This Week in History
HISTORY, 19 Jan 2015
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service
January 19-25
Quote of the Week:
“At the center of nonviolence stands principle of love.” — Martin Luther King, Jr. (Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/non-violence.html )
January 19
1997 Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
1991 Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.
1986 The first IBM PC computer virus is released into the wild. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter piracy of the software they had written.
1986 Spain recognizes Israel. For Israel – Spain relations, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel%E2%80%93Spain_relations .
1983 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
1981 Iran Hostage Crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
1974 China gain control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of the People’s Republic of China and Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).
1960 Japan and the United States sign the US-Japan Mutual Security Treaty.
1957 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test.
1946 General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
1945 World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Łódź ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.
1927 British government decides to send troops to China. For its background, visit, for instance, http://www.fsmitha.com/time/1927.htm ; and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Opium_War .
1921 Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador sign Pact of Union. For more information on the background of the Union, visit, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Republic_of_Central_America ; and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Central_America .
1920 The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
1915 World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in the United Kingdom killing more than 20, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
1871 Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.
1839 The British East India Company captures Aden.
1817 An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.
1812 Peninsular War: After a ten-day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo.
1806 The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope.
1795 The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
January 20
2001 Philippine president Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent 4-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
1999 The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use, aimed especially at Internet cafés.
1991 Sudan‘s government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south.
1986 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.
1981 Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated, at age 69 the oldest man ever to be inaugurated as U.S. President, Iran releases 52 American hostages.
1972 Pakistan launched its Nuclear weapons program few weeks after its defeat in Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
1949 Point Four Program a program for economic aid to poor countries announced by United States President Harry S. Truman in his inaugural address for a full term as President.
1942 World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the “Final Solution to theJewish Question“. For more information on this issue, visit, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Solution .
1939 Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews.
1925 USSR and Japan sign treaty of Peking, Seychelles back to USSR.
1921 The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.
1887 The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.
1877 Last day of the Constantinople Conference which resulted in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.
1841 Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British.
1785 Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong River by the Tay Son in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.
1783 The Kingdom of Great Britain signs a peace treaty with France and Spain, officially ending hostilities in the American Revolutionary War(also known as the American War of Independence).
January 21
1999 War on Drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board. On this issue, visit, among others, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking ; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/archive/gunsdrugscia.html ; http://www.serendipity.li/cia.html ; http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/12247-cia-%E2%80%9Cmanages%E2%80%9D-drug-trade-mexican-official-says ; http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/National_News_2/Secret_ties_between_CIA_drugs_revealed_2625.shtml ; and/or http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/11/07/the-cia-and-drugs-inc-a-covert-history/ .
1988 US accepts immigration of 30,000 U.S. – Vietnamese children. For this issue, visit, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_American ; http://www.asian-nation.org/amerasians.shtml ; and http://www.sjsu.edu/people/estella.habal/courses/c3/s1/asianimmigrationVietnam.pdf .
1977 President of the United States Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all American Vietnam War draft evaders, some of whom had emigrated to Canada.
1968 A B-52 bomber crashes near Thule Air Base, contaminating the area after its nuclear payload ruptures. One of the four bombs remains unaccounted for after the cleanup operation is complete.
1968 Vietnam War: Battle of Khe Sanh – One of the most publicized and controversial battles of the war begins.
1968 US B-52 bomber with nuclear bomb crashes in Greenland. For more information on this issue, visit, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Thule_Air_Base_B-52_crash ; and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1084557/Revealed-How-U-S-left-nuclear-warhead-lying-ocean-B52-crash-1968.html ; and http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=82900&page=1 .
1954 The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut by Mamie Eisenhower, the First Lady of the United States.
1925 Albania declares itself a republic. For history of Albania, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Albania . For Albania and its culture and relevant things, visit, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania ; and/or http://www.infoplease.com/country/albania.html .
1919 Meeting of the First Dáil Éireann in the Mansion House Dublin. Sinn Féin adopts Ireland‘s first constitution. The first engagement of Irish War of Independence, Sologhead Beg, County Tipperary.
1793 After being found guilty of treason by the French Convention, Louis XVI of France is executed by guillotine.
1720 Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Stockholm.
January 22
2003 The United Nations reported that there is no link between Al Qaeda and Iraq. On this issue, visit, for instance, http://rense.com/general34/nolink.htm ; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47812-2004Jun16.html ; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50679-2004Jun17.html ; and/or http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5223932/ns/us_news-security/t/panel-sees-no-link-between-iraq-al-qaida/#.VLjlOSvF-wU .
1995 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid massacre – In central Israel, near Netanya, two suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip blow themselves up at a military transit point killing 19 Israelis.
1992 Rebel forces occupy Zaire‘s national radio station in Kinshasa and broadcast a demand for the government’s resignation.
1991 Gulf War: Three SCUDs and one Patriot missile hit Ramat Gan in Israel, injuring 96 people. Three elderly people die of heart attacks.
1989 USSR performs nuclear test at Semipalitinsk, Eastern Kazakhstan USSR.
1971 The Singapore Declaration, one of the two most important documents to the uncodified constitution of the Commonwealth of Nations, is issued.
1968 Operation Igloo White, a US electronic surveillance system to stop communist infiltration into South Vietnam begins installation.
1963 The Élysée Treaty of cooperation between France and Germany is signed by Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer.
1962 The Organization of American States suspends Cuba‘s membership.
1957 Israel withdraws from the Sinai Peninsula. In this regard, visit, for instance, http://famousdaily.com/history/israel-withdraws-from-the-sinai-peninsula.html ; and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957_in_Israel .
1946 Creation of the Central Intelligence Group, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. For the early history of CIA, visit http://www.policyalmanac.org/world/archive/cia_history.shtml ; and/or http://fas.org/irp/cia/ciahist.htm .
1946 In Iran, Qazi Muhammad declares the independent people’s Republic of Mahabad at Chuwarchira Square in the Kurdish city of Mahabad. He is the new president andHadschi Baba Scheich is the prime minister.
1917 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson of the still-neutral United States calls for “peace without victory” in Europe.
1879 Anglo-Zulu War: (1) Battle of Isandlwana – Zulu troops decisively defeat British troops. (2) Battle of Rorke’s Drift – 139 British soldiers successfully defend their garrison against an onslaught by three to four thousand Zulu warriors.
1863 The January Uprising breaks out in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. The aim of the national movement is to regain Polish–Lithuanian–Ruthenian Commonwealth from occupation by Russia.
1849 Second Anglo-Sikh War: The Siege of Multan ends after nine months when the last Sikh defenders of Multan, Punjab, surrender.
1824 The Ashantis defeat British forces in the Gold Coast.
January 23
2012 A group of Gaddafi loyalists take control of part of the town of Bani Walid and fly the green flag after a battle with NTC forces left 5 dead and 20 injured.
2012 Responding to Iran’s nuclear program, more sanctions are imposed upon Iran’s banking and oil industries by the European Union.
2002 Reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Karachi, Pakistan and subsequently murdered .
2001 Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing‘s Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Communist Party of China to frameFalun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.
1987 Japan 1st exceeds military spending cap of 1% of GNP ($23 billion). Regarding Japan’s military spending, especially that of the fiscal year 2015, for instance, visit http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Defense-spending-to-hit-record-high .
1973 President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
1970 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1968 North Korea seizes the USS Pueblo, claiming the ship had violated its territorial waters while spying.
1967 Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Côte d’Ivoire are established.
1963 The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese army stationed in Tite.
1958 After a general uprising and rioting in the streets, President Marcos Pérez Jiménez leaves Venezuela.
1950 The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
1946 Rear Admiral Sidney W Souers, USNR, becomes 1st director of CIA. For more information on the Director of CIA, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_the_Central_Intelligence_Agency; and/or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_Central_Intelligence .
1941 Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
1937 In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin‘s regime and assassinate its leaders.
1920 The Netherlands refuses to surrender the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies.
1912 The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
1912 The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.
1908 US and Great Britain demand end of abuses in Congo. For more information on this issue, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Free_State .
1900 Second Boer War: The Battle of Spion Kop between the forces of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State and British forces ends in a British defeat.
1879 Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke’s Drift ends.
1870 In Montana, US cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in what becomes known as the Marias Massacre.
January 24
2014 The Philippines and the Bangsamoro agree to a peace deal that would help end the 45-year conflict.
2013 European Bioinformatics Institute scientists have successfully stored audio and text on fragments of DNA, and retrieved them with 99.99% accuracy – the first time in history DNA has been used for data storage. Visit http://www.live2hustle.net/fam/archive/index.php/t-994533.html ; and http://greatriversofhope.wordpress.com/tag/european-bioinformatics-institute/ .
2003 The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
1996 Polish Prime Minister Józef Oleksy resigns amid charges that he spied for Moscow.
1993 Turkish journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu is assassinated by a car bomb in Ankara.
1979 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1978 Soviet satellite Cosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada‘s Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
1977 Massacre of Atocha in Madrid, during the Spanish transition to democracy.
1972 Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
1968 Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bìnhand Biên Hòa .
1961 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
1960 Algerian War: Some units of European volunteers in Algiers stage an insurrection known as the “barricades week”, during which they seize government buildings and clash with local police.
1951 UN begins counter offensive in Korea. For the Korean War, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War . For the timeline of the Korean War events, visit http://www.koreanwar60.com/timeline-korean-war-events .
1946 The United Nations General Assembly passes its first resolution to establish the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.
1943 World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
1943 Hitler orders Nazi troops at Stalingrad to fight to death. Visit http://www.historyorb.com/people/adolf-hitler . For the Battle of Stalingrad, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad.
1943 Jewish patients/nurses/doctors incinerated at Auschwitz-Birkenau. On this regard, visit, for reference and information, http://en.auschwitz.org/h/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=15&limit=1&limitstart=4 ; http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/apeldoornsebos.html ; anhttp://www.spectacle.org/695/doctors.html ; and http://www.auschwitz.dk/doctors.htm .
1900 Second Boer War: Boers stop a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop.
1835 Slaves in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, stage a revolt, which is instrumental in ending slavery there 50 years later. For history of slavery in Brazil, visit, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Brazil ; http://www.unc.edu/world/2010Seminars/Caldwell_Brazil.pdf ; http://histclo.com/country/other/bra/hist/bh-abol.html ; and http://wn.com/history_of_slavery_in_brazil .
1817 Crossing of the Andes: Many soldiers of Juan Gregorio de las Heras are captured during the Action of Picheuta.
1758 During the Seven Years’ War the leading burghers of Königsberg submit to Elizabeth I of Russia, thus forming Russian Prussia (until 1763).
January 25
2011 The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins in Egypt, with a series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout other cities in Egypt.
2003 2003 Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.
1998 A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka‘s Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.
1995 The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile.
1986 The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
1983 Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia. For Klaus Barbie, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Barbie . For his trial, visit http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/barbietrial.html .
1971 Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda‘s president.
1969 Brazilian Army captain Carlos Lamarca deserts in order to fight against the military dictatorship, taking with him 10 machine guns and 63 rifles.
1955 The Soviet Union ends the state of war with Germany.
1955 United States and Panama sign canal treaty. For more information on this treaty, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remon-Eisenhower_Treaty . For the Panama Canal, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal ; http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/panama-canal-strategic.htm ; and/or http://www.infoplease.com/spot/pancanal1.html . For Panama – the US relations, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama%E2%80%93United_States_relations .
1942 World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.
1932 Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese National Revolutionary Army begins its defense of Harbin.
1919 The League of Nations is founded.
1918 Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia. For history of Ukraine, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine . For the relations between Ukraine and Russia, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia%E2%80%93Ukraine_relations .
1918 Russia declared a republic of Soviets. Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Soviet_Federative_Socialist_Republic#Early_years_.281917.E2.80.9320.29 . For the Russian Constitution of 1918 (the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic ), visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Constitution_of_1918 .
1916 Montenegro surrenders to Austria-Hungary. For the historical events of Montenegro, visit http://www.historyorb.com/countries/montenegro . For Montenegro, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montenegro . For Austria-Hungary (Austro-Hungarian Empire), visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austria-Hungary .
1802 Napoleon elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic. For more information, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Republic_(Napoleonic) and/or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisalpine_Republic .
1765 Port Egmont, the first British settlement in the Falkland Islands at the southern tip of South America, is founded.
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(Sources and references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_19 to January_25 ; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/january_19.html to junary_25 ; http://www.datesinhistory.com/jan19.php to jan25.php and other relevant websites and/or documents, mentioned above.)
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 19 Jan 2015.
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