Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 March 24

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From today's featured article

Isabeau of Bavaria (c. 1370–1435) became the queen of King Charles VI of France in 1385. She was born into the House of Wittelsbach, the eldest daughter of Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Taddea Visconti of Milan. Isabeau was sent to France at age 15 or 16, where the young French king liked her enough to marry her three days after they met. Charles suffered from lifelong progressive mental illness from 1392, and was forced to temporarily withdraw from government. A 1393 masque or masquerade ball for one of Isabeau's ladies-in-waiting—an event later known as Bal des Ardents—ended in disaster with the King almost burning to death. Although he demanded Isabeau's removal from his presence during attacks of mental illness, he allowed her to act on his behalf. Charles' illness created a power vacuum that eventually led to the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War between the supporters of his brother, Louis of Orléans, and the royal dukes of Burgundy. Isabeau shifted allegiances between the factions, choosing courses she believed most favorable for the heir to the throne. She was present at the signing of the Treaty of Troyes in 1421, and lived in English-occupied Paris until her death in 1435. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

From Wikipedia's new and recently improved content:

... that Vincent van Gogh's Houses at Auvers (pictured) is an oil painting featuring a peasant cottage, as did many of his works?
... that Elizabeth Bauer Mock was the first former Taliesin fellow to join the Museum of Modern Art staff?
... that Prisoners of the Sun—the fourteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin—was made into a musical in 2001?
... that a 2003 study co-authored by Geoffrey Kabat and co-sponsored by the tobacco industry concluded that its results did not support a causal relation between passive smoking and mortality?
... that the sea gooseberry Pleurobrachia pileus has fishing tentacles up to twenty times its body length?
... that Concha Michel, whose grandfather was a feudal lord on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, was a communist and supported women's farming collectives?
... that the "whimsical physics toy" Donut County was inspired by locations in Bruce Springsteen songs?
... that as a child, Alexander Raikhel wanted to be a scientist so badly that he deliberately failed a vision test so he could wear glasses?

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In the news

Lee Kuan Yew (pictured), the first Prime Minister of Singapore, dies at the age of 91.
President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi declares Aden to be the temporary capital of Yemen, amid the aftermath of a coup d'état.
A solar eclipse is visible across much of Europe, with totality over the Faroe Islands and Svalbard.
Suicide bombings at two mosques in Sana'a, Yemen, kill 142 people, including 13 children.
The ruling party Likud, led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wins a plurality in the Israeli Knesset.
Gunmen kill 21 people during an attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis.
Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed is convicted of terrorism charges and sentenced to thirteen years in prison.

Ongoing: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Recent deaths: Malcolm Fraser

On this day...

March 24: World Tuberculosis Day

1860 – Rōnin samurai of the Mito Domain assassinated Japanese Chief Minister Ii Naosuke, upset with his role in the opening of Japan to foreign powers.
1882 – German physician Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacterium that causes tuberculosis.
1927 – Following the capture of Nanjing by an alliance of Nationalist and Communist forces, British and American warships bombarded the city in defence of foreign citizens there.
1944 – Second World War: Captured Allied airmen began "the Great Escape", breaking out of the German prison camp Stalag Luft III.
1989 – The tanker Exxon Valdez (pictured) spilled more than 10 million US gallons of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing one of the most devastating man-made environmental disasters at sea.

More anniversaries: March 23 – March 24 – March 25

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It is now March 24, 2015 (UTC) – Reload this page

Today's featured picture

A British recruitment poster from the First World War, featuring imagery of Saint George and the Dragon. Britain in the First World War fielded more than five million troops. Enrollment was initially voluntary, and in 1914 and 1915 the British military released numerous recruitment posters to attract troops. As the war progressed there were fewer volunteers to fill the ranks, and in 1916 the Military Service Act, which provided for the conscription of single men aged 18–41, was introduced. By the end of the war the law's scope had been extended to include older and married men.

Poster: Parliamentary Recruiting Committee; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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