The Independence of Cyprus (August 16th)

After the Russo-Turkish War ended in 1878, Cyprus was leased to the British Empire from the Ottoman Empire during the Congress of Britain. Cyprus would be used as a base for the British to protect the Ottoman Empire from Russian aggression.

By 1906, Cyprus had become a strategic colonial point for Britain. When the Famagusta harbor was finished, Cyprus was a strategic naval outpost to both overlook the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. In 1914, Britain contained full control of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire. During World War II, Britain offered Cyprus to Greece in exchange for military aid. Though Greece refused the offer, many Greeks enlisted in the British Army in hopes that the island would be united with Greece.

On August 16th, 1960, Cyprus was given independence in the Zurich and London Agreement between the UK, Greece, and Turkey. Though there were movements to reunite with both "motherlands," Cyprus remained independent, even withstanding an Invasion from Turkey.

Bonnie and Clyde (#68 & #67)

Bonnie

Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was born on October 1, 1910 in Rowena, Texas. After her father, Charles Parker, died when she was four years old, Bonnie moved with her mother and two siblings to Cement City, a suburb in Dallas. Parker is said to have been a star student, winning prizes in spelling, writing, and public speaking. 

In her second year of high school, Bonnie met Roy Thorton. The two dropped out of school and married in 1926, six days before Bonnie's 16th birthday. Thorton was frequently gone and after Thorton had a few brushes of with the law, the two parted ways. They last saw each other in January of 1929, though they never divorced, and Bonnie was still wearing her wedding ring when she died.

After her marriage fell apart, Bonnie went to live with her mother and worked as a waitress in Dallas. She wrote many times during this period, saying she was impatient and bored with her current life. Her only escape from this was through her writing and her photography.

Clyde

Clyde Chestnut Barrow was born on March 24, 1909 in Telico, Texas. Barrow's father was a poor farmer who lived in the West Dallas slums after his farm failed. The family of nine lived under a wagon for some time while Barrow's father earned enough money to get a tent.

From 1926 to 1930, Clyde was arrested several times for everything from cracking safes, stealing cars, and robbing cars. In April of 1930, Clyde was sent to Eastham Prison Farm. It was here that Clyde killed a man for the first time after the inmate repeatedly attempted to assault Clyde sexually. When Clyde was released on parole, he focused on smaller jobs, like robbing grocery stores and gas stations. Clyde, however, was said to have been a different man, changed by prison, and many said that his goal was to seek revenge against the Texas prison system for the abuses he suffered there.

Bonnie and Clyde

Though there are several versions of how Bonnie and Clyde met, the most credible version is that Barrow was dropping off a female friend at her house, and Parker was in the kitchen when Barrow came in. The two were smitten immediately, and Bonnie and Clyde began to live and work together. The two began working together in 1932 and with others, robbing grocery stores and gastations. Once, Barrow and another of his gang, Raymond Hamilton, were drinking when a Sheriff and his deputy approached them. The two criminals opened fire, killing the deputy and wounding the Sheriff. By 1933, the gang had murdered five people.

When Buck Barrow, Clyde's brother, was released from prison, the gang began to hide out at Buck's hideout in Joplin, Missouri. After a drunk Clyde accidentally fired a rifle, neighboring houses called the Joplin Police. When discovered, the gang fought their way out of Joplin. The gang began roaming the country, from Texas to Minnesota, robbing banks and stealing cars as they went. On several occasions, the gang would kidnap lawmen our robbery victims, but they were usually release far from home, sometimes with money to get back to their home. During a car fire, Parker gained a third-degree burn on her leg, which made it so she couldn't walk near the end of her life.

While in Iowa, Buck Barrow was shot twice, once in the head and once in the back. Barrow and his wife were soon captured, and Barrow died several days later. In 1934, Barrow and Parker led the breakout of Raymond Hamilton and Henry Methvin from the Texas Department of Corrections. When the breakout succeed, a $1,000 bounty was put on both Bonnie and Clyde, and $500 for each of the escapees. This was the first time Bonnie was seen as a killer alongside Clyde and the rest of the gang.

The End

On May 23, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed and killed in Louisiana by six officers from Texas and Louisiana who had tracked the two since February of that year. When Bonnie's husband, Roy Thorton, heard of Bonnie and Clyde's death, he is reported to have said, "I'm glad they went out like they did. It's much better than being caught." Bonnie and Clyde are on our list for being two of the most famous criminals of the 20th Century and for avoiding the law for as long as they did.

The Trans-Atlantic Balloon Flight (August 17th)

The use of hot air balloons for enjoyment has been around for hundreds of years, but hot air balloons, for the most part, have not been used for actual long-distance travel. This all changed in the year 1978.

In August of 1978, Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman set out from Presque Isle, Maine in the hot air balloon, Double Eagle II. The plan was for the Double Eagle II to fly over Ireland, where Newman would hand glide out of the balloon over Shannon Airport while Abruzzo and Anderson flew the plane to France.

Unfortunately, the hand-glider was thrown overboard as ballast. The Double Eagle II still flew over Ireland, but was passed by so the group could make it to France. Authorities in France had closed Le Bourget Airfield to allow the balloon to land, but due to a lack of ballast, the pilots declined because the feared injuring anybody in the Paris suburbs if they flew too low.

On August 17th, 1978, the group landed in a barley field sixty miles from Paris. Once landed, the balloon was surrounded. The gondola was recovered, but the majority of the logs and charts were taken as souvenirs. The trip took 137 hours and six minutes to complete.

The Foundation of the Jesuit Order (August 15th)

Saint Ignatius of  Loyola was a soldier for the kingdom of Castile in what is now Spain. For many years, he fought Moors, helping to remove their presence from the Iberian Peninsula. In 1521, Ignatius had a leg broken and the other injured by a cannonball. While recovering, Ignatius read De Vita Christi by Ludolph of Saxony. This commentary on the Gospel gave Ignatius a better understanding of Christianity.

While recovering, Ignatius continued to read religious texts. After he was healed, Ignatius set his armor and weapons in front of the altar at a monastery. For a year, Ignatius lived in a cave, practicing self-denial and sacrifice. In 1523, Ignatius continued these practices while he visited the Holy Land.

Ignatius began to gain companions in his practice of sacrifice. Soon, he had six companions with him: Francis Xavier, Alfonso Salmeron, Diego Laynez, Nicholas Bobadilla, Peter Faber, and Simao Rodrigues. On August 15th, 1534, these seven men took apostolic vows and formed the Society of Jesus, which became better known as the Jesuit Order.

The Jesuit Order is engaged in evangelical and apostolic ministry. The path of sacrifice that Ignatius of Loyala used became a central part of the Jesuit Order. The Jesuits would sacrifice all they had to spread across the globe and educate people on the Gospel.

Ignatius of Loyala went on to become the Father General and leader of the Jesuits. St. Francis Xavier became famous in his own right for being one of the first people to visit Japan and evangelize to the people there. The Jesuit Order has continued to grow since its foundation and has spread out into 112  nations on six continents.

The Battle of Aljubarrota (August 14th)

John, known as John the Bastard, was the illegitimate son of King Pedro I of Portugal. John kept a low political profile, sitting quiet while his half-brother took the throne. When his half-brother died, the late king's widow, Queen Leonor, worked to get a different John, John I of Castile (north-central Spain) as the recognized ruler of Portugal.

This recognition of a Spaniard ruling over the Portuguese sparked some patriotism in the Portuguese. Many Portuguese nationalists, led by Pereira Nuno Alvares, approached John the Bastard to rise up and seize power. John agreed, killed Leonor's chief minister, and took the throne. Queen Leonor fled the country and went to John of Castile to ask him for aid.

John of Castile marched on Portugal with a large army, but John the Bastard and Pereira, aided by a small group of English archers, led their army into battle on the road to Lisbon, and on August 14th, 1385, Portugal won a great victory against John of Castile. This confirmed Portugal's identity as an independent state.

The next year, John of Portugal signed the Treaty of Windsor, pledging friendship between the two countries for all eternity. The alliance is still in force today. John of Portugal went on to marry Philippa, and English duke's daughter. She turned the Portugese court into a high court of Europe. The couple also had several children, one of which was Henry the Navigator. Pereira Nuno Alvares became rich after fighting in the battle, and used the money to create a monastery, where he became a friar.  Pereira later was declared a saint.

The Edict of Nantes (August 13th)

In the late 1500s, France was caught in the middle of its own Wars of Religion. The Protestant Reformation was sweeping across Europe, and France had been in the middle of the entire movement. Though the French crown remained Catholic, many French citizens were converting to Protestantism. This caused many riots, rebellions, violence, and wars within France.

During this period of time, Henry IV was the king of France. Henry IV was raised Protestant and only converted to Catholicism when he inherited the crown. Throughout his life, though, he remained sympathetic to the Protestant cause.

On August 13th, 1598, Henri IV signed the Edict of Nantes, which was meant to stop internal violence from religious differences. The Edict granted  certain privileges and protections to Protestants, but reaffirmed Catholicism as the established religion of France. The Edict ensured rights for Protestants within France and protected them from forces outside of France, including the Spanish Inquisition.

The Edict remained in effect until Louis XIV renounced it in 1685, declaring Protestantism illegal. This led to a mass exodus of almost 400,000 Protestants from France to England, Prussia, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and South Africa. This took away many skilled workers from France, putting back France's economy. The rights given to Protestants in the Edict of Nantes were not reestablished until the Edict of Tolerance in 1787.

The Yukon Gold Rush Begins (August 12th)

Indigenous people had known of the existence of gold in the Yukon Territory of Canada for a long time, but both the Russians and the Hudson Bay Company in the region had ignored the rumors and chose to fur trade instead. There were several prospectors in the area, but none had struck real luck prior to 1896.

On August 12th, 1896, the American George Carmack was travelling with his wife, his brother-in-law, and his nephew south along the Klondike River. The group had followed rumors from previous prospectors and had discovered gold along the Rabbit, or Bonanza, Creek, a tributary of the Klondike. Since Carmack's wife, Kate, and her brother, Skookum Jim, were both Native Americans, Carmack laid claims for his relatives and himself, and the four began mining the claim soon afterwards. As the four began finding large quantities of gold, news spread and soon, mining camps were built all along Rabbit Creek.

The miners along rabbit creek were all from the Yukon territory because the ice and mountains surrounding the territory stopped the news from getting out. Eventually, mining officials in the Yukon got a message to Ottawa by sled-dog, and the news of gold in the Yukon was out. In the Yukon, or Klondike, Gold Rush, an estimated 100,000 people attempted to reach the Klondike river to make their fortunes. It is also believed that only around 30,000 or 40,000 actually made it. Among the stampeders, to the Klondike was none other than American writer Jack London.

 At total of $1,139,000 dollars in gold was discovered. This amount is equivalent to $1,000 million today. This amount of gold found meant that paper currencies increased in value, due to the gold standard tied to the currency. This helped to develop the financial panic of 1896. The amount of people who went to the Yukon and the amount of gold found made the Yukon Gold Rush one of the largest gold rushes in history.