Wikipedia:Main Page history/2021 August 26

The Battle of Crécy, from Froissart's Chronicles

The Crécy campaign was an expedition by an English army from the north of Normandy to the County of Boulogne, devastating the French countryside on a wide front, followed by the successful siege of Calais. It began on 12 July 1346 during the Hundred Years' War. Led by King Edward III, the English stormed and sacked Caen, slaughtering the population. They then devastated the country to the suburbs of Rouen before cutting a swath along the Seine's left bank to Poissy, 20 miles (30 km) from Paris. Turning north, the English became trapped in territory which the French had denuded of food. They escaped by fighting their way across the Somme against a French blocking force. Two days later, on ground of their choosing, the English inflicted a heavy defeat on the French at the Battle of Crécy on 26 August, before moving on to besiege Calais. After an eleven-month siege, which severely stretched both countries' financial and military resources, the town fell. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crécy campaign.)

Herma Albertson Baggley

• ... that Herma Albertson Baggley (pictured) was the first woman to be on staff full-time as a naturalist with the United States National Park Service at Yellowstone National Park?
• ... that Zaranj was the first Afghan provincial capital to be captured by the Taliban since the Battle of Kunduz in 2016?
• ... that it took more than a decade for Michael M. Thomas to secure a publisher for his eighth novel, which was rejected by approximately 25 publishing houses?
• ... that the 2014-built ERV Nene Hatun is Turkey's first emergency response vessel?
• ... that prosecutors who worked to convict Kevin Strickland in 1979 now say they believe him to be innocent?
• ... that the freshwater leech Haemopis sanguisuga sometimes emerges from the water to hunt for earthworms?
• ... that before she was elected to the Parliament of Armenia, Maria Karapetyan spray-painted political graffiti on the streets of Yerevan in support of Nikol Pashinyan?
• ... that Chinese biblical scholar Zhu Weizhi believed that Jesus was a proletarian?

Paralympics opening ceremony

• The Summer Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Tokyo, Japan.
• King of Malaysia
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• Hakainde Hichilema is elected President of Zambia.
• The Afghan government collapses as the capital city of Kabul falls to the Taliban offensive.