This Day in History: October 10- October 15
October 10, 732 - Islamic Advance Into Europe is Halted at the Battle of Tours
Following the conquest of Iberia, the Arab-led Umayyad Caliphate began to press Northwards into the rest of the continent. However, this push was halted by the Frankish King Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, in which 12,000 of the 25,000-strong Umayyad force was lost, as opposed to just 1,000 of the 15,000-strong Frankish force. Afterwards, Charles gained enormous prestige from the victory, and his Kingdom (later to become the Kingdom of France) grew in influence as a result.
October 11, 1912 - Greek Troops Capture Kozani During the First Balkan War
The First Balkan War, fought between the Balkan League (Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Montenegro) and the Ottoman Empire led to the partitioning of the former’s remaining territory in Europe. Following the war, Bulgaria, being dissatisfied with their share of the taken territories, started the Second Balkan War with the goal of expansion into their former allies.
October 12, 1398 - The Treaty of Salynas is Signed
In the late fourteenth and early fifteenth century, a power struggle took place between the Teutonic Order and the Kingdom of Lithuania. The order, based in modern-day Northern Poland, sought to connect by land to its territories in modern-day Estonia and Latvia, with the massive Kingdom of Lithuania standing in its’ way. Following a civil war, the latter state was weakened, which the Teutons saw as a good time to invade and take the territory of Samogitia.
October 13, 1923 - Ankara Becomes the Capital of Turkey
Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War One, the Turkish Nationalist Movement appeared to prevent the partition of the nation’s core in Anatolia. During this period, Ankara was used as the capital, as the former capital in Constantinople / Istanbul had been occupied. Following the Movement’s victory in the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara was made the permanent capital in order to break from the tradition of the Ottoman Empire, a state the Turkish Nationalists had officially ended, viewing as decadent and weak.
October 14, 1066 - The Battle of Hastings Is Fought in England
During the Norman Conquest, the invading forces of the French Kingdom of Normandy invaded the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of England. The decisive battle in this invasion came at Hastings, when the Normans (led by William the Conqueror) defeated the Anglo-Saxons (led by Harold II). Afterwards, the Normans took over the English Government, blending French and Anglo-Saxon culture that largely contributed to, among other things, the English Language.
October 15, 1991 - First Observation of the “Oh My God Particle”
The “OMG Particle” was named so by astrophysicists due to its’ unprecedented behavior; it was an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (a blast of high energy radiation) that was 100 quintillion times more energetic than the photon energy of visible light. This was because the particle, though containing more energy than visible light, wasn’t actually traveling faster - it was traveling 99.99999999999999999999951% of the speed of light, so fast that it would take a photon 215,000 years to gain a one centimeter lead on the particle. Since the first recording, 72 similar events have been recorded.
