On September 20, 450 AD, the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains also referred to as the Battle of Chalons took place. A coalition led by the Roman general Flavius Aëtius and the Visigothic king Theodoric I against the Huns and their allies commanded by their leader Attila faced each other in a decisive battle that should decide the fate of Europe and the whole Western civilization...
On June 18, 1815, a battle was fought near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, which should be Napoleon's last. An Imperial French army under the command of Emperor Napoleon was defeated by the armies of the Seventh Coalition, comprising an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington combined with a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher. The defeat at Waterloo ended Napoleon's rule as Emperor of the French, and made way for a shift in the European balance of power.
112 years ago, famous american writer Stephen Crane died at age 28. Despite of his youth, he already had become one of the icons of american literature. Most famous is his american civil war novel 'The Red Badge of Courage', which has been read by almost every american high school kid.
Author, journalist, satirist, and critic Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was born 70 years ago today. He had a great influence in the literature of the 20th century through his works, most of them dealing with the American Civil War.