This Week in History
HISTORY, 30 Mar 2015
Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service
Mar 30–Apr 5
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done.” — Louise D. Brandeis
MARCH 30
2013 DPRK (North Korea) declares it is at a state of war with ROK (South Korea).
– Visit, for instance, North Korea says enters ‘state of war’ against South ;_ North Korea Reportedly Entering ‘State of War’ Against South Korea ; _and/or Here’s North Korea’s Official Declaration of ‘War’.
– For DPRK, visit, for instance, NKNEWS.ORG and/or the official webpage of DPR of Korea.
2006 The United Kingdom Terrorism Act 2006 becomes a law.
1984 US ends participation in the Multinational Force in Lebanon (MNF), an international peacekeeping force.
– Visit, for instance, TEXT OF PRESIDENT’S LETTER ON MULTINATIONAL FORCE.
1983 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.
1981 U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr. Another two people are wounded at the same time.
1979 Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
1976 The first Land Day protests are held in Israel/Palestine.
1972 Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
1965 Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
1961 The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
1949 A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
1945 World War II: Soviet forces invade Austria and capture Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.
1944 Allied bombing raid on Nuremberg. Along the English eastern coast 795 aircraft are dispatched, including 572 Lancasters, 214 Halifaxes and 9 Mosquitos. The bombers meet resistance at the coasts of Belgium and the Netherlands from German fighters. In total, 95 bombers are lost, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of World War II.
1944 World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
1940 Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
1926 Stalin supports rights of non-Serbian Yugoslavians.
– For pertinent subjects, visit, for instance, The Free Dictionary: Yugoslavia ; State: Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija) ; Serbia (Srbija) and Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija) ; Timelines: Yugoslavia ; Tito’s Last Secret: How Did He Keep the Yugoslavs Together? ; _ and/or _ Understanding Yugoslavia.
1918 Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
1912 Sultan Abdelhafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
1899 German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
1885 The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.
1867 Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2-cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
1856 The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
1855 Origins of the American Civil War: Bleeding Kansas – “Border Ruffians” from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
1844 One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
MARCH 31
– Visit, for instance, ICJ rules against Japanese whaling ; _ and _ BREAKING: Japan’s ‘research whaling’ ruled illegal by International Court of Justice.
2011 After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
2009 Croatia and Albania join NATO.
2004 Iraq War in Anbar Province: In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.
1995 End of the US military campaign in Somalia.
– Visit, for instance, Somalia: Civil War, Intervention and Withdrawal 1990 – 1995 ; _ and _ Wikipedia: Somali Civil War.
1991 Georgian independence referendum, 1991: Nearly 99 percent of the voters support the country’s independence from the Soviet Union.
1964 A coup d’état in Brazil establishes a military government, under the aegis of general Castelo Branco.
1959 The 14th Dalai Lama, crosses the border into India and is granted political asylum.
– Visit, for instance, The Tibetan Uprising in 1959 ;_ Wikipedia: 1959 Tibetan Uprising ;_ and/or _ This Day in History: Dalai Lama begins exile ;_ March 31, 1959, Dalai Lama Exile Begins ;_ and _ Why Tibet? HISTORY LEADING UP TO 10TH 1959.
1945 World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.
1945 World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1, the world’s first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft, to the Americans, the first to fall into Allied hands.
1942 World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession.
1899 Malolos, capital of the First Philippine Republic, was captured by American forces.
1918 Daylight saving time goes into effect in the United States for the first time.
1918 Massacre of ethnic Azerbaijanis is committed by allied armed groups of Armenian Revolutionary Federation and Bolsheviks. Nearly 12,000 Azerbaijani Muslims are killed.
1909 Serbia accepts Austrian control over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1889 The Eiffel Tower is officially opened.
1885 The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
1866 The Spanish Navy bombs the harbor of Valparaíso, Chile.
1854 Commodore Matthew Perry signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.
1822 The massacre of the population of the Greek island of Chios by soldiers of the Ottoman Empire following an attempted rebellion, depicted by the French artist Eugène Delacroix.
1774 American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain orders the port of Boston, Massachusetts closed pursuant to the Boston Port Act.
APRIL 1
2011 After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
2009 Croatia and Albania join NATO.
2006 The Serious Organised Crime Agency, dubbed the “British FBI”, is created in the United Kingdom.
2001 Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
1999 Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
1989 Margaret Thatcher‘s new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the “poll tax”), is introduced in Scotland.
1986 Sector Kanda: Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attacks a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
1979 Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
1976 Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne.
1973 Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Corbett National Park, India.
1971 Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre over 1,000 people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
1970 President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General‘s warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States, starting on January 1, 1971.
1961 Single Integrated Operation Plan goes into effect.
1960 France performs nuclear test at Reggane Proving Grounds, Algeria.
– Visit French Atmospheric Nuclear Tests Database.
– Visit Wikipedia: France and weapons of mass destruction.
1955 The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of obtaining the desired unification (“enosis”) with Greece.
1952 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1949 The 26 counties of the Irish Free State become Ireland.
1949 Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
1948 Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.
1948 Cold War: Berlin Airlift — Military forces, under direction of the Soviet-controlled government in East Germany, set-up a land blockade of West Berlin.
1945 World War II: Operation Iceberg – United States troops land on Okinawa in the last major campaign of the war.
1941 A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of ‘Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali as Prime Minister.
1941 The Blockade Runner Badge for the German navy is instituted.
1941 Fântâna Albă massacre: between 200 and 2,000 Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Guards.
1939 Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
1937 Spanish Civil War: Jaén, Spain is bombed by Nazi forces.
1936 Odisha formerly known as Kalinga or Utkal becomes a state in India.
1933 The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.
1924 Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch“. However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes Mein Kampf.
1919 The Staatliches Bauhaus school is founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar.
1867 Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
APRIL 2
– Visit also, for instance, NSA Confirms Warrantless Searches of Americans.
2013 The UN General Assembly of 2 April 2013 (71st Plenary Meeting) adopts the Arms Trade Treaty as a resolution by a 154-to-3 vote with 23 abstentions. North Korea, Iran, and Syria voted in opposition.
– Text of the Arms Trade Treaty.
2004 Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
2002 Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated; a siege ensues.
1994 The National Convention of New Sudan of the SPLA/M opens in Chukudum.
1989 Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
1985 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1982 Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
1975 Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
1973 The Liberal Movement breaks away from the Liberal and Country League in South Australia.
1945 Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Brazil are established.
1930 After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
1921 The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
1917 World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
1902 Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Marie Palace, St Petersburg.
1801 Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Copenhagen – The British capture the Danish fleet.
APRIL 3
2004 Islamic terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.
1997 The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
1988 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.
1987 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.
1985 French government adopts equal electoral system.
– Visit, for instance, French Regional elections: With ‘proportional’ system, the devil is in the datails… ; _ Wikipedia: Proportional representation ;_and/or_ PROPORTIONAL REPRESETATION VOTING SYSTEMS.
1980 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1980 France performs nuclear test.
1976 France performs nuclear test at Muruora, Island.
1973 Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs, though it took ten years for the DynaTAC 8000X to become the first such phone to be commercially released.
1969 Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to “Vietnamize” the war effort.
1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.
1957 USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test.
1955 The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg‘s book Howl against obscenity charges.
1948 In Jeju, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses begins, known as the Jeju massacre.
1948 President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
1942 World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.
1922 Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1919 Austria expels all Habsburgers. Visit, for instance, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Habsburg.
APRIL 4
– For pertinent articles, visit, for instance, Industry vs. Environment: The Battle over Climate Change ;_ New Climate Battle over Food Pyramid; $784M needed to Repair Great Barrier Reef ;_ Climate change starting a fast-food chicken war ;_ and/or _ Fight climate change by eating less meat.
2002 The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.
1991 The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress.
1984 President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
1981 The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.
1980 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk, USSR.
1979 Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
1976 Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
1975 Vietnam War: Operation Baby Lift – A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff; 172 die.
1975 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico
1969 The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.
1969 Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech in New York City‘s Riverside Church.
1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1965 The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled.
– Visit, for instance, Saab history – milestones ; _ and/or _ Swedish Air Force Historic Flight Preserves: Sweden’s Unique Military Aviation Heritage.
– For military industrial complex, visit, for instance, Military-Industrial Complex ;_ and _ Wikipedia: Military-Industrial Complex.
1960 France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan.
1958 The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.
1949 Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1945 World War II: Soviet troops liberate from German occupation and/or occupy Hungary. (national Hungarian holiday until 1990)
1945 World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.
1944 World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.
1930 The Communist Party of Panama is founded. The Communist Party of Panama is founded.
1913 First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.
APRIL 5
2009 North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.
1999 Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
1992 The Siege of Sarajevo begins when Serb paramilitaries murder peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić on the Vrbanja Bridge.
– For Siege of Sarajevo overall, visit, for instance, Russia and Eastern Europe Chronology: Siege of Sarajevo 1992 – 1996 ;_ THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO 1992 – 1996 (PHOTO STORY – PART 1) ;_ THE SIEGE OF SARAJEVO MUSEUM – THE ART OF LIVING 1992 – 1996 (FAMA COLLECTION) ;_ Sarajevo 1992 – 1995: looking back after 20 years ; _ SURVIVAL MAP ;_ Life and death on my street in Sarajevo ; _ Sports of The Times; From Sarajevo 1984 To Sarajevo Today [1994] ; _ and/or _ Siege of Sarajevo (Opsada Sarajevo).
– Watch some documentary films/videos on Siege of Sarajevo, among others, for instance, Love and Death in Sarajevo (Full Documentary) ; _ A Sarajevo Diary: From bad to worse ; _ and/or _ Sector Sarajevo.
– For Sarajevo after the War, and/or historical and other relevant issues, visit, for instance, Life After War: Sarajevo Today ; Two Decades After Siege, Sarajevo Still A City Divided ; _ Sarajevo: A Crossroads in History ; and/or _ Visual Jewish World: Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
– In addition, visit, for instance _ From Sarajevo, a Girl and a Diary on Fear ; _ Zlata Filipović ; _ and _ Cellist of Sarajevo (Real Life) ; _ Vedran Smaijović.
– One of the things that Bosnia did recently was this: Bosnia donates 550 tonnes of arms to Iraq, more may follow: minister.
1992 Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force.
1986 Three people are killed in the bombing of the La Belle Discothèque in West Berlin, Germany.
1977 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1976 In the People’s Republic of China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen incident.
1971 In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
1969 Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities.
1965 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.
1956 Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.
1951 Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.
1946 Soviet troops leave the island of Bornholm, Denmark after an 11-month occupation.
1945 Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow “temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory”.
1944 World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.
1942 World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean Raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
1933 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 “forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates” by U.S. citizens.
1932 Alcohol prohibition in Finland ends. Alcohol sales begin in Alko liquor stores.
1879 Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.
1847 Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park in Britain, is opened in Birkenhead.
1818 In the Battle of Maipú, Chile‘s independence movement – led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín – win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
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Satoshi Ashikaga is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment originally from Japan.
(Sources and references: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_30 to April_5; http://www.historyorb.com/events/march/2http://www.historyorb.com/events/april/30 to april/5; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/march_30.html to april_5; and other relevant documents and/or websites, mentioned above.) Note that 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.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 30 Mar 2015.
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