This Week in History

HISTORY, 25 Jan 2016

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

TWH logo history

Jan 25-31

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Render others spiritual. Irradiate your spirituality. Treat every moment of your life with divine respect.” – Robert Muller

 

JANUARY 25

2015  US President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi make progress in the areas of defense and nuclear trade; the countries plan to cooperate on defense issues, military manufacturing initiatives and nuclear power development.

US-India Nuclear Trade Meeting of January 2015:

Nuclear Weapons of United States and India:

Nuclear Power of the United States and India:

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):

2015  A clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the Philippines killing 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), at least 18 from Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five from Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

2013  At least 50 people are killed and 120 people are injured in a prison riot in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

2011  The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins in Egypt, with a series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labor strikes, and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout other cities in Egypt.

2006  Three independent observing campaigns announce the discovery of OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb through gravitational microlensing, the first cool rocky/icy extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star.

2004  Opportunity rover (MER-B) lands on surface of Mars.

2003  Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.

1999  A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka‘s Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.

1998  A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka‘s Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.

1998  During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country.

1995  The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.

1994  The Clementine space probe launches.

1993  Five people are shot outside the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded.

1986  The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.

National Resistance Movement:

History of Uganda:

Uganda:

Foreign Relations of Uganda:

Uganda and the United Nations:

Economy of Uganda:

1981  Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death.

1980  Mother Teresa is honored with India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna

Bharat Ratna Award and Mother Teresa:

Mother Teresa and Her Biography:

Controversies:

Miracles and Mother Teresa:

1979  Pope John Paul II starts his first official papal visits outside Italy to The Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico.

1971  Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda‘s president.

For some more pertinent information on Uganda, see “1986 The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda”, mentioned above.

Idi Amin’s Coup of 1971:

Apollo Milton Obote:

1969  Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him ten machine guns and 63 rifles.

1969  US-North Vietnamese peace talks begin in Paris.

Ending the US Involvement in the Vietnam War:

Viet Nam War and Pertinent Events:

Vietnam War Peace Talks/Negotiations:

1961  In Washington, DC, President John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference.

1955  US and Panama sign canal treaty.

US-Panama Treaty of 1955 (Remon-Eisenhower Treaty) and the Pertinent Treaties:

History of Panama:

Panama:

Foreign Relations of Panama:

Economy of Panama:

1955  The Soviet Union ends the state of war with Germany.

Soviet Occupation of Germany (1945 – 1954/55):

History of Germany:

Foreign Relations of Germany:

History of German Democratic Republic (East Germany):

Occupation of Germany:

Allied Control Council:

1945  World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends.

Battle of the Bulge:

1944  Florence Li Tim-Oi is ordained in China, becoming the first woman Anglican priest.

1942  World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.

1941  Pope Pius XII elevates the Apostolic Vicariate of the Hawaiian Islands to the dignity of a diocese. It becomes the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu.

1932  Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins its defense of Harbin.

1918      Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia.

History of Ukraine:

Ukraine-Russian Relations:

1915  Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates US transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco.

1909  Richard Strauss‘s opera Elektra receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.

1890  Nellie Bly completes her round-the-world journey in 72 days.

1881  Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company.

1879  The Bulgarian National Bank is founded.

1858  The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria‘s daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding recessional.

1792  The London Corresponding Society is founded.

1787  Shays’s Rebellion: The rebellion’s largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory, results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty.

1755  Moscow University is established on Tatiana Day.

1704  The Battle of Ayubale results in the destruction of most of the Spanish missions in Florida.

1575  Luanda, the capital of Angola, is founded by the Portuguese navigator Paulo Dias de Novais.

History of Angola:

 

 

JANUARY 26

2015  Libby Lane becomes the first woman ordained a bishop of the Church of England.

2009  Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina.

2001  An earthquake hits Gujarat, India, causing more than 20,000 deaths.

1992  Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.

1991  Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.

1991 in Somalia and the Somali Civil War:

History of Somalia:

Somalia:

Foreign Relations of Somalia:

Economy of Somalia:

1986  The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.

Uganda in January 1986:

History of Uganda:

Uganda:

Foreign Relations of Uganda:

Uganda and the United Nations:

Economy of Uganda:

1980  Israel and Egypt establish diplomatic relations.

Israel-Egypt Relations:

Foreign Relations of Israel:

Israel -US Relations:

Israel-Vatican Relations:

Israel:

Israel’s Nuclear Capability:

History of Israel:

Economy of Israel:

Egypt:

Foreign Relations of Egypt:

History of (Modern) Egypt:

Economy of Egypt:

1978  The Great Blizzard of 1978, a rare severe blizzard strikes the Ohio – Great Lakes region with heavy snow and winds up to 100 mph (161 km/h).

1967  USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan, USSR.

1965  Hindi becomes the official language of India.

1962  Ranger program: Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).

1961  John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be his physician. This is the first time a woman holds the appointment of Physician to the President.

1956  Soviet Union hands Porkkala back to Finland.

1952  Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo‘s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.

1950  The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.

1949  The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).

1945  World War II: Audie Murphy in action for which he will be awarded the Medal of Honor.

1945  World War II: The Red Army begins encircling the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia, which will end in destruction of the 4th Army two months later.

1942  World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.

1939  Spanish Civil War – Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.

1934  German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.

1930  The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (“Complete Independence”) which occurred 17 years later.

1924  Saint Petersburg, Russia, is renamed Leningrad.

1918  Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers’ Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.

1915  The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the US Congress.

1911 Richard Strauss‘ opera Der Rosenkavalier receives its debut performance at the Dresden State Opera.

1911  Glenn H. Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.

1905  The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.

1885  Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.

1855  Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.

1841  The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong, which China later formally cedes.

1788  The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent. Commemorated as Australia Day.

 

 

JANUARY 27

Today is the INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

2015  Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) party, is elected as Prime Minister of Greece on an anti-austerity platform.

2011  Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sana’a.

Arab Spring:

Arab Spring and the CIA:

Arab Spring and Al-Qaeda:

Arab Spring and Israel:

Yemen and the Arab Spring:

History of Yemen:

Yemen:

Foreign Relations of Yemen:

Economy of Yemen:

2010  The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis ends when Porfirio Lobo Sosa becomes the new President of Honduras.

2006  Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services.

2003  The first selections for the National Recording Registry are announced by the Library of Congress.

2002  An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.

1996  Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

1996  In a military coup Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.

1983  The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world’s longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō, breaks through.

1980  Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian Caper.

1973  The Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in action becoming the conflict’s last recorded American combat casualty.

1967 The United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign the Outer Space Treaty in Washington, D.C., banning deployment of nuclear weapons in space, and limiting use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes.

1967  Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

1961  Soviet submarine S-80 sinks with all hands lost.

1951  Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat.

First Nuclear Test at the Nevada Test Site:

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1945  World War II: The Red Army liberates the remained inmates of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp built by the Nazi Germans on the territory of Poland.

1944  World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted.

1943  World War II: The VIII Bomber Command dispatched ninety-one B-17s and B-24s to attack the U-Boat construction yards at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. This was the first American bombing attack on Germany of the war.

1939  First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

1927  Ibn Saud takes the title of King of Nejd.

1909  The Young Left is founded in Norway.

1888  The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.

1880  Thomas Edison receives the patent on the incandescent lamp.

 

 

JANURARY 28

2015  New anti-austerity Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras halts the public asset privatizations required under Greece’s bailout agreement with its foreign creditors; Standard & Poor’s has lowered its rating on Greek national debt from stable to negative.

Greek Economy and Its National Debt Problem:

Modern History of Greece:

2013  Hareetz’, Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, publishes a story in which Israel admits it has administered birth-control injections to Ethiopian Jewish immigrants, without fully educating recipients of its effect.

Ethiopian Jewish Immigrants and Birth-Control Injection:

2010  Five murderers of President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh are hung.

2002  TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100 crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 92.

1986  Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission – Space Shuttle Challenger explodes after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.

1985  Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief.

1982  US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.

1982  US performs nuclear test (underground test) at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1981  Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut.

1979  Pope John Paul II starts his first pastoral visit to Mexico.

1964  unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.

1961  Republic of Rwanda proclaimed.

Rwanda:

Foreign Relations of Rwanda:

History of Rwanda:

Economy of Rwanda:

1958  The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today.

Lego:

1956  Elvis Presley makes his first US television appearance.

1951  Nuclear testing (atmospheric/High-altitude nuclear explosion testing) at the Nevada Test Site, United States, is performed with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flat.

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1945  World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.

1941  Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.

1935  Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion.

1933  The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by the Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.

1932  Japanese forces attack Shanghai.

Japan’s Shanghai Attack of 1932:

1922  Knickerbocker Storm, Washington D.C.’s biggest snowfall, causes the city’s greatest loss of life when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses.

1918  Finnish Civil War: Rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki, and members of the Senate of Finland go underground.

1915  An act of the US Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces.

1909  United States troops leave Cuba with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base after being there since the Spanish–American War.

History of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base:

Human Rights in the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base:

1908  Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d’état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.

1902  The Carnegie Institution of Washington is founded in Washington, D.C. with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie.

1878  Yale Daily News becomes the first daily college newspaper in the United States.

1871  Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.

1846  The Battle of Aliwal, India, is won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.

1821  Alexander Island is first discovered by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen.

1820  A Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Petrovich Lazarev discovers the Antarctic continent, approaching the Antarctic coast.

1813  Jane Austen‘s Pride and Prejudice is first published in the United Kingdom.

Jane Austin’s Books:

 

 

JANUARY 29

2013  Malaysia has officially declared the disappearance of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident and its passengers and crew presumed dead.

2009  The Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.

2005  The first direct commercial flights from mainland China (from Guangzhou) to Taiwan since 1949 arrived in Taipei. Shortly afterwards, a China Airlines flight lands in Beijing.

2002  In his State of the Union address, President George W. Bush describes “regimes that sponsor terror” as an Axis of evil, in which he includes Iraq, Iran and North Korea.

2001  Thousands of student protesters in Indonesia storm parliament and demand that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to alleged involvement in corruption scandals.

1998  In Birmingham, Alabama, a bomb explodes at an abortion clinic, killing one and severely wounding another. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph is suspected as the culprit.

1996  President Jacques Chirac announces a “definitive end” to French nuclear weapons testing.

1991  Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins.

1989  Hungary establishes diplomatic relations with South Korea, making it the first Eastern Bloc nation to do so.

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

1967  The “ultimate high” of the hippie era, the Mantra-Rock Dance, takes place in San Francisco and features Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, and Allen Ginsberg.

1948  The Pakistan Socialist Party is founded in Karachi.

History of Pakistan:

1944  In Bologna, Italy, the Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio is destroyed in an air-raid.

1944  World War II: Approximately 38 people are killed and about a dozen injured when the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) is attacked by Soviet partisan units.

1943  The first day of the Battle of Rennell Island, U.S. cruiser Chicago is torpedoed and heavily damaged by Japanese bombers.

1941  Alexandros Koryzis becomes Prime Minister of Greece upon the sudden death of his predecessor, dictator Ioannis Metaxas.

1918  Ukrainian–Soviet War: An armed uprising organized by the Bolsheviks in anticipation of the encroaching Red Army begins at the Kiev Arsenal, which will be put down six days later.

1918  Ukrainian–Soviet War: The Bolshevik Red Army, on its way to besiege Kiev, is met by a small group of military students at the Battle of Kruty.

1916  World War I: Paris is first bombed by German zeppelins.

1891  Liliuokalani is proclaimed the last monarch and only queen regnant of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

1886  Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile.

1863  The Bear River Massacre: A detachment of California Volunteers led by Colonel Patrick Edward Connor engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men women and children.

1819  Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore.

1814  War of the Sixth Coalition: France defeats Russia and Prussia in the Battle of Brienne.

 

 

JANUARY 30

2013  Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

2003  The Kingdom of Belgium officially recognizes same-sex marriages.

2000  Off the coast of Ivory Coast, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.

1995  Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.

1989  Closure of the American embassy in Kabul, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

1982  Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner“.

1982  Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner“.

1979  A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.

1975  The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

1972  Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.

1972  The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British Paratroopers open fire on and kill fourteen unarmed civil rights/anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland.

1971  Carole King‘s Tapestry album is released to become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide.

1968  Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.

1965  Some one million people attend former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill‘s funeral, the biggest in the United Kingdom up to that point.

1964  In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh‘s military junta in South Vietnam.

1964  Ranger program: Ranger 6 is launched.

1962  US performs nuclear test (atmospheric test) at Nevada Test Site.

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1960  The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.

1959  MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.

1956  African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1948  Mahatma Gandhi known for his non-violent freedom struggle, is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.

1945  World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.

1945  World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people in what is the deadliest known maritime disaster.

1944  World War II: American troops land on Majuro, Marshall Islands.

1944  World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.

1943  World War II: Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.

1942  World War II: Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies.

1933  Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

Adolf Hitler and History of Nazi Germany:

History of Germany:

Germany:

1925  The Government of Turkey throws Patriarch Constantine VI out of Istanbul.

1911  The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.

1911  The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.

1908  Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.

1902  The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.

1889  Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.

1841  A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

1835  In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.

1826  The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world’s first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.

1820  Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.

1790  The first boat specializing as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne.

1789  Tây Sơn forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate the capital Thăng Long.

1667  The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to the Tsardom of Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo.

 

 

JANUARY 31

Today is the STREET CHILDREN’S DAY

2013  An explosion at the Pemex Executive Tower in Mexico City kills at least 33 people and injures more than 100.

2009  In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

2001  In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

1996  Comet Hyakutake is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.

1996  An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.

1995  President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.

1990  The first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.

1971  The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.

1971  Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.

1968  Nauru gains independence from Australia.

1968  Vietnam War: Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.

1968  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons Tests of the US:

Nevada Test Site:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1966  The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.

1961  Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.

1958  James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.

1958  Explorer program: Explorer 1: The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.

1953  A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom

1950  United States President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.

1946  The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.

1946  Yugoslavia‘s new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

1945  World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.

1945  World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.

1945  US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.

1944  World War II: During the Anzio campaign the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby’s Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.

1944  World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

1943  World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war’s fiercest battles.

1942  World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.

1930  3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.

1929  The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.

1919  The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.

1918  A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

1917  World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.

1915  World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.

1900  Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.

1891  History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.

1897  Czechoslav Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.

1867  Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Bey Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship bound for Algeria.

1862  Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.

1814  Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).

1578  The Battle of Gembloux takes 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, science and technology, 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/january_25   to_january_31; http://www.historyorb.com/events/january/25   to january/31; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/january_25.html   to January_31.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 25 Jan 2016.

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