Today in History: August 13, East Germany closes Berlin border

Today is Thursday, Aug. 13, the 225th day of 2026. There are 140 days left in the year.Today in history:On Aug. 13, 1961, on what would become known as Barbed Wire Sunday, East Germany sealed the border between Berlin’s eastern and western sectors before building a wall that would divide the city for the next 28 years.Also on this date:In 1521, Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortez captured Tenochtitlan (teh-natch-teet-LAHN’), present-day Mexico City, from the Aztecs.In 1792, French revolutionaries arrested and imprisoned King Louis XVI; he would be executed by guillotine the following January.In 1889, William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut, received a patent for the first coin-operated telephone.In 1918, Opha May Johnson became the first woman to join the U.S. Marine Corps.In 1952, Big Mama Th