This Week in History
HISTORY, 15 Dec 2014
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service
Quote of the week:
“If you long for peace, act in peace and harmony. If you want the world to change, start with the person in the mirror.”
–Unknown. Source: http://www.searchquotes.com/search/Peace_And_Harmony/
December 15
2012 Egyptian voters go to the polls to vote on a highly protested referendum on a new constitution.
2011 According to U.S. Census, 1 in 2 people are considered low-income or poor.
2000 The Chernobyl atomic power plant in Kiev, Ukraine, was shut down.
1989 Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty is adopted at the UN General Assembly. Text: UNGA A/RES/44/128. Visit www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/2ndOPCCPR.aspx
1983 Last 80 U.S. combat soldiers in Grenada withdrew.
1979 International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague rules that Iran should release all the U.S. hostages.
1971 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1918 American Jewish Congress holds its 1st meeting.
1917 Moldavian Republic declares independence from Russia.
1916 French defeat Germans in WW I Battle of Verdun.
1914 Battle of Lodz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow.
1914 British fleet forfeits chance to destroy German fleet in North Sea.
1899 Battle at Colenso, South Africa (Boers-British army).
1877 Thomas Edison patents phonograph.
1582 Spanish Netherlands/Denmark/Norway adopt Gregorian calendar.
December 16
2011 A report claiming nearly all research on chimpanzees is scientifically unjustified causes the U.S. National Institute of Health to place a moratorium on new studies using chimpanzees.
1991 U.N. reverses ruling that Zionism is racism by 111-25 (13 abstain) vote.
1974 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1974 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1971 Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declares independence from Pakistan.
1971 India’s army occupies Dacca, West Pakistani troops surrender.
1970 1st successful landing on Venus (U.S.S.R.).
1970 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is adopted at the UN General Assembly. Text: 993 UNITS 3. Visit www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CESCR.aspx
1966 (First) Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is adopted at the UN General Assembly. Text: 999 UNITS 171. Visit www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/OPCCPR1.aspx
1964 U.S. performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean.
1942 Hitler orders combat against partisans in Russia and Balkan.
1901 Margret Mead (anthropologist) was born.
1888 Alexander I of Yugoslavia (king, general) was born.
1834 Léon Walras (economist, educator) was born.
1775 Jane Austin was born.
1770 Ludwig van Beethoven was born.
1689 English Parliament adopts Bill of Rights after Glorious Revolution.
December 17
2010 The first ever HIV infection is announced in the Cook Islands.
2010 United Kingdom gives prisoners serving less than four years the right to vote.
2004 President George W. Bush signs the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act of 2004 which reorganizes intelligence agencies and creates position of national security director.
1988 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1980 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1970 Gdansk, Poland shipworkers strike.
1970 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1970 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1965 British government proclaims ends oil-embargo against Rhodesia.
1963 West and East Berlin sign accord about travel rules.
1961 India seizes Goa and 2 other Portuguese colonies.
1941 German troops led by Rommel begin retreating in North Africa.
1940 British troops occupy Sollum.
1939 German pocket battleship Graf Spee scuttled by its crew off Uruguay.
1936 Pope Francis I (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) was born in Buenos Aires, Argentine.
1914 Great Britain declares Egypt a protectorate.
1914 Jews are expelled from Tel Aviv by Turkish authorities.
1718 England declares war on Spain.
1538 Pope Paul III excommunicated England’s King Henry VIII.
December 18
2013 Syria, Iran and North Korea are condemned for human rights violations by the United Nations.
2011 The last convoy of U.S. Army soldiers leaves Iraq, formally marking the end of the Iraq War.
1976 Soviet dissident Viktor Bukovskiexchanged for Chile CP-leader Corvalan.
1970 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1969 Britain abolishes death penalty.
1969 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1968 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1966 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1964 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1962 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya U.S.S.R.
1961 India annexes Portuguese colonies of Goa, Damao and Diu.
1960 UN General Assembly condemns apartheid.
1956 Israeli flag hoisted on Mount Sinai.
1878 Joseph Stalin (Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin) leader of the USSR, was born.
1870 Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) was born.
1863 Franz Ferdinand (prince of the Hapsburg Empire) was born.
1839 1st celestial photograph (of Moon) made in U.S., John Draper, New York City.
1813 British take Ft. Niagara in War of 1812.
1774 Empress Maria Theresa expels Jews from Prague, Bohemia and Moravia.
1621 English parliament accepts unanimously, Protestation.
December 19
2012 UBS becomes the second bank after Barclays, to be fined for attempting to manipulate the Libor interbank lending rate; the company is fined $1.5 billion.
2012 Russian spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-07M, is launched in Kazakhstan, with cosmonauts Roman Romanenko, Chris Hadfield and Thomas Marshburn for the ISS Expedition 34 and 35 crews.
2011 North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-il, dies; Kim Jong-un is announced as his father’s successor.
1984 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC.
1984 UK signs agreement with China to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.
1980 Iran requests $24 billion in U.S. guarantees to free hostages.
1978 France performs nuclear test.
1972 Apollo 17, last of Apollo Moon landing series, returns to Earth.
1965 French president De Gaulle re-elected (Mitterrand gets 45%).
1963 Zanzibar becomes independent from UK.
1962 Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
1946 War breaks out in Indochina as Ho Chi Minh attacks French in Hanoi.
1941 Hitler takes complete command of German Army.
1941 U.S. Office of Censorship created to control info pertaining to WW II.
1932 British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas.
1842 U.S. recognizes independence of Hawaii.
1788 Chinese troops occupy capital Thang Long Vietnam.
1686 Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years (as per Defoe).
1562 Battle at Dreux: Anne de Montmorency and Huguenots under Condé captured.
1055 Seldjuken under Toghril Beg occupy Baghdad.
December 20
2013 Britain agrees to help Syria destroy over 165 tons of chemical weapons; the stockpile includes substances that could be used to make highly toxic nerve agents.
2011 In Cairo, thousands of Egyptian women demonstrate against military police for abuse against female demonstrators in Tahir Square.
2001 The first British peacekeepers arrived in Afghanistan to help the nation heal after decades of war.
2001 U.S. Congress passed a $20 billion package to finance the war against terrorism taking place in Afghanistan.
1999 Portugal returns Macau to China.
1995 NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1992 Slobodan Milošević re-elected president of Serbia.
1989 General Noriega, Panama’s former dictator, was overthrown by a United States invasion force invited by the new civilian government. The project was known as Operation Just Cause.
1987 More than 3,000 people were killed when the Dona Paz, a Philippine passenger ship, collided with the tanker Vectoroff Mindoro Island, setting off a double explosion.
1984 U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1983 PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon.
1977 1st Space-walk made by G. Grechko from Salyut.
1967 474,300 U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.
1966 Brussels: Nuclear Planning Group established.
1966 The U.S. performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1963 The Berlin Wall was opened for the first time to West Berliners. It was only for the holiday season. It closed again on January 6, 1964.
1960 Auschwitz commandant Richard Bar arrested in West Germany.
1957 Elvis Presley given draft notice to join U.S. Army for National Service.
1956 Military coup under colonel Simbolon in Sumatra.
1942 The 1st Japanese bombing of Calcutta.
1924 Adolf Hitler freed from jail early.
1922 Fourteen republics form the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (U.S.S.R.).
1780 England declares war on Netherlands.
1699 Peter the Great ordered that the Russian New Year be changed from September 1 to January 1.
December 21
2012 Scientists studying the Sutter’s Mill meteorite, found near where the Sutter’s Mill California Gold Rush site, determine it contains the oldest material in the Solar System.
1991 Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) formally dissolves 11 of 12 republics sign treaty forming Commonwealth of Independent States.
1979 U.S.S.R. performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan U.S.S.R.
1973 Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, U.S. and U.S.S.R. meet in Geneva.
1972 U.S.S.R. signs a separate peace with East Germany.
1971 UN Security Council chooses Kurt Waldheim as 4th secretary General.
1968 Apollo 8 (Borman, Lovell and Anders) 1st manned Moon voyage.
1962 U.S. and Cuba accord, releases bay of pigs captive.
1957 Indonesia proclaims end to state of war.
1804 Benjamin Disraeli (England Prime Minister) was born.
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Sources and references: www.brainyhistory.com ; http://www.on-this-day.com ; http://www.famousbirthdays.com ; http://www.historyorb.com ; and some relevant documents.
Satoshi Ashikaga is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, originally from Japan.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 15 Dec 2014.
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