This Week in History

HISTORY, 27 Nov 2023

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

27 Nov – 3 Dec 2023

Video of the Week:

Israeli Amir and Palestinian Amjad: ‘we are no enemies!’ – YouTube

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27 November

1912  Spain declares a protectorate over the north shore of Morocco.

1945  CARE (then the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is founded to send CARE Packages of food relief to Europe after World War II.

1965  Vietnam War: The Pentagon tells U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) that if planned operations are to succeed, the number of American troops in Vietnam has to be increased from 120,000 to 400,000.

[1]      Timeline of America’s Vietnam War:

• America’s Vietnam
• The Vietnam War (article) | 1960s America

[2]     Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) and the Vietnam War:

• The choice: LBJ’s decision to go to war in Vietnam
• Lyndon Johnson on US involvement in Vietnam (1965)
• 1965: The Year the Fed and LBJ Clashed
• “Johnson won the 1964 election in a landslide. Seven months later, he sent combat troops to Vietnam without declaring war, a decision clad in lies…”
• American History: Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War
• LBJ knew the Vietnam War was a disaster in the making. Here’s why he couldn’t walk away.
• How LBJ wrecked his presidency in Vietnam
• In His Final Days, LBJ Agonized Over His Legacy
• The Last Days of the President

[3]      Relevant Aspects of the Vietnam War, L.B.J and the U.S. Society:

• LBJ’s secretly recorded calls: The most surprising moments

Opinion | How Vietnam Killed the Great Society

• Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society
• How the Tet Offensive Undermined American Faith in Government
• The campaign that changed how Americans saw the Vietnam War
• How the Vietnam War pushed MLK to embrace global justice, not only civil rights at home
• Pentagon Papers : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming

1975  The Provisional IRA assassinates Ross McWhirter, after a press conference in which McWhirter had announced a reward for the capture of those responsible for multiple bombings and shootings across England.

[Irish Republican Army]

• Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign
• IRA Timeline: The Troubles, Attacks & Ceasefire
• Timeline of Real IRA and New IRA actions
• Timeline of Official Irish Republican Army actions
• Timeline of Continuity IRA actions
• Chronology | The Ira & Sinn Fein
• Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)
• Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)

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28 November

1821  Panama Independence Day: Panama separates from Spain and joins Gran Colombia

1843  Ka Lā Hui (Hawaiian Independence Day): The Kingdom of Hawaii is officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.

[History of Hawaii]

• Hawaii’s History: From Polynesian Settlement to Modern Day
• International Court Recognizes The Hawaiian Kingdom as a State
• United Nations Acknowledges the Occupation of the Hawaiian Kingdom
• Hawaii’s Legal Case Against the United States
• Legal status of Hawaii
• How the US Stole Hawaii – YouTube
• The Struggle For Hawaiian Sovereignty – Introduction
• How Native Hawaiians have been pushed out of Hawai’i – YouTube

1885  Bulgarian victory in the Serbo-Bulgarian War preserves the Unification of Bulgaria.

1917  The Estonian Provincial Assembly declares itself the sovereign power of Estonia.

1918  The Soviet Forces moved against Estonia when the 6th Red Rifle Division struck the border town of Narva, which marked the beginning of the Estonian War of Independence.

1920  FIDAC (The Interallied Federation of War Veterans Organisations), the first international organization of war veterans is established in Paris, France.

1943  World War II: Tehran Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin meet in Tehran, Iran, to discuss war strategy.

1958  Chad, the Republic of the Congo, and Gabon become autonomous republics within the French Community.

1960  Mauritania becomes independent of France.

1964  Vietnam War: National Security Council members agree to recommend that U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson adopt a plan for a two-stage escalation of bombing in North Vietnam.

1965  Vietnam War: In response to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s call for “more flags” in Vietnam, Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos announces he will send troops to help fight in South Vietnam.

1975  East Timor declares its independence from Portugal.

[History of East Timor]

• East Timor profile – Timeline –
• East Timor independence: a short history of a long and brutal struggle – YouTube
• History of East Timor | Events, People, Independence, Dates, & Facts
• Indonesia invades East Timor
• UNMIT Background – United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste

1989  Cold War: Velvet Revolution: In the face of protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces it will give up its monopoly on political power.

1990  British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigns as leader of the Conservative Party and, therefore, as Prime Minister. She is succeeded in both positions by John Major.

1991  South Ossetia declares independence from Georgia.

2020  Over seven hundred civilians are massacred by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and Eritrean Army in Aksum, Ethiopia.

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29 November

1943  The second session of the Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia (AVNOJ), held to determine the post-war ordering of the country, concludes in Jajce [pronounced  “Yah-eeh-tseh”] (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina).

[Yugoslav National Movement ]

• World War II in Yugoslavia
• Jajce
• Spomenik Database | 2nd AVNOJ Museum at Jajce
• Democratic Federal Yugoslavia
• Anti-Fascist Council for the National Liberation of Yugoslavia | Resistance Movement, Partisan Army & Communist-Led
• Yugoslav Partisans
• Yugoslav coup d’état

1944  Albania is liberated by the Partisans.

• Albania’s strong links with Communist Yugoslavia during WWII
• Albanian Government during WWII

1945  The Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia is declared.

[1]      History of Yugoslavia:

• Timeline of Yugoslavia
• A Brief History of the Balkans (Yugoslavia)

[2]      Creation of Yugoslavia – Wikipedia:

• Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918-1945)
• WWII in Yugoslavia (1941-1945)
• Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia
• Provisional Government of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia

[3]      Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia :

• Background: Tito’s Yugoslavia
• Josip Broz Tito
• Yugoslavia and the United Nations
• People’s Front of Yugoslavia
• The Former Country of Yugoslavia
• Soviet Union–Yugoslavia relations
• Demographics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
• National Anthem of Yugoslavia (1945-1992) – “Hej, Slaveni” – YouTube

[3]      Breakup of SFR Yugoslavia:

• The Breakup of Yugoslavia – YouTube
• The Breakup of Yugoslavia Explained – YouTube
• ‘It was once our home’: Socialist Yugoslavia before the breakup

1947  The UN General Assembly approves a plan for the partition of Palestine.

[1]      UN General Assembly Resolution 181 :

• United Nations Resolution 181
• Detail Map:  UN Palestine Partition Plan – Nov. 1947
• 29, 1947 | UN Partitions Palestine, Allowing for Creation of Israel
• N. Votes for Partition of Palestine

[2]      Analysis: The Unfair and Illegal Partition of Palestine:

• Mandatory Palestine
• London Conference of 1946–1947
• 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
• The Partition Plan Table of Contents
• The Creation of the State of Israel, 1947–48 | Mythologies Without End
• Background & Overview of the UN Partition Plan
• The United Nations Partition Plan of 1947 | My Jewish Learning
• History of the Question of Palestine – Question of Palestine

[3]      What’s the Israel-Palestine conflict about?

• What’s the Israel-Palestinian conflict about and how did it start?
• What is the Israel-Palestine Conflict and How Did it Originate
• History of the Israeli-Palestine conflict: A chronology
• Palestine – History, Religion & Conflicts
• From 1947 to 2023: Retracing the complex, tragic Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Israel-Gaza Crisis: History & Background
• Two-state solution | Definition, Facts, History, & Map
• The Two-State Solution – Illusion and Reality
• “American politicians need the two-state slogan to show they are working toward a diplomatic solution, to keep the pro-Israel lobby from turning against them…”

1947  French forces carry out a massacre at Mỹ Trạch, Vietnam during the First Indochina War.

2007  The Armed Forces of the Philippines lay siege to the Peninsula Manila after soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes stage a mutiny.

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30 November

1941  The Holocaust: The SS-Einsatzgruppen round up 11,000 Jews from the Riga Ghetto and kill them in the Rumbula massacre.

1947  Civil War in Mandatory Palestine begins, leading up to the creation of the State of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

[Mandatory Palestine ]

• London Conference of 1946–1947
• 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
• The Partition Plan Table of Contents
• The Creation of the State of Israel, 1947–48 | Mythologies Without End

1966  Decolonization: Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1967  Decolonization: South Yemen becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1967  The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who becomes its first chairman.

1981  Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.)

1995  Official end of Operation Desert Storm.

1999  Exxon and Mobil sign a US$73.7 billion agreement to merge, thus creating ExxonMobil, the world’s largest company:

[1]      ExxonMobil:

• History of ExxonMobil
• ExxonMobil Company Profile
• ExxonMobil GHG emissions worldwide 2022
• Exxon scientists in the 1970s accurately predicted climate change

[2]      Major U.S. military operations/actions to protect oil – Exxon and Afghanistan:

• The U.S. Interest and Exxon Mobil in Afghanistan
• Afghanistan may attract more energy firms as Exxon shows interest
• Pipeline Politics: Oil, Gas And The US Interest In Afghanistan
• Afghanistan: It’s About Oil
• Oil and 9-11: The Connection
• Pipeline Politics: Oil, Gas And The US Interest In Afghanistan

[3]      The U.S. Interest and Exxon Mobil in Iraq:

• Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil
• US begins secret talks to secure Iraq’s oilfields
• In Iraq, Exxon oil deal foments talk of civil war
• Iraq invasion was about oil | Environment
• Western oil firms remain as US exits Iraq
• Neomercantilist War: the US military and Middle East oil (1980–2003)

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01 December

1913  Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the First Balkan War, is annexed by Greece.

1918  Transylvania unites with Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina (November 28) and thus concluding the Great Union.

1918  Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.

1918  The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.

1964  Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.

1971  Purge of Croatian Spring leaders starts in Yugoslavia at the meeting of the League of Communists at the Karađorđevo estate

1973  Papua New Guinea gains self-government from Australia.

1988  World AIDS Day is proclaimed worldwide by the UN member states.

1988  Benazir Bhutto, is named as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first female leader to lead a Muslim nation.

1991  Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.

2006  The law on same-sex marriage came into force in South Africa for the first time on the African continent.

2009  The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in the European Union.

2019  The outbreak of coronavirus infection began in Wuhan.

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02 December

1942  During the Manhattan Project, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.

1947  Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Arabs riot in Jerusalem in response to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.

• Timeline of intercommunal conflict in Mandatory Palestine
• 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine
• The Sergeants affair
• Battle for Jerusalem

1949  Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others is adopted.

• Text of the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others
• International Instruments Concerning Trafficking in Persons

1950  Korean War: The Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River ends with a decisive Chinese victory and UN forces are completely expelled from North Korea.

1954  The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty, between the United States and Taiwan, is signed in Washington, D.C.

1956  The Granma reaches the shores of Cuba‘s Oriente Province. Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution.

1957  UNSC Resolution 126 relating to the Kashmir conflict is adopted.

[Kashmir Conflict]

• Timeline of the Kashmir conflict
• Behind the Kashmir Conflict – Background
• The Kashmir conflict: How did it start?
• Kashmir: Why India and Pakistan fight over it
• The History Of Kashmir Conflict And Its Various Phases

1962  Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to comment adversely on the war’s progress.

1971  Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm al-Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.

1976  Fidel Castro becomes President of Cuba, replacing Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado.

1989  The Peace Agreement of Hat Yai is signed and ratified by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand, ending the over two-decade-long communist insurgency in Malaysia.

1991  Canada and Poland become the first nations to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.

1999  The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive following the Good Friday Agreement.

2001  Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

[1]      G.W.Bush and Enron:

• THE ENRON SCANDAL! | Vicious Circle of Thoughts
• The Whole Ball of Wax – Pipeline, Bush, Taliban, Enron
• Enron’s Close Ties to Bush
• Enron: The Bush Connection
• Bush’s Enron Problem
• Bush’s Enron Deal
• The Enron Story Everyone Is Missing: The Bush-Ken Lay Connection
• ENRON’S COLLAPSE: THE RELATIONSHIPS; Bush and Democrats Disputing Ties to Enron

[2]      D. Cheney and Enron:

• Enron Met With Cheney Before Fall
• Cheney, Enron, and the Constitution
• The Enron-Cheney-Taliban Connection?
• THE 9/11 PSY-OPERA: ‘EnronGate’, The Enron-Cheney-Taliban Connection?
• “Cheney, who chairs Bush’s energy task force, met with Lay to discuss Bush’s National Energy Policy. Lay, whose company was the largest contributor to Bush’s presidential campaign…”
• “Vice President Dick Cheney to help campaign supporters at Enron collect a $64 million debt from India..”

[3]      Enron, Afghanistan and 9/11:

• ENRON gave TALIBAN $$millions for OIL PIPELINE
• “On August 15^th [2001], an Enron lobbyist informed White House economic advisor Robert McNally that Enron was facing a financial crisis… That month, US officials claimed that the US would invade Afghanistan in mid- October.“
• Will the Societal Effects of Enron Exceed Those of September 11?
• What Congress Does Not Know about Enron and 9/11
• Energy giant bulldozed over environmental, human rights concerns to build Bolivian pipeline — with U.S. government backing

[3]      The Fall of Enron:

• The rise and fall of Enron: a brief history
• Enron scandal | Summary, Explained, History, & Facts
• Chronology of a Collapse – Behind the Enron Scandal
• The Enron Collapse: 8 Reasons Why It Failed
• Enron Scandal: The Fall of a Wall Street Darling
• The collapse of Enron and the dark side of business
• The Rise and Fall of Enron: A Tale of Corporate Greed and Corruption that Collapsed an Empire

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03 December

1912  Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia (the Balkan League) sign an armistice with the Ottoman Empire, temporarily halting the First Balkan War. (The armistice will expire on February 3, 1913, and hostilities will resume.)

1920  Following more than a month of Turkish–Armenian War, the Turkish-dictated Treaty of Alexandropol is concluded.

1925  Final agreement is signed between the Irish Free State, Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom formalizing the Partition of Ireland.

1938  Nazi Germany issues the Decree on the Utilization of Jewish Property forcing Jews to sell real property, businesses, and stocks at below market value as part of Aryanization.

1944  Greek Civil War: Fighting breaks out in Athens between the ELAS and government forces supported by the British Army.

1971  Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: Pakistan launches a pre-emptive strike against India and a full-scale war begins.

[1]      India-Pakistan Conflict: An Overview:

• Timeline and Causes of India-Pakistan War
• India-Pakistan Partition | Origins

[2]      Indo-Pakistan War of 1971:

• History of Kashmir Dispute – How Indian Lost Kashmir in 1971 War?
• Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts
• History of Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 : Causes, Results & Significance
• Opinion | Remembering the ‘war babies’ of the 1971 conflict between India and Pakistan
• Why Won’t Pakistan Fully Recognize the 1971 War?
• Pak’s outgoing Army Chief lies about 1971 Indo-Pak war – YouTube
• Conflict Between India and Pakistan | Global Conflict Tracker
• The Last Secret of the 1971 India-Pakistan War

[2]      Indo-Pakistan Relations and the Intelligence Communities:

• India-Pakistan Relations: Evolution, Challenges & Recent Developments
• What did the CIA think about the partition of Pakistan in 1971?
• Did a CIA mole inside the Indian cabinet compromise India’s 1971 war plans?
• The Tilt: The U.S. and the South Asian Crisis of 1971
• Revealed: How CIA tried to gather intel before 1971 India-Pakistan war
• The C.I.A.’s Maddening Relationship with Pakistan
• “RAW’s role in the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971 — training the Mukti Bahini and helping create Bangladesh — is perhaps its most recounted accomplishment…”
• How Pakistan’s President Zia collaborated with Israel’s Mossad to defeat Soviet forces in Afghanistan –
• “After the 1971 IndoPak war, the agency has been headed by a Gen officer three- star general officer of Pakistan Army, being the biggest segment of Pakistan armed forces…”.
• The pervasive world of Indian intelligence
• Top 10 Most Powerful Intelligence Agencies In The World

1979  Iranian Revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini becomes the first Supreme Leader of Iran.

[1]      Iranian Revolution in 1979:

• The Iranian revolution—A timeline of events
• What to read to understand the 1979 Iranian revolution
• Khomeini’s revolution and CIA declassified documents
• Iran 1978-1979: Reflections on Intelligence Failure
• Policy, Perception, and Misconception The United States and the Fall of the Shah

[2]      1953 Iranian coup d’état:

• CIA Documents: FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1952-1954, IRAN, 1951–1954
• The United States Overthrew Iran’s Last Democratic Leader,
• CIA, Iran in 1953
• CIA admits 1953 Iranian coup it backed was undemocratic
• CIA Coup Led to Islamic Revolution in Iran

1989  In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end.

[1]      The Malta Summit 1989:

• 3 December 1989: Malta summit ends Cold War
• Bush and Gorbachev at Malta
• The Malta Summit and US-Soviet Relations: Testing the Waters Amidst Stormy Seas

[2]      The Malta Summit and the Discussions on Non-enlargement of NATO:

• TRANSCRIPT OF BUSH-GORBACHEV NEWS CONFERENCE
• The Malta Summit; Transcript of the Bush-Gorbachev News Conference in Malta
• NATO’s pledges in documents not to expand eastward
• Top leaders of the “Free World” all agreed that the United States would never enlarge NATO to reassure Gorbachev that the new Russia had nothing to fear from NATO.
• All Western leaders were lying in promising not to expand NATO
• The Soviet Origins of Helmut Kohl’s 10 Points
• Masterpieces of History – Document No. 110: Soviet Transcript of the Malta Summit, December 2-3, 1989
• Did The West Promise Moscow That NATO Would Not Expand? Well, It’s Complicated.
• NATO Repeatedly Assured Russia It Would Not Expand
• Newly Declassified Documents: Gorbachev Told NATO Wouldn’t Move Past East German Border
• Documents show Gorbachev was assured US wouldn’t expand NATO into Central and Eastern Europe
• Memorandum of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow.
• The Gorbachev File | National Security Archive
• How America’s Broken Promises May Lead to a New Cold War
• New book combines Soviet and U.S. transcripts of highest-level meetings that ended the Cold War

[3]      From Malta to Ukraine:

• Bush Admits US Broke Promise on NATO Expansion; Says Ukraine Should ‘Destroy as Many Russian Troops’ as Possible
• Record of conversation between Mikhail Gorbachev and James Baker in Moscow. (Excerpts) | National Security Archive
• I was there: NATO and the origins of the Ukraine crisis – Responsible Statecraft
• How NATO’s expansion helped drive Putin to invade Ukraine
• Many Predicted NATO Expansion Would Lead to War. Those Warnings Were Ignored
• The U.S. and NATO Helped Trigger the Ukraine War. It’s Not ‘Siding With Putin’ to Admit It
• How did Western leaders justify NATO’s eastwards expansion after promising the Soviet leadership it won’t happen?
• Ukraine Crisis Should Have Been Avoided
• Setting the Record Straight on NATO Enlargement

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Satoshi Ashikaga is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment. Having worked as researcher, development program/project officer, legal protection/humanitarian assistance officer, human rights monitor-negotiator, managing-editor, and more, he prefers a peaceful and prudent life.  His previous work experiences, including those in war zones and war-torn zones, constantly remind him of the invaluableness of peace.

Disclaimer: The author and TMS take no responsibility for–and do not necessarily subscribe to–contents of websites hyperlinked as sources.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 27 Nov 2023.

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