On this day in history

A British force under the turncoat Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia, during a raid on the state capital in the Revolutionary War.

Source: On This Day

Henry Ford announces the five dollar workday, more than doubling the pay of Ford Motor Company workers and shortening the workday to eight hours.

Source: The Henry Ford

King Camp Gillette, inventor of the disposable safety razor, is born in Wisconsin.

Source: On This Day

Construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge across San Francisco Bay, a project that takes four years to complete.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program, authorizing NASA to build a reusable manned spacecraft.

Source: NASA

The Battle of Nancy ends the Burgundian Wars; Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, is killed, and his territories are divided between France and the Habsburgs.

Source: On This Day

The German Workers' Party is founded in Munich; it is later renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party, the Nazi Party.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Edward the Confessor, king of England, dies childless, triggering a succession crisis that leads to the Norman Conquest later that year.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Great Frost of 1709 begins, a deep freeze that locks Venice's lagoon in ice and devastates crops across Europe.

Source: On This Day

Mao Zedong writes the essay A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire, arguing for rural revolutionary bases in China.

Source: On This Day