managed to destroy the Arab navy using a new invention, the liquid incendiary substance known as Greek fire (pictured). The Byzantines also defeated the Arab land army in Asia Minor, forcing them to lift the siege. A peace treaty was signed, and following the outbreak of another Muslim civil war, the Byzantines experienced a brief period of ascendancy. The siege was the first major Arab defeat in 50 years of expansion. Tales of a large-scale siege of Constantinople even reached China. (Full article...) Recently featured: Edith Roosevelt Donkey Kong Country SMS Friedrich Carl Archive By email More featured articles About
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Texas and Pacific 610 ... that Texas and Pacific 610 (pictured) was once bought for $1? ... that Helmut Bauer confirmed around 150,000 young people, including 500 in Tanzania? ... that although the plant species Dolichostachys elongata was first described in 1962, it was not considered validly published until 60 years later? ... that a review described He Fucked the Girl Out of Me as being about "all the ways in which American society fails its most vulnerable"? ... that the restoration of Neknampur Lake was recognised "as the best model of lake restoration in India"? ... that Benjamin Franklin Shumard's assistant named an oak species after him, and then sabotaged his reinstatement after he was fired? ... that the 2013 book Brick by Brick, about how The Lego Group reinvented itself, became a popular business text? ... that the Trilobite Wilderness is so rich in trilobite fossils that in places virtually every rock contains a fossil? ... that cavalry officer Harvey Tuckett retired from the British Army to become an actor, but was shot in a duel by his former commanding officer? Archive Start a new article Nominate an article

In the news

Samantha Harvey

Samantha Harvey (pictured) wins the Booker Prize for her novel Orbital.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby announces his resignation as a result of the John Smyth abuse scandal in the Church of England.
In Zhuhai, China, 35 people are killed in a vehicle-ramming attack.
Alliance for Change, led by Navin Ramgoolam, wins the Mauritian general election.

On this day...

November 20: Transgender Day of Remembrance

Graffiti from the occupation of Alcatraz

284 – Diocletian became Roman emperor, eventually establishing reforms that ended the Crisis of the Third Century.
1739 – War of Jenkins' Ear: A British naval force arrived at the settlement of Portobello in the Spanish Main, capturing it the next day.
1969 – A group of Native American activists began a 19-month occupation (graffiti pictured) of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
1979 – Armed insurgents attacked and took over the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, declaring that one of their leaders was the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam.
1994 – In accordance with the Lusaka Protocol, the Angolan government signed a ceasefire with UNITA rebels in a failed attempt to end the Angolan Civil War.

Carl Axel Arrhenius (d. 1824)
Benoit Mandelbrot (b. 1924)
Meredith Whitney (b. 1969)
Ancel Keys (d. 2004)

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