This Week in History

HISTORY, 27 Jul 2015

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

Jul 27–Aug 2

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” – Denis Waitley

JULY 27

2006  The Federal Republic of Germany is deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it is illegal to outsource flight surveillance.

1996  Centennial Olympic Park bombing: In Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. One woman (Alice Hawthorne) is killed, and a cameraman suffers a heart attack fleeing the scene. One hundred eleven are injured.

1990  The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d’état in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying the Trinidad and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet as well as the staff at the television station hostage for six days.

1990  The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day is celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence is moved to June 3.

1987  RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.

1986  Iraqi jets attack central Iranian city of Arak; Iran threatens missile attack of gulf states supporting Iraq.

1983  Black July: Eighteen Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.

1974  Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.

1967  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1964  Vietnam War: Five thousand more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.

1962  USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR.

1955  The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends.

1953  Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.

1949  Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.

1942  World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.

1941  Japanese troops occupy French Indochina.

1929  The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.

1929  The Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field, consisting of 39 articles in French, was adopted on 27 July 1929, at the end of the Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1929, which met from the 27 July until the 1 August of that year.

1921  Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.

1919  The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.

1917  The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.

1914  Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Philippine government.

1900  Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, “Hun” would be a disparaging name for Germans.

1890  Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.

1880  Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand – Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan.

1866  The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.

1865  Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.

1794  French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 “enemies of the Revolution”.

1789  The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).

1720  The Battle of Grengam marks the second important victory of the Russian Navy.

 

 

JULY 28

2008  The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.

2005  The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.

1996  The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.

1993  Andorra joins the United Nations.

1988  Israeli diplomats arrive in Moscow for 1st visit in 21 years.

1983  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

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

1976  The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People’s Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.

1974  Spetsgruppa A, Russia’s elite special force, was formed.

1965  Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

1957  Heavy rain and a mudslide (aka mudflow) in Isahaya, western Kyushu, Japan, kills 992.

1955  The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France.

1951  Convention relating to the Status of Refugees is adopted.

International Refugee Law:

Refugee Definition, Determination of the Refugee Status:

Right of Asylum:

Territorial Asylum:

Extraterritorial Asylum:

Diplomatic Asylum:

Principle of Non-refoulement:

Jus Cogens and the Principle of Non-refoulement:

1948  The Metropolitan Police Flying Squad foils a bullion robbery in the “Battle of London Airport”.

1945  A US Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.

1943  World War II: Operation Gomorrah – The Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg, Germany causing a firestorm that kills 42,000 German civilians.

1942  World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so are to be tried in a military court, with punishments including duty in a penal battalion, imprisonment in a gulag, or execution.

1935  First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

1933  Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Spain are established.

1932  US President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.

1914  World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

1868  The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.

1866  At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln).

1821  José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.

1809  Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera – Sir Arthur Wellesley‘s British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte.

1808  Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.

1794  French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France.

 

 

JULY 29

2012  Scientists reveal new research identifying a mechanism by which Earth-warming carbon is pulled deep into the Southern Ocean, and locked away; scientists claim this process may be threatened by global warming.

2005  Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.

1993  The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.

1987  Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.

1987  British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).

1980  Iran adopts a new “holy” flag after the Islamic Revolution.

1976  In New York City, David Berkowitz (aka the “Son of Sam“) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.

1976  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

1974  France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island.

1973  Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.

1967  During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.

1967  Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst US naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.

1965  Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.

1965  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1958  US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

1957  The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

1955  USSR performs nuclear test.

1950  Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.

1948  Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad – After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.

1937  Tōngzhōu Incident: In Tōngzhōu, China, the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.

1932  Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.

1921  Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.

1914  The Cape Cod Canal opened.

1900  In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.

1899  The First Hague Convention is signed.

1858  United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.

1851  Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.

1848  Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – In Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.

1693  War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen – France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.

 

 

JULY 30

1982  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

1980  Israel‘s Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.

1980  Vanuatu gains independence.

1974  Watergate scandal: US President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States.

1971  Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission – David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module the module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.

1969  Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.

1965  US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

1956  A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God we trust as the U.S. national motto.

1945  World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen.

1865  The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the US at the time.

1863  American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Treaty of Box Elder.

1859  First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps.

1825  Malden Island is discovered by captain George Byron, 7th Baron Byron.

1676  Nathaniel Bacon issues the “Declaration of the People of Virginia”, beginning Bacon’s Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.

 

 

JULY 31

2007  Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

2006  Fidel Castro hands over power to brother Raúl Castro.

1999  Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector – NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon’s surface.

1992  Georgia joins the United Nations.

1991  The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries’ stockpiles.

1988  32 people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.

1972  The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.

1964  Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.

1954  First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.

1948  USS Nevada is sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.

1945  Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

1941  The Holocaust: under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question.”

1938  Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.

1938  Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact (aka Salonika Agreement or Thessaloniki Accord) with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).

1932  The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.

1931  New York, New York experimental television station W2XAB (now known as WCBS) begins broadcasts.

1919  German national assembly adopts the Weimar Constitution, which comes into force on August 14.

1913  The Balkan States sign an armistice in Bucharest.

1904  Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Hsimucheng: Units of the Imperial Japanese Army defeat units of the Imperial Russian Army in a strategic confrontation.

1741  Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.

 

 

AUGUST 1

2008  Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.

2001  Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.

1984  Commercial peat-cutters discover the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, northwest England

1980  Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.

1975  CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

1974  Cyprus dispute: The United Nations Security Council authorizes the UNFICYP to create the “Green Line“, dividing Cyprus into two zones.

1968  The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.

1966  Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

1964  The former Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1961  US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation’s first centralized military espionage organization.

1960  Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.

1960  Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.

1958  US atomic sub USS Nautilus 1st begins transit of North Pole “Operation Sunshine”.

1957  The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

1946  Leaders of the Russian Liberation Army, a force of Russian prisoners of war that collaborated with Nazi Germany, are executed in Moscow, Soviet Union for treason.

1944  World War II: the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.

1937  Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution “Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH” to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.

1927  The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.

1914  The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilizes because of World War I.

1911  Harriet Quimby she took her pilot’s test and became the first U.S. woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator’s certificate.

1907  The start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.

1894  The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.

1855  The first ascent of Monte Rosa, the second highest summit in the Alps.

1842  The Lombard Street Riot erupts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.

1840  Laborer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.

1838  Non-laborer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.

1834  Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force.

 

 

AUGUST 2

1998  The Second Congo War begins.

1990  Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

1989  Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restored democracy for the first time since 1972.

1987  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1984  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1980  Bologna massacre: a terrorist bombing of the Central Station at Bologna, Italy, kills 85 people and wounds more than 200.

1964  Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin incident – North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fire on the U.S. destroyer USS Maddox.

1955  USSR performs nuclear test.

1947  A British South American Airways Avro Lancastrian airliner crashes into a mountain during a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Santiago, Chile. The wreckage would not be found for over 50 years.

1945  World War II: End of the Potsdam Conference.

1944  World War II: The largest trade convoy of the world wars arrives safely in the Western Approaches.

1944  ASNOM: birth of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia, celebrated as Day of the Republic in the Republic of Macedonia.

1943  World War II: the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri and sinks. Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. President, saves all but two of his crew.

1943  Rebellion in the Nazi death camp of Treblinka.

1939  Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.

1937  The Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 is passed in America, the effect of which is to render marijuana and all its by-products illegal.

1934  Gleichschaltung: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.

1932  The positron (antiparticle of the electron) is discovered by Carl D. Anderson.

1922  A typhoon hits Shantou, Republic of China killing more than 50,000 people.

1918  Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.

1916  World War I: Austrian sabotage causes the sinking of the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto.

1903  Fall of the Ottoman Empire: an unsuccessful uprising led by the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization against Ottoman Turkey, also known as the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising, takes place.

1897  Anglo-Afghan War: The Siege of Malakand ends when a relief column is able to reach the British garrison in the Malakand states adjacent to India’s North West Frontier Province.

1873  The Clay Street Hill Railroad begins operating the first cable car in San Francisco‘s famous cable car system.

1870  Tower Subway, the world’s first underground tube railway, opens in London, England, United Kingdom.

1869  Japan‘s samurai, farmer, artisan, merchant class system (Shinōkōshō) is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese date: June 25, 1869).

1830  Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri.

1798  French Revolutionary Wars: the Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory.

1776  The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.

______________________________

Satoshi Ashikaga, having worked as researcher, development program/project officer, legal protection/humanitarian assistance officer, human rights monitor-negotiator, managing-editor, and more, prefers a peaceful and prudent life, especially that in communion with nature.  His previous work experiences, including those in war zones and war-torn zones, remind him of the invaluableness of peace.  His interest and/or expertise includes international affairs, international law, jurisprudence, economic and business affairs, project/operations or organizational management, geography, history, the environmental/ecological issues, visual/audio documentation of nature and culture, and more. Being a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, he is currently compiling This Week in History on TMS.

(Sources and references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_27 to August_2; http://www.historyorb.com/events/july/27 to august/2; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/july_27.html to august2.html; and other pertinent web sites and/or documents, mentioned above.)

  1. The views expressed in the cited or quoted websites and/or documents in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the author of this article. These websites and/or documents are cited or quoted for academic or educational purposes. Neither the author of this article nor the Transcend Media Service (TMS) is responsible for the contents, information, or whatsoever contained in these websites and/or documents.
  2. One of the primary purposes of this article is to provide the readers with opportunities to think about “peace”, including positive peace and negative peace as well as external/outer peace and internal/inner peace, and more, directly or indirectly, from various angles and/or in the broadest sense, through historical events. It is because this article is prepared specifically for the TMS whose main objective is to address “peace” through peace journalism.

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

If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.

Share this article:

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Click here to go to the current weekly digest or pick another article:

HISTORY: