On this day: August 24
POSTED: 09:33 PM MDT Aug 22, 2012
UPDATED: 12:00 AM MDT Aug 24, 2012
The White House burns, potato chips are invented, John Lennon's assassin goes to prison and Pete Rose agrees to a ban from baseball, all on this day.
Public domain
455: Rome is sacked by the Vandals, led by king Genseric. Pope Leo I requests Genseric not destroy the ancient city or murder its citizens. He agrees and the gates of Rome are opened. However, the Vandals loot a great amount of treasure and destroy objects of cultural significance (hence the modern term vandalism). The event is pointed to by some historians as the "end of the Roman Empire."
