Texas Instruments announces the first transistor radio.
Tag Archives: 18 October
18 October 1016
The Danes defeat the English in the Battle of Assandun.
18 October 2007
A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more. Bhutto herself was uninjured.
[rdp-wiki-embed url=’https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Karsaz_bombing’]
18 October 1648
Boston Shoemakers form first American trade labor organization.
Today in 18 October 1648, Boston shoemakers and “coopers” barrel-makers formed what are considered the first American trade unions.
The colonies had till then failed to import the English tradition of guilds, whereby craftsmen would band together to establish prices, quality standards, apprentice programs and charitable programs. The guilds in England also supported members who had retired or were beset by health or other challenges.
But these two 1648 quasi-guilds were limited to ensuring quality. The Massachusetts General Court prohibited “The Company of Shoomakers” from offering educational or charitable programs, or from fixing prices or settling disputes.
More than a century later, the independence shown by the Boston shoemakers surfaced, as one of them has been credited with starting the Boston Tea Party.
The Philadelphia carpenter’s union, formed some years after 1648, was more aggressive on behalf of its workers, and its printers and shoemakers were also aggressive at an early stage in the city’s history. According to the History of Trade Unionism in the United States by Perlman and Selig: “The earliest recorded genuine labor strike in America, in 1786, was over wages paid to Philadelphia printers, who ‘turned out’ to demand a minimum wage of $6 per week.” The second strike on record, in 1791, was also in Philadelphia, by house carpenters who struck for a ten-hour day.
In 1796 local shoemakers in Philadelphia organized the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers shoemakers working with Cordovan leather. Three years later the organization staged a 10-week, successful strike for higher wages, the first strike in the newcounry sanctioned by a union.
18 October 1914
The Schoenstatt Movement is founded in Germany.
The Apostolic Movement of Schoenstatt is a Roman Catholic Marian Movement founded in Germany in 1914 by Father Joseph Kentenich. Fr. Kentenich saw the movement as being a means of spiritual renewal in the Catholic Church. The movement is named Schoenstatt (which means “beautiful place”), after a small village close to the town of Vallendar near Koblenz in Germany.
The group focuses on education and spiritual formation. According to their website, “We seek to grow as free, dedicated, and active witnesses of Christ in modern life by uniting our faith with our everyday lives. We look to Mary to educate us in this task and to guide us in becoming better followers of Christ.”
The Schoenstatt Movement was founded at Schoenstatt, a minor seminary conducted by the Pallottines for those intending to work as missionaries in Africa. It grew out of a Marian sodality established there in April 1914. The superior offered the sodality use of St. Michael’s Chapel, near the school. Father Kentenich, the seminary’s spiritual director, inspired in part by the success of Bartolo Longo in establishing the Marian shrine to Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompei, felt called to establish a new shrine at Schoenstatt.
Kentenich’s guidance of the religious brotherhood was influenced by the works of St. Louis Grignion de Montfort.
Schoenstatt officially became a movement with its own structure in 1919. On July 18, 1919 the Pallottines assigned Fr. Kentenich to work full-time with the new movement. The first formal gathering was in Hoerde, August 20, 1920, where the first organizational principles were laid. On December 8, 1920, the first women were accepted into the women’s branch of the “Apostolic Federation of Schoenstatt” including Gertraud von Bullion.
Father Kentenich was arrested and sent to the Dachau Concentration Camp in 1941, where he began to spread the message of the Schoenstatt Movement to fellow prisoners.
18 October 1016
The Saxons are defeated by the Danes in the Battle of Assandun.
The Battle of Assandun was fought on 18 October 1016. There is dispute over whether Assandun may actually be Ashdon near Saffron Walden in north Essex, or the long-supposed Ashingdon near Rochford in southeast Essex, England. It was a victory for the Danes, led by Canute the Great, who triumphed over the English army led by King Edmund II. The battle was the conclusion to the Danish reconquest of England.
King Canute was accustomed to building a church, chapel or holy site after winning a battle to commemorate the soldiers who died in battle. A few years later saw the completion of construction in 1020 of the memorial church known as Ashingdon Minster, located on the hill next to the presumed site of the Battle in Ashingdon. The church still stands to this day. King Canute attended the dedication of Ashingdon Minster with his bishops and he appointed his personal priest Stigand to be the priest there. The church is now dedicated to Saint Andrew, but it is believed that it was dedicated earlier to Saint Michael who was considered to be a military saint and churches dedicated to him are frequently located on a hill.
18 October 1016
The Danes overcome the Saxons in the Battle of Assandun.
18 October 1968
Tommie Smith and John Carlos are suspended by the USA Olympic Committee for giving the “Black Power” salute at the victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.
18 October 1912
During the First Balkan War, Peter I of Serbia issues a declaration “To the Serbian People”, as Serbia joins the war.
18 October 1009
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.