This Week in History

HISTORY, 27 Apr 2015

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

Apr 27–May 3

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Good morning… this is God. I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help. So, have a good day.“ – Unknown

APRIL 27

2007  Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.

1996  The 1996 Lebanon war ends.

1994  South African general election, 1994: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.

1992  The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

1992  Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.

1992  The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.

1989  The April 27 Demonstration,a student-led protest responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

1987  The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States, saying he had aided in the deportation and execution of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.

1986  The City of Prypiat as well as the surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl Disaster

1981  Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.

1975  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

1967  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1962  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island.

1961  Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.

1960  Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

1953  Operation Moolah is initiated by U.S. General Mark W. Clark against Communist pilots in the Korean War.

1950  Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed formally segregating races.

1945  World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.

1945  World War II: German troops are finally expelled from Finnish Lapland.

1941  World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing Slovene Sokols (also known as “National Democrats”) and a group of progressive intellectuals establish the Liberation Front of the Slovenian People.

1941  World War II: German troops enter Athens.

1927  Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmery) are created.

1914  Honduras becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1909  Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.

1861  American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.

1813  War of 1812: American troops capture the capital of Upper Canada in the Battle of York (present day Toronto, Canada).

1810  Beethoven composes Für Elise.

1805  First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The “shores of Tripoli” part of the Marines’ hymn).

 

 

APRIL 28

1986  High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.

1986  The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.

1978  President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.

1977  The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure is signed.

1977  The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.

1975  General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on victory.

1970  Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.

1969  Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

1965  United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to “forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship” and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.

1952  The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.

1952  Occupied Japan: The United States occupation of Japan ends as the Treaty of San Francisco, ratified September 8, 1951, comes into force.

1952  Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

1949  Former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, 61, is assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.

1947  Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

1945  Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by a firing squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.

1944  World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.

1922  A vaccine for yellow fever is announced for use on humans.

1920  Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.

1887  A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, Alsatian police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of German Emperor William I, defusing a possible war.

 

 

APRIL 29

2005  Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation.

2004  Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office.

1997  The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.

1986  The Chernobyl Disaster: American and European Spy Satellites capture the ruins of the 4th Reactor at the Chernobyl Power Plant.

1975  Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese Army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnamese-held Trường Sa Islands.

1975  Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.

1974  Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.

1971  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1970  Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.

1968  The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with its song becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.

1967  After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.

1965  Pakistan‘s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launches its seventh rocket in its Rehber series.

1964  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1951  Tibetan delegates to the Central People’s Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan autonomy.

1946  Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.

1946  The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.

1945  The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces. The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.

1945  The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.

1945  World War II – Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun commit suicide the following day.

1945  World War II: The Captain class frigate HMS Goodall K479 is torpedoed by U-286 outside the Kola Inlet becoming the last ship of the Royal Navy sunk in the European theatre of World War II.

1945  World War II: Start of Operation Manna.

1945  World War II: The German army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.

1944  World War II: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo‘s most wanted person, parachutes back into France to become a liaison between London and the local maquis group.

1916  Easter Rising: Martial law in Ireland is lifted and the rebellion is officially over with the surrender of Irish nationalists to British authorities in Dublin.

1916  World War I: The British 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.

1770  James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia.

 

 

APRIL 30

2014  The World Bank reports that India is now the third-largest economy behind the U.S. and China on the basis of purchasing power parity; India replaces Japan, though Japan remains in third place when GDPs are compared on an exchange-rated basis.

2009  Seven people are killed and another ten injured at a Queen’s Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.

2008  Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia, are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, one of his sisters.

2004  U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.

1993  CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.

1982  The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta.

1975  Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.

1973  Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aides H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and others have resigned.

1966  The Church of Satan is established at the Black House in San Francisco.

1963  The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company‘s refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.

1961  K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.

1948  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak

1948  In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.

1945  World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.

1943  World War II: Operation Mincemeat: The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.

1939  NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s N.Y. World’s Fair opening day ceremonial address.

1937  The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.

1920  Peru becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.

1907  Honolulu, Hawaii becomes an independent city.

1900  Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.

1885  Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York’s first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.

1838  Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.

1900  Honolulu, Hawaii becomes an independent city.

 

 MAY 1

2011  Barack Obama announces that Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks has been killed by United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Due to the time difference between the United States and Pakistan, bin Laden was actually killed on May 2.

2009  Same-sex marriage is legalized in Sweden.

2008  The London Agreement on translation of European patents, concluded in 2000, enters into force in 14 of the 34 Contracting States to the European Patent Convention.

2004  Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.

2003  2003 invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the “Mission Accomplished” speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”.

2001  Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declares the existence of “a state of rebellion”, hours after thousands of supporters of her arrested predecessor, Joseph Estrada, storm towards the presidential palace at the height of the EDSA III rebellion.

1995  Croatian forces launch Operation Flash [Operacija Bljesak] during the Croatian War of Independence.

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1993  Dingiri Banda Wijetunga became president of Sri Lanka automatically after killing of R Premadasa in LTTE bomb explosion.

1987  Pope John Paul II beatifies Edith Stein, a Jewish-born Carmelite nun who was gassed in the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz.

1983  Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis is awarded the Lenin Peace Prize.

1982  Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.

1978  Japan’s Naomi Uemura, travelling by dog sled, becomes the first person to reach the North Pole alone.

1974  The Argentine terrorist organization Montoneros is expelled from Plaza de Mayo by president Juan Perón.

1970  Protests erupt in Seattle, following the announcement by U.S. President Richard Nixon that U.S. Forces in Vietnam would pursue enemy troops into Cambodia, a neutral country.

1965  Battle of Dong-Yin, a naval conflict between ROC and PRC, takes place.

1961  The Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro, proclaims Cuba a socialist nation and abolishes elections.

1960  Cold War: U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers, in a Lockheed U-2 spyplane, is shot down over the Soviet Union, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

1956  A doctor in Japan reports an “epidemic of an unknown disease of the central nervous system”, marking the official discovery of Minamata disease.

1956  The polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk is made available to the public.

1950  Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth.

1948  The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is established, with Kim Il-sung as leader.

1947  Portella della Ginestra massacre against May Day celebrations in Sicily by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano where 11 persons are killed and 33 wounded.

1946  The Paris Peace Conference concludes that the islands of the Dodecanese should be returned to Greece by Italy.

1946  Start of three-year Pilbara strike of Indigenous Australians.

1945  World War II: Yugoslav Partisans free Trieste.

1945  World War II: Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and his wife Magda commit suicide in the Reich Garden outside the Führerbunker. Their children are also killed by having cyanide pills inserted into their mouths by their mother, Magda.

1945  World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany”. The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.

1945  World War II: A German newsreader officially announces that Adolf Hitler has “fallen at his command post in the Reich Chancellery fighting to the last breath against Bolshevism and for Germany”. The Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, by order of Stalin.

1944  World War II: Two hundred Communist prisoners are shot by the Germans at Kaisariani in Athens, Greece in reprisal for the killing of General Franz Krech by partisans at Molaoi.

1941  World War II: German forces launch a major attack on Tobruk.

1940  The 1940 Summer Olympics are cancelled due to war.

1933  The Humanist Manifesto I published.

1933  The Roca–Runciman Treaty between Argentina and Great Britain is signed by Julio Argentino Roca, Jr., and Sir Walter Runciman.

1930  The dwarf planet Pluto is officially named.

1927  The Union Labor Life Insurance Company is founded by the American Federation of Labor.

1927  The first cooked meals on a scheduled flight are introduced on an Imperial Airways flight from London to Paris.

1925  The first Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer is held at the University of Toronto, Canada.

1925  The All-China Federation of Trade Unions is officially founded. Today it is the largest trade union in the world, with 134 million members.

1898  Spanish–American War — Battle of Manila Bay: The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Pacific fleet in the first battle of the war.

1884  Proclamation of the demand for eight-hour workday in the United States.

1866  The Memphis Race Riots begin. In three days time, 46 blacks and two whites were killed. Reports of the atrocities influenced passage of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1865  The Empire of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay sign the Treaty of the Triple Alliance.

 

 

MAY 2

2014  The average monthly world CO2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm in April; the U.N. has set a 450 ppm limit for all greenhouse gases to reduce climate impact; concentrations for CO2 and all greenhouse gases averaged 391 and 430 ppm, respectively, in 2011.

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2011  Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI‘s most wanted man is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

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2004  Yelwa massacre ended. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims attacked the Christians of Yelwa killing more than 78 Christians including at least 48 who were worshipping inside a church compound. More than 630 nomad Muslims were killed by Christians in Nigeria.

2000  President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.

1999  Panamanian election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.

1998  The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union‘s monetary policy.

1995  During the Croatian War of Independence, Serb forces fire cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.

1989  Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.

1986  The Chernobyl Disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster

1985  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1984  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1982  Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.

1980  Referendum on system of government held in Nepal.

1980  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1972  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1964  Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the USS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Viet Cong forces are suspected of placing a bomb on the ship. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.

1963  Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.

1946  The “Battle of Alcatraz” takes place; two guards and three inmates are killed.

1945  World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.

1945  World War II: Italian Campaign – General Heinrich von Vietinghoff signs the official instrument of surrender of all Wehrmacht forces in Italy.

1945  World War II: Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.

1941  Following the coup d’état against Iraq Crown Prince ‘Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.

1933  Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler bans trade unions.

1889  Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs a treaty of amity with Italy, giving Italy control over Eritrea.

1885  The Congo Free State is established by King Léopold II of Belgium.

1885  Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.

1879  The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party is founded in Casa Labra Pub (city of Madrid) by the historical Spanish workers’ leader Pablo Iglesias.

1876  The April Uprising breaks out in Bulgaria.

1866  Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.

1829  After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.

1812  The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.

1808  Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.

 

 

MAY3

2011  U.S. conductor Daniel Barenboim holds a ‘Peace Concert’ in the Gaza Strip; he is a supporter of Palestinian rights.

1986  Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes in an airliner (Flight UL512) at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.

1979  After the general election, Margaret Thatcher forms her first government as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1978  The first unsolicited bulk commercial e-mail (which would later become known as “spam“) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.

1960  The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is established.

1960  The Anne Frank House museum opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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1952  Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.

1951  The United States Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees begin their closed door hearings into the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.

1948  The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.

1947  New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.

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1945  World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.

1942  World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.

1939  The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

1928  Japanese atrocities in Jinan, China.

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1920  A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

1913  Raja Harishchandra the first full-length Indian feature film is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.

1815  Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.

_______________________________

Satoshi Ashikaga is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment originally from Japan.

(Sources and references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_27 to May 3; http://www.historyorb.com/events/april/27 to May 3; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/april_27.html to May 3; and other pertinent websites and documents, mentioned above.) Note that the views expressed in the cited or quoted websites and/or documents in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the editor/complier of this article. These websites and/or documents are cited or quoted for academic or educational purposes.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 27 Apr 2015.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: This Week in History, is included. Thank you.

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