Today in History for Oct. 25:
In 1147, the armies of the Second Crusade were destroyed by the Saracens at Dorylaeum in modern Turkey. The Crusaders went on with fruitless campaigns against Damascus, Syria.
In 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, author of "The Canterbury Tales," died in London.
In 1415, an English army under Henry V defeated a far stronger French force at Agincourt, France. The victory secured popular support in England for future military ventures in France, and became one of the proudest moments of English military history.
In 1854, "The Charge of the Light Brigade," made famous by the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem, took place during the Crimean War. A confused order during the battle of Balaklava sent the English brigade of 600 men and horses directly into a stronghold of the Russian army. About 40 per cent of the brigade was lost.
In 1881, artist Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain. He died on April 8, 1973.
In 1917, the Russian Revolution began.
In 1918, the Canadian Pacific steamship "Princess Sophia" sank in a snowstorm at Lynn Canal while sailing to Vancouver from Alaska. There were no survivors and it is estimated to have taken over 350 lives.
In 1920, prohibition was approved in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
In 1921, Franklin Small and a group of dissatisfied members of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada obtained a Dominion charter to establish the Apostolic Church of Pentecost of Canada. In 1953, this group merged with the Evangelical Churches of Pentecost, whose major congregations are located in the Prairie provinces.
In 1923, Dr. Frederick Banting and Dr. J.J.R. Macleod of the University of Toronto were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for their discovery of the hormone insulin, and became the first Canadians to win a Nobel. Macleod supervised the research, but Banting was considered the principal discoverer because his idea launched the research, involving Charles Best and J.B. Collip. Insulin injections have saved and improved the lives of millions of diabetics.
In 1938, Japanese forces captured Hankow, China.
In 1939, Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale government were defeated by the Liberals in a Quebec provincial election.
In 1941, the Germans conquered Kharkov, Ukraine.
In 1951, Montreal became the first Canadian city to reach a population of more than one million.
In 1958, an explosion in Ottawa's business district injured 30 people and caused $2 million in damage.
In 1962, American author John Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature.
In 1971, the UN General Assembly voted 76 to 35, with 17 abstentions, to seat Peoples Republic of China and expel Taiwan (Nationalist China), ending a 22-year battle over China's UN representation.
In 1978, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers ended a national strike that began Oct. 12 when postal workers in Charlottetown and Montreal walked off the job.
In 1982, the House of Commons passed the bill to officially rename the July 1st holiday as Canada Day. The Senate passed legislation the next day.
In 1983, U.S. Marines and Rangers, assisted by soldiers from six Caribbean countries, invaded Grenada at the order of U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who said the action was needed to protect American citizens.
In 1993, Jean Chretien's Liberals ended nine years of Conservative rule in Ottawa by winning a majority in a federal election. The Tories, under recently-elected leader Kim Campbell, were all but wiped off the federal political map, going from 154 Commons seats to only two. The separatist Bloc Quebecois became the Official Opposition with 54 seats, two more than the Reform party. Chretien's Liberals won repeat majorities in 1997 and 2000.
In 1994, Susan Smith of Union, S.C., claimed that a black carjacker had driven off with her two young sons. Smith later confessed to drowning the children in John D. Long Lake, and was convicted of murder.
In 1995, in a referendum of their own, Crees of northern Quebec voted 96.3 per cent to stay with Canada if Quebecers voted "Yes" to independence in the Oct. 30th referendum. The Cree argued that if Quebecers as a distinct people could choose to separate from Canada, then the Cree as a distinct people could choose to stay.
In 1999, two-time U.S. Open golf champion Payne Stewart and five others were killed when their Learjet flew uncontrolled for four hours before crashing in South Dakota. He was 42.
In 2002, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi officially announced the end of his 24-year rule.
In 2005, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty ordered the evacuation of more than half the 1,900 residents of the northern reserve of Kashechewan plagued with contaminated drinking water.
In 2007, Mattel recalled more than 55,000 toys because of excessive levels of lead paint. It had been the company's fourth recall in six months.
In 2009, at least 155 people were killed and over 500 injured in two suicide bombings in Baghdad.
In 2010, Canada's Omar Khadr abruptly withdrew his not guilty plea and entered a guilty plea to war-crimes charges in the death of a U.S. special forces soldier in Afghanistan eight years ago. Under the plea agreement, he would begin serving his eight-year sentence in an American prison, but permitted to apply for a transfer to Canada after the first year. (He was returned to Canada on Sept. 29, 2012, to serve out the remainder of his sentence. In 2015, he was granted bail pending his appeal of the convictions in the U.S.)
In 2010, Fahim Ahmad, ringleader of the so-called Toronto 18 terrorist group, was sentenced to 16 years in prison. (He had a credit of 8 1/2 years for time served and will be released in January 2018.) Of the 18 people charged, seven had their charges dropped or stayed, four were found guilty and seven pleaded guilty.
In 2010, Rob Ford was elected mayor in Toronto.
In 2010, in Indonesia, a 7.7-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami off western Sumatra that killed more than 460 people and destroyed homes, mosques and other buildings.
In 2015, five British nationals and an Australian man died when a whale watching boat with 27 people on board capsized and sank off Vancouver Island. The rest of the passengers were rescued. The Transportation Safety Board said many of the passengers were sightseeing on one side of the upper deck when a wave hit the Leviathan II from the opposite side, capsizing the boat.
In 2018, a bill to enact a new trade pact with Pacific Rim countries passed the legislative finish line, making Canada one of the first countries to ratify the 11-country Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP.
In 2018, Saudi Arabia once again changed its narrative on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying evidence showed it was premeditated. The change was an apparent effort to ease international outrage over the death of the journalist, who was a prominent critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
In 2020, Quebec's overall COVID-19 case count surpassed the 100,000 mark.
In 2021, Sudan's top general declared a state of emergency, arrested the acting prime minister and other senior officials and announced the military would run the country. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan went on TV and said quarrels among political factions prompted the military to intervene and that a new technocrat government would lead the country to elections set for July 2023. After the early morning arrests of government officials, thousands flooded the streets of the capital, Khartoum, and its twin city of Omdurman to protest.
In 2021, Moderna said its low-dose COVID-19 vaccine was safe and appeared to work in six- to 11-year-olds. It was the second U.S. vaccine aimed at eventually being offered to children.
In 2022, Rishi Sunak became Britain's new prime minister after being asked to form a government by King Charles. Sunak met at Buckingham Palace with the King, shortly after the monarch accepted the resignation of Liz Truss.
In 2023, the Bank of Canada kept its key interest rate at five per cent, saying there were clearer signs that monetary policy was moderating spending and relieving price pressures.
In 2023, Health Canada said more than 13,200 people chose medical assistance in dying in the country in 2022. In a new report, the agency said the average annual growth rate in medically assisted deaths was 31 per cent from 2019 to 2022.
----
The Canadian Press
