Events 762 – Baghdad is founded. 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council. 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage. 1609 – Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New… Read More
Introduction Air Vice Marshal David Miller Niven, CB, CBE is a former Royal Air Force officer who served as the inaugural Commander of Joint Helicopter Command from 1999 to 2002. Not to be confused with David Niven (the British Army officer and actor). RAF Career Educated at the University of St Andrews, Niven joined the… Read More
Introduction James David Graham Niven (01 March 1910 to 29 July 1983) was an English actor, memoirist and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in Separate Tables (1958). Other noted roles included Squadron Leader Peter Carter in A Matter of Life and Death, Phileas Fogg in… Read More
Events 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. 238 – The Praetorian Guard storm the palace and capture Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day, Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed emperor, the sixth emperor of the year. 904… Read More
Events 1364 – Troops of the Republic of Pisa and the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina. 1571 – La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines, is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country. 1635 – In the Eighty Years’… Read More
Events 1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland somewhere north of the Firth of Forth. 1189 – Friedrich Barbarossa arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja, during the Third Crusade. 1202 – Georgian–Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Basian the Kingdom of Georgia defeats the… Read More
Events 657 – First Fitna: In the Battle of Siffin, troops led by Ali ibn Abu Talib clash with those led by Muawiyah I. 811 – Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I is killed and his heir Staurakios is seriously wounded. 920 – Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon… Read More
Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute 