Fiery destruction consumed Atlanta as rebel forces fled the city on this day in history, September 1, 1864. 

The collapse of the Georgia transportation hub marked a defining moment in the Civil War and later fueled one the great sweeping epics in global storytelling, "Gone with the Wind."

"Cut off from all lines of supply, the Confederate army was forced to evacuate or risk being trapped in the city and starving," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote in a chronicle of one of the most momentous days in American history.

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"[General John Bell] Hood ordered a retreat on Sept. 1, and by midnight the last of his infantry units were marching down the McDonough Road (present-day Capitol Avenue and McDonough Boulevard) and out of town."

"Panicked civilians, dreading the Yankees' occupation of the city, attached themselves to the retreating Southern columns," writes The American Battlefield Trust. 

"Before they left, Confederate soldiers threw open the army's commissary warehouse for civilians to take whatever they wanted."

Rebel troops torched their ammunition trains, setting much of the city ablaze. 

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"Twenty-eight cars were filled with ammunition; set afire, their explosions were so loud that Gen. [William T.] Sherman at Jonesboro [about 17 miles away] claimed to have heard them," the Trust reports.

Union soldiers marched into Atlanta the following day and raised the American flag over the city for the first time since Georgia seceded in January 1861. 

"Atlanta is ours and fairly won," Sherman telegraphed to Washington, D.C., on Sept. 3. 

The fiery collapse of Atlanta was seared into the consciousness of Americans, and of people around the world, through the global success of "Gone with the Wind."

Margaret Mitchell's novel was published in 1936 and won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1937. 

A 2014 Harris Interactive poll named it the most beloved book in American history — behind only the Bible.

Hollywood turned the book into one of the film industry's most memorable blockbusters in 1939. 

Inflation-adjusted tickets sales of $3.4 billion make "Gone with the Wind" the top-grossing movie of all-time, Guinness World Records reported in 2014. 

Atlanta's collapse serves as the dramatic climax of the extraordinary American story, with the fate of the young city intertwined with that of young protagonist Scarlett O'Hara.

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"Atlanta was of her own generation," author Mitchell wrote of O'Hara. "Crude with the crudities of youth and as headstrong and impetuous as herself."

Atlanta was indeed a city in its youth in 1864. It was founded in 1837, just eight years before the fictional O'Hara was born in the novel.

Atlanta was home to fewer than 10,000 residents at the start of the Civil War. 

The city's stunning resurgence in the wake of its destruction has proven to be one of the most remarkable stories of urban growth in world history. 

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Atlanta today is home to 500,000 people and is a global economic powerhouse. 

Pharmacist John S. Pemberton invented the formula for Coca-Cola in Atlanta in May 1886 — and it was first served at Jacob's Pharmacy, just 22 years after the city was destroyed. 

Coca-Cola today is the world's largest consumer brand. 

Modern Atlanta is also home of the world headquarters of Delta Airlines, UPS and The Home Depot, among other major companies, while the city lays claim to the busiest airport in the world. 

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport sits at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and South and North America — and handles over 75 million passengers per year, according to data from Airports Council International.