{"id":17441,"date":"2022-08-22T07:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-22T05:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=214201"},"modified":"2022-08-22T07:22:10","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T05:22:10","slug":"22-august-on-this-day-in-history","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/22-august-on-this-day-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"22 August: On this day in history"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Elinor Evans\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 22 August 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

22 August 565:\u00a0The Loch Ness monster is spotted for the first time<\/h3>\n

Scotland\u2019s famous water monster is banished to the bottom of the river Ness by a humble monk<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

The story of the Loch Ness Monster<\/a> was first popularised when a road was built across the loch in 1933. But when scholars investigated, they discovered that the first possible sighting had actually occurred in the days of the semi-legendary St Columba, who supposedly confronted the creature on 22 August 565.<\/p>\n

An Irish monk who had sailed to Scotland to spread the gospel of Christ, Columba was visiting the land of the Picts when he reached the river Ness. There he came across some locals burying one of their friends, whom: \u201csome water monster had a little before snatched at as he was swimming, and bitten with a most savage bite\u201d.<\/p>\n

Columba ordered one of his acolytes to swim across the river and to bring back a boat. But now the water monster made an appearance.\u00a0\u201cNot so much satiated as made eager for prey,\u201d explained a chronicler, it was \u201clying hidden in the bottom of the river.\u201d But now it \u201csuddenly emerged, and, swimming to the man as he was crossing in the middle of the stream, rushed up with a great roar and open mouth\u201d.<\/p>\n

All were terrified \u2013 except Columba \u201cWith his holy hand raised on high,\u201d the chronicler recorded, \u201che formed the saving sign of the cross in the empty air, invoked the Name of God, and commanded the fierce monster, saying: \u2018Think not to go further, nor touch thou the man. Quick! Go back!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The monster fled, while Columba\u2019s followers loudly praised God. As for the locals, they converted on the spot. | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

22 August 1485: Richard III is hacked to death at Bosworth<\/h3>\n

The divisive king\u2019s two-year reign comes to a bloody end<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It is one of William Shakespeare<\/a>\u2019s most memorable scenes. As Richard III<\/a> sleeps before the battle of Bosworth<\/a>, he is visited by the ghosts of the men and women he has murdered. \u201cDespair and die!\u201d they tell him again and again.\nRichard wakes with a start: \u201cGive me another horse. Bind up my wounds,\u201d he gasps. \u201cHave mercy, Jesu!\u201d<\/p>\n

In reality, we have no idea what passed through Richard\u2019s mind in the early hours of 22 August 1485, one of the most decisive days in English history. The former Duke of Gloucester had been king for just over two years, having seized the throne from his young nephew Edward V in a controversial coup.<\/p>\n

Even now Richard continues to divide opinion: while some see him as a child- murdering usurper, his admirers point to his well-earned reputation as a soldier and administrator. Yet when Richard woke that morning, he must have known that his crown hung by a thread.<\/p>\n

Two weeks earlier his rival Henry Tudor<\/a> had landed at Milford Haven\u00a0in Wales with an army of Lancastrian exiles and French mercenaries. On paper, Richard could count on some 10,000 troops, double that of Henry\u2019s army. But which way would the powerful Stanleys, who controlled much of the North West, jump? Richard had Lord Stanley\u2019s son, George, as a hostage. But would that be enough to secure their support?<\/p>\n

Historians still argue about exactly what happened \u2013 and where \u2013 that day. What seems certain is that somewhere outside Market Bosworth, the two rivals clashed, while the Stanleys\u2019 men stood by and waited. When Henry made to ride towards the Stanleys, Richard tried to intercept him, but was cut off from his main forces and hacked to death. | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

22 August 1642<\/h3>\n

King Charles I<\/a> raised his standard at Nottingham calling on all loyal subjects to join him. In doing so, he effectively declared war on his opponents. It was considered a bad omen that the standard was soon blown down by a strong wind.<\/p>\n

22 August 1914:\u00a0The First World War\u2019s bloodiest day<\/h3>\n

A poorly planned gamble results in the slaughter of 27,000 French fighters<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

In Britain, few days in modern history have been more exhaustively chronicled than the opening day of the battle of the Somme, but it was not the bloodiest day of the First World War. That dubious honour belongs to Saturday 22 August 1914, when the flower of the French army was cut down during the clashes known as the \u201cBattle of the Frontiers\u201d.<\/p>\n

The war on the western front was just a few weeks old, and the fighting had yet to settle down into the attrition of the trenches. Both sets of combatants \u2013 the British, French and Belgians on one side, the Germans on the other \u2013 were eager to go onto the offensive. And while the Germans were scything through Belgium, following their infamous Schlieffen Plan, the French commander, Joseph Joffre, had a plan of his own.<\/p>\n

Under Plan XVII, his men were supposed to drive across the border, through the Ardennes and into Germany\u2019s borderlands of Alsace and Lorraine, which France had lost a generation earlier. In French planners\u2019 minds, the cavalry would lead a dazzling charge, resplendent in their bright red-and-blue uniforms. They gave little thought to camouflage, let alone to the terrible new military technology the men would face, from machine guns to barbed wire.<\/p>\n

The French rode east, sweat pouring be- neath their gleaming helmets. On the horizon, through the heat haze, they made out the ene- my lines, German soldiers poised behind their machine guns. \u201cThey look like something from a picture book,\u201d one of the Germans thought. On went the French \u2013 into the arms of death. As the German guns spat out their deadly rat- tle, French blood seeped into the soil. \u201cRain is falling,\u201d wrote one French sergeant, \u201cshells are screaming and bursting \u2026 Whenever it stops we hear the wounded crying from all over the woods. Two or three men go mad every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a single Saturday, some 27,000 Frenchmen lost their lives, as well as an unknown\u00a0number of Germans. It was the most lethal day in French military history. | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

22 August 1910<\/h3>\n

Korea was formally annexed by Japan. The annexation treaty was signed for Korea by Prime Minister Lee Wang-Yong after Emperor Sunjong refused to do so.<\/p>\n

22 August 1922:\u00a0The \u2018idol of Ireland\u2019 is assassinated<\/h3>\n

Republican leader Michael Collins is killed in a shoot-out with anti-treaty forces<\/strong><\/p>\n

Early on Tuesday 22 August 1922, Michael Collins left Cork\u2019s Imperial Hotel to visit his troops in rural West Cork. The Irish Civil War<\/a> was just two months old, but Collins\u2019s Free State army manifestly had the upper hand. Some speculated that he was hoping to strike a deal with his adversaries in the IRA, who opposed the treaty that had secured only partial independence from Britain. Given that West Cork was an IRA heartland, many thought Collins was inviting a sniper\u2019s bullet. But he was more optimistic. \u201cDon\u2019t suppose,\u201d he said, \u201cI will be ambushed in my own county.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some time before 8pm, Collins\u2019s convoy was on its way back through the hamlet of B\u00e9al na Bl\u00e1th when anti-Treaty men opened fire. His friend Emmet Dalton shouted to keep driving, but Collins yelled: \u201cNo, stop and we\u2019ll fight \u2019em,\u201d and began firing back. What followed was a few confused moments of shouting and shooting. Then the firing stopped and Dalton heard a cry: \u201cEmmet, I am hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Dalton\u2019s words, they \u201crushed to the spot, fear clutching our hearts\u201d. In the lane was their \u201cbeloved chief\u2026 a gaping wound at the base of his skull. We immediately saw that he was almost beyond human aid; he did not speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few moments later, Collins was dead. \u201cHow can I describe the feelings that were then mine, kneeling in the mud of a country road,\u201d wrote Dalton, \u201cwith the still bleeding head of the idol of Ireland resting in my arms.\u201d | Written by Dominic Sandbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

Browse more On this day in history<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n