Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul’s Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died.

The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the city of London, England, in 1666. It is one of the most significant events in the city’s history and had a profound impact on the urban development and architecture of London.

Timeline: The fire began on September 2, 1666, and continued to burn until September 6, 1666. It started in a small bakery on Pudding Lane, near London Bridge.

Causes: The exact cause of the fire remains uncertain, but it is believed to have been triggered by a small fire that broke out in Thomas Farriner’s bakery. The strong winds and the city’s tightly packed, wooden buildings made it easy for the fire to spread quickly.

Rapid Spread: The fire spread rapidly due to several factors. The buildings in London at the time were mostly made of wood and thatch, which were highly flammable. Additionally, a prolonged dry period had left the city’s wooden structures particularly susceptible to ignition.

Efforts to Contain: Efforts to contain the fire were hindered by a lack of organized firefighting infrastructure. The city had no professional fire brigade, and firefighting was largely the responsibility of individual property owners. The narrow streets also made it difficult for firefighters to access the fire.

Destruction: The Great Fire of London consumed a large portion of the city, including approximately 87 churches, 13,200 houses, and numerous public buildings. The fire destroyed many of London’s medieval and Tudor buildings.

Casualties: Despite the extensive destruction, relatively few lives were lost in the fire. Officially, only six deaths were recorded, although the actual number may have been higher.

Reconstruction: After the fire, London was rebuilt under the direction of architect Sir Christopher Wren. His plans called for wider streets, buildings made of brick and stone instead of wood, and the creation of public spaces. St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of London’s most iconic landmarks, was constructed as part of this rebuilding effort.

Legacy: The Great Fire of London had a lasting impact on the city’s architecture and layout. Many of the changes implemented during the reconstruction period continue to shape London’s urban landscape to this day.

Commemoration: The fire is commemorated each year on September 2nd with the ringing of bells at St. Magnus-the-Martyr Church near the site where the fire began.

A Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September of 1972” attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day.

The Palestinian terrorist group known as “Black September” was not a separate entity but rather a faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Black September gained notoriety for its involvement in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, which targeted Israeli athletes.

Formation: Black September emerged as a splinter group or faction within the PLO in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was named after the events of September 1970 when the PLO and the Jordanian government clashed in what is known as “Black September” in Jordan.

Munich Olympics Massacre: The most infamous and significant action associated with Black September occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. On September 5, 1972, a group of eight Palestinian terrorists, believed to be affiliated with Black September, infiltrated the Olympic Village and took 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage. Tragically, the hostages were later killed during a botched rescue attempt by German authorities.

Motivation: Black September’s actions, including the Munich massacre, were primarily aimed at drawing international attention to the Palestinian cause and demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. They saw acts of violence as a means to raise awareness and achieve their political goals.

Response: The Munich Olympics massacre shocked the world and drew widespread condemnation. Israel launched Operation Wrath of God, a covert operation to track down and assassinate individuals believed to be involved with Black September. Several members of the group were targeted and killed in the years following the Munich attack.

Disintegration: Over time, Black September lost influence and eventually dissolved, as the PLO distanced itself from the group and its tactics. The PLO sought to pursue a more diplomatic approach to achieve Palestinian national goals, which culminated in the Oslo Accords in the 1990s.

Legacy: The Munich Olympics massacre and Black September remain as a significant and tragic chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The events of 1972 underscore the complex and violent nature of the struggle for Palestinian self-determination and the challenges involved in addressing the conflict.

The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world’s longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.32 km) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.

The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins.
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Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.

Early on the morning of August 24, 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a 10-year non-aggression pact, called the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact. Most notably, the pact contained a secret protocol, revealed only after Germany’s defeat in 1945, according to which the states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet “spheres of influence”. In the north, Finland, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere.[10] Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its “political rearrangement”—the areas east of the Narev, Vistula and San Rivers going to the Soviet Union while Germany would occupy the west. Lithuania, adjacent to East Prussia, would be in the German sphere of influence, although a second secret protocol agreed in September 1939 assigned the majority of Lithuania to the USSR.

Most Estonians greeted the Germans with relatively open arms and hoped for restoration of independence. In Southern Estonia pro-independence administrations were set up, led by Jüri Uluots, and a co-ordinating council was set up in Tartu as soon as the Soviet regime retreated and before German troops arrived. The Forest Brothers who drove the Red Army from Tartu made this possible. This was all for nothing since the Germans disbanded the provisional government and Estonia became a part of the German-occupied Reichskommissariat Ostland. A Sicherheitspolizei was established for internal security under the leadership of Ain-Ervin Mere.

In April 1941, on the eve on the German invasion, Alfred Rosenberg, Reich minister for the Occupied Eastern territories, a Baltic German, born and raised in Tallinn, Estonia, laid out his plans for the East. According to Rosenberg a future policy was created:

Germanization of the “racially suitable” elements.
Colonization by Germanic peoples.
Exile, deportations of undesirable elements.
Rosenberg felt that the “Estonians were the most Germanic out of the people living in the Baltic area, having already reached 50 percent of Germanization through Danish, Swedish and German influence”. Non-suitable Estonians were to be moved to a region that Rosenberg called “Peipusland” to make room for German colonists. The removal of 50% of Estonians was in accordance with the Generalplan Ost, however the plan did not envisage just their relocation, the majority would be worked and starved to death.

The initial enthusiasm that accompanied the liberation from Soviet occupation quickly waned as a result and the Germans had limited success in recruiting volunteers. The draft was introduced in 1942, resulting in some 3400 men fleeing to Finland to fight in the Finnish Army rather than join the Germans. Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 was formed out of Estonian volunteers who had fled the 1943–1944 forced mobilization into the German forces in Estonia. The unit fought the Red Army on the Karelian Front. In June 1942, political leaders of Estonia who had survived Soviet repressions held a meeting hidden from the occupying powers in Estonia where the formation of an underground Estonian government and the options for preserving continuity of the republic were discussed. On January 6, 1943, a meeting was held at the Estonian foreign delegation in Stockholm. In order to preserve the legal continuation of the Republic of Estonia, it was decided that the last constitutional prime minister, Jüri Uluots, had to continue to fulfill his responsibilities as prime minister. In June 1944, the elector’s assembly of the Republic of Estonia gathered in secrecy from the occupying powers in Tallinn and appointed Jüri Uluots as the prime minister with responsibilities of the President. On June 21 Jüri Uluots appointed Otto Tief as deputy prime minister. With the Allied victory over Germany becoming certain in 1944, the only option to save Estonia’s independence was to stave off a new Soviet invasion of Estonia until Germany’s capitulation. By supporting the German conscription call Uluots hoped to restore the Estonian Army and the country’s independence.

New York City hold the first United States Labor Day parade.

Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Muhammad Ali is awarded the gold medal for the light heavyweight at the Olympic Games in Rome.

The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland. It is the world’s longest highway tunnel at 16.224 km.