The Silesian Wars were a series of three wars fought between Prussia
(under King Frederick the Great) and Austria (under Archduchess Maria
Theresa) for control of the Central European region of Silesia (now in
south-west Poland). The First (1740–1742) and Second Silesian Wars
(1744–1745) formed parts of the War of the Austrian Succession, in
which Prussia was one member of an anti-Austrian coalition. The Third
Silesian War (1756–1763) was one theatre of the global Seven Years'
War, in which Austria led a coalition aiming to seize Prussian
territory. All three ended in Prussian victories, and their overall
territorial result was Austria's cession of the majority of Silesia to
Prussia, which emerged from the Silesian Wars as a new European great
power. Austria's defeat by a lesser German power significantly damaged
its prestige. The conflict foreshadowed a century-long Austria–Prussia
rivalry for hegemony over the German-speaking peoples. (This article is
part of a featured topic: Silesian Wars.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Silesian_Wars>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1823:
James McBrien made the first official discovery of gold in
Australia at Fish River in New South Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_gold_rushes>
1961:
All 72 people on board Sabena Flight 548, including the entire
U.S. figure-skating team, and one person on the ground were killed when
the aircraft crashed on approach to Brussels Airport.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabena_Flight_548>
2013:
A previously undetected meteor exploded (video featured) over
Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia; the resulting shock wave injured about 1,500
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
meet cute:
(intransitive, informal) Of characters in a story or people in real
life: to meet each other in an adorable, amusing, or cute way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meet_cute>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
America has furnished to the world the character of Washington!
And if our American institutions had done nothing else, that alone would
have entitled them to the respect of mankind.
--Daniel Webster
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster>
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