This Week in History

HISTORY, 6 Jul 2015

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

July 6–12

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” – Christopher Reeve

JULY 6

2014  The state of Washington legalizes recreational marijuana, becoming the second U.S. state to do so after Colorado.

2006  The Nathula Pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-openes for trade after 44 years.

2003  The 70-metre Eupatoria Planetary Radar sends a METI message (Cosmic Call 2) to five stars: Hip 4872, HD 245409, 55 Cancri (HD 75732), HD 10307 and 47 Ursae Majoris (HD 95128). The messages will arrive to these stars in 2036, 2040, 2044 and 2049 respectively.

1997  The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.

1995  In the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia begins its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, and kills more than 8000 Bosniaks, in what then- UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called “the worst crime on European soil since the Second World War”.

Arguments that deny or question “Srebrenica”:

Controversies over “Srebrenica”:

YouTube video on the Srebrenica genocide:

YouTube video on the war in Bosnia overall: a case of a Bosnian Serb soldier:

Books on “Srebrenica” sold by Amazon.com:

1988  The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires. One hundred sixty-seven oil workers are killed, making it the world’s worst offshore oil disaster in terms of direct loss of life.

1987  USSR performs nuclear test.

1975  The Comoros declares independence from France.

1967  Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war.

1966  Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President.

1964  Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.

1962  As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place.

1947  The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.

1944  Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court martial.

1942  Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annexe” above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.

1941  Nazi Germany launches its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk.

1939  Holocaust: the last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany are closed.

1937  Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle begins with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid.

1919  The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.

1917  World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.

1892  Dadabhai Naoroji is elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain.

1887  David Kalākaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced at gunpoint by Americans to sign the Bayonet Constitution giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian citizens of their rights.

1885  Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.

1854  In Jackson, Michigan, the first convention of the United States Republican Party is held.

1809  The second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeats the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars.

1801  First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeat the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras.

1785  The dollar is unanimously chosen as the monetary unit for the United States.

1779  Battle of Grenada: The French defeat British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.

1777  American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.

1751  Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.

1685  Battle of Sedgemoor: Last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion. troops of King James II defeat troops of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth.

1630  Thirty Years’ War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.

 

 

JULY 7

2005  A series of four explosions occurs on London’s transport system killing 56 people including four suicide bombers and injuring over 700 others.

1997  The Turkish Armed Forces withdraw from northern Iraq after assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War.

1991  Yugoslav Wars: the Brioni Agreement ends the ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

1988  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1983  Cold War: Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov.

1981  US President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

1981  Peace Pilgrim (July 18, 1908 – July 7, 1981) dies.

1980  US President Ronald Reagan appoints Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States.

1980  During the Lebanese Civil War, 83 Tiger militants are killed during what will be known as the Safra massacre.

1980  Institution of sharia in Iran.

1979  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1963  Buddhist crisis: The police of Ngô Đình Nhu, brother and chief political adviser of President Ngô Đình Diệm, attacked a group of American journalists who were covering a protest.

1962  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1959  Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.

1958  US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.

1956  Fritz Moravec and two other Austrian mountaineers make the first ascent of Gasherbrum II (8,035 m).

1953  Ernesto “Che” Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.

1947  The Roswell incident, the (supposed) crash of an alien spaceship near Roswell in New Mexico.

1946  Mother Francesca S. Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized.

1944  World War II: Largest Banzai charge of the Pacific War at the Battle of Saipan.

1941  World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops.

1941  World War II: U.S. forces land in Iceland, taking over from an earlier British occupation.

1937 Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Lugou Bridge – Japanese forces invade Beijing, China.

1915  Militia officer Henry Pedris executed by firing squad at Colombo, Ceylon – an act widely regarded as a miscarriage of justice by the British colonial authorities.

1915  World War I: end of First Battle of the Isonzo.

1911  The United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Russia sign the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 banning open-water seal hunting, the first international treaty to address wildlife preservation issues.

1898  US President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.

1892  Katipunan: the Revolutionary Philippine Brotherhood is established, contributing to the fall of the Spanish Empire in Asia.

1863  United States begins its first military draft; exemptions cost $300.

1834  In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists began.

1807  Napoleonic Wars: the Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia ends the War of the Fourth Coalition.

 

 

JULY 8

2014  Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amidst rising tensions following the killing of Israeli teenagers.

1994  Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.

1989  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1982  Assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Dujail.

1974  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

1970  Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.

1966  King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.

1962  Ne Win besieges and dynamites the Rangoon University Student Union building to crush the Student Movement.

1960  Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.

1948  The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).

1947  Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.

1937  Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad.

1932  The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.

1912  Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.

1898  The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.

1889  The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.

1876  White supremacists kill five Black Republicans in Hamburg, South Carolina.

 

 

JULY 9

2011  South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.

1993  The Parliament of Canada passes the Nunavut Act leading to the 1999 creation of Nunavut, dividing the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub-arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite.

1986  The Parliament of New Zealand passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.

1979  A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by the famed “Nazi hunters” Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.

1972  The Troubles: In Belfast, British Army snipers shoot five civilians dead in the Springhill Massacre.

1972  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

1962  The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test is conducted by the United States.

1961  Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum.

1958  Lituya Bay is hit by a megatsunami. The wave is recorded at 30 to 91 meters high, the largest in recorded history.

1955  The Russell–Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London, England, United Kingdom.

1944  World War II: Battle of Tali-Ihantala – Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. The Red Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into a defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive.

1944  World War II: Battle of Saipan – American forces take Saipan in the Mariana Islands.

1944  World War II: Battle of Normandy – British and Canadian forces capture Caen, France.

1943  World War II: Operation Husky – Allied forces perform an amphibious invasion of Sicily.

1932  The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution.

1903  Future Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is exiled to Siberia for three years.

1900  Boxer Rebellion: The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign Christian missionaries and local church members, including children.

1900  Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives Royal Assent to an Act creating Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government.

1896  William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetallism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

1877  The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins.

1875  Outbreak of the Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule, which would last until 1878 and have far-reaching implications throughout the Balkans.

 

 

JULY 10

2012  The American Episcopal Church becomes the first to approve a rite for blessing gay marriages.

2008  Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all charges by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of the United Nations, accusing him of war crimes.

1998  Roman Catholic sex abuse cases: The Diocese of Dallas agrees to pay $23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were sexually abused by Rudolph Kos, a former priest.

1997  In London scientists report the findings of the DNA analysis of a aNeanderthal skeleton which supports the “out of Africa theory” of human evolution placing an “African Eve” at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago.

1992  In Miami, Florida, the former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega is sentenced to 40 years in prison for drug and racketeering violations.

1991  Boris Yeltsin takes office as the first elected President of Russia.

1991  The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid.

1985  The Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior is bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour by French DGSE agents, killing Fernando Pereira.

1981  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1978  President Moktar Ould Daddah of Mauritania is ousted in a bloodless coup d’état.

1976  One American and three British mercenaries are executed in Angola following the Luanda Trial.

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

1973  National Assembly of Pakistan passes a resolution on the recognition of Bangladesh.

1973  The Bahamas gain full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.

1971  Hassan II of Morocco survives an attempted coup d’état, which lasts until June 11.

1967  New Zealand adopts decimal currency.

1967  Uruguay becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

1966  The Chicago Freedom Movement, led by Martin Luther King, Jr., holds a rally at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. As many as 60,000 people come to hear Dr. King as well as Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Peter Paul and Mary.

1962  Telstar, the world’s first communications satellite, is launched into orbit.

1962  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island.

1956  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island.

1951  Korean War: Armistice negotiations begin at Kaesong.

1947  Muhammad Ali Jinnah is recommended as the first Governor-General of Pakistan by the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

1946  Hungarian hyperinflation sets a record with inflation of 348.46 percent per day, or prices doubling every eleven hours.

1942  World War II: An American pilot spots a downed, intact Mitsubishi A6M Zero on Akutan Island (the “Akutan Zero“) that the US Navy uses to learn the aircraft’s flight characteristics.

1942  Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and the Soviet Union are established.

1941  Jedwabne Pogrom: The massacre of Jewish people living in and near the village of Jedwabne in Poland.

1940  World War II: Battle of Britain – The German Luftwaffe begins attacking British convoys in the English Channel thus starting the battle (this start date is contested, though).

1940  World War II: The Vichy government is established in France.

1938  Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.

1925  Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called “Monkey Trial” begins with John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.

1925  Meher Baba begins his silence of 44 years. His followers observe Silence Day on this date in commemoration.

1921  Belfast’s Bloody Sunday: Sixteen people are killed and 161 houses destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

1882  War of the Pacific: Chile suffers its last military defeat in the Battle of La Concepción when a garrison of 77 men is annihilated by a 1,300-strong Peruvian force, many of them armed with spears.

 

 

JULY 11

2012  Astronomers announce the discovery of Styx, the fifth moon of Pluto.

2006  Mumbai train bombings: Two hundred nine people are killed in a series of bomb attacks in Mumbai, India.

1995  The Srebrenica massacre is carried out.

1991  Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Aiming at the Abolition of the Death Penalty (1989) comes into force.

1985  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1977  Martin Luther King, Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

1971  Copper mines in Chile are nationalized.

1965  Israeli Mapai-party nominates David Ben-Gurion.

1962  First transatlantic satellite television transmission.

1962  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1962  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island.

1960  Congo Crisis: The State of Katanga breaks away from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1960  France legislates for the independence of Dahomey (later Benin), Upper Volta (later Burkina) and Niger.

1957  Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismai’li worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III.

1950  Pakistan joins the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank.

1947  The Exodus 1947 heads to Palestine from France.

1943  World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily – German and Italian troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily.

1943  Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Volhynia) peak.

1940  World War II: Vichy France regime is formally established. Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.

1934  Engelbert Zaschka of Germany flies his large human-powered aircraft, the Zaschka Human-Power Aircraft, about 20 meters at Berlin Tempelhof Airport without assisted take-off.

1921  Former President of the United States William Howard Taft is sworn in as 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, becoming the only person ever to hold both offices.

1921  The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People’s Republic.

1921  A truce in the Irish War of Independence comes into effect.

1920  In the East Prussian plebiscite the local populace decides to remain with Weimar Germany.

1919  The eight-hour day and free Sunday become law for workers in the Netherlands.

1897  Salomon August Andrée leaves Spitsbergen to attempt to reach the North Pole by balloon. He later crashes and dies.

1893  A revolution led by the liberal general and politician, José Santos Zelaya, takes over state power in Nicaragua.

1889  Tijuana, Mexico, is founded.

1833  Noongar Australian aboriginal warrior Yagan, wanted for the murder of white colonists in Western Australia, is killed.

 

 

JULY 12

2012  The Turaymisah massacre kills 250 people during a Syrian military operation in a village within the Hama Governorate.

2007  US Army Apache helicopters perform airstrikes in Baghdad, Iraq; footage from the cockpit is later leaked to the Internet.

2006  Hezbollah initiates Operation True Promise.

1979  The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from United Kingdom.

1975  São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.

1971  The Australian Aboriginal Flag is flown for the first time.

1970  A fire consumes the wooden home of Norwegian composer Geirr Tveitt and irretrievably destroys about 90 percent of his output.

1960  Orlyonok, the main Young Pioneer camp of the Russian SFSR, is founded.

1948  Arab–Israeli War: Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion orders the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla.

1943  World War II: Battle of Prokhorovka – German and Soviet forces engage in one of the largest tank engagements of all time.

1920  The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty is signed. Soviet Russia recognizes independent Lithuania.

1917  The Bisbee Deportation occurs as vigilantes kidnap and deport nearly 1,300 striking miners and others from Bisbee, Arizona.

1913  Second Balkan War: Serbian forces begin their siege of the Bulgarian city of Vidin; the siege is later called off when the war ends.

1879  The National Guards Unit of Bulgaria is founded.

1812  War of 1812: The United States invades Canada at Windsor, Ontario.

1806 Liechtenstein is given full sovereignty after its accession to the Confederation of the Rhine.

1806  Sixteen German imperial states leave the Holy Roman Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine.

______________________________

Satoshi Ashikaga, having worked as researcher, development program/project officer, legal protection/humanitarian assistance officer, human rights monitor, 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, 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: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_6 to 12; http://www.historyorb.com/events/july/6 to 12; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/july_6.html to 12.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 6 Jul 2015.

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