This Week in History

HISTORY, 17 Aug 2015

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

August 17-23

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
“Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.” – Dag Hammarskjöld

AUGUST 17

2005  Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts of Bangladesh.

Terrorism and Islam? :

For more relevant information on ISIS/ISIL and Al Qaeda, visit JUNE 29, 2014 of the This Week in History.

Religious Terrorism:

2005  The first forced evacuation of settlers, as part of Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan, starts.

2004  The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Bože pravde becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms is adopted for the whole country.

1999  A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit, Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000.

1988  President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.

1988  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1982  The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released to the public in Germany.

1978  Double Eagle II becomes first balloon to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in Miserey, France near Paris, 137 hours after leaving Presque Isle, Maine.

1977  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1977  The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.

1970  Venera program: Venera 7 launched. It will later become the first spacecraft to successfully transmit data from the surface of another planet (Venus).

1962  East German border guards kill Peter Fechter, 18, as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first victims of the wall.

1960  Decolonization: Gabon gains independence from France.

1959  Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude 7.5 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake near Hebgen Lake in Montana.

1958  Pioneer 0, America’s first attempt at lunar orbit, is launched using the first Thor-Able rocket and fails. Notable as one of the first attempted launches beyond Earth orbit by any country.

1953  Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics Anonymous in Southern California.

1950  Hill 303 massacre: American POWs are shot to death by the North Korean Army.

1947  The Radcliffe Line, the border between Dominion of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.

1945  Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.

History of Indonesia:

The National Revolution:

1943  World War II: First Québec Conference of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.

1943  World War II: The Royal Air Force begins Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against Germany’s V-weapon program.

1943  World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.

1943  World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.

1942  World War II: US Marines raid the Japanese-held Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).

1941  World War II: Soviet Army left Nikolaev and Krivoi Rog.

1918  Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei Uritsky is assassinated.

1915  Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia, United States.

1914  World War I: Battle of Stallupönen – The German army of General Hermann von François defeats the Russian force commanded by Paul von Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.

1866  The Grand Duchy of Baden announces her withdrawal from the German Confederation and signs a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia.

1862  American Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white settlements along the Minnesota River.

1798  The Vietnamese Roman Catholics report a Marian apparition in Quảng Trị, an event which is called Lady of La Vang.

1771  Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis in Scotland

1717 Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18: The month-long Siege of Belgrade ends with Prince Eugene of Savoy‘s Austrian troops capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire.

 

 

AUGUST 18

2008  President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigns under threat of impeachment.

2005  A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, the one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history.

1989 Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia.

1983  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1983  Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 22 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars).

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

1977  Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in King William’s Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa’s apartheid policies.

Apartheid in South Africa:

Steve Biko:

1976  In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom, the Axe murder incident results in the death of two US soldiers.

1971 Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.

1966  Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.

1965  Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins – United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.

1963  American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

1957  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1950  Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.

1945  Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country’s declaration of independence the previous day.

1938  The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States with Ontario, Canada over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

1920  The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women’s suffrage.

1917  A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.

1903  German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

1891  Major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.

1877  – Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Phobos.

1870  Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.

1868  French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.

1843  Camila O’Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.

1838  The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.

1783  A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.

 

 

AUGUST 19

2010  Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.

2009  A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 101 and injures 565 others.

2005  – The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.

2003  A suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem, Israel, planned by Hamas, kills 23 Israelis, seven of them children, in the Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing.

2003  A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency’s top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.

2002  Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.

1999  In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.

1991  Crown Heights riot: Black groups target Hasidic Jews on the streets of Crown Heights in New York, New York for three days, after two black children were hit by a car driven by a Hasidic man.

1991  Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.

1989  Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1989  Radio Caroline, the offshore pirate station in the North Sea, is raided by British and Dutch governments.

1989  Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.

1987  Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.

1981  Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.

1980  Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.

1978  Cinema Rex fire provoked more of 400 deaths.

1977  USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR.

1965  Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa Prefecture.

Eisaku Sato:

Eisaku Sato and Okinawa:

Japan’s Non-Nuclear Weapons Policy:

A Secret Nuclear Weapons Agreement between the United States and Japan, signed by the President of the United States (Richard Nixon) and the Prime Minister of Japan (Eisaku Sato = a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate):

Okinawa and Nuclear Weapons:

A Huge Explosion Sound Heard and a Huge Mushroom Cloud Witnessed near Kumé Island, Okinawa, on May 21, 2014. An Explosion of an Underwater Volcano in the Region, an Explosion of a Nuclear Device, or Something Else? :

Okinawa and Agent Orange:

For more relevant information on Agent Orange, visit This Week in History, the date of AUGUST 10, 1961: First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange by the US Army., and/or the TMS Archive Search.

US Biological Weapon Experiments in Okinawa

Okinawa Travel Guide:

History of Okinawa:

Okinawa and World War II:

US Occupation of Okinawa:

The Origin or One of the Main Origins of the Presence of the United States Military in Okinawa:

The Presence of the United States Military in Okinawa:

1964  Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, was launched.

1960  Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.

1960  Cold War: In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.

1953  Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

1945  August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.

1944  World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.

1942  World War II: Operation Jubilee: The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France and fails, many Canadians are killed or captured. The operation was intended to develop and try new amphibious landing tactics for the coming full invasion in Normandy.

1940  First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.

1934  The creation of the position Führer is approved by the German electorate with 89.9% of the popular vote.

1927  Metropolitan Sergius proclaims the declaration of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet Union.

1919  Afghanistan gains full independence from the United Kingdom.

Independence of Afghanistan:

1914  The Ottoman-Bulgarian alliance is signed in Sofia.

1862  American Indian Wars: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.

1861  First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest summit in the Alps.

1854  The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred.

1848  California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).

California Gold Rush, and Native Americans:

1813  Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina‘s Second Triumvirate.

1812  War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname “Old Ironsides”.

1772  Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d’état, in which he assumes power and enacts a new constitution that divides power between the Riksdag and the King.

1759  Battle of Lagos Naval battle during the Seven Years’ War between Great Britain and France.

 

 

AUGUST 20

2002  A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.

1998  U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

1998  The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.

1997  Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.

1993  After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.

1991  Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of its pre-World War II statehood.

History of Estonia:

The Annexation of Estonia:

1991  Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union’s parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

1988  The Troubles: Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone.

1988  Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.

1988  Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.

1980  UN Security Council condemns (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all of Jersualem is its capital.

1977  Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

1975  Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.

1972  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

1968  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1968  Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring.

1962  USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR.

1962  The NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.

1960  Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.

1955  In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.

1953  USSR publicly acknowledges hydrogen bomb test detonation.

1950  Korean War: United Nations repel an offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to cross the Naktong River and assault the city of Taegu.

1944  World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.

1944  World War II: 168 captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being “terror fliers”, arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp.

1940  World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line “Never was so much owed by so many to so few“.

1940  In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.

1914  World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.

1882  Tchaikovsky‘s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.

1866  President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.

1858  Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace‘s same theory.

 

 

AUGUST 21

2013 Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.

2001  The Red Cross announces that a famine is striking Tajikistan, and calls for international financial aid for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

2001  NATO decides to send a peace-keeping force to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to implement the Operation Essential Harvest, officially launched on August 22, 2001, and effectively started on August 27, 2001.

1993  NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

Mars:

Ancient Civilization on Mars? :

Nuclear War on Mars? :

1991  Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

1991  Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.

History of Latvia:

Independence of Latvia in 1991:

Independence of a State in International Law:

1986  Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.

1983  Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. is assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport).

1982  Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization‘s withdrawal from Lebanon.

1979  Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.

1976  Operation Paul Bunyan at Panmunjom, South Korea.

1972  US orbiting astronomy observatory Copernicus launched.

1971  A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.

1969  An Australian, Denis Michael Rohan, sets the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire, a major catalyst of the formation of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

1968  James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine. James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

1968  Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

1963  Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizes Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.

1959  United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii’s admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day

1957  The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.

1945  Physicist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1944  World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.

1944  Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.

Dumbarton Oaks:

History of the United Nations:

For the history of the United Nations and its relevant subjects, visit also JUNE 26, 1945: The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco in This Week in History.

1942  World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.

1942  World War II: The flag of Nazi Germany is installed atop the Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus mountain range.

1918  World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.

1914  World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre which pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.

1911  The Mona Lisa is stolen by a Louvre employee.

1901 The International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centres is founded in Copenhagen.

1897  Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles, is founded.

1888  The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.

1883  An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.

1879  The Virgin Mary, along with St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, reportedly appears at Knock Shrine in Knock, County Mayo, Ireland.

1863  Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by Confederate guerrillas Quantrill’s Raiders in the Lawrence Massacre.

1852  Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.

1831  Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion.

1821  Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.

1808  Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.

1772  King Gustav III completes his coup d’état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.

1770  James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

 

 

AUGUST 22

2012  Ethnic clashes over grazing rights for cattle in Kenya’s Tana River District result in more than 52 deaths.

2007  The Storm botnet, a botnet created by the Storm Worm, sends out a record 57 million e-mails in one day.

2006  Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board.

2004  Versions of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.

1996  Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law, representing major shift in US welfare policy

1978  The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FLSN) occupies national palace in Nicaragua.

1973  The Congress of Chile votes in favour of a resolution condemning President Salvador Allende‘s government and demands him to resign or else be unseated through force and new elections be called. The first demand is executed eighteen days later in a bloody coup d’etat, commencing 17 years of military rule.

1972  Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies.

1971  J. Edgar Hoover and John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28.

1966  Labor movements NFWA and AWOC merge to become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), predecessor of the United Farm Workers.

1963  American Joe Walker in an X-15 test plane reaches an altitude of 106 km (66 mi).

1962  An attempt to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle fails.

1961  Ida Siekmann dies attempting to cross the Berlin Wall.

1952  The penal colony on Devil’s Island is permanently closed.

1950  Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in international tennis.

1949  Queen Charlotte earthquake: Canada‘s largest earthquake since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake

1944  World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German forces

1944  World War II: Romania is captured by the Soviet Union.

1944  World War II: Brazil declares war on Germany and Italy.

1941  World War II: German troops reach Leningrad, leading to the siege of Leningrad.

1932  The BBC first experiments with television broadcasting. (See also Timeline of the BBC.)

1922  Michael Collins, Commander-in-chief of the Irish Free State Army, is shot dead during an Anti-Treaty ambush at Béal na Bláth, County Cork, during the Irish Civil War.

1910  Korea is annexed by Japan with the signing of the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, beginning a period of Japanese rule of Korea that lasted until the end of World War II.

1902  Cadillac Motor Company is founded.

1864  Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention.

1849 The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice.

1831  Nat Turner’s slave rebellion commences just after midnight in Southampton County, Virginia, leading to the deaths of more than 50 whites and several hundred African Americans who are killed in retaliation for the uprising.

 

 

AUGUST 23

2013  A riot at the Palmasola prison complex in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, kills 31 people.

2011  Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the 2011 Libyan civil war.

Muammar Gaddafi:

History of Libya:

History of Libya under Gaddafi:

Libya and Oil:

Libyan Civil War of 2011:

2011  A magnitude 5.8 (class: moderate) earthquake occurs in Virginia. Damage occurs to monuments and structures in Washington D.C. and the resulted damage is estimated at $200 million–$300 million USD.

2010  Manila hostage crisis, in which eight hostages were killed.

2007  The skeletal remains of Russia’s last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia.

2006  Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten, escapes from her captor Wolfgang Priklopil, after eight years of captivity.

2000  Gulf Air Flight 072 crashes into the Persian Gulf near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.

1996  Osama bin Laden issues message entitled ‘A declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places.’

1994  Eugene Bullard, the only black pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.

1993  The Galileo spacecraft discovers a moon, later named Dactyl, around 243 Ida, the first known asteroid moon.

1991  Tim Berners-Lee opens the WWW, World Wide Web to new users.

1990  West Germany and East Germany announce that they will reunite on October 3.

1990  Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Independence of Armenia in 1990:

1990  Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi state television with a number of Western “guests” (actually hostages) to try to prevent the Gulf War.

1989  One thousand six hundred forty-five Australian domestic airline pilots resign after the airlines threaten to fire them and sue them over a dispute.

1989  Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands (Baltic Way).

1985  Hans Tiedge, top counter-spy of West Germany, defects to East Germany.

1982  Bachir Gemayel is elected Lebanese President amidst the raging civil war.

1982  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1977  The Gossamer Condor wins the Kremer prize for human powered flight.

1975  USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR.

1973  A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathize with their captors, leading to the term “Stockholm syndrome“.

1970 Organized by Mexican American labor union leader César Chávez, the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, begins.

1966  Lunar Orbiter 1 takes the first photograph of Earth from orbit around the Moon.

1963  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1958  Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis begins with the People’s Liberation Army‘s bombardment of Quemoy.

1957  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1954  First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

1953  USSR performs nuclear test.

1948  World Council of Churches is formed.

1946  Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government constitutes the German Länder (states) of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein.

1945  Soviet–Japanese War – Joseph Stalin ordered conveying a Japanese army prisoner of war to the Soviet Union. (Japanese prisoners of war in the Soviet Union)

1944  Freckleton Air Disaster – A United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into a school in Freckleton, England killing 61 people.

1944  World War II: King Michael of Romania dismisses the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu, who is arrested. Romania switches sides from the Axis to the Allies.

1944  World War II: Marseille is liberated by the Allies.

1943  World War II: Kharkov is liberated as a result of the Battle of Kursk (aka “Operation Citadel” or “Operation Zitadelle”).

1942  World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad.

Note that some websites indicate “July 17”as the date of the commencement of the Battle of Stalingrad while others indicate “June” or simply “the summer of 1942”.

1939  World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two nations.

1929  Hebron Massacre during the 1929 Palestine riots: Arab attack on the Jewish community in Hebron in the British Mandate of Palestine, continuing until the next day, resulted in the death of 65-68 Jews and the remaining Jews being forced to leave the city.

1927  Italian Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are executed after a lengthy, controversial trial.

1923  Captain Lowell Smith and Lieutenant John P. Richter performed the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight record of 37 hours.

1921  British airship R-38 experiences structural failure over Hull in England and crashes in the Humber estuary. Of her 49 British and American training crew, only four survive.

1914  World War I: Battle of Mons: The British Army begins withdrawal.

1914  World War I: Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China.

1896  Officially recognized date of the Cry of Pugad Lawin, the start of the Philippine Revolution is made in Pugad Lawin (Quezon City), in the province of Manila (actual date and location is disputed).

1866  Austro-Prussian War ends with the Treaty of Prague.

1864  The Union Navy captures Fort Morgan, Alabama, thus breaking Confederate dominance of all ports on the Gulf of Mexico except Galveston, Texas.

1839  The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing 3-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War.

1813  At the Battle of Grossbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.

1799  Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.

______________________________

Satoshi Ashikaga, having worked as researcher, development program/project officer, legal protection/humanitarian assistance officer, human rights monitor-negotiator, 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, audio/visual 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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_17    to August_23; http://www.onthisday.com/day/august/17    to august/23; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/august_17.html to august_23.html; and other pertinent websites 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 17 Aug 2015.

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