September 7 in History

Cardinal Rolando Bandinelli's election as Pope Alexander III triggered an immediate split when rivals crowned Cardinal Octaviano Monticelli as Antipope Victor IV on the same day. This dual coronation ignited a twenty-year schism that fractured Christendom and forced European monarchs to choose sides, ultimately establishing papal authority through prolonged political warfare rather than divine consensus.

Frederick II arrived in the Holy Land already excommunicated by the Pope — the Church had banned him for repeatedly delaying this very trip. So he launched a Crusade with no papal blessing and no army large enough to fight one. His solution: he sat down with Sultan Al-Kamil and negotiated. Walked away with Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth through diplomacy alone. Christian knights were furious. The Patriarch of Jerusalem refused to crown him. Frederick II crowned himself.

Thomas Howard was the highest-ranking nobleman in England — and he was plotting to marry the woman who wanted Elizabeth I dead. The Ridolfi plot had Roberto Ridolfi, a Florentine banker, coordinating with Spain and Rome to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne. Howard's role was to marry her once Elizabeth was gone. He denied everything. Elizabeth had him arrested, tried, and eventually executed in 1572. The dukedom of Norfolk wasn't recreated for another 100 years.

England and the Dutch Republic signed the Treaty of Southampton to unite their naval forces against Spanish dominance. This pact directly enabled coordinated raids that crippled Spanish supply lines, compelling Madrid to divert resources from its European campaigns to defend its overseas trade routes.

Gustavus Adolphus lined his infantry up differently than anyone had seen — shallower formations, mobile artillery, musketeers trained to fire in rolling volleys rather than standing static lines. At Breitenfeld, that system obliterated an Imperial-Catholic force roughly equal in size. Around 7,000 Catholic soldiers died; Swedish losses were under 4,000. It was the first major Protestant victory in the Thirty Years' War, and it proved that Sweden's new military doctrine worked. Europe's armies spent the next century copying it.

In 1776, the world's first submarine attack occurred when the American submersible craft 'Turtle' attempted to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS 'Eagle' in New York Harbor. This innovative military tactic demonstrated the potential of underwater warfare and highlighted the ingenuity of American forces during the Radical War. Although the attack was ultimately unsuccessful, it marked a significant moment in naval history.

France had been secretly supplying American rebels for over a year, but hadn't yet declared open war on Britain. Then French troops landed on Dominica and took the island in a day. Britain, still unaware France had formally entered the conflict, was caught completely flat-footed. The island changed hands that fast — no significant battle, no warning. Britain wouldn't recapture Dominica until 1783. France managed to open a Caribbean front before London even confirmed it was at war.

The Battle of Borodino in 1812 was a critical confrontation during the Napoleonic Wars, where Napoleon's forces defeated the Russian army led by Tsar Alexander I. This battle, characterized by its fierce fighting and heavy casualties, was one of the bloodiest of the war and showcased the determination of the Russian forces to resist Napoleon's invasion. The outcome of Borodino created conditions for the subsequent retreat of French troops from Russia, marking a turning point in the conflict.

Seventy-three thousand men died or were wounded in a single day at Borodino — roughly one casualty every second for twelve straight hours. Napoleon took the field but held his Old Guard back, refusing to commit his final reserve even when his marshals begged him. He called it caution. Others called it paralysis. He technically won, entered Moscow a week later, and found it burning. The Russian army hadn't surrendered. Winter was coming. And his 600,000-strong Grande Armée went home as fewer than 100,000.

Gran Colombia was an extraordinary idea held together almost entirely by Simón Bolívar's personal authority — and it started fracturing almost immediately. The federation stretched across modern-day Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, governed from Bogotá over geography that made communication nearly impossible. Bolívar spent most of his presidency at war, on horseback, somewhere in the territory. Venezuela seceded in 1829. Ecuador followed in 1830. Bolívar died the same year, calling his efforts 'plowing the sea.' The dream lasted nine years. The countries it became are still here.