Today before… – personal selection of today’s anniversaries

Today is the day of St. Francis of Paula, Erika’s feast day.

Today is World Autism Day.

1,276 years ago today, Charlemagne was born, later King of the Franks and restorer of the Roman Empire.

Today, 1,025 years ago, Gerbert of Aurillac is elected Pope, taking the pontifical name Sylvester II.

689 years ago today, Henry of Carinthia dies, king of Bohemia for two years after the death of Wenceslas III.

232 years ago today, the dollar was introduced as the official currency of the United States.

210 years ago today, Louis XVIII, the brother of the executed Louis XVI, is crowned King of France after Napoleon was deposed, and France is declared a constitutional monarchy.

122 years ago today, the Electric Theater opened in Los Angeles, the first facility dedicated solely to showing movies.

Today, 103 years ago, trams stopped operating in Cieszyn and Cieszyn.

94 years ago today, the Ethiopian empress Zewditu dies suddenly, and the de facto ruling Tafari Makonnen takes the throne, taking the imperial name of Haile Selassie.

45 years ago today at a biological weapons factory in Sverdlovsk, technicians forget to reinstall the filters on an anthrax dryer, allowing the spores to escape freely into the air. The number of victims is unknown, probably well over 100. The event is, of course, carefully concealed and camouflaged under the leadership of the regional head of the Bolsheviks, Boris Yeltsin.

42 years ago today, Argentine troops occupy Port Stanley, starting the Falklands War.

Karol Wojtyla, AKA Pope John Paul II, dies 19 years ago today. Poland declares state mourning until the funeral, i.e. for five days.