Sherman Launches Attack on Atlanta: The March Begins
Sherman's assault on Atlanta in August 1864 came after weeks of siege. He didn't want to take the city house by house — he wanted to cut it off. His forces circled south and destroyed the rail lines feeding Confederate supplies into the city. Hood evacuated Atlanta on September 1. The fall of Atlanta gave Lincoln his reelection. The Union had been losing the public narrative of the war. Atlanta reversed it.
August 31, 1864
162 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 31
Empress Theodora had ruled the Byzantine Empire since 1042, holding the throne first with her sister Zoe and then alone. She was 76. She'd been pulled from a co…
Abdicação do imperador bizantino Miguel VI, o Estratiótico depois de apenas um ano.
The Haudenosaunee Confederacy — the Iroquois League — bound five nations together under a constitution called the Great Law of Peace. The exact date is disputed…
en Castilla, la reina Berenguela cede el trono a su hijo Fernando III.
Al-Kamil ascended to the Ayyubid sultanate, inheriting a realm under siege by the Fifth Crusade. By prioritizing diplomacy over total war, he successfully negot…
Al-Kamil became Sultan of Egypt, Syria, and northern Mesopotamia in 1218 upon his father Al-Adil's death. He would later negotiate the remarkable Treaty of Jaff…
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