Wikipedia article of the day for January 20, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 20, 2021 is John Neal (writer).
John Neal (1793–1876) was an American writer, critic, editor, lecturer, and activist. He delivered speeches and published essays, novels, poems, and short stories between the 1810s and 1870s. Neal advanced American art, advocated the end of slavery and racial prejudice, and helped establish the American gymnastics movement. The first author to use natural diction, he was also the first to use "son-of-a-bitch" in a work of fiction. He attained his greatest literary achievements between 1817 and 1835 as the first American published in British literary journals, author of the first history of American literature, America's first art critic, and a forerunner of the American Renaissance. One of the first men to advocate women's rights in the US, he affirmed intellectual equality between men and women, fought coverture laws, and demanded equal pay, better education and suffrage for women, declaring "I tell you there is no hope for woman, till she has a hand in making the law".

Wikipedia article of the day for January 19, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 19, 2021 is Alexander II Zabinas.
Alexander II Zabinas (c. 150 BC – 123 BC) was a Seleucid monarch of the Hellenistic period who reigned as King of Syria between 128 BC and 123 BC. Most historians, ancient and modern, maintain that he was a pretender to the throne, although his coinage suggests that he claimed descent from Antiochus IV (died 164 BC), the brother of King Seleucus IV (died 175 BC). Descendants of both brothers were contending for the throne. In 128 BC, King Demetrius II of Syria, the representative of Seleucus IV's line, invaded Egypt to support his mother-in-law Cleopatra II in a civil war. Demetrius was killed while trying to find refuge in the city of Tyre, and Alexander II became the master of the kingdom. Egypt's Ptolemy VIII did not want a strong king on the Syrian throne, and in 124 BC an alliance was established between Egypt and Cleopatra Thea, ruling jointly with Antiochus VIII, her son by Demetrius II. Alexander II was defeated and was probably executed by Antiochus VIII.

Wikipedia article of the day for January 18, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 18, 2021 is Porlock Stone Circle.
Porlock Stone Circle, on Exmoor in the south-western English county of Somerset, is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age between 3,300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circles' builders. Many monuments were built in Exmoor during the Bronze Age, but the only other surviving stone circle in the area is the one near Withypool. The circle near Porlock is about 24 metres (79 feet) in diameter and has thirteen green micaceous sandstone rocks. Directly to the north-east of the ring is a cairn apparently connected to a linear stone row. A small lead wheel inside the circle suggests that the site was visited during the Romano-British period. The site was rediscovered in the 1920s.

Wikipedia article of the day for January 17, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 17, 2021 is Elizabeth Willing Powel.
Elizabeth Willing Powel (February 21, 1743 – January 17, 1830) was an American socialite and a prominent member of the Philadelphia upper class of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After the American Revolutionary War, she established a salon of the Republican Court of leading intellectuals and political figures. She corresponded widely, including with the political elite of the time. A close friend to George Washington, she was among those who convinced him to continue for a second term as president. She wrote extensively, but privately, on a wide range of subjects, including politics, the role of women, medicine, education, and philosophy. Powel is said to be the person who asked Benjamin Franklin "What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?", to which he replied "A republic ... if you can keep it"; over time the role played by Powel in this exchange has been all but removed. Hundreds of her letters and several of her portraits survive.

Wikipedia article of the day for January 16, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 16, 2021 is John C. Breckinridge.
John C. Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the youngest-ever vice president of the United States. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1850 as a Democrat. He served as vice president from 1857 to 1861 alongside President James Buchanan. In 1859, he was elected senator for Kentucky. The Southern Democrats held two rival conventions; one nominated Breckinridge for president, who carried most of the Southern states. With the southern vote split, Abraham Lincoln won the election. Taking his Senate seat, Breckinridge urged compromise. When the Civil War broke out, Breckinridge fled to the Confederacy. He fought in numerous engagements as a general officer. In 1865 he was appointed secretary of war and urged the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, to arrange a national surrender. After the war he lived abroad, returning in 1869.

Wikipedia article of the day for January 15, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 15, 2021 is Mercenary War.
The Mercenary War, also known as the Truceless War, was a mutiny by troops employed by Carthage at the end of the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC), backed by an uprising of African settlements against Carthaginian control. The war began in 241 BC as a dispute over wages owed to 20,000 foreign soldiers. It erupted into a full-scale mutiny that included 70,000 Africans from Carthage's oppressed dependent territories, bringing supplies and finance. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca initially demonstrated leniency to woo the rebels over, but pursued the war with great brutality after they tortured 700 Carthaginian prisoners to death. It ended in late 238 or early 237 BC with a Carthaginian victory. An expedition was then prepared to reoccupy Sardinia, where all Carthaginians had been killed. However, Rome declared that this would be an act of war and occupied both Sardinia and Corsica, in contravention of the recent peace treaty. (This article is part of a featured topic: Punic Wars.)

Wikipedia article of the day for January 14, 2021

The Wikipedia article of the day for January 14, 2021 is James P. Hagerstrom.
James Hagerstrom (January 14, 1921 – June 25, 1994) was a fighter ace of the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) in World War II and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in the Korean War. He is one of seven American pilots to have achieved ace status in two different wars. Hagerstrom joined the USAAF in 1941, and fought in the New Guinea campaign of World War II. There he shot down six Japanese aircraft, including four in one morning. After the war, he joined the Texas Air National Guard and participated in several air races. By 1950 he was in command of the 111th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, which was deployed to Korea during the Korean War. He transferred to the USAF and flew an F-86 Sabre jet in "MiG Alley", the area around the northern border of North Korea with China, destroying 8.5 Chinese, Soviet, and North Korean MiG-15s. In 1965, he served in several command roles during the Vietnam War while flying 30 combat missions. Hagerstrom died in Shreveport of stomach cancer in 1994.