In the summer of 70 CE, after months of brutal siege, Roman forces under General Titus stormed and captured the city of Jerusalem, crushing a major Jewish revolt against the Roman Empire. The siege was part of the First Jewish–Roman War, which had started in 66 CE, when tensions between Roman rule and Jewish resistance boiled over. Jerusalem was heavily fortified, and Jewish rebel factions fought not just the Romans — but also each other from within.

The Romans surrounded the city, cutting off supplies and bombarding it with siege engines. Famine set in quickly. People starved, disease spread, and morale crumbled. By August, Roman troops broke through the walls and entered the city. What followed was destruction on a massive scale. The Second Temple — the center of Jewish worship — was burned and destroyed, a moment that would change Judaism forever.

Eyewitness accounts, like those from the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, described the streets running red with blood. It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands died during the siege and its aftermath, though the exact numbers are debated. Survivors were either enslaved or scattered. The destruction of the temple was not just physical — it was symbolic. It marked the end of Jewish political independence in Judea for nearly 2,000 years.

The fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE was one of the most defining moments in Jewish history. It led to the diaspora, reshaped Jewish religious life around rabbinic teaching rather than temple sacrifice, and solidified Rome’s dominance in the region. To this day, Jews mourn the destruction of the temple every year on Tisha B’Av, remembering the day when the holy city was brought to its knees.

On June 5, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, just after giving a victory speech for winning the California Democratic primary. He had just finished addressing a cheering crowd and was walking through the hotel kitchen when a 22-year-old Palestinian man named Sirhan Sirhan pulled out a gun and opened fire at close range. Kennedy was struck in the head and neck, and five others were wounded in the chaos.

Kennedy was rushed to the hospital and underwent hours of emergency surgery, but the damage was too severe. He was pronounced dead early the next morning, on June 6, at the age of 42. His death came just over five years after the assassination of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and only two months after the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, which made it feel like another brutal blow during a year already marked by violence.

RFK had been gaining momentum as a presidential candidate, running on a platform that focused heavily on civil rights, anti-poverty programs, and ending the Vietnam War. Many believed he could’ve gone all the way to the White House. His message, especially to working-class Americans, minorities, and young voters, had inspired hope in a deeply divided country.

The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy shook the nation. Another voice calling for change had been silenced, and another chapter in American history had ended in gunfire. On June 5, 1968, a rising leader was taken far too soon — and a country already on edge slipped a little deeper into uncertainty.

Trench Armor⚔️
During World War I, some British soldiers were issued experimental trench armor made from steel plates and chainmail, designed to protect against shrapnel and bayonet attacks. The armor included metal breastplates, helmets with visors, and even arm and leg guards, sometimes weighing over 40 pounds in total. While it offered decent protection, it was so heavy and clunky that soldiers could barely move, let alone fight effectively. Most abandoned it on the battlefield, and the idea was quickly scrapped — proving that in modern war, mobility often mattered more than medieval-style protection. 🛡️⚔️🪖

Wallpaper Soup🍲
During the Siege of Leningrad (1941–1944), one of the longest and deadliest sieges in history, starving residents resorted to eating wallpaper paste to survive. With food supplies cut off by Nazi forces and winter temperatures dropping below freezing, the city’s people turned to anything remotely edible — including wallpaper, which often contained starch-based paste that could be scraped off and boiled into a thin, desperate soup. Some even boiled leather belts or made flour from sawdust. Over one million people died during the siege, but many survived through unimaginable resourcefulness and resilience. 🍲🪟❄️

A Historic Bluff😵‍💫
Mussolini’s March on Rome in 1922 is often remembered as a dramatic fascist takeover — but in reality, it was mostly a bluff. Mussolini had only around 30,000 poorly armed Blackshirts, and many Italian generals believed the military could crush the march easily. But instead of ordering a crackdown, King Victor Emmanuel III feared civil war and refused to declare martial law. On October 29, he invited Mussolini to form a government, handing him power without a single shot fired. What looked like a revolution was really a gamble — and the king folded. 🏛️🎩

The Diamond Sutra📜
The oldest surviving printed book is the Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist text dated to 868 CE, found in a cave in Dunhuang, China. Printed using woodblock printing on a long scroll of delicate paper, it predates Gutenberg’s Bible by nearly six centuries. The scroll ends with a clear date and a note that it was commissioned by a man named Wang Jie in honor of his parents — making it not just a sacred text, but also a deeply personal offering. Preserved for over a thousand years, the Diamond Sutra proves that mass printing and the love of books started long before the West caught up. 📜🧘‍♂️

If you enjoy this edition of Today In History be sure to send it to a friend and force them to sign up because that’s what good friends do. Until next time, stay curious, question everything, and keep uncovering the mysteries of the past.