This Week in History

HISTORY, 25 Dec 2017

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

This Week in History, which began in Dec 2014, ends on 31 Dec 2017. Thank you very much for your moral support for all those three years! 

May peace be with you. Have a Happy New Year!

— Satoshi Ashikaga

***************************************************************************************

Dec 25-31, 2017

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Live, so you do not have to look back and say: ‘God, how I have wasted my life.’”  – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

 

DECEMBER 25

2004  Cassini orbiter releases Huygens probe which successfully landed on Saturn‘s moon Titan on January 14, 2005.

2003 The ill-fated Beagle 2 probe, released from the Mars Express spacecraft on December 19, disappears shortly before its scheduled landing.

2000  Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a bill into law that officially establishes a new National Anthem of Russia, with music adopted from the anthem of the Soviet Union that was composed by Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov.

1991  Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine‘s referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.

Mikhail Gorbachev:

Ukraine Politics and Historical Overview:

History of Ukraine:

Ukraine-Russian Relations:

Relations: Ukraine, the West and Russia:

1989  Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaușescu are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.

Nicolae Ceaușescu:

Romanian Revolution of 1989 and the Summary Execution of Nicolae Ceaușescu and His Wife Elena:

1977  Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin meets in Egypt with its president Anwar Sadat.

1968  Kilvenmani massacre, 44 Dalits (untouchables) burnt to death in Kizhavenmani village, Tamil Nadu, a retaliation for a campaign for higher wages by Dalit laborers.

1968  Apollo program: Apollo 8 performs the very first successful Trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver, sending the crew and spacecraft on a trajectory back to Earth from Lunar orbit.

1965  The Yemeni Nasserist Unionist People’s Organisation is founded in Ta’izz

1963  Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio begins transmitting in Cyprus after Turkish Cypriots are forcibly excluded from Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation.

1962  USSR performs nuclear test (atmospheric) at Novaya Zemlya USSR, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1962:

Soviet Atmospheric Nuclear Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

1947  The Constitution of the Republic of China goes into effect.

1946  The first in Europe artificial, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction is initiated within Soviet F-1 nuclear reactor.

1941  Admiral Émile Muselier seizes the archipelago of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which become the first part of France to be liberated by the Free French Forces.

1941  World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.

1941  Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrives at Pearl Harbor to assume command of the US Pacific Fleet

1932  An earthquake of magnitude 7.6 in Gansu, China kills 275 people.

1927  The Vietnamese Nationalist Party is founded.

1914  A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.

 

 

DECEMBER 26

2009  China opens the world’s longest high-speed rail route, which links Beijing and Guangzhou.

2006  An oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria explodes, killing at least 260.

2004  Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.

Orange Revolution in Ukraine of 2004:

History of Ukraine:

Ukraine-Russian Relations:

Relations: Ukraine, the West and Russia:

2004  An earthquake of magnitude 9.3 creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000.

2003  An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 devastates southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam.

1998  Iraq announces its intention to fire upon US and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones.

1997  The Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore.

1996  Start of the largest strike in South Korean history.

1994  Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers.

1991  The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union.

Dissolution of the Soviet Union:

1983  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1983:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1982  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1982  Time‘s Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.

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

1976  The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) is founded.

1972  Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.

Vietnam War in 1972:

Operation Linebacker II:

1966  The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach.

1948  Cardinal József Mindszenty is arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy.

1944 World War II: George S Patton‘s Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium.

1943  World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway’s North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces.

1941  US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.

1925  Turkey adopts the Gregorian calendar.

1898  Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium.

1883  The Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen causes five deaths in Newfoundland.

1862  The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans died.

1846  Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism.

1825  Advocates of liberalism in Russia rise up against Czar Nicholas I and are put down in the Decembrist revolt in Saint Petersburg.

1811  A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable.

1806  Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces hold French forces under Napoleon.

1805  Austria and France sign the Treaty of Pressburg.

1799  Four thousand people attend George Washington‘s funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

1793 Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeat Austria.

 

 

DECMEBER 27

2009  Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.

2008  Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza.

2007  Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.

2007  Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.

2004  Radiation from an explosion on the magnetar SGR 1806-20 reaches Earth. It is the brightest extrasolar event known to have been witnessed on the planet.

2002  Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.

2001  China is granted permanent normal trade relations with the United States.

1997  Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.

1996  Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.

1989  The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country’s capital, Bucharest.

1987  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1987:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1985  Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.

Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks of December 27, 1985:

1983  Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia‘s prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter’s Square.

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

1979  The Soviet Union invades the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan in 1979:

Afghan War (1979-1992):

Relations between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union:

Foreign Relations of Afghanistan:

Afghanistan and the United Nations:

Afghanistan:

History of Afghanistan:

Economy of Afghanistan:

1978  Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.

Democratization of Spain in 1978:

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

1968  Apollo program: Apollo 8 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean, ending the first orbital manned mission to the Moon.

1968  China detonates its first nuclear weapon at Lop Nor (Lop Nur).

Lop Nor Nuclear Weapons Test Site:

China’s Nuclear Weapon Programs:

1966  The Cave of Swallows, the largest known cave shaft in the world, is discovered in Aquismón, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

1961 Belgium and Congo resume diplomatic relations.

Belgian Congo:

1960  France performs nuclear test at Reggane, Algeria.

French Nuclear Tests in Reggane, Algeria:

Some Pertinent YouTube Videos:

Pertinent Reports:

Radiation Contaminations in Reggane:

France’s Nuclear Tests:

1949  Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence. End of the Dutch East Indies.

History of Indonesia:

Indonesia:

Foreign Relations of Indonesia:

Indonesia and the United Nations:

Economy of Indonesia:

1945  The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are created with the signing of an agreement by 29 nations.

World Bank and the IMF:

Problems of the World Bank and the IMF:

1942  The Union of Pioneers of Yugoslavia is founded.

1939  Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.

Battel of Kelja (Winter War):

Winter War:

Timelines of the Winter War:

1939  Erzincan, Turkey, is hit by an earthquake, killing 30,000.

1929  Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin orders the “liquidation of the kulaks as a class”, ostensibly as an effort to spread socialism to the countryside.

Stalin’s Liquidation of the Kulaks as a Class:

1918  The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.

History of Poland:

Second Poland Republic:

1831  Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard the HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate the theory of evolution.

1703  Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.

1657  The Flushing Remonstrance is signed.

 

 

DECEMBER 28

2014  Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 crashes into the Karimata Strait en route from Surabaya to Singapore, killing all 162 people aboard.

2011  Roboski airstrike: Turkish warplanes bomb 34 Kurds of Turkish nationality in the district of Uludere.

2010  Arab Spring: Popular protests begin in Algeria against the government.

Arab Spring:

Arab Spring in Algeria:

Algeria:

History of Algeria:

Economy of Algeria:

Foreign Relations of Algeria:

Algeria and the United Nations:

2009  Forty-three people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura.

2006  War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia‘s Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops capture Mogadishu unopposed.

2000  US retail giant Montgomery Ward announces it is going out of business after 128 years.

1988  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1988:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1985  US performs nuclear test (underground) at Nevada Test Site.

US Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

Nevada Test Site:

Ecological and Health Issues in and around the Nevada Test Site:

1984  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1976  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1973  The Endangered Species Act is passed in the United States.

1972  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1972  Kim Il-sung, already Prime Minister of North Korea and First Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, becomes the first President of North Korea.

1969  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1957  USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1957:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

Soviet Atmospheric Nuclear Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

1956  Chin Peng, David Marshall and Tunku Abdul Rahman meet in Baling, Malaya to try and resolve the Malayan Emergency situation.

Malayan Emergency:

History of Malaysia:

Malaysia:

1943  World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the Battle of Ortona concludes with the victory of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division over the German 1st Parachute Division and the capture of the Italian town of Ortona.

Battle of Ortona:

1941  World War II: Operation Anthropoid, the plot to assassinate high-ranking Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, commences.

Operation Anthropoid:

1918  Constance Markievicz, while detained in Holloway prison, became the first woman to be elected MP to the British House of Commons.

1908  An earthquake of magnitude 7.2 rocks Messina, Sicily, Italy killing over 75,000.

1895  Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.

1885  Indian National Congress, a political party of India is founded in Bombay Presidency, British India.

1867  United States claims Midway Atoll, the first territory annexed outside Continental limits.

1836  Spain recognizes the independence of Mexico.

History of Mexico:

Independence of Mexico from Spain:

1836  South Australia and Adelaide are founded.

1835  Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army.

1824  The Bathurst War comes to an end with the surrender of the Wiradjuri.

 

 

DECEMBER 29

2013  A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kills at least 18 people and wounds 40 others.

2006  UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt.

2003  The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct.

1998  Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over one million lives.

1997  Hong Kong begins to kill all the nation’s 1.25 million chickens to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.

1996  Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.

Guatemala:

Foreign Relations of Guatemala:

History of Guatemala:

Economy of Guatemala:

1992  Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.

1989  Riots break-out after Hong Kong decides to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese refugees.

1983  US announces withdrawal from UNESCO.

Withdrawal of the United States from UNESCO:

1975  A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring 74.

1972  An Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101.

1959  Physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom“, which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology.

1949  KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule.

1940  World War II: In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, UK, killing almost 200 civilians.

1937  The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.

Irish Free State:

History of Ireland:

From Irish Civil War to the Irish War of Independence:

Irish War of Independence:

1934  Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930.

Naval Disarmament Treaties:

Washington Naval Treaty of 1922:

London Naval Treaty of 1930:

1930  Sir Muhammad Iqbal‘s presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan.

1916  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the first novel by James Joyce, was first published as a book by an American publishing house B. W. Huebschis after it had been serialized in The Egoist (1914–15).

1911  Sun Yat-sen becomes the provisional President of the Republic of China; he formally takes office on January 1, 1912.

1911  Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty, enthroning 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia.

1895  The botched Jameson Raid began in Johannesburg.

1890  Wounded Knee Massacre on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment.

1874  The military coup of Gen. Martinez Campos in Sagunto ends the failed First Spanish Republic and Prince Alfonso is proclaimed King of Spain.

1860  The first British seagoing ironclad warship, HMS Warrior is launched.

1851  The first American YMCA opens in Boston, Massachusetts.

1835  The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States.

 

 

DECMEBER 30

2013  More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

2011  Owing to a change of time zone the day is skipped in Samoa and Tokelau.

2009  A suicide bomber kills nine people at Forward Operating Base Chapman, a key facility of the Central Intelligence Agency in Afghanistan.

2009  A segment of the Lanzhou–Zhengzhou–Changsha pipeline ruptures in Shaanxi, China, and approximately 150,000 l (40,000 US gal) of diesel oil flows down the Wei River before finally reaching the Yellow River.

2006  Former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed.

Saddam Hussein’s Execution:

Saddam Hussein:

Saddam Hussein’s Trial:

2006  The Indonesian passenger ferry MV Senopati Nusantara sinks in a storm, resulting in at least 400 deaths.

2004  A fire in the República Cromagnon nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 194.

2000  Rizal Day bombings: A series of bombs explode in various places in Metro Manila, Philippines within a period of a few hours, killing 22 and injuring about a hundred.

1997  In the worst incident in Algeria‘s insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres, 400 people from four villages are killed.

1996  Proposed budget cuts by Benjamin Netanyahu spark protests from 250,000 workers who shut down services across Israel.

1996  In the Indian state of Assam, a passenger train is bombed by Bodo separatists, killing 26.

1993  Israel and Vatican City establish diplomatic relations.

Israel-Vatican Relations:

1976  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1976:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1972  Vietnam War: The United States halts heavy bombing of North Vietnam.

Vietnam War in 1972:

1971  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1965  Ferdinand Marcos becomes President of the Philippines.

1958  The Guatemalan Air Force sinks several Mexican fishing boats alleged to have breached maritime borders, killing three and sparking international tension.

1947  King Michael I of Romania is forced to abdicate by the Soviet Union-backed Communist government of Romania.

1944  King George II of Greece declares a regency, leaving the throne vacant.

1943  Subhas Chandra Bose raises the flag of Indian independence at Port Blair.

1922  The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is formed.

1916  The last coronation in Hungary is performed for King Charles IV and Queen Zita.

1906  The All-India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India. It went on to lay the foundations of Pakistan.

1905  Former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg is assassinated at the front gate of his home in Caldwell.

1903  A fire at the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois kills at least 605.

1897  The British Colony of Natal annexes Zululand.

1896  Filipino patriot and reform advocate José Rizal is executed by a Spanish firing squad in Manila, Philippines.

1825  The Treaty of St. Louis between the United States and the Shawnee Nation is proclaimed.

1813  War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York.

Buffalo, New York in 1813:

War of 1812:

Timelines of the War of 1812:

1702  Queen Anne’s War: James Moore, Governor of the Province of Carolina, abandons the Siege of St. Augustine.

1460  Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield.

1419  Hundred Years’ War: Battle of La Rochelle

1066  Granada massacre: A Muslim mob storms the royal palace in Granada, crucifies Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela and massacres most of the Jewish population of the city.

 

 

DECEMBER 31

2011  NASA succeeds in putting the first of two Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory satellites in orbit around the Moon.

2009  Both a blue moon and a lunar eclipse occur.

2004  The official opening of Taipei 101, the tallest skyscraper at that time in the world, standing at a height of 509 metres (1,670 ft).

1999  Indian Airlines Flight 814 hijacking ended after seven days with the release of 190 survivors at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan.

1999  The United States Government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.

1999  First President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.

1998  The European Exchange Rate Mechanism freezes the values of the legacy currencies in the Eurozone, and establishes the value of the euro currency.

1994  The First Chechen War: Russian army began a New Year’s storming of Grozny.

First Chechen War:

Chechen Wars:

Russia, Chechnya and Terrorism:

Civilians under International Humanitarian Law:

1994  This date is skipped altogether in Kiribati as the Phoenix Islands and Line Islands change time zones from UTC−11:00 to UTC+13:00 and UTC−10:00 to UTC+14:00, respectively.

1992  Czechoslovakia is peacefully dissolved in what is dubbed by media as the Velvet Divorce, resulting in the creation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

1991  All official Soviet Union institutions have ceased operations by this date and the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.

1984  US leaves UNESCO.

Withdrawal of the United States from UNESCO:

1983  In Nigeria a coup d’état led by Major General Muhammadu Buhari ends the Second Nigerian Republic.

Coup d’état of 1983:

History of Nigeria:

Nigeria:

Economy of Nigeria:

1983  The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.

1981  A coup d’état in Ghana removes President Hilla Limann‘s PNP government and replaces it with the Provisional National Defence Council led by Flight lieutenant Jerry Rawlings.

Coup in Ghana of 1981:

1967  The Youth International Party, popularly known as the “Yippies”, is founded.

1965  Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begins a coup d’état against the government of President David Dacko.

1961  RTÉ, Ireland’s state broadcaster, launches its first national television service.

1960  The farthing coin ceases to be legal tender in the United Kingdom.

1955  General Motors becomes the first U.S. corporation to make over US$1 billion in a year.

1951  The Marshall Plan expires after distributing more than US$13.3 billion in foreign aid to rebuild Europe.

1946  President Harry S Truman officially proclaims the end of hostilities in World War II.

1944  World War II: Operation Nordwind, the last major German offensive on the Western Front begins.

1944  World War II: Hungary declares war on Nazi Germany.

1923  The chimes of Big Ben are broadcast on radio for the first time by the BBC.

1909  Manhattan Bridge opens.

1907  The first New Year’s Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York, New York.

1906  Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar signs the Persian Constitution of 1906.

1879  Thomas Edison demonstrates incandescent lighting to the public for the first time, in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1878  Karl Benz, working in Mannheim, Germany, filed for a patent on his first reliable two-stroke gas engine, and he was granted the patent in 1879.

1857  Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa, then a small logging town, as the capital of Canada.

________________________________________

(Sources and references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/december_25     december_31; http://www.onthisday.com/events/december/25     to december/31;   http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/december_25.html.   to december_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”.

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.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 25 Dec 2017.

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: