September history highlights
SEPT. 1
This year marked the 80th anniversary of the start of the invasion of Poland by German forces, which arguably sparked World War II. Almost every day this month is noted by an event that occurred in World War II, as September started the escalation of the war in 1939. On this same day in 1715, the French king Louis XIV, or the ‘Sun King’ as he called himself, passed away and left the throne of France to his five-year-old grandson.
SEPT. 2
The anniversary of the Great Fire of London, which occurred in 1666 and changed the landscape of London forever. Sept. 2 was also when President Harry Truman declared Victory over Japan Day, commemorating the formal surrender of the Japanese to the Allied forces aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay in 1945. This happened after Victory in Europe Day, which occurred earlier in the year after the formal surrender by the Axis powers.
SEPT. 3
On Sept. 3, 1783 the Treaty of Paris was signed, which formally ended the American Revolutionary War between Britain and the United States of America.
SEPT. 9
On Sept. 9, 1939, British Expeditionary Forces (BEF) landed in France, later needing to be saved in the famous evacuation from Dunkirk. This is the same event portrayed in the recent movie “Dunkirk.”
SEPT. 11
Sept. 11, 2001 marked the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
SEPT. 16
On Sept. 16, 1620, the Mayflower ship set sail for the New World (America), eventually reaching the Plymouth area in December that year. The 400th anniversary of this event will occur next year.
