This Week in History

HISTORY, 24 Oct 2016

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

TWH logo history

Oct 24-30

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“To fear is to expect punishment.  To love is to know that we are immersed not in darkness, but in light.” – Mother Teresa

 

OCTOBER 24

2014  The China National Space Administration launches an experimental lunar mission, Chang’e 5-T1, which will loop behind the Moon and return to Earth.

2008  “Bloody Friday” saw many of the world’s stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.

2007  Chang’e 1, the first satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

2005  Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in Florida resulting in 35 direct 26 indirect fatalities and causing $20.6B USD in damage.

2003  Concorde makes its last commercial flight.

Concorde:

Concorde Crash on 25 July 2000:

Concorde’ Final Flight:

2002  Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, D.C.

1998  Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission.

1990  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Novaya Zemlya USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1980:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

1990  Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian “stay-behind” clandestine paramilitary NATO army, which was implicated in false flag terrorist attacks implicating communists and anarchists as part of the strategy of tension from the late 1960s to early 1980s.

1986  Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi is helped by Syrian officials.

1980  The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union.

History of Solidarity Trade Union of Poland:

Martial Law and Solidarity on December 13, 1981:

History of Poland:

Poland:

Foreign Relations of Poland:

Economy of Poland:

1977 Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. (The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year.)

1975  In Iceland, 90% of women take part in a national strike, refusing to work in protest of gaps in gender equality.

Icelandic Women’s National Strike on October 24, 1975:

Gender Equality in Iceland:

1973  The Yom Kippur War ends.

Yom Kippur War:

1964  Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony until the next year, with the Unilateral Declaration of Independence).

Zambia:

Foreign Relations of Zambia:

History of Zambia:

Economy of Zambia:

1960  Nedelin catastrophe: An R-16 ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad at the Soviet Union‘s Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing over 100. Among the dead is Field Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin, whose death is reported to have occurred in a plane crash.

1957  The United States Air Force starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar program.

1954  Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam.

Vietnam War in 1954:

Eisenhower’s Decision to Support South Vietnam:

1949  The cornerstone of the United Nations Headquarters is laid.

1947  Famed animator Walt Disney testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.

1946  A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.

1945  Founding of the United Nations. Charter of the United Nations comes into effect.

United Nations Day – 24 October 1945:

Charter of the United Nations:

Pertinent Information on the United Nations System:

Main and Pertinent Web Pages of the Six Main Organs of the United Nations:

Specialized Agencies of the United Nations:

Books on the United Nations:

History of the United Nations:

Atlantic Charter of 1941:

Dumbarton Oaks and Yalta:

San Francisco Conference: April 26 – June 26, 1945:

1944  World War II: The Japanese aircraft carrier Zuikaku and the battleship Japanese battleship Musashi are sunk by American aircraft in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Aircraft Carrier Zuikaku:

Battleship Musashi:

Battle of the Leyte Gulf:

Timeline of the Leyte Gulf:

1943  Anti-nazi Clandestine Radio Soldatsender Calais begins transmitting.

1943  The Provisional Government of Free India formally declares war on Britain and the United States of America.

1930  A bloodless coup d’état in Brazil ousts Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getúlio Vargas is then installed as “provisional president.”

Bloodless Coup in Brazil of 1930:

1930  Johan Galtung, one of the principal founding figures of “peace studies” as an academic discipline, is born in Oslo, Norway.

Johan Galtung:

Peace Studies:

Books written by Johan Galtung:

Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Journal of Peace Research:

1929  “Black Thursday” stock market crash on the New York Stock Exchange. Dow Jones down 12.8%.

Great Depression of 1929:

Timeline of the Great Depression:

1917  Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat by the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany on the Austro-Italian front of World War I (lasts until 19 November – also called Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo).

Battle of Caporetto:

1912  First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo concludes with the Serbian victory.

Balkan Wars:

First Balkan War:

Battle of Kumanovo:

1911  Orville Wright, remains in the air nine minutes and 45 seconds in a Wright Glider, at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.

1901  Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls, in a barrel.

1861  The First Transcontinental Telegraph line across the United States is completed, spelling the end for the 18-month-old Pony Express.

1857  Sheffield FC, the world’s oldest association football club still in operation, is founded in Sheffield, England.

1851  William Lassell, discovers the moons Umbriel, and Ariel, orbiting Uranus.

Moons of Uranus:

Umbriel:

Ariel:

1812  Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.

1795  Partitions of Poland: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth is completely divided among Austria, Prussia, and Russia.

Partitions of Poland:

1648  The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years’ War.

Thirty Years’ War:

Timeline of the Thirty Years’ War:

Peace of Westphalia:

 

 

OCTOBER 25

2009  The October 2009 Baghdad bombings kills 155 and wounds at least 721.

2004  Cuban President Fidel Castro announces that transactions using the American Dollar will be banned.

1997  After a brief civil war which has driven President Pascal Lissouba out of Brazzaville, Denis Sassou Nguesso proclaims himself the President of the Republic of the Congo.

1995  A commuter train slams into a school bus in Fox River Grove, Illinois, killing seven students.

1991  History of Slovenia: Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People’s Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.

Ten-Day War of Slovenia:

History of Slovenia:

Slovenia:

Foreign Relations of Slovenia:

Economy of Slovenia:

1984  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Novaya Zemlya USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1984:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

1983  Operation Urgent Fury: The United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters are executed in a coup d’état.

1980  Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.

1979  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1979:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

1977  Digital Equipment Corporation releases OpenVMS V1.0.

1971  The United Nations seats the People’s Republic of China and expels the Republic of China (see political status of Taiwan and China and the United Nations)

1964  USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR.

1962  Nelson Mandela is sentenced to five years in prison.

History of Apartheid (South Africa):

1962  Uganda joins the United Nations.

Uganda:

Foreign Relations of Uganda:

Uganda and the United Nations:

History of Uganda:

Economy of Uganda:

1962  Cuban Missile Crisis: Adlai Stevenson shows photos at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council proving that Soviet missiles are installed in Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis:

Timeline of the Cuban Missile Crisis:

1945  The Republic of China takes over administration of Taiwan following Japan’s surrender to the Allies.

1944  World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf — the largest naval battle in history, takes place in and around the Philippines between the Imperial Japanese Navy and the US Third and US Seventh Fleets. Afterward is the first Kamikaze attack of the war.

Kamikaze:

Battle of Leyte Gulf:

Be aware that the date of the commencement of the Battle of Leyte is different in accordance with some websites. For example, Battle of Leyte – Wikipedia indicates October 17, 1944, while HistoryOfWar.org writes, “The battle of Leyte Gulf (22-26 October 1944) was one of the largest and most complex naval battles in history…”; Encyclopedia Britannica indicates “October 23, 1944”.

Timeline of the Leyte Gulf:

1944  The Romanian city of Carei is liberated by Romanian and Soviet forces from Nazi–Hungarian occupation.

1944  Heinrich Himmler orders a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organized youth culture in Nazi Germany that had assisted army deserters and others to hide from the Third Reich.

1940  Benjamin O Davis, Sr. is named the first African American general in the United States Army.

1938  The Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces swing music as “a degenerated musical system… turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people”, warning that it leads down a “primrose path to hell“. His warning is widely ignored.

1927  The Italian luxury liner SS Principessa Mafalda sinks off the coast of Brazil, killing 314.

1924  The Zinoviev letter, which Zinoviev himself denied writing, is published in the Daily Mail. The Labour party would later blame this letter for the Conservatives‘ landslide election win.

1920  After 74 days on hunger strike in Brixton Prison, England, the Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney dies.

1917  Traditionally understood date of the October Revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia. The date refers to the Julian Calendar date, and corresponds with November 7 in the Gregorian calendar.

1900  The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.

Transvaal:

History of Transvaal:

1861  The Toronto Stock Exchange is created.

1854  The Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War (Charge of the Light Brigade).

Battle of Balaclava:

Crimean War:

Timeline of Crimean War:

History of Crimea:

1822  Greek War of Independence: The First Siege of Missolonghi begins.

Greek War of Independence:

Modern History of Greece:

1812  War of 1812: The American frigate, USS United States, commanded by Stephen Decatur, captures the British frigate HMS Macedonian.

War of 1812:

Timelines of the War of 1812:

 

 

OCTOBER 26

2014 Britain withdraws from Afghanistan after the end of Operation Herrick which started on June 20, 2002 after 12 years four months and seven days.

Operation Herrick:

Britain’s War in Afghanistan:

Classified Documents on the War in Afghanistan:

US Invasion of Afghanistan – War in Afghanistan:

Why Did the US Invade Afghanistan? :

Behind the Official Reasons for the Invasion of Afghanistan:

Afghanistan:

History of Afghanistan:

Economy of Afghanistan:

2003  The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km2), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.

2002  Moscow theater hostage crisis: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.

2001  The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.

2000  Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d’Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï.

1995  Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shaqaqi in his hotel in Malta.

1994  Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty.

1992  The London Ambulance Service is thrown into chaos after the implementation of a new CAD, or Computer Aided Dispatch, system which failed.

1992  The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.

1985  The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines.

1984  “Baby Fae” receives a heart transplant from a baboon.

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

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1983:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1979  Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by Korean Central Intelligence Agency head Kim Jae-gyu. Choi Kyu-hah becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.

1977  US performs nuclear test (underground) at Nevada Test Site.

US Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

Nevada Test Site:

Ecological and Health Issues in and around the Nevada Test Site:

1977  Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, develops rash in Merca district, Somalia. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.

1973  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1970  Muhammad Ali faces off against Jerry Quarry in Atlanta, Georgia for the first time after Ali’s three-year hiatus from evading to be drafted in the Vietnam War.

Muhammad Ali (a.k.a. Cassius Clay):

Muhammad Ali and Conscientious Objection:

Conscientious Objection and Objector:

History of Conscientious Objection:

1968  Soviet cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy pilots Soyuz 3 into space for a four-day mission.

1967  Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran and then crowns his wife Farah Empress of Iran.

1964  Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.

1963  US performs underground nuclear test, near Fallon, Nevada.

Project Shoal:

Environmental and Pertinent Issues of the Shoal, Fallon Test Site:

1962  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island.

Nuclear Tests by the United States:

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Johnston Atoll:

Various Weapons Tests and Storage at Johnston Atoll, and Permanent Contamination:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1958  Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France.

1958  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1956  UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) statute approved.

International Atomic Energy Agency:

History of the IAEA:

US President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” Speech that Initiated an International Atomic Energy Agency:

1955  Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.

1955  After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares permanent neutrality.

1947  The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.

1944  World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory.

Timeline of the Leyte Gulf:

Battle of Leyte Gulf:

1943  World War II: First flight of the Dornier Do 335 “Pfeil”.

1942  World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, is sunk and another aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser are heavily damaged.

1940  The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.

1936  The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.

1918  Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.

Kaiser Wilhelm II:

Aftermath of World War I:

Treaty of Versailles:

Some Evolution of the “Crimes of Aggression” a.k.a. the “Crimes against Peace”:

Treaty of Versailles:

Kellogg and Briand Pact of 1928:

Charters of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Military Tribunals:

UN Charter and the UNGA Resolution 3314 (XXIX)

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court:

1917  World War I: Brazil declares war on the Central Powers.

Brazil and World War I:

Countries Involved in World War I:

History of Brazil:

Brazil:

Foreign Relations of Brazil:

Economy of Brazil:

1917  World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat to the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany. The young unknown Oberleutnant Erwin Rommel captures Mount Matajur with only 100 Germans against a force of over 7000 Italians.

Battle of Caporetto:

1912  First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.

Liberation of Thessaloniki:

Balkan Wars:

First Balkan War:

1909  Itō Hirobumi, four time Prime Minister of Japan (the 1st, 5th, 7th and 10th) and Resident-General of Korea, is assassinated by An Jung-geun at the Harbin train station in Manchuria.

1905  Sweden accepted the independence of Norway.

Independence of Norway:

History of Norway:

Norway-Sweden Relationship:

Norway:

Foreign Relations of Norway:

Economy of Norway:

History of Sweden:

Sweden:

Foreign Relations of Sweden:

Economy of Sweden:

1861  The Pony Express officially ceases operations.

1860  Meeting of Teano. Giuseppe Garibaldi, conqueror of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, gives it to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.

1811  The Argentine government declare the freedom of expression for the press by decree.

1776  Benjamin Franklin departs from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.

1775  King George III of Great Britain goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorized a military response to quell the American Revolution.

 

 

OCTOBER 27

2005  Riots begin in Paris after the deaths of two Muslim teenagers.

Riots in France:

Timeline of the 2005 French Riots:

Pertinent Articles on the French Riots of 2005:

1999  Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Chairman Karen Demirchyan, and six other members.

1997  October 27, 1997 mini-crash: Stock markets around the world crash because of fears of a global economic meltdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets 554.26 points to 7,161.15.

1995  Former Prime Minister of Italy Bettino Craxi is convicted in absentia of corruption.

1995  Latvia applies for membership in the European Union.

Latvia:

Foreign Relations of Latvia:

History of Latvia:

Economy of Latvia:

1994  Gliese 229B is the first Substellar Mass Object to be unquestionably identified.

1992  United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is brutally murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating first military, then national, debate about gays in the military that resulted in the United States “Don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy.

1991  Turkmenistan achieves independence from the Soviet Union.

Turkmenistan:

Human Rights in Turkmenistan:

Foreign Relations of Turkmenistan:

History of Turkmenistan:

Economy of Turkmenistan:

1988  Ronald Reagan decides to tear down the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow because of Soviet listening devices in the building structure.

1986  The British government suddenly deregulates financial markets, leading to a total restructuring of the way in which they operate in the country, in an event now referred to as the Big Bang.

Deregulation of the British Financial Markets of 1986:

1984  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalatinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1984:

USSR Nuclear Tests Overview:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1981  The Soviet submarine U 137 runs aground on the east coast of Sweden.

1979  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1973  A chondrite-type meteorite of 1.4 kg strikes in Cañon City, Colorado.

1971  The Democratic Republic of the Congo is renamed Zaire.

1969  Nobel prize for economy awarded to Jan Tinbergen.

1967  Catholic priest Philip Berrigan and others of the ‘Baltimore Four’ protest the Vietnam War by pouring blood on Selective Service records.

1966  China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC.

Lop Nor Nuclear Weapons Test Site:

China’s Nuclear Weapon Programs:

1966  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Novaya Zemlya USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1966:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

1964  Ronald Reagan delivers a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for president, Barry Goldwater. The speech launched his political career and came to be known as “A Time for Choosing“.

1962  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island.

Operation Dominic:

Nuclear Tests by the United States:

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Johnston Atoll:

Various Weapons Tests and Storage at Johnston Atoll, and Permanent Contamination:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1962  A plane carrying Enrico Mattei, post-war Italian administrator, crashes in mysterious circumstances.

1962  Major Rudolf Anderson of the United States Air Force becomes the only direct human casualty of the Cuban Missile Crisis when his U-2 reconnaissance airplane is shot down in Cuba by a Soviet-supplied SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.

1961  USSR performs nuclear test (barge) at Novaya Zemlya, USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1961:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

1961  Mauritania and Mongolia join the United Nations.

Mauritania:

Foreign Relations of Mauritania:

Mauritania and the United Nations:

History of Mauritania:

Economy of Mauritania:

Mongolia:

Foreign Relations of Mongolia:

Mongolia and the United Nations:

History of Mongolia:

Economy of Mongolia:

1961  NASA tests the first Saturn I rocket in Mission Saturn-Apollo 1.

1958  Iskander Mirza, the first President of Pakistan, is deposed in a bloodless coup d’état by General Ayub Khan, who had been appointed the enforcer of martial law by Mirza 20 days earlier.

1954  Benjamin O Davis, Jr. becomes the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.

1953  British nuclear test Totem 2 is carried out at Emu Field, South Australia.

British Nuclear Tests:

1948  Léopold Sédar Senghor founds the Senegalese Democratic Bloc.

1944  World War II: German forces capture Banská Bystrica during Slovak National Uprising thus bringing it to an end.

1936  Mrs Wallis Simpson files for divorce which would eventually allow her to marry King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, thus forcing his abdication from the throne.

1930  Ratifications exchanged in London for the first London Naval Treaty, signed in April modifying the 1925 Washington Naval Treaty and the arms limitation treaty‘s modified provisions, go into effect immediately, further limiting the expensive naval arms race among its five signatories.

London Naval Treaty of 1930:

1924  The Uzbek SSR is founded in the Soviet Union.

Soviet Union and the Uzbek Socialist Republic:

History of Uzbekistan:

Uzbekistan:

Human Rights in Uzbekistan:

Foreign Relations of Uzbekistan:

Economy of Uzbekistan:

1922  A referendum in Rhodesia rejects the country’s annexation to the South African Union.

History of Rhodesia:

1916  Battle of Segale: Negus Mikael, marching on the Ethiopian capital in support of his son Emperor Iyasu V, is defeated by Fitawrari abte Giyorgis, securing the throne for Empress Zewditu I.

1914  The British lose their first battleship of World War I: The British super-dreadnought battleship HMS Audacious (23,400 tons), is sunk off Tory Island, north-west of Ireland, by a minefield laid by the armed German merchant-cruiser Berlin.The loss was kept an official secret in Britain until November 14 1918. The sinking was witnessed and photographed by passengers on RMS Olympic sister ship of RMS Titanic.

1907  Černová massacre: Fifteen people are killed in the Hungarian half of Austria-Hungary when a gunman opens fire on a crowd gathered at a church consecration. This would led to protests over the treatment of minorities in Austria-Hungary.

Some Ethnic Issues in the Austro-Hungarian Empire:

1904  The first underground New York City Subway line opens; the system becomes the biggest in United States, and one of the biggest in world.

1870  Marshal François Achille Bazaine surrenders to Prussian forces at the conclusion of the Siege of Metz along with 140,000 French soldiers in one of the biggest French defeats of the Franco-Prussian War.

1810  United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.

1806  The French Army enters Berlin, following the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt.

1795  The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.

 

 

OCTOBER 28

2014  An unmanned Antares rocket carrying NASA‘s Cygnus CRS Orb-3 resupply mission to the International Space Station explodes seconds after taking off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.

2013  Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers just outside the Forbidden City in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.

2009  NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its later-cancelled Constellation program.

2009  The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.

2007  Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first woman elected President of Argentina.

2006  A group of ferocious activists of Bangladesh Awami League attacked one of their rival political party meeting in Dhaka with oars and sculls and killed their 14 activists.

2006  The funeral service takes place for those executed at Bykivnia forest, outside Kiev, Ukraine. Eight hundred seventeen Ukrainian civilians (out of some 100,000) executed by Bolsheviks at Bykivnia in 1930s – early 1940s are reburied.

2005  Plame affair: Lewis Libby, Vice-president Dick Cheney‘s chief of staff, is indicted in the Valerie Plame case. Libby resigns later that day.

1998  An Air China jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.

1995  Two hundred eighty-nine people are killed and 265 injured in Baku Metro fire, the deadliest subway disaster.

1990  The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic holds the first multiparty legislature election in the country’s history.

History of Georgia:

Republic of Georgia:

Foreign Relations of the Republic of Georgia:

Economy of the Republic of Georgia:

1982  The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party wins elections, leading to the first Socialist government in Spain after death of Franco. Felipe González becomes Prime Minister-elect.

1979  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1979:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1974  US performs nuclear test (underground) at Nevada Test Site.

US Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

Nevada Test Site:

Ecological and Health Issues in and around the Nevada Test Site:

1971  Britain launches the satellite Prospero into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket, the only British satellite to date launched by a British rocket.

1965  Nostra aetate, the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions” of the Second Vatican Council, is promulgated by Pope Paul VI; it absolves the Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus, reversing Innocent III‘s 760 year-old declaration.

Vatican Council II:

Vatican Council II Documents:

1964  Vietnam War: US officials deny any involvement in bombing North Vietnam.

Vietnam War in 1964:

US Denial of the North Vietnam Bombing:

1962  End of Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.

Cuban Missile Crisis:

Timeline of the Cuban Missile Crisis:

1962  USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

1958  John XXIII is elected Pope.

John XXIII:

1951  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1949  An Air France Lockheed Constellation crashes in the Azores killing all people on board, including the French former middleweight world champion boxer Marcel Cerdan and French violinist Ginette Neveu

1948  Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.

1942  The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.

1940  World War II: Greece rejects Italy’s ultimatum. So, Greco-Italian War began. Italy invades Greece through Albania, marking Greece’s entry into World War II.

Greco-Italian War:

1929  Black Monday, a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock market upheaval.

Great Depression of 1929:

Timeline of the Great Depression:

1928  Declaration of the Youth Pledge in Indonesia, the first time Indonesia Raya, now the national anthem, was sung.

Indonesian National Anthem – “Indonesia Rasa”:

World National Anthems:

1922  March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.

Benito Mussolini:

Mussolini’s Doctrine:

Timeline – Mussolini:

1919  The US Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson‘s veto, paving the way for Prohibition to begin the following January.

1918  A new Polish government in Western Galicia is established.

1918  World War I: Czechoslovakia is granted independence from Austria-Hungary marking the beginning of an independent Czechoslovak state, after 300 years.

1904  Panama and Uruguay establish diplomatic links.

1886  In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.

1848  The first railroad in Spain between Barcelona and Mataró is opened.

1835  The United Tribes of New Zealand is established with the signature of the Declaration of Independence.

1834  The Pinjarra massacre occurred in the Swan River Colony at present-day Pinjarra, Western Australia. An estimated 30 Noongar people were killed by British colonists.

 

 

OCTOBER 29

2014  A mudslide in south-central Sri Lanka kills at least 16 people and more than 100 people missing.

2013  Turkey opens a sea tunnel connecting Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul.

2005  Bombings in Delhi kill more than 60.

2004  The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

2002  Ho Chi Minh City ITC fire, a fire destroys a luxurious department store where 1500 people are shopping. Over 60 people die and over 100 are unaccounted for. It is the deadliest disaster in Vietnam during peacetime.

1999  A large cyclone devastates Odisha, India.

1998  While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of six and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he is landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.

1998  ATSC HDTV broadcasting in the United States is inaugurated with the launch of STS-95 space shuttle mission.

1998  Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.

Space Shuttle Discovery on October 29, 1998:

1998  Apartheid: In South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presents its report, which condemns both sides for committing atrocities.

History of Apartheid (South Africa):

1991  The American Galileo spacecraft makes its closest approach to 951 Gaspra, becoming the first probe to visit an asteroid.

1985  Major General Samuel K. Doe is announced the winner of the first multi-party election in Liberia.

1980  Demonstration flight of a secretly modified C-130 for an Iran hostage crisis rescue attempt ends in crash landing at Eglin Air Force Base‘s Duke Field, Florida leading to cancellation of Operation Credible Sport.

1977  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalatinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1977:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1972  The three surviving perpetrators of the Munich massacre are released from prison in exchange for the hostages of hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615.

1969  The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.

1969  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1969:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

1969  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

US Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

Nevada Test Site:

Ecological and Health Issues in and around the Nevada Test Site:

1968  USSR performs nuclear test (underground) at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1968:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site:

Health, and Ecological Issues in Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk:

1965  US performs underground nuclear test at Amchitka Island Aleutians.

Amchitka and Military:

Amchitka and Nuclear Testing:

Pertinent Documents on the Nuclear Testing at the Amchitka Island Test Site:

  • *Document title and URL extracted from Department of Energy “Considered Sites” database. [Click the document, and it will be downloaded to your computer. Note that Adobe Reader may be necessary to read the document.]

1964  The United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar is renamed the United Republic of Tanzania.

Tanzania:

Foreign Relations of Tanzania:

History of Tanzania:

Economy of Tanzania:

1961  Syria exits from the United Arab Republic.

Syria:

United Arab Republic:

Foreign Relations of Syria:

History of Syria:

Economy of Syria:

1961  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1960  In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.

1958  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

1957  Israel‘s prime minister David Ben-Gurion and five of his ministers are injured when a hand grenade is tossed into Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.

1956  The Tangier Protocol is signed: The international city Tangier is reintegrated into Morocco.

History of Morocco:

1956  Suez Crisis begins: Israeli forces invade the Sinai Peninsula and push Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal.

Suez Crisis of 1956:

1948  Safsaf massacre: Israeli soldiers capture Palestinian village of Safsaf in the Galilee and massacre villagers after they surrender.

Safsaf Massacre:

Massacres in Israel:

1945  Getúlio Vargas, president of Brazil, resigns.

1944  World War II: The Soviet Red Army enters Hungary.

1944  The city of Breda in the Netherlands is liberated by 1st Polish Armoured Division.

1942  The Holocaust: In the United Kingdom, leading clergymen and political figures hold a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany‘s persecution of Jews.

1941  The Holocaust: In the Kaunas Ghetto over 10,000 Jews are shot by German occupiers at the Ninth Fort, a massacre known as the “Great Action”.

Kaunas (Kovno) massacre of October 29, 1941:

Kaunas (Kovno) Ghetto:

Holocaust:

1929  The New York Stock Exchange crashes in what will be called the Crash of ’29 or “Black Tuesday”, ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and beginning the Great Depression.

Black Tuesday of October 29, 1929:

Great Depression of 1929:

Timeline of the Great Depression:

1923  Turkey becomes a republic following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.

History of the Ottoman Empire:

History of Turkey:

Turkey:

Foreign Relations of Turkey:

Economy of Turkey:

1922  King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, appoints Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister.

Benito Mussolini:

Mussolini’s Death:

Timeline – Mussolini:

Mussolini’s Doctrine:

1921  Second trial of Sacco and Vanzetti in the United States of America.

1921  The Link River Dam, a part of the Klamath Reclamation Project, is completed.

1918 The German High Seas Fleet is incapacitated when sailors mutiny on the night of the 29th-30th, an action which would trigger the German Revolution of 1918–19.

1901  Capital punishment: Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.

1888  The Convention of Constantinople is signed, guaranteeing free maritime passage through the Suez Canal during war and peace.

Suez Canal:

History of the Suez Canal:

 

 

OCTOBER 30

2014  Sweden is the first European Union member state to officially recognize the State of Palestine.

2013  45 people die after a bus fuel tank catches fire in the Indian city of Mahbubnagar.

2005  The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.

1995  Quebec citizens narrowly vote (50.58% to 49.42%) to remain a province of Canada in their second referendum on national sovereignty.

1993  The Troubles: The Ulster Defence Association, an Ulster loyalist paramilitary, carry out a mass shooting at a Halloween party in Greysteel, Northern Ireland. Eight civilians are murdered and thirteen wounded.

1991  The Madrid Conference for Middle East peace talks opens.

1987  In Japan, NEC releases the first 16-bit (fourth generation) video game console, the PC Engine, which is later sold in other markets under the name TurboGrafx-16.

1985  Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission.

1983  The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held.

1980  El Salvador and Honduras sign a peace treaty to put the border dispute fought over in 1969‘s Football War before the International Court of Justice.

1978  Uganda troops attack Tanzania.

1975  Prince Juan Carlos becomes Spain’s acting head of state, taking over for the country’s ailing dictator, Gen. Francisco Franco.

1974  The Rumble in the Jungle boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman takes place in Kinshasa, Zaire.

1973  The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus for the second time.

1970  In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes severe floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War.

1968  Nobel prize for physics awarded to Luis Alvarez (bubble chamber).

1968  Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Lars Onsager (thermodynamics).

1965  Vietnam War: Near Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas.

1962  US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island.

Nuclear Tests by the United States:

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Johnston Atoll:

Various Weapons Tests and Storage at Johnston Atoll, and Permanent Contamination:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1961  Because of “violations of Vladimir Lenin‘s precepts”, it is decreed that Joseph Stalin‘s body be removed from its place of honour inside Lenin’s tomb and buried near the Kremlin Wall with a plain granite marker instead.

1961  Nuclear testing: USSR performs nuclear test (atmospheric) at Novaya Zemlya USSR: The USSR detonates the hydrogen bomb Tsar Bomba over Novaya Zemlya; at 50 megatons of yield, it remains the largest explosive device ever detonated, nuclear or otherwise.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1961:

Soviet Atmospheric Nuclear Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

1960  Michael Woodruff performs the first successful kidney transplant in the United Kingdom at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

1953  Cold War: US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally approves the top secret document National Security Council Paper No. 162/2, which states that the United States’ arsenal of nuclear weapons must be maintained and expanded to counter the communist threat.

National Security Council Paper No. 162/2:

1951  US performs nuclear test (atmospheric) at Nevada Test Site.

Atmospheric Nuclear Testing at the Nevada Site:

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Atmospheric Nuclear Tests of the United States and Radioactive Fallout:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

US Nuclear Tests at Nevada Site:

Ecological and Health Issues in and around the Nevada Test Site:

1950  Pope Pius XII witnesses the “Miracle of the Sun” while at the Vatican.

Pope Pius XII and the Miracle of the Sun on October 30, 1950:

Miracle of the Sun in Fátima on October 13, 1917:

1947  The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which is the foundation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), is founded.

GATT/WTO:

1945  Jackie Robinson of the Kansas City Monarchs signs a contract for the Brooklyn Dodgers to break the baseball color barrier.

1944  Anne and Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they die from disease the following year, shortly before the end of WWII.

Anne and Margot Frank:

Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp:

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp:

1942  Lt Tony Fasson, Able Seaman Colin Grazier and canteen assistant Tommy Brown from HMS Petard board U-559, retrieving material which would lead to the decryption of the German Enigma code.

1941  One thousand five hundred Jews from Pidhaytsi (in western Ukraine) are sent by Nazis to Bełżec extermination camp.

Bełżec Extermination Camp:

1941  World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves U.S. $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid to the Allied nations.

1938  Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells‘s The War of the Worlds, causing anxiety in some of the audience in the United States.

1929  The Stuttgart Cable Car is constructed in Stuttgart, Germany.

1925  John Logie Baird creates Britain’s first television transmitter.

1920  The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney. The Communist Party of Australia is founded in Sydney.

1918  The Ottoman Empire signs an armistice with the Allies, ending the First World War in the Middle East.

Armistice of the Ottoman Empire:

Ottoman Empire and World War I:

History of the Ottoman Empire:

History of Turkey:

Turkey:

Foreign Relations of Turkey:

Economy of Turkey:

1905  Czar Nicholas II of Russia grants Russia’s first constitution, creating a legislative assembly.

Russian Constitution of 1906:

Nicholas II:

1864  Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors discover gold at “Last Chance Gulch”.

1864  Second Schleswig War ends. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.

1831  In Southampton County, Virginia, escaped slave Nat Turner is captured and arrested for leading the bloodiest slave rebellion in United States history.

1817  The independent government of Venezuela is established by Simón Bolívar.

1806  Believing he is facing a much larger force, Prussian Lieutenant General Friedrich von Romberg, commanding 5,300 men, surrendered the city of Stettin to 800 French soldiers commanded by General Lassalle.

1657  Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Ocho Rios during the Anglo-Spanish War.

___________________________________

(Sources and references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/october24   to october_30; http://www.onthisday.com/events/october/24   to october/30;   http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/october_24.html.   to october_30.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”.

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, science and technology, 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.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 24 Oct 2016.

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.

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