This Week in History

HISTORY, 25 May 2015

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

May 25-31

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.” – Richard Bach (Richard Bach Official Site)

MAY 25

2013  Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.

2009  North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device. Following the nuclear test, Pyongyang also conducted several missile tests building tensions in the international community.

2001  Erik Weihenmayer, 32 years old, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

2000  Liberation Day of Lebanon. Israel withdraws its army from most of the Lebanese territory after 22 years of its first invasion in 1978.

1999  The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details the People’s Republic of China‘s nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades.

1997  A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.

1989  Mikhail Gorbachev elected Executive President in the Soviet Union.

1986  Hands Across America takes place.

1981  In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

1977  Chinese government removes a decade old ban on William Shakespeare‘s work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966.

1973  HNS Velos (D-16), while participating in a NATO exercise and in order to protest against the dictatorship in Greece, anchored at Fiumicino, Italy, refusing to return to Greece.

1972  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1966  The first prominent dàzìbào during the Cultural Revolution in China is posted at Peking University.

1963  In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Organisation of African Unity is established.

1962  US performs nuclear test at Christmas Island (atmospheric).

1953  The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston.

1953  Nuclear testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conduct their first and only nuclear artillery test.

1946  The parliament of Transjordan makes Abdullah I of Jordan their Emir.

1940  World War II: The German 2nd Panzer Division captures the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marks the end of the Battle of Boulogne.

1938  Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante takes place, with 313 deaths.

1926  Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the government of the Ukrainian People’s Republic, which is in government-in-exile in Paris.

1925  Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Charles Darwin‘s theory of evolution in Tennessee.

1914  The United Kingdom’s House of Commons passes the Home Rule Act for devolution in Ireland.

1895  The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Ching-sung as its president.

1837  The Rebels of Lower Canada (Quebec) rebel against the British for freedom.

1810  May Revolution: citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the May week, starting the Argentine War of Independence.

1809  Chuquisaca Revolution: a group of patriots in Chuquisaca (modern day Sucre) revolt against the Spanish Empire, starting the South American Wars of Independence.

1798  United Irishmen Rebellion: The Carnew massacre, Dunlavin massacre and Carlow massacre take place.

 

 

MAY 26

1998  The first “National Sorry Day” was held in Australia, and reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by over a million people.

1992  The blockade of Dubrovnik is broken. Following this, the siege of Dubrovnik ends in the next months.

1991  Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.

1989  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1986  The European Community adopts the European flag.

1981  Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).

1972  The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

1972  Willandra National Park is established in Australia.

1972  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1972  In Moscow, President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) Interim Agreement which placed a ceiling on strategic offensive nuclear weapons.

1971  Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army slaughters at least 71 Hindus in Burunga, Sylhet, Bangladesh.

1967  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1966  British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.

1958  US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests).

1945  US drop fire bombs on Tokyo.

1942  World War II: The Battle of Gazala takes place.

1940  World War II: The Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French garrison.

1940  World War II: Operation Dynamo – In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.

1918  The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.

1908  At Masjed Soleyman (مسجد سليمان) in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.

1900  Thousand Days’ War: The Colombian Conservative Party turns the tide of war in their favor with victory against the Colombian Liberal Party in the Battle of Palonegro.

1896  Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.

1879  Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.

1830  The Indian Removal Act is passed by the U.S. Congress; it is signed into law by President Andrew Jackson two days later.

1805  Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan Cathedral, the gothic cathedral in Milan.

 

 

MAY 27

2006  The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600 people.

2001  Members of the Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.

1999  The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

1997  Russian President Boris Yeltsin signs a historic treaty with NATO.

1996  First Chechnya War: the Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.

1981  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

1980  The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.

1970  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

1968  The meeting of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (National Union of the Students of France) takes place. 30,000 to 50,000 people gather in the Stade Sebastien Charlety.

1967  Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.

1965  Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

1960  In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.

1956  US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests).

1942  World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.

1941  World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.

1941  World War II: The U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an “unlimited national emergency”.

1940  World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.

1933  New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

1908  Khilafat Day – the day of establishment of Khilafat in Islam Ahmadiyya.

1905  Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.

1883  Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.

 

 

MAY 28

2012  The discovery of Flame, a complex malware program targeting computers in Middle Eastern countries, is announced.

2011  Malta votes on the introduction of divorce.

2008  The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

2004  The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq‘s interim government.

2002  NATO declares Russia a limited partner in the Western alliance.

2002  The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

1999  In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci‘s masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.

1998  Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.

1997  Linda Finch completes Amelia Earhart attempted around-the-world flight.

1995  The Russian town of Neftegorsk is hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that kills at least 2,000 people, half of the total population.

1993  Eritrea and Monaco join the United Nations.

1991  The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.

1979  Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.

1975  Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

1974  Northern Ireland‘s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.

1967  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

1964  The Palestine Liberation Organization is formed.

1961  Peter Benenson‘s article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

1958  Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro‘s 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.

1957  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1952  The women of Greece are granted the right to vote.

1948  Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.

1942  World War II: in retaliation for the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people.

1940 World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.

1940  World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.

1937  Volkswagen (VW), the German automobile manufacturer is founded.

1937  The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., who pushes a button signaling the start of vehicle traffic over the span.

1936  Klaipėda Radio Station begins regular broadcasting.

1936  Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.

1934  Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

1932  In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.

1926  28 May 1926 coup d’état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.

1918  The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.

1905  Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

1892  In San Francisco, California, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.

1871  Fall of the Paris Commune.

1830  U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.

1754  French and Indian War: in the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.

1644  Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.

 

 

MAY29

2014  Ignatius Aphrem II is enthroned as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch.

1999  Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.

1993  The Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant is held in war torn Sarajevo drawing global attention to the plight of its citizens.

1990  The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

1989  Signing of an agreement between Egypt and the United States, allowing the manufacture of parts of the F-16 jet fighter plane in Egypt.

1988  The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

1982  Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.

1981  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1978  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

1977  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

1973  Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.

1970  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

1964  The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

1954  First of the annual Bilderberg conferences.

1953  Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay’s (adopted) 39th birthday.

1948  Creation of the United Nations peacekeeping force the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.

1939  The Albanian fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations.

1932  World War I veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.

1919  The Republic of Prekmurje is founded.

1919  Albert Einstein‘s theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin.

1918  Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.

1916  U.S. forces invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924.

1903  In the May coup d’état, Alexander I, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.

1900  N’Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil.

1868  The assassination of Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia, in Belgrade.

1867  The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (“the Compromise”) is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1864  Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.

1861  The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is founded, in Hong Kong.

1807  Mustafa IV became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

1798  United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are massacred by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.

 

 

MAY 30

2013  Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage.

2012  Former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.

2003  Depayin massacre: at least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi fled the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.

1998  Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt.

1989  Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: the 33-foot high “Goddess of Democracy” statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.

1972  In Tel Aviv, Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.

1972  The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.

1968  Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 events in France.

1967  The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.

1966  The former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.

1963  A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam‘s National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.

1958  Memorial Day: the remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.

1958  US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests).

1956  US performs nuclear test at Enwetak (atmospheric tests).

1942  World War II: 1000 British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.

1941  World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the Nazi swastika.

1917  Alexander I becomes king of Greece.

1913  First Balkan War: the Treaty of London (1913), is signed ending the war. Albania becomes an independent nation.

1876  Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V.

 

 

MAY 31

2011  After scientists reviewed studies on cell phone safety, the World Health Organization classifies cell phone radiation as a carcinogenic hazard, possibly carcinogenic to humans.

2010  In international waters, armed Shayetet 13 commandos, intending to force the flotilla to anchor at the Ashdod port, boarded ships trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip, resulting in nine civilian deaths.

2005  Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was Deep Throat.

1991  Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations‘ UNAVEM II mission.

1989  A group of six members of the guerrilla group Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) of Peru, shoot dead eight transsexuals, in the city of Tarapoto.

1984  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1981  The burning of Jaffna library in Sri Lanka. It is one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century.

1977  The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System completed.

1974  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

1973  The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.

1970  The Ancash earthquake causes a landslide that buries the town of Yungay, Peru; more than 47,000 people are killed.

1962  Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.

1962  The West Indies Federation dissolves.

1961  In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.

1961  The Union of South Africa becomes the Republic of South Africa.

1958  US performs nuclear test at Bikini Island (atmospheric tests).

1942  World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.

1941  Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns ‘Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.

1941  A Luftwaffe air raid on Dublin, Ireland, claims 38 lives.

1935  A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000.

1924  The Soviet Union signs an agreement with the Beijing government, referring to Outer Mongolia as an “integral part of the Republic of China“, whose “sovereignty” therein the Soviet Union promises to respect.

1921  Tulsa race riot: civil unrest in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The official death toll is 39, but recent investigations suggest the actual toll may be much higher.

1916  World War I: Battle of Jutland – The British Grand Fleet under the command of John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe and David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty engage the Imperial German Navy under the command of Reinhard Scheer and Franz von Hipper in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.

1911  The President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.

1910  The creation of the Union of South Africa.

1909  The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, convenes for the first time.

1902  Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.

1884  The arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria

1866  In the Fenian Invasion of Canada, John O’Neill leads 850 Fenian raiders across the Niagara River at Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, as part of an effort to free Ireland from the United Kingdom. Canadian militia and British regulars repulse the invaders in over the next three days, at a cost of 9 dead and 38 wounded to the Fenian‘s 19 dead and about 17 wounded.

______________________________

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/May_25 to 31; http://www.historyorb.com/events/may/25 to 31; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/may_25.html to 31.html; 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 25 May 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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