destruction and casualties; the most commonly cited estimates are
333,000 killed and 473,000 wounded. During the first years of the
Pacific War, these attacks were limited to the Doolittle Raid in April
1942 and small-scale raids on military positions in the Kuril Islands
starting in mid-1943. Strategic bombing raids began in June 1944 and
were greatly expanded in November. The raids initially attempted to
target industrial facilities, but from March 1945 onwards were generally
directed against urban areas. Aircraft flying from aircraft carriers and
the Ryukyu Islands also frequently struck targets in Japan during 1945
in preparation for an Allied invasion planned for October. In early
August, the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were struck and mostly
destroyed by atomic bombs. Japan's military and civil defenses were not
capable of protecting the country, and the Allied forces generally
suffered few losses. The bombing campaign was one of the main factors in
the Japanese government's decision to surrender in mid-August 1945.
Nevertheless, there has been a long-running debate over the attacks on
Japanese cities, and the decision to use atomic weapons has been
particularly controversial.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Japan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
626:
During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Prince Li Shimin led his forces
to assassinate his rival brothers, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince
Li Yuanji, in a bloody palace coup for the imperial throne of the Tang
dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanwu_Gate_Incident>
1816:
The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of
today's Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft,
which was depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the
Medusa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa>
1937:
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan
disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a
circumnavigational flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart>
1962:
The first Walmart store, now the largest retailer in the world,
opened in Rogers, Arkansas, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart>
1997:
The Thai baht rapidly lost half of its value, marking the
beginning of the Asian financial crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_financial_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
geodesy:
Scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation
of earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar
motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three‐dimensional,
time‐varying space.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geodesy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing is harder, yet nothing is more necessary, than to speak
of certain things whose existence is neither demonstrable nor probable.
The very fact that serious and conscientious men treat them as existing
things brings them a step closer to existence and to the possibility of
being born.
--Hermann Hesse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse>
_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org