This Week in History

HISTORY, 18 Dec 2023

18-24 December 2023

Videos of the Week:

Michael Jackson – Heal the World (6:22) – YouTube

The story behind the Christmas Truce of 1914 (3:18) – YouTube

———————-

18 December

1622  Portuguese forces score a military victory over the Kingdom of Kongo at the Battle of Mbumbi in present-day Angola.

1878  The Al-Thani family become the rulers of the state of Qatar.

[1]      History of Qatar:

• The history of Qatar
• History of Qatar | People, Flag, Culture, & Facts

[2]      Thani Dynasty :

• The House of Al Thani: Qatar Royal Family History and Rulers
• The family tree of Qatar’s new emir, the fourth-oldest son, who has 23 brothers and sisters
• Al-Thani Family | Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School
• The Arab World’s Richest Families
• Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
• Who is in the Qatar royal family and what’s their net worth?
• How much of London is owned by Qatar’s royal family?
• Who’s Who in Qatar: The People of Qatar You Should Know About

1944  The Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Korematsu v. United States supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s Executive Order 9066 which cleared the way for the incarceration of nearly all 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, born and raised in the United States.

[Internment of Japanese Americans ]

• Japanese American internment | Definition, Camps, Locations, Conditions, & Facts
• S. rescinds internment of Japanese-Americans, Dec. 17, 1944
• Eighty Years After the U.S. Incarcerated 120,000 Japanese Americans, Trauma and Scars Still Remain
• How Eleanor Roosevelt Opposed Japanese Internment

1972  Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.

[1]      Timeline of America’s Vietnam War:

• America’s Vietnam
• 1972 in the Vietnam War

[2]      North Vietnam, 1972: The Christmas bombing of Hanoi

• Nixon orders Christmas bombing of North Vietnam, Dec. 18, 1972
• Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon & the Christmas Bombing of Hanoi
• Nixon’s Letter to Nguyen Van Thieu (17 December 1972)
• The Christmas bombings: A US airman recalls the Vietnam War’s Operation Linebacker II, 50 years on
• The “Christmas Bombing” of 1972 — and Why that Misremembered Vietnam War Moment Matters
• How Nixon’s Operation Linebacker Countered North Vietnam’s All-Out Bid to Conquer the South

2005  The Chadian Civil War begins when rebel groups, allegedly backed by neighboring Sudan, launch an attack in Adré.

2018  List of bolides: A meteor exploded over the Bering Sea with a force over 10 times greater than the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

———————-

19 December

1932  BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.

1941  World War II: Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Oberkommando des Heeres.

1961  India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.

1984  The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from July 1, 1997, is signed in Beijing by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.

1995  The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe.

2000  The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in Istanbul, Turkey, killing one person and injuring three.

2001  A record high barometric pressure of 1,085.6 hectopascals (32.06 inHg) is recorded at Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl, Mongolia.

2001  Argentine economic crisis: December riots: Riots erupt in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

———————-

20 December

1924   Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison.

1941  World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers“, in Kunming, China.

1948  Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.

1989  The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.

1995  NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.

[NATO Peacekeeping in Bosnia]

• First NATO troops arrive in Bosnia – Dec. 4, 1995
• NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bosnia and Herzegovina–NATO relations
• Return to Bosnia-Herzegovina: a British Peacekeeper’s Time in Hell

2019  The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.

———————-

21 December

1832  Egyptian–Ottoman War: Egyptian forces decisively defeat Ottoman troops at the Battle of Konya.

1923  United Kingdom and Nepal formally sign an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816.

1941  World War II: A Thai-Japanese Pact of Alliance is signed.

1963  “Bloody Christmas” begins in Cyprus, ultimately resulting in the displacement of 25,000–30,000 Turkish Cypriots and destruction of more than 100 villages.

1965  International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is adopted.

[1]      International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Full Text)

• Eliminating Racial Discrimination: The Challenges of Prevention and Enforcement of Prohibition | United Nations
• Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice, adopted on 27 November 1978
• For equality, respect and dignity we must ‘speak as one’ against racism: Guterres
• Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
• What is the UN doing to combat racism and racial discrimination?
• Ad Hoc Committee on the elaboration of complementary standards |
• Conferences | Racism | United Nations

[2]      Case of Palestinians and Israelis:

• In Israel, racism is the law | Human Rights
• Five ways Israeli law discriminates against Palestinians
• Enshrining Discrimination
• Israel: Violence, hate speech, discrimination against Palestinian minority must stop – UN expert
• UN committee voices concern about rising Israeli hate speech against Palestinians |
• Opinion | Yes, Israel Is a Racist State
• Israel: Discriminatory Land Policies Hem in Palestinians | Human Rights Watch
• Palestinians in Israel face threats, firings and discrimination after Oct. 7, 2023
• Israel’s housing policies in occupied Palestinian territory amount to racial segregation – UN experts

1973  The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.

1995  The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control.

1999  The Spanish Civil Guard intercepts a van loaded with 950 kg of explosives that ETA intended to use to blow up Torre Picasso in Madrid, Spain.

2004  Iraq War: A suicide bomber kills 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers.

[1]      Iraq War of 2002/2003:

• This will change how you think about the Iraq War. – YouTube
• Timeline of the Iraq War
• Iraq War | Summary, Causes, Dates, Combatants, Casualties, & Facts
• Iraq Timeline: Since the 2003 War
• Timeline 2002-2011: Notable events in Iraq
• Blair-Bush deal before Iraq war revealed in secret memo
• The 2002 Iraq AUMF: What It Is and Why Congress Should Repeal It
• What do Iraqis have to say about the US invasion 20 years on? – YouTube
• Why the Iraq War brought corruption, not democracy, to Iraq
• We’ve Erased the Iraq War From Our Memory, but Not the Shame
• What If the U.S. Hadn’t Invaded Iraq in 2003?

[2]      Rationale for the Iraq War :

• How the U.S. Military Used Armed Force to Take Over the World 
• O’Neill: Bush planned Iraq invasion before 9/11
• How US propaganda won Iraq’s ‘battlespace’
• ‘He lied’: Iraqis blame Colin Powell for role in invasion on Iraq
• Lie by Lie: A Timeline of How We Got Into Iraq
• How the US and UK tried to justify the invasion of Iraq
• Chronology – The Evolution Of The Bush Doctrine
• Iraq War veteran condemns US-led invasion – YouTube
• Full article: US foreign policy, neo-conservatism and the Iraq war (2003-2011): Critical reviews of factors and rationales
• “What is the 2001 AUMF and what does it have to do with 9/11? From the invasion of Afghanistan, to the Iraq War,  and more, learn how the United States justified U.S. counterterrorism policy for over two decades.”
• House repeals 2002 Iraq War authorization
• 2003 invasion of Iraq
• United Nations Security Council and the Iraq War
• Congress Members Who Voted Against the 2002 Iraq War
• S. Support for the Iraqi Opposition
• George W Bush accidentally admits Iraq war was ‘unjustified and brutal’ in gaffe
• International reactions to the prelude to the Iraq War

[3]      American Exceptionalism and the War in Iraq:

• “The perception has emerged that some core values of American exceptionalism are being updated through liberal-woke, activist-driven identity politics.”
• Iraq War: Reaffirmation or the End of US Exceptionalism?
• Exceptionalism Again: The Bush Administration, the “Global War on Terror” and Human Rights
• THE BUSH DOCTRINE: THE DANGERS OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM IN A REVOLUTIONARY AGE
• “With the Iraq War, appeals to American exceptionalism turned into a rallying cry for a people that believed itself under siege.”
• George W. Bush, American exceptionalism and the Iraq War
• Biden’s foreign policy: the return of American exceptionalism
• Donald Trump’s American Exceptionalism
• Obama and ‘American Exceptionalism’

[4]      G.W.Bush, Saddam Hussein, Revenge?

• Iraq 2003: Deluded Revenge
• Bush calls Saddam ‘the guy who tried to kill my dad’
• Revenge: A family affair
• “[A]fter the gulf war, Saddam was heard on official Iraq media promising to hunt down and punish Bush, even after he left office…classified evidence proving that the car bomb was meant for Bush, from Saddam.”
• Deep roots of Bush’s hatred for Saddam | Iraq
• Plot by Baghdad to Assassinate Bush Is Questioned

[5]      BushAdministration, Oil & Iraq: Some Truth at Last:

• George W Bush elected in 2000 ‘floating on oil money’
• The Bush Administration Turned the War on Terror Into a War for
• Rand Paul Says Dick Cheney Pushed for the Iraq War So Halliburton Would Profit
• New Rule: Stop Saying Iraq is Another Vietnam, it’s Another Enron
• And ENRON Begat IRAQ: How War Saved Bush From Enron Accountability
• The oil legacy of George H W Bush
• David Frum, the Iraq war and oil
• Did Oil Drive the US Invasion of Iraq? – Sands of Iraq Held World’s 2nd Largest Oil Reserve in 2003
• Why the war in Iraq was fought for Big Oil
• How Bush’s Iraqi Oil Grab Went Awry
• Blurring the Blame for the Iraq War
• “By invading Iraq, Bush has taken over the Iraqi oil fields…”
• USA: Dick Cheney’s Oil Connections
• Halliburton and Cheney: War Profiteers in Chief Fight to Keep Their Wallets Fat
• Cheney’s Halliburton Made $39.5 Billion on Iraq War
• Cheney’s Halliburton Becomes the ‘Enron’ of War Profiteers
• Cheney, Halliburton and the Spoils of War
• A Closer Look at Cheney and Halliburton
• The Profitable Connections Of Halliburton
• Expanding Halliburton probe confirms Bush administration is most corrupt in US history
• Bush’s Oil Cronies: Where Are They Now?

[6]      The Costs of War in Iraq :

• Financial cost of the Iraq War
• US Taxpayers Have Spent Over $2 Trillion for the Iraq War
• Iraqi Civilians | Costs of War
• Civilian deaths in Iraq war 2003-2023
• Casualties of the Iraq War
• Blood and Treasure: Documenting the Costs of Iraq War from Civilian Casualties to Trillions Spent
• Iraqis reflect on the cost of US invasion after 20 years – YouTube

[7]      Behind the Iraq War:

• The Uranium Hoax that Triggered the Iraq War
• Plame affair
• “The Niger uranium forgeries were forged documents initially released in 2001 by SISMI(the former military intelligence agency of Italy), which seem to depict an attempt made by Saddam Hussein in Iraq to purchase yellowcake uranium powder from Niger.”
• The Senate Has Finally Voted to End the Iraq War

2020  A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn occurs, with the two planets separated in the sky by 0.1 degrees. This is the closest conjunction between the two planets since 1623.

———————

22 December

1769   Sino-Burmese War: The war ends with the Qing dynasty withdrawing from Burma forever.

1808  Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy

1939  Indian Muslims observe a “Day of Deliverance” to celebrate the resignations of members of the Indian National Congress over their not having been consulted over the decision to enter World War II with the United Kingdom.

1942  World War II: Adolf Hitler signs the order to develop the V-2 rocket as a weapon.

1944  World War II: The People’s Army of Vietnam is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indochina, now Vietnam.

1945   U.S. President Harry S. Truman issues an executive order giving World War II refugees precedence in visa applications under U.S. immigration quotas.

1971  The international aid organization Doctors Without Borders is founded by Bernard Kouchner and a group of journalists in Paris, France.

1974  Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli vote to become the independent nation of Comoros. Mayotte remains under French administration.

1975  U.S. President Gerald Ford creates the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to the 1970s energy crisis.

1987   In Zimbabwe, the political parties ZANU and ZAPU reach an agreement that ends the violence in the Matabeleland region known as the Gukurahundi.

1989  Romanian Revolution: Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu is overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife Elena flee Bucharest in a helicopter as protesters erupt in cheers

1989  German reunification: Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate re-opens after nearly 30 years, effectively ending the division of East and West Germany.

[1]      Brandenburg Gate as a Symbol of Unity of Germany:

• Brandenburg Gate: A Brief History
• The Tumultuous History of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate
• Brandenburg Gate | Iconic Monument, Berlin, Germany
• Pariser Platz and Brandenburg Gate

[2]      German Reunification, 1989-90

• How Germany Was Divided After World War II
• Revolutions of 1989
• German Reunification: ‘It Was Nothing Short of a Miracle’
• East Germany
• German Reunification: Timeline and Effects
• A Chronology of Events The Collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and Steps toward German Unity
• The collapse of the GDR and the fall of the Berlin Wall – The Cold War (1945–1989)
• The fall of the Wall and German reunification
• Clamor in the East; Kohl to Outline Plan for German Unity
• Fall of Berlin Wall: How 1989 reshaped the modern world

[3]      Why did East Germany fail? :

• What Happened in East Germany? :
• History of East Germany
• The collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
• Why the East Germans Lost
• Why the Berlin Wall rose—and how it fell
• Economy of East Germany
• The Causes of the Downfall of Communism

1990  Lech Wałęsa is elected President of Poland.

[1]      Lech Walęsa: Hero or double agent?

• Lech Wałęsa: A Stalinist agent in the Solidarity movement
• Lech Walesa Was Paid Informant to Communist Regime: Documents
• Lech Walesa faces further accusations of being an informant
• Lech Wałęsa: I was not an agent of the Polish security services

[2]      Solidarity Movement in Poland:

• History of Solidarity
• The Rise and Fall of Poland’s Solidarity Movement

[3]      CIA and “Solidarity”:

• A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland
• The AFT, the CIA, and Solidarność
• In Defense of Communism: Solidarność: The CIA-backed ‘Trojan Horse’ of Poland’s Counterrevolution
• HOW WE HELPED SOLIDARITY WIN

1990  Final independence of Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia after termination of trusteeship.

2001  Burhanuddin Rabbani, political leader of the Northern Alliance, hands over power in Islamic State of Afghanistan to the interim government headed by President Hamid Karzai.

2010  The repeal of the Don’t ask, don’t tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama.

2016  A study finds the VSV-EBOV vaccine against the Ebola virus between 70 and 100% effective, thus making it the first proven vaccine against the disease.

2017  United Nations Security Council Resolution 2397 against North Korea is unanimously approved.

———————-

23 December

1876   First day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.

1947  The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories.

1948  Seven Japanese military and political leaders convicted of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East are executed by Allied occupation authorities at Sugamo Prison in Tokyo, Japan.

1954  First successful kidney transplant is performed by J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray.

1970  The Democratic Republic of the Congo officially becomes a one-party state.

1979  Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.

1990  History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia‘s overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.

2007  An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.

2008  A coup d’état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.

———————-

24 December

1906  Reginald Fessenden transmits the first radio broadcast; consisting of a poetry reading, a violin solo, and a speech.

1914  World War I: The “Christmas truce” begins.

[The WW1 Christmas Truce of 1914 ]

• 1914 | Sainsbury’s Ad | Christmas 2014 – YouTube
• A Century Ago, When The Guns Fell Silent On Christmas
• The Real Story Of The Christmas Truce Of 1914
• It was German soldiers who made first move in the Christmas Truce
• How did the Christmas truce of 1914 happen?

1924  Albania becomes a republic.

[1]      History of Albania

• Albania | History, Geography, Customs, & Traditions
• Caucasian Albania
• History of Albania | Serbia, Flag, Map, Country, & Kosovo
• Italian protectorate of Albania (1939–1943)
• World War II in Albania
• (PDF) “Un centro d’intrighi”: The Tainted Collaboration of the Axis Powers in the Borderlands of “Greater Albania”
• The Albanian Operation of the CIA and MI6, 1949-1953

[2]      Greater Albania /Велика Албанија

• Unification of Albania and Kosovo
• Greater Albania – threat to peace or pipe dream?
• Pan-Albanianism and Albanian politics in the Balkans
• Ethnic Map of Greater Albania

[3]      Political Movement Toward the Creation of a Greater Albania:

• Pan-Albanianism: How Big a Threat to Balkan
• Controversy Erupts Over ‘Greater Albania’ Symbols at Kosovo Event
• I would vote to unify Albania and Kosovo, election winner Albin Kurti tells Euronews
• The Plan for Greater Albania Unfolds
• “Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti and President Vjosa Osmani continued to implement a very dangerous, racist policy aimed at ethnic cleansing to promote the plans for “Greater Albania”.”
• Vucic: Kurti will not stop with the “Greater Albania” project
• “Kurti also noted that Kosovo and Albania are complementary and if it comes to unification, it will benefit people on both sides of the border.”
• Dua Lipa sparks controversy with ‘Greater Albania’ map tweet
• Novosti: The West is silent while “Greater Albania” is being built on a large scale
• North Macedonia between “Greater Albania” and Bulgarian demands, with the silence of the EU, and what does that indicate to Serbia
• Europe’s Legalized Narco-State: Kosovo’s “Independence” and a Greater Albania
• ‘Greater’ Balkan dreams a potential nightmare
• The beginning of the internationalization process of a “Greater Albania”
• Could the Kosovo story end in Greater Albania?
• ANALYSIS – How advantageous is a “Greater Albania”?
• ‘Greater Albania’: A Threat to Europe Simmering Along the Adriatic?
• Greater Muslim Albania Project: EU and NATO – willing to see ‘Blood in the streets of Macedonia’

[4]      CIA and the Greater Albania:

• “In truth, the Kosovar government is in the hands of the Pentagon, and Albania has become the CIA’s European hub. The promotion of Greater Albania is part of the American effort to weaken Serbia and Russia.”
• “The CIA has carefully analyzed the Albanian politics of Kosovo’s independence, the brutal methods of Aleksandar Rankovic and the permanent goal for the creation of Great Albania.”
• US Cold War Propaganda: The Failures of the CIA in its Radio Broadcasts to Albania in the Early Cold War

[5]      U.S./CIA and Kosovo:

• The Criminalization of the State: “Independent Kosovo”, a Territory under US-NATO Military Rule
• “On January 23, 2009, The Guardian reported that the CIA had run black sites at Szymany Airport in Poland, Camp Eagle in Bosnia and Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.”
• Key CIA-Backed Ally Indicted for Organ Trade Murder Scheme
• CIA Aided Kosovo Guerrilla Army All Along
• “The CIA encouraged former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters to launch a rebellion in southern Serbia in an effort to undermine the then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic…”
• “The CIA Map has already Annexed Southern Serbia to Kosovo, Creating Greater Kosovo.”
• How CIA Pumps Up Kosovo With Weapons Through Czech Republic

1943  World War II: U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower is named Supreme Allied Commander for the Operation Overlord.

1951  Libya becomes independent. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.

1964  Vietnam War: Viet Cong operatives bomb the Brinks Hotel in Saigon, South Vietnam to demonstrate they can strike an American installation in the heavily guarded capital.

1969  Nigerian troops capture Umuahia, the Biafran capital.

2005  Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of belligerence against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.

2008  The Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.

2021  Burmese military forces commit the Mo So massacre, killing at least 44 civilians.

_____________________________________________

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 18 Dec 2023.

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: email mastodon facebook 🔗 copy link

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

There are no comments so far.