Pope Innocent III calls for a new crusade to reclaim Jerusalem. The Fourth Crusade plan was to invade the Holy Land through Egypt, as it was the center of Ayyubid power.
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On This Day in History: August 27
Explore the historical events that shaped our world on August 27th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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The Battle of Bouvines, the concluding battle of the Anglo-French War of 1213–1214 took place on near the town of Bouvines in the County of Flanders. The French army commanded by King Philip Augustus routed a larger allied army led by Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV in one of the rare pitched battles of the High Middle Ages and one of the most decisive medieval engagements.
Ferdinand I succeeds his older brother, Charles V, as Holy Roman Emperor, following Charles’s abdication on August 27, 1556. The prince-electors formally recognized Ferdinand's accession in 1558. Before becoming Emperor, Ferdinand was already King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia and was entrusted with Austrian territory since 1521.
Peter Stuyvesant, Director-general of the Dutch colony of New Netherland surrenders to the overwhelming larger and more powerful English forces led by Richard Nicolls on August 27, 1664. Following its capture, the name of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement on the southern tip of Manhattan, was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York.
In 1673, the Dutch retook the colony but relinquished it under the Treaty of Westminster on February 19, 1674 that ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War. The origin of the Dutch colony, went back to 1609, when Englishman Henry Hudson had charted the area on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch had laid claim to a wide area of the East Coast, originally covered an area including all or parts of five future states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania. More
The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn, takes place, resulting in a decisive British victory. as General William Howe, defeats the Continental Army, led by General George Washington, forcing them to retreat from Brooklyn and later from Manhattan. It was the first major battle fought after the Declaration of Independence.
Engraving by James Charles Armytage (1802–1897) from painting by Michael Angelo Wageman,Title: Washington's Retreat at Long Island
Description "Retreat at Long Island" General George Washington personally orchestrating the successful retreat of the Continental Army, militias, and their supplies across the East River from Brooklyn Heights to Manhattan, New York on the evening of August 27, 1776.
Edwin Drake becomes the first American to strike oil while drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania, finding the first productive oil well in the United States. Drake's well had been nicknamed "Drake's Folly" because of the methods he devised to overcome the difficulties he encountered. In the end, at 69.5 feet (21 m), Drake was successful.
His pioneering work led to the growth of an oil industry that made many people very rich, Drake failed to patent his drilling invention, lost all of his savings in oil speculation and ended up broke. In 1872, Pennsylvania voted an annuity of $1,500 to the "crazy man" whose determination founded the oil industry. More
The Heinkel He 178, a turbojet designed by German engineer Ernst Heinrich Heinkel and piloted by Erich Warsitz makes its first flight. It was the world's first aircraft to fly using a turbojet engine.
The He 178 was a private venture by Heinkel, aimed at testing the turbojet technology developed by Hans von Ohain. Despite its pioneering achievement, the German Air Ministry was not initially impressed and it did not enter mass production. A few years later, Germany would go on to develop the first operational jet fighter, the ME-262. More
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, declares its independence from the Soviet Union. Moldova s a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of 33,843 km2 (13,067 sq mi) and a population of 2.38 million.
Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. Moldova is a unitary parliamentary representative democratic republic with its capital in Chișinău, the country's largest city. More