British Invade Washington D.C. 🧵

1/ On this day in 1814, British troops invaded Washington, D.C., during the War of 1812, defeating American forces at the Battle of Bladensburg and setting fire to the Capitol Building, the White House, and other key structures in a humiliating… pic.twitter.com/tQJcEeqnWe

— Manifest History (@ManifestHistory) August 24, 2025

August 25, 1940

Luftwaffe attacks continue against the RAF's airfields in southeast England.

The first night-attack by RAF on Berlin's industrial targets is made by 43 aircraft from RAF Bomber Command in retaliation for the accidental attack on London the night before.

I went to the White House when Bush was president and they were renovating the exterior. They had taken off the exterior rock to clean it. Below it you could plainly see the scorch marks on the walls left by the fire.

28 August 1942

RAF raid against Nuremberg is launched, killing 4,000 civilians and destroying over 10,000 houses.

A Japanese seaplane catapulted from submarine I-25 and drops firebombs on forests in Oregon.

A day late:
1836 The city of Houston is founded by Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen. "Houston" was a lot snappier-sounding than "mosquito-ridden, festering bayou".

The Allens were somewhat fascinating. They bought 6600 acres along the Buffalo Bayou for $5K using funds from Augustus' wife's inheritance. Sam Houston was their next-door neighbor. Charlotte's father had made his money as a river front developer in NY, and left the money for his daughters as women couldn't own property.