Wikipedia:Main Page history/2012 October 25

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Today's featured article
George II (1683–1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, became second in line to the British throne after about fifty Catholics higher in line were excluded by the Act of Settlement, which restricted the succession to Protestants. After the deaths of Sophia and Queen Anne, his father, George I, inherited the throne. As king from 1727, George II exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by parliament. He had a difficult relationship with his eldest son, Frederick, who supported the parliamentary opposition. George became the last British monarch to lead an army in battle when he participated in the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. In 1745, supporters of the Catholic claimant to the throne, James Francis Edward Stuart, led by James's son Charles Edward Stuart, attempted and failed to depose George. Frederick died unexpectedly in 1751, and George's grandson, George III, became king on George II's death in 1760. Historians initially tended to view George II with disdain, but more recently, some scholars have re-assessed his legacy and conclude that he held and exercised influence in foreign policy and military appointments. (more...) Recently featured: Hadji Ali – Ian Fleming – Nixon in China Archive – By email – More featured articles...
Did you know...
From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the camera used to create Google Street View images (example pictured) of the Great Barrier Reef is controlled by a Samsung Galaxy Tab? ... that the Duchess of Westminster was one of only two women to compete in sailing at the 1908 Summer Olympics? ... that the bird-voiced treefrog and the pine woods treefrog can be recognised by their distinctive calls? ... that war profiteering by U.S. military contractors in Iraq brought calls for a new form of the investigative Truman Committee which operated in World War II? ... that the concert choir Frankfurter Kantorei performed Mozart's Requiem and Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht with the Israel Chamber Orchestra in Tel Aviv in a concert for the city's 100th anniversary? ... that Keret House is the world's narrowest house? Archive – Start a new article – Nominate an article

In the news
Six scientists and a former government official, accused of "falsely reassuring" the public of the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake's unlikelihood, are convicted of manslaughter. The Union Cycliste Internationale, the world governing body for cycling, strips Lance Armstrong (pictured) of his seven Tour de France wins. Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, marries Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy. Lebanese intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan is assassinated in a car bomb attack in Beirut that killed eight people and injured more than 100 others. Recent deaths: Russell Means – Yash Chopra – George McGovern Syrian civil war – Wikinews – More current events...
On this day...
October 25: Constitution Day in Lithuania (1992); Retrocession Day in Taiwan (1945); Armed Forces Day in Romania 1147 – Reconquista: Forces under Afonso I of Portugal captured Lisbon from the Moors after a four-month siege in one of the few Christian victories during the Second Crusade. 1812 – War of 1812: USS United States captured HMS Macedonian, which later became the first British warship to be brought into an American harbor. 1944 – Heinrich Himmler (pictured) ordered a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a nonconformist youth group that assisted army deserters and others hiding from the Nazis. 1980 – Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a multilateral treaty providing an expeditious method to return a child taken from one member nation to another, concluded at The Hague. 2010 – Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month. More anniversaries: October 24 – October 25 – October 26 Archive – By email – List of historical anniversaries It is now October 25, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture

The 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and 5th Dragoon Guards engage the Russians in this lithograph of the "Charge of the Heavy Brigade", a short engagement during the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. Russian cavalry had attacked the British camp, but in roughly ten minutes of fighting, they suffered 40 to 50 killed and more than 200 wounded and were forced to retreat.

Artist: William Simpson; Restoration: NativeForeigner

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