krakatoa1.jpg1776: British forces defeated the Continental Army at the Battle of Long Island in Brooklyn, New York.  The battle was the largest of the Revolutionary War and pitted General William Howe of the British against General George Washington, both of them military masterminds.

1883: The eruption of Krakatoa.  The eruption immediately led to massive tsunamis, and also led to a dramatic cooling of the planet for the next five years.

1928: Over sixty nations signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which renounced war as an instrument of foreign policy.  Ten years later, World War II begins.

1942: Singapore falls to Japan.