This Week in History

HISTORY, 7 Dec 2015

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

TWH logo history

Dec 7-13

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“One day you’re seventeen and planning for someday. And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And that someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” – One Tree Hill

DECMEBER 7

2005  Ante Gotovina, a Croatian army general accused of war crimes but later acquitted, is captured in the Playa de las Américas, Tenerife, by Spanish police.

1995  The Galileo spacecraft arrives at Jupiter, a little more than six years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission STS-34.

1993  The Long Island Rail Road massacre: Passenger Colin Ferguson murders six people and injures 19 others on the LIRR in Nassau County, New York.

1988  Yasser Arafat recognizes the right of Israel to exist.

PLO’s Recognition of Israel:

1988  Spitak earthquake: In Armenia an earthquake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale kills more than 25,000, injures 30,000 and leaves 500,000 homeless out of a population of 3,500,000.

Spitak Earthquake:

1983  France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island.

Muruora:

France’s Nuclear Tests:

1982  In Texas, Charles Brooks, Jr., becomes the first person to be executed by lethal injection in the United States.

1975  Indonesian invasion of East Timor: The invasion begins.

Indonesian Invasion of East Timor:

US Approval of Indonesia’s Invasion of East Timor in 1975:

Behind the Invasion: Australia’s Tacit Approval and the UK’s Support:

History of East Timor:

East Timor:

Human Rights of East Timor:

1975  Warschauer Kniefall – German Chancellor Willy Brandt makes a gesture of humility towards the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Willy Brandt:

Willy Brandt’s Apologetic Gesture at Warsaw:

Warsaw Ghetto:

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising:

Willy Brandt, Israel, and the PLO:

Political Apology:

Apologies and Politicians:

1972  Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.

1972  Imelda Marcos survives an assassination attempt using a bolo knife against her.

1971  Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces the formation of a coalition government with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Deputy Prime Minister.

1965  Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I simultaneously revoke mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.

1949  Prince Rainier III of Monaco revises the principality‘s constitution, devolving some of his power to advisory and legislative councils.

1949  Chinese Civil War: The Government of the Republic of China moves from Nanking to Taipei, Taiwan.

1941  World War II: Attack on Pearl Harbor – The Imperial Japanese Navy carries out a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet and its defending Army and Marine air forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. (For Japan’s near-simultaneous attacks on Eastern Hemisphere targets, see December 8.)

Japan’s Attack on Pearl Harbor:

[Note that the time difference between Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) and Tokyo (Japan) is 19 hours. Therefore, for instance, when Pearl Harbor was under attack at 8 a.m. of December 7, 1941, it was 3 a.m. of December 8, 1941 in Tokyo.]

Declarations of War:

Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor? :

The Path to the War between the United States and Japan in 1941:

Pertinent YouTube Videos:

1917  World War I: The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary.

United States Declaration of War against Austro-Hungarian Empire:

World War I:

Causes of World War I:

Austro-Hungarian (Hapsburg) Empire:

History of the Austro-Hungarian (Hapsburg) Empire:

1724  Tumult of Thorn: Religious unrest is followed by the execution of nine Protestant citizens and the mayor of Thorn (Toruń) by Polish authorities.

 

 

DECEMBER 8

2013  Riots break out in Singapore after a fatal accident in Little India.

2009  Bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kill 127 and injure 448.

2007  Three unidentified gunmen storm an office of Benazir Bhutto‘s Pakistan Peoples Party in Balochistan. Three PPP supporters are killed.

2004  The Cusco Declaration is signed in Cusco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations.

1998  Eighty-one people are killed by armed groups in Algeria.

1991  The Romanian Constitution is adopted in a referendum.

1988  The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.

1987  An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, sparking the First Intifada.

1987  The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed.

Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of 1987:

1982  In Suriname, several opponents of the military government are killed.

History of Suriname:

Suriname:

Foreign Relations of Suriname:

Economy of Suriname:

1980  John Lennon is murdered by Mark David Chapman in front of The Dakota in New York City.

John Lennon:

1976  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1974  A plebiscite results in the abolition of monarchy in Greece.

Modern History of Greece:

Abolition of the Greek Monarchy:

1971  Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Navy launches an attack on West Pakistan‘s port city of Karachi.

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971:

History of the India-Pakistan Wars:

1953  US President Dwight D Eisenhower delivers his “Atoms for Peace” speech, which leads to an American program to supply equipment and information on nuclear power to schools, hospitals, and research institutions around the world.

Atoms for Peace:

1949  The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is established to provide aid to Palestinian refugees who left their homes during the 1948 Palestinian exodus.

1941  World War II: Japanese forces simultaneously invade Shanghai International Settlement, Malaya, Thailand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies. (See December 7 for the concurrent attack on Pearl Harbor in the Western Hemisphere.)

1941  World War II: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares December 7 to be “a date which will live in infamy“, after which the U.S. declares war on Japan.

Declarations of War:

1927  The Brookings Institution, one of the United States’ oldest think tanks, is founded through the merger of three organizations that had been created by philanthropist Robert S. Brookings.

1922  Northern Ireland ceases to be part of the Irish Free State.

1914  World War I: A squadron of Britain’s Royal Navy defeats an inferior squadron of the Imperial German High Seas Fleet in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

1912  Leaders of the German Empire hold an Imperial War Council to discuss the possibility that war might break out.

1854  In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX proclaims the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which holds that the Virgin Mary was conceived free of original sin.

1813  Premier of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

 

 

DECMEBER 9

2003  A blast (2003 Red Square Bombing) in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds several more.

1987  Israeli–Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

The First Intifada:

1983  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1979  The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.

1973  British and Irish authorities sign the Sunningdale Agreement in an attempt to establish a power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland.

1971  Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Air Force executes an airdrop of Indian Army units, bypassing Pakistani defences.

1971  The United Arab Emirates join the United Nations.

1969  US Secretary of State William P Rogers proposes his plan for a ceasefire in the War of Attrition; Egypt and Jordan accept it over the objections of the PLO, which leads to civil war in Jordan in September 1970.

1968  Douglas Engelbart gave what became known as “The Mother of All Demos“, publicly debuting the computer mouse, hypertext, and the bit-mapped graphical user interface using the oN-Line System (NLS).

1966  Barbados joins the United Nations.

1965  A Charlie Brown Christmas, first in a series of Peanuts television specials, debuts on CBS.

1965  Kecksburg UFO incident: A fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; witnesses report something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh. In 2005 NASA admits that it examined the object.

1962  The Petrified Forest National Park is established in Arizona.

1961  Tanganyika becomes independent from Britain.

1960  The first episode of Coronation Street, the world’s longest-running television soap opera, is broadcast in the United Kingdom.

1958  The John Birch Society is founded in the United States.

1956  Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, a Canadair North Star, crashes near Hope, British Columbia, Canada, killing all 62 people on board.

1953  Red Scare: General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company.

1950  Cold War: Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1948  Genocide Convention is adopted at the UN General Assembly.

Genocide Convention of 1948:

Genocide and International Law:

1946  The Constituent Assembly of India meets for the first time to write the Constitution of India.

1946  The “Subsequent Nuremberg trials” begin with the “Doctors’ trial“, prosecuting physicians and officers alleged to be involved in Nazi human experimentation and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia.

1941  World War II: The American 19th Bombardment Group attacks Japanese ships off the coast of Vigan, Luzon.

1941  World War II: The Republic of China, Cuba, Guatemala, and the Philippine Commonwealth, declare war on Germany and Japan.

1940  World War II: Operation Compass – British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O’Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.

1940  Illegal Jewish immigrants to Haifa are deported to Mauritius.

History of Jewish People in Mauritius:

1940  British assault on Banghazi, Libya: first major allied offensive in North Africa.

Libya in World War II:

History of Libya:

1937  Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking – Japanese troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Asaka Yasuhiko launch an assault on the Chinese city of Nanjing (Nanking).

1931  The Constituent Cortes approves a constitution which establishes the Second Spanish Republic.

1892  Gabriel Narutowicz is elected the first president of Poland.

1917  World War I: Field Marshal Allenby captures Jerusalem, Palestine.

1905  In France, the law separating church and state is passed.

1897  Activist Marguerite Durand founds the feminist daily newspaper La Fronde in Paris.

1888  Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department.

1875  The Massachusetts Rifle Association, “America’s Oldest Active Gun Club”, is founded.

1856  The Iranian city of Bushehr surrenders to occupying British forces.

 

 

DECEMBER 10

1994  Rwandan Genocide: Maurice Baril, military advisor to the UN Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, recommends that UNAMIR stand down.

Rwandan Genocide:

Discussions on the Rwandan Genocide:

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda:

Genocide Convention of 1948:

1994  Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat.

1993  The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. The closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages.

1990  Mongolian Revolution: At the country’s first open pro-democracy public demonstration, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of the Mongolian Democratic Union.

Mongolian Revolution of 1990:

1983  Democracy is restored in Argentina with the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín.

1980  USSR performs underground nuclear test at Khanty-Mansi, Russia.

Underground Nuclear Tests:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

1979  Kaohsiung Incident: Taiwanese pro-democracy demonstrations are suppressed by the KMT dictatorship, and organizers are arrested.

1978  Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

1976  The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques.

1972  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1968  Japan’s biggest heist, the still-unsolved “300 million yen robbery“, is carried out in Tokyo.

1964  Nobel Peace Prize presented to Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in Oslo.

1963  Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah.

Zanzibar (a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania in East Africa.):

History of Zanzibar:

Economy of Zanzibar:

1961  US performs underground nuclear test at Carlsbad New Mexico (underground).

Project Gnome:

Radiation Leak and Carlsbad:

1949  Chinese Civil War: The People’s Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan.

1948  The United Nations General Assembly adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948:

Some Pertinent Resources and/or Information on Human Rights by UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):

History of Human Rights:

Philosophy of Human Rights:

1941  World War II: Battle of the Philippines – Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on Luzon.

1941  World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near Malaya.

1932  Thailand becomes a constitutional monarchy.

1927  The phrase “Grand Ole Opry” is used for the first time on-air.

1920  US President Woodrow Wilson awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

1909  Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature

1907  The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students clash with 400 police officers over the existence of a memorial for animals that have been vivisected.

1906  US President Theodore Roosevelt wins the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize.

1901  The first Nobel Prizes are awarded.

1868  The first traffic lights are installed, outside the Palace of Westminster in London. Resembling railway signals, they use semaphore arms and are illuminated at night by red and green gas lamps.

 

 

DECEMBER 11

2014  The city of Detroit, Michigan emerges from the largest municipal bankruptcy in United States history

2012  At least 125 people are killed and up to 200 injured in bombings in the Alawite village of Aqrab, Syria.

2008  Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

2007  Insurgency in the Maghreb: Two car bombs explode in Algiers, Algeria, one near the Supreme Constitutional Court and the other near the offices of the United Nations.

2006  Felipe Calderón, the President of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacán. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican Drug War.

2006  The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran, by then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.

2005  Cronulla riots: Thousands of White Australians demonstrate against ethnic violence resulting in a riot against anyone thought to be Lebanese (and many who are not) in Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia. These are followed up by retaliatory ethnic attacks on Cronulla.

2001  The People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.

World Trade Organization:

China and the World Trade Organization:

1997  The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature.

Kyoto Protocol:

Summary of the Kyoto Protocol:

Problems of the Kyoto Protocol:

1994  First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.

First Chechen War:

1990  Demonstrations by students and workers across Albania begin, which eventually trigger the fall of communism in Albania.

Fall of Communism of Albania:

History of Albania:

1981  El Mozote massacre: Armed forces in El Salvador kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the Salvadoran Civil War.

El Mozote Massacre:

1980  The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Superfund) is enacted by the US Congress.

1978  The Lufthansa heist is committed by a group led by Lucchese family associate Jimmy Burke. It was the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil, at that time.

1972  Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.

1968  The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, featuring the Rolling Stones, Jethro Tull, the Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and the Dirty Mac with Yoko Ono, is filmed in Wembley, London.

1964  Che Guevara speaks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

Ernest Che Guevara:

Che Guevara’s Speech at the UN General Assembly:

1960  French forces crack down in a violent clash with protesters in French Algeria during a visit by French President Charles de Gaulle.

1958  French Upper Volta and French Dahomey gain self-government from France, becoming the Republic of Upper Volta and the Republic of Dahomey (now Benin), respectively, and joining the French Community.

1948  1948 Arab–Israeli War: The United Nations passes General Assembly Resolution 194, creating a Conciliation Commission to mediate the conflict.

Causes of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War:

1946  The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.

1941  World War II: Poland declares war on the Empire of Japan.

1941  World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans’ declaration of war on the Empire of Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on them.

US Declarations of War against Germany and Italy:

1937  Second Italo-Ethiopian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations.

Second Italo-Ethiopian War:

Italy’s Withdrawal from the League of Nations:

League of Nations:

Covenant of the League of Nations:

1934  Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time.

1927  Guangzhou Uprising: Communist Red Guards launch an uprising in Guangzhou, China, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.

1925  Roman Catholic papal encyclical Quas primas introduces the Feast of Christ the King.

1920  Irish War of Independence: In retaliation for an IRA ambush, British forces burn and loot numerous buildings in Cork city. Many civilians also reported being beaten, shot at, robbed and verbally abused by British forces.

Irish War of Independence:

History of Ireland:

1917  World War I: British General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot and declares martial law.

1905  A workers’ uprising occurs in Kiev, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire), and establishes the Shuliavka Republic.

1868  Paraguayan War: Brazilian troops defeat Paraguayan at the Battle of Avay.

1815  The US Senate creates a select committee on finance and a uniform national currency, predecessor of the United States Senate Committee on Finance.

1792  French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.

 

 

DECEMBER 12

2012  12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief took place at Madison Square Garden and was broadcast on 20 international television networks to raise money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.

2012  North Korea successfully launches its first satellite, Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2, using an Unha-3 carrier rocket.

2001  Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng to the Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps.

2000  The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore.

1991  The Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR.

1985  Arrow Air Flight 1285, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

1984  Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya becomes the third president of Mauritania after a coup d’état against Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla while the latter is attending a summit.

1979  The unrecognised state of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia returns to British control and resumes using the name Southern Rhodesia.

1979  President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq confers Nishan-e-Imtiaz on Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam.

1979  Coup d’état of December Twelfth: South Korean Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan orders the arrest of Army Chief of Staff General Jeong Seung-hwa without authorization from President Choi Kyu-ha, alleging involvement in the assassination of ex-President Park Chung-hee.

1970  USSR performs underground nuclear test at Mangystau, Kazakhstan.

1970 Soviet nuclear tests:

Mangystau:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

1969  Years of Lead: Piazza Fontana bombing – The offices of Banca Nazionale dell’Agricoltura in Piazza Fontana, Milan, are bombed.

1968  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1964  Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta becomes the first President of the Republic of Kenya.

1963  Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

History of Kenya:

Kenya:

Foreign Relations of Kenya:

Economy of Kenya:

1962  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

For some more pertinent information, see “1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site”, mentioned above.

1958  Guinea joins the United Nations.

1956  Beginning of the Irish Republican Army‘s “Border Campaign“.

1950  Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.

1948  Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali massacre – 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaya allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.

Batang Kali Massacre of 1948:

1942  World War II: German troops begin Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.

1941  Adolf Hitler declares the imminent extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery

1941  World War II: The United Kingdom declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.

1941  World War II: USMC F4F “Wildcats” sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.

1941  World War II: Fifty-four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.

1940 World War II: Approximately 70 people are killed in the Marples Hotel, Fitzalan Square, Sheffield, as a result of a German air raid.

1939  Winter War: Battle of Tolvajärvi – Finnish forces defeat those of the Soviet Union in their first major victory of the conflict.

1937  Second Sino-Japanese War: USS Panay incident – Japanese aircraft bomb and sink U.S. gunboat USS Panay on the Yangtze river in China.

1935  Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

1925  The Majlis of Iran votes to crown Reza Khan as the new Shah of Iran, starting the Pahlavi dynasty.

1917  In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.

1915  President of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai, announces his intention to reinstate the monarchy and proclaim himself Emperor of China.

1911  King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck are enthroned as Emperor and Empress of India.

1911  Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.

1901  Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal (the letter “S” [***] in Morse Code), at Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland.

1897  Belo Horizonte, the first planned city in Brazil, is founded.

 

 

DECEMBER 13

2011  A murder–suicide in Liège, Belgium, kills six and wounds 125 people at a Christmas market.

2006  Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is adopted.

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:

2003  Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn – Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.

Operation Red Dawn:

2002  European Union enlargement: The EU announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.

2001  Sansad Bhavan, the building housing the Indian Parliament, is attacked by terrorists. Twelve people are killed, including the terrorists.

1989  The Troubles: Attack on Derryard checkpoint – The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches an attack on a British Army temporary vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and one badly wounded.

1988  PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat gives a speech at a UN General Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, after United States authorities refused to grant him a visa to visit UN headquarters in New York.

Yasser Arafat’s Speech at the UN General Assembly of 1988:

Yasser Arafat and the PLO:

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO):

1987  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1981  General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.

Martial Law and Solidarity on December 13, 1981:

History of Solidarity Trade Union of Poland:

1975  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

For some more pertinent information, see “1980 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR”, mentioned above.

1974  Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations.

History of Malta:

Malta:

Economy of Malta:

1972  Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17. To date they are the last humans to set foot on the Moon.

1968  Brazilian President Artur da Costa e Silva issues AI-5 (Institutional Act No. 5), enabling government by decree and suspending habeas corpus.

1967  Constantine II of Greece attempts an unsuccessful counter-coup against the Regime of the Colonels.

Modern History of Greece:

Greek Monarchy:

1966  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1962  NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.

1960  While Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Brazil, his Imperial Bodyguard seizes the capital and proclaims him deposed and his son, Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Emperor.

1959  Archbishop Makarios III becomes the first President of Cyprus.

1949  The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.

1943  World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.

Massacre of Kalavryta:

1941  World War II: The Kingdom of Hungary and Kingdom of Romania declare war on the United States.

1939  World War II: Battle of the River Plate – Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland-class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles.

1938  The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.

Neuengamme Concentration Camp:

1937  Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanking – The city of Nanjing, defended by the National Revolutionary Army under the command of General Tang Shengzhi, falls to the Japanese. This is followed by the Nanking Massacre, in which Japanese troops rape and murder hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Battle of Nanking (Nanjing) and the Nanking (Nanjing) Massacre:

Nanjing Massacre Denial:

1867  A Fenian bomb explodes in Clerkenwell, London, killing six.

______________________________

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, 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: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/december_7 to_december_13; http://www.historyorb.com/events/december/7   to december/13; http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/december_7.html   to December_13.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 7 Dec 2015.

Anticopyright: Editorials and articles originated on TMS may be freely reprinted, disseminated, translated and used as background material, provided an acknowledgement and link to the source, TMS: This Week in History, is included. Thank you.

If you enjoyed this article, please donate to TMS to join the growing list of TMS Supporters.

Share this article:

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Click here to go to the current weekly digest or pick another article:

HISTORY: