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Today's featured article
Battle of Poitiers The *Black Prince's chevauchée* of 1356** was a large-scale mounted raid, or chevauchée, by an Anglo-Gascon force under the command of Edward the Black Prince as part of the Hundred Years' War. In 1355, the Black Prince marched 675 miles (1,086 km) from Gascony to Narbonne and back, causing enormous economic damage. The following year, he carried out a similar chevauchée, this time as part of a strategic operation in cooperation with other English armies. On 4 August, 6,000 Anglo-Gascon soldiers headed north from Bergerac towards Bourges, devastating a wide swathe of French territory and sacking many French towns on the way. English plans went awry, and by early September the Anglo-Gascons were facing the French king, John II, and a much larger French army on their own. The Black Prince withdrew; John, determined to fight, pursued and cut off the Prince's army. The French repeatedly attacked at the Battle of Poitiers (pictured) and were heavily defeated. John and one of his sons were captured. (Full article...) Recently featured: Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1894) Old Frisian Aquilegia Archive By email More featured articles About
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Old Corner Bookstore ... that a Boston literary landmark (pictured) became a fast-food restaurant? ... that French oceanographer Julien Thoulet felt that the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans would "tend towards perfection" but would "never be completed"? ... that Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon helped to revive the study of ancient Greek warfare in the United States? ... that Detective Barbie could say 50,000 different player names in 1998? ... that the colours and design elements of the flag of Samoa, including the Southern Cross, are derived from the flag of New Zealand? ... that Thomas N. Armstrong III transformed the Whitney Museum of American Art from a "dowdy repository of unfashionable old art" into a "flashy showcase for young hot shots"? ... that Chernobyl and Pripyat have not lost their city status even though they are abandoned? ... that the anthers of the blunt-leaf sandwort are infected by a species of smut fungus, producing spores that are spread to other flowers by pollinators? ... that Jerry Kobasa was inducted into an Afro-American sports hall of fame despite not being African-American? Archive Start a new article Nominate an article

In the news

Broad Peak

An avalanche on Broad Peak (pictured) in Pakistan kills 10 climbers.
About 60,000 migrants cross the Morocco–Spain border at Ceuta, leading to at least 99 deaths.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, leaving at least 38 people dead.
In Gaelic football, the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship concludes with Mayo defeating Kerry in the final.

On this day...

August 4

USS Maddox (DD-731)

1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, the French Army of Italy decisively defeated Austrian forces led by Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich at the Battle of Lonato.
1830 – American surveyor James Thompson produced the first plat of Chicago for the Illinois and Michigan Canal Commissioners.
1964 – Vietnam War: The National Security Agency falsely claimed that a U.S. Navy destroyer (pictured) was attacked a second time by North Vietnamese vessels in the Gulf of Tonkin, leading Congress to authorize the use of military force.
1983 – Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, the president of Upper Volta, was ousted in a coup d'état led by Thomas Sankara.
1995 – Yugoslav Wars: The Croatian Army initiated Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and the largest European land battle since the Second World War.

Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (d. 1306)
Jeff Gordon (b. 1971)
Mariah May (b. 1998)
Keith H. Basso (d. 2013)

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Today's featured picture

Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971) was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz, with a career spanning five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Armstrong received numerous accolades, including the Grammy Award for Best Male Vocal Performance for "Hello, Dolly!" in 1965, as well as a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972. His influence crossed musical genres, with inductions into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, among others. This photograph, taken in 1947 by Harry Warnecke and Gus Schoenbaechler, shows Armstrong playing the trumpet in a blue suit against a yellow background. The image is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

Photograph credit: Harry Warnecke and Gus Schoenbaechler; restored by Yann Forget

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