This Week in History

HISTORY, 30 Jan 2017

Satoshi Ashikaga – TRANSCEND Media Service

Jan 30-Feb 5

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“All human beings are members of one frame,
Since all, at first, from the same essence came. 
When time afflicts a limb with pain
The other limbs at rest cannot remain
If thou feel not for other’s misery
All human being is no name for thee.”

— Saadi Shirazi

 

JANUARY 30

2013  Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea.

2003  The Kingdom of Belgium officially recognizes same-sex marriages.

Kingdom of Belgium:

Same Sex Marriage in Belgium:

LGBT Human Rights:

Case Study (1): Nigeria Prohibits the Same Sex Marriage in 2013:

Case Study (2): Slovenia Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage in March 2015:

Case Study (3) Netherlands Legalizes the Same-Sex Marriage in 2001:

Case Study (4): Sweden Legalizes the Same-Sex Marriage in 2009:

2000  Off the coast of Ivory Coast, Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.

1995  Workers from the National Institutes of Health announce the success of clinical trials testing the first preventive treatment for sickle-cell disease.

1989  Closure of the American embassy in Kabul, Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

Closure of the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1989:

Background: Soviet-Afghan War 1979 – 1989:

Relations between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union:

Foreign Relations of Afghanistan:

Afghanistan and the United Nations:

Afghanistan:

History of Afghanistan:

Economy of Afghanistan:

1982  Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner“.

1982  Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner“.

1979  A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo.

1975  The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary.

1972  Pakistan withdraws from the Commonwealth of Nations.

1972  The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British Paratroopers open fire on and kill fourteen unarmed civil rights/anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland.

1971  Carole King‘s Tapestry album is released to become the longest charting album by a female solo artist and sell 24 million copies worldwide.

1968  Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.

Vietnam War in 1968:

Tet Offensive:

Timelines of the Tet Offensive:

Viet Cong:

Viet Nam War and Some Pertinent Events:

History of Vietnam:

1965  Some one million people attend former Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill‘s funeral, the biggest in the United Kingdom up to that point.

1964  In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh‘s military junta in South Vietnam.

Vietnam War in 1964:

South Vietnamese Coup of January 30, 1964:

Nguyễn Khánh:

Dương Văn Minh:

Viet Nam War and Some Pertinent Events:

1964  Ranger program: Ranger 6 is launched.

1962  US performs nuclear test (atmospheric test) at Nevada Test Site.

Atmospheric/High-altitude Nuclear Explosion Testing:

Nuclear Weapons Testing at the Nevada Test Site:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1960  The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.

1959  MS Hans Hedtoft, said to be the safest ship afloat and “unsinkable” like the RMS Titanic, strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks, killing all 95 aboard.

1956  African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Montgomery Bus Boycott:

History of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States – Overview:

Civil Rights Movements of Various Ethnic Minorities in the United States:

Gender Inequality/Equality in Employment in the United States:

Issues relating to Gender Inequality/Equality:

1948  Mahatma Gandhi known for his non-violent freedom struggle, is assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu extremist.

Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi:

1945  World War II: Raid at Cabanatuan: One hundred twenty-six American Rangers and Filipino resistance fighters liberate over 500 Allied prisoners from the Japanese-controlled Cabanatuan POW camp.

1945  World War II: The Wilhelm Gustloff, overfilled with German refugees, sinks in the Baltic Sea after being torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, killing approximately 9,500 people in what is the deadliest known maritime disaster.

1944  World War II: American troops land on Majuro, Marshall Islands.

1944  World War II: The Battle of Cisterna, part of Operation Shingle, begins in central Italy.

1943  World War II: Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.

1942  World War II: Japanese forces invade the island of Ambon in the Dutch East Indies.

1933  Adolf Hitler is sworn in as Chancellor of Germany.

Adolf Hitler:

History of Nazi Germany:

History of Germany:

Germany:

1925  The Government of Turkey throws Patriarch Constantine VI out of Istanbul.

Patriarch Constantin VI:

Ottoman Empire:

Ottoman Empire and World War I:

1911  The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.

1911  The destroyer USS Terry makes the first airplane rescue at sea saving the life of Douglas McCurdy ten miles from Havana, Cuba.

1908  Indian pacifist and leader Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is released from prison by Jan C. Smuts after being tried and sentenced to two months in jail earlier in the month.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (a.k.a. Mahatma Gandhi):

India’s Independence, Nonviolence Movement, and Gandhi:

Quit India Movement:

Independence of India:

History of India:

1902  The first Anglo-Japanese Alliance is signed in London.

Anglo-Japanese Alliance:

1889  Archduke Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian crown, is found dead with his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera in the Mayerling.

1841  A fire destroys two-thirds of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

1835  In the first assassination attempt against a President of the United States, Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot president Andrew Jackson, but fails and is subdued by a crowd, including several congressmen as well as Jackson himself.

1826  The Menai Suspension Bridge, considered the world’s first modern suspension bridge, connecting the Isle of Anglesey to the north West coast of Wales, is opened.

1820  Edward Bransfield sights the Trinity Peninsula and claims the discovery of Antarctica.

1790  The first boat specializing as a lifeboat is tested on the River Tyne.

1789  Tây Sơn forces emerge victorious against Qing armies and liberate the capital Thăng Long.

1667  The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth cedes Kiev, Smolensk, and left-bank Ukraine to the Tsardom of Russia in the Treaty of Andrusovo.

 

 

JANUARY 31

Today is the STREET CHILDREN’S DAY:

2013  An explosion at the Pemex Executive Tower in Mexico City kills at least 33 people and injures more than 100.

2009  In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people.

2001  In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

1996  Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2) is discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake.

Comet Hyakutake (C/1996 B2):

1996  An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.

1995  President Bill Clinton authorizes a $20 billion loan to Mexico to stabilize its economy.

1990  The first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union opens in Moscow.

McDonald’s in the Soviet Union:

History of McDonald’s:

Environmental Issues and McDonald’s:

1971  The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.

Winter Soldier Investigation:

Vietnam War in 1971:

Viet Nam War and Pertinent Events:

1971  Apollo program: Apollo 14: Astronauts Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell, aboard a Saturn V, lift off for a mission to the Fra Mauro Highlands on the Moon.

1968  Nauru gains independence from Australia.

Nauru:

History of Nauru:

Nauru and the United Nations:

1968  Vietnam War: Viet Cong attack the United States embassy in Saigon, and other attacks, in the early morning hours, later grouped together as the Tet Offensive.

Vietnam War in 1968:

Viet Cong:

Viet Nam War and Pertinent Events:

Vietnam:

Foreign Relations of Vietnam:

Vietnam and the United Nations:

History of Vietnam:

Economy of Vietnam:

1968  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons Tests of the US:

Nevada Test Site:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1966  The Soviet Union launches the unmanned Luna 9 spacecraft as part of the Luna program.

1961  Project Mercury: Mercury-Redstone 2: Ham the Chimp travels into outer space.

1958  James Van Allen discovers the Van Allen radiation belt.

Van Allen Radiation Belt:

1958  Explorer program: Explorer 1: The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit.

1953  A North Sea flood causes over 1,800 deaths in the Netherlands and over 300 in the United Kingdom

1950  United States President Harry S. Truman announces a program to develop the hydrogen bomb.

1946  The Democratic Republic of Vietnam introduces the đồng to replace the French Indochinese piastre at par.

History of Vietnam:

1946  Yugoslavia‘s new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).

1945  World War II: The end of fighting in the Battle of Hill 170 during the Burma Campaign, in which the British 3 Commando Brigade repulsed a Japanese counterattack on their positions and precipitated a general retirement from the Arakan Peninsula.

1945  World War II: About 3,000 inmates from the Stutthof concentration camp are forcibly marched into the Baltic Sea at Palmnicken (now Yantarny, Russia) and executed.

1945  US Army private Eddie Slovik is executed for desertion, the first such execution of an American soldier since the Civil War.

1944  World War II: During the Anzio campaign the 1st Ranger Battalion (Darby’s Rangers) is destroyed behind enemy lines in a heavily outnumbered encounter at Battle of Cisterna, Italy.

1944  World War II: American forces land on Kwajalein Atoll and other islands in the Japanese-held Marshall Islands.

1943  World War II: German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrenders to the Soviets at Stalingrad, followed 2 days later by the remainder of his Sixth Army, ending one of the war’s fiercest battles.

1942  World War II: Allied forces are defeated by the Japanese at the Battle of Malaya and retreat to the island of Singapore.

1930  3M begins marketing Scotch Tape.

1929  The Soviet Union exiles Leon Trotsky.

Leon Trotsky:

Expulsion of Leon Trotsky:

Assassination of Leon Trotsky:

1919  The Battle of George Square takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.

1918  A series of accidental collisions on a misty Scottish night leads to the loss of two Royal Navy submarines with over a hundred lives, and damage to another five British warships.

1917  World War I: Germany announces that its U-boats will resume unrestricted submarine warfare after a two-year hiatus.

1915  World War I: Germany is the first to make large-scale use of poison gas in warfare in the Battle of Bolimów against Russia.

1900  Datu Muhammad Salleh is assassinated in Kampung Teboh, Tambunan, ending the Mat Salleh Rebellion.

1891  History of Portugal: The first attempt at a Portuguese republican revolution breaks out in the northern city of Porto.

History of Portugal:

1897  Czechoslav Trade Union Association is founded in Prague.

1867  Maronite nationalist leader Youssef Bey Karam leaves Lebanon on board a French ship bound for Algeria.

1862  Alvan Graham Clark discovers the white dwarf star Sirius B, a companion of Sirius, through an 18.5-inch (47 cm) telescope now located at Northwestern University.

1814  Gervasio Antonio de Posadas becomes Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina).

1578  The Battle of Gembloux takes place.

 

 

FEBRUARY 01

2013  The Shard, the tallest building in the European Union, is opened to the public.

2009  The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly LGBT head of government.

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir:

LGBT Rights:

2005  King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d’état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.

Nepal in 2005:

History of Nepal:

Nepal:

Foreign Relations of Nepal:

Nepal-Britain Relations:

Economy of Nepal:

2003  Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107 disintegrates during reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.

Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster:

2002  Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his captors.

Daniel Pearl, His Abduction and His Death:

Islam and Beheading:

Verses about Beheading in the Bible and in the Koran:

2001  Putrajaya, the Malaysian administrative city, is declared a Federal Territory.

1998  Rear Admiral Lillian E. Fishburne becomes the first female African American to be promoted to rear admiral.

1990  Humanitas publishing house is founded in Bucharest, shortly after the Romanian Revolution, by the philosopher Gabriel Liiceanu.

1983  USSR performs underground nuclear test.

[Note that this test on February 1, 1983, if it was actually performed, is not enlisted in 1983 Soviet nuclear tests – Wikipedia, although it is indicated in on the websites of Today in History on 1st February 1983 and of February 1, 1983 in History of Brainy History. Other pertinent databases, including Database of nuclear tests, USSR/Russia: overview and Soviet Nuclear Test Summary, do not indicate the exact date of the nuclear test.]

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Underground Nuclear Tests:

1982  Senegal and the Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia.

1979  USSR performs nuclear test 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  Kuala Lumpur is declared a Federal Territory.

1972  Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

1968  Canada’s three military services, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, are unified into the Canadian Forces.

1968  Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Lo3an is videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams. This image helped build opposition to the Vietnam War.

1968 in the Vietnam War:

Execution of Viet Cong Officer Nguyễn Văn Lém:

Viet Nam War and Pertinent Events:

Anti-Viet Nam War Movement or Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War:

1960  Four black students stage the first of the Greensboro sit-ins at a lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina.

1957  Felix Wankel‘s first working prototype (DKM 54) of the Wankel engine runs at the NSU research and development department Versuchsabteilung TX in Germany

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  USSR demands condemnation of Emperor Hirohito for war crimes.

Emperor Hirohito and His/Japan’s War Crimes:

Status of the Emperor of Japan in the Two Constitutions:

1946  The Parliament of Hungary abolishes the monarchy after nine centuries, and proclaims the Hungarian Republic.

See also “October 23, 1989 The Hungarian Republic is officially declared by president Mátyás Szűrös, replacing the communist Hungarian People’s Republic.”

History of Hungary:

Hungary:

Foreign Relations of Hungary:

Economy of Hungary:

1946  Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary-General.

Trygve Halvdan Lie:

UN Secretary-General:

Selection of the UN Secretary-General:

1942  Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States government, begins broadcasting with programs aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers.

Voice of America and Its History:

1942  World War II: US Navy conducts Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.

1942  World War II: Josef Terboven, Reichskommissar of German-occupied Norway, appoints Vidkun Quisling the Minister President of the National Government.

1924  The United Kingdom recognizes the USSR.

United Kingdom and the USSR:

1918  Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.

Gregorian Calendar:

1908  King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe, are killed in Terreiro do Paço, Lisbon.

1895  Fountains Valley, Pretoria, the oldest nature reserve in Africa, is proclaimed by President Paul Kruger.

1893  Thomas A Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria in West Orange, New Jersey.

1884  The first volume (A to Ant) of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.

Oxford English Dictionary (OED):

1835  Slavery is abolished in Mauritius.

Abolition of the Slavery in Mauritius:

1793  French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

1662  The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege.

1411  The First Peace of Thorn is signed in Thorn, Monastic State of the Teutonic Knights (Prussia).

 

 

FEBRUARY 02

2012  The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 300 people missing.

2007  The worst flooding in Indonesia in 300 years begins.

2000  First digital cinema projection in Europe (Paris) realized by Philippe Binant with the DLP CINEMA technology developed by Texas Instruments.

1990  Apartheid: F W de Klerk announces the unbanning of the African National Congress and promises to release Nelson Mandela.

1989  Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet armored column leaves Kabul.

Afghan War (1978-1992):

Relations between Afghanistan and the Soviet Union Relations:

Foreign Relations of Afghanistan:

Afghanistan:

Afghanistan and the United Nations:

History of Afghanistan:

Economy of Afghanistan:

1987  After the 1986 People Power Revolution, the Philippines enacts a new constitution.

Constitution of the Philippines of 1987:

1982  1982 Hama massacre: the government of Syria attacks the town of Hama.

1980  Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.

1972  The British embassy in Dublin is destroyed in protest at Bloody Sunday.

1971  The international Ramsar Convention for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands is signed in Ramsar, Mazandaran, Iran.

1971  Idi Amin replaces President Milton Obote as leader of Uganda.

Uganda:

History of Uganda:

Foreign Relations of Uganda:

Economy of Uganda:

1966  Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Indo-Pakistan War of 1965:

1962  USSR performs nuclear test (atmospheric) at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.

USSR Nuclear Tests in 1962:

USSR’s Nuclear Weapons Tests:

Novaya Zemlya Nuclear Test Site:

Soviet Atmospheric Nuclear Tests:

Effect and/or Impact of Nuclear Weapons Tests:

1959  Dyatlov Pass incident

1957  Iskander Mirza of Pakistan lays the foundation-stone of the Guddu Barrage.

1957  Suez Crisis and Pertinent Events: UN General Assembly adopts a resolution 1124 (XI), calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt.

UNGA Resolution 1124 (XI) of February 2, 1957:

Operation Kadesh (1956): Israel’s Occupation of the Gaza Strip and Sinai:

1957 in Israel and the Sinai Peninsula:

Suez Crisis (1956-1957):

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:

1943  World War II: The Battle of Stalingrad comes to conclusion as Soviet troops accept the surrender of 91,000 remnants of the Axis forces.

1942  Osvald Group is responsible for the first, active event of Resistance [against the German occupation of Norway] when Østbanehallen (at present-day Oslo Central Station) was blown up to protest the inauguration of Vidkun Quisling.

1935  Leonarde Keeler tests the first polygraph machine.

1934  The Export-Import Bank of the United States is incorporated.

1925  Serum run to Nome: Dog sleds reach Nome, Alaska with diphtheria serum, inspiring the Iditarod race.

1922  Ulysses by James Joyce is published.

Ulysses:

1920  France occupies Memel.

1920  The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed between Estonia and Russia.

Tartu Peace Treaty:

1914  Charlie Chaplin‘s first film appearance, Making a Living premieres.

1913  Grand Central Terminal is opened in New York City.

1901  Funeral of Queen Victoria.

1899  The Australian Premiers’ Conference held in Melbourne decides to locate Australia’s capital city, Canberra, between Sydney and Melbourne.

1887  In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.

1848  California Gold Rush: The first ship with Chinese immigrants arrives in San Francisco.

1848  Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848:

Mexican-American War:

Timelines of the Mexican-American War:

1709  Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

1653  New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.

1542  Portuguese forces under Cristóvão da Gama capture a Muslim-occupied hill fort in northern Ethiopia in the Battle of Baçente.

1536  Spaniard Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1461  Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Mortimer’s Cross is fought in Herefordshire, England.

1207  Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and Latvia, is established.

 

 

FEBRUARY 03

2014  Two people are shot and killed and 29 students are taken hostage at a high school in Moscow, Russia.

2013  Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan responds to air strikes on Syria, saying Israel’s government is waging ‘state terrorism’.

Turkey-Israel Relations:

2007  A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.

1998  Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.

1995  Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

1989  A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.

1989  After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.

1984  Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.

1984  John Buster and the research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.

1972  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

Nuclear Weapons Tests of the United States:

Nevada Test Site:

Nuclear Weapons and the United States:

1972  The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.

1969  In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.

1966  The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.

1961  The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC‘s command post.

1960  British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of “a wind of change“, an increasing national consciousness blowing through colonial Africa, signaling that his Government is likely to support decolonisation.

1958  Founding of the Benelux Economic Union, creating a testing ground for a later European Economic Community.

1957  Senegalese political party Democratic Rally merges into the Senegalese Party of Socialist Action (PSAS).

1945  World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.

1945  World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 to 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.

1944  World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, US Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.

1943  The SS Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survive. The Chapel of the Four Chaplains, dedicated by President Harry Truman, is one of many memorials established to commemorate the Four Chaplains story.

1933  Adolf Hitler announces that the expansion of Lebensraum into Eastern Europe, and its ruthless Germanisation, are the ultimate geopolitical objectives of Third Reich foreign policy.

Adolf Hitler:

Lebensraum:

Third Reich:

Foreign Policy of the Third Reich:

History of Nazi Germany:

1930  Communist Party of Vietnam is founded at a “Unification Conference” held in Kowloon, British Hong Kong.

1918  The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet (3,633 meters) long.

1917  World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after the latter announced a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.

1897  The Greco-Turkish War breaks out.

1852  Justo José de Urquiza defeats Juan Manuel de Rosas at the Battle of Caseros.

1830  The London Protocol of 1830 establishes the full independence and sovereignty of Greece from the Ottoman Empire as the final result of the Greek War of Independence.

 

 

FEBRUARY 04

2014  Google and Microsoft report that the National Security Agency ordered them to provide information on 10,000 accounts over a six-month period in 2012 and 2013, and Yahoo reported they complied with government request for information on more than 40,000 accounts.

Personal Data and the NSA:

2004  Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.

2003  The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.

2003  The Bengali Hindus declare the independence of the Republic of Bangabhumi from Bangladesh.

1999  Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.

1998  An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.

1997  After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.

1992  A coup d’état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.

Hugo Chávez:

Venezuelan Coup Attempt by Hugo Chávez on February 4, 1992:

1980  Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.

1976  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:

1976  In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.

1975  Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.

1974  M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.

Irish Republican Army (IRA):

History of the IRA:

Sinn Féin:

History of Sinn Féin:

Sinn Féin, IRA and the Catholic Church:

1974  The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.

1970  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

For some more pertinent information, see “1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site”, mentioned above.

1969  Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Yasser Arafat:

Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO):

History of the PLO:

1967  Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.

1965  US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

For some more pertinent information, see “1976 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site”, mentioned above.

1961  Angolan War of Independence begins.

Independence of Angola:

Angola:

Foreign Relations of Angola:

Angola and the United Nations:

History of Angola:

Economy of Angola:

1948  Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.

Sri Lanka:

History of Sri Lanka:

Foreign Relations of Sri Lanka:

Economy of Sri Lanka:

1945  World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.

1945  World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

Yalta Conference:

1945  World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.

1941  The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.

1936  Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.

Radium:

1932  Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.

Sino-Japanese Wars:

Second Sino-Japanese War:

First Sino-Japanese War:

Japan’s Surrender to China (2 September 1945):

Instruments of Surrender:

1899  The Philippine–American War begins with the Battle of Manila.

Battle of Manila (1899):

Philippine-American War:

1859  The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.

Codex Sinaiticus:

1846  The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.

1820  The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the 2-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.

1810  The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.

1797  The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.

1794  The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It will be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.

1789  George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.

1758  Macapá, Brazil is founded.

 

 

FEBRUARY 05

2014  Benigno Aquino III, President of the Philippines, considers the territorial claims China has made in the South China Sea comparable to the Nazi Germany invasion of Czechoslovakia

Benigno Aquino III:

Conflict between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea:

Permanent Court of Arbitration on the Philippines-China Conflict over the South China Sea:

2010  Danish special forces storm a ship captured by Somali pirates, freeing 25 crewmembers on board

2004  Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.

2000  Russian forces massacre at least 60 civilians in the Novye Aldi suburb of Grozny, Chechnya.

Second Chechen War and the Massacre in Novye Aldi of Grozny:

1997  The so-called Big Three banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families.

Holocaust Fund of Three Swiss Banks:

1994  Markale massacres (of the first massacre), more than 60 people are killed and some 200 wounded as a mortar shell explodes in a downtown marketplace in Sarajevo.

Markale Marketplace Massacre (of February 5, 1994):

1988  Manuel Noriega is indicted on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.

Noriega Indicted:

1985  Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.

End of the Third Punic War:

1975  Riots break in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.

1971  Astronauts land on the moon in the Apollo 14 mission.

1970  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:

1963  The European Court of Justice‘s ruling in Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen establishes the principle of direct effect, one of the most important, if not the most important, decisions in the development of European Union law.

Principle of Direct Effect:

European Court of Justice or ECJ (officially “Court of Justice”):

1962  French President Charles de Gaulle calls for Algeria to be granted independence.

Independence of Algeria:

Charles de Gaulle:

Charles de Gaulle’s Policies on Algeria:

History of Algeria:

Algeria:

Foreign Relations of Algeria:

Algeria and the United Nations:

Economy of Algeria:

1958  A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, never to be recovered.

1958  Gamal Abdel Nasser is nominated to be the first president of the United Arab Republic.

1946  The Chondoist Chongu Party is founded in North Korea.

1945  World War II: General Douglas MacArthur returns to Manila.

Douglas MacArthur:

Battle for Manila – February-March 1945:

1941  World War II: Allied forces begin the Battle of Keren to capture Keren, Eritrea.

Battle of Keren:

1939  Generalísimo Francisco Franco becomes the 68th “Caudillo de España“, or Leader of Spain.

1937  United States President Franklin D Roosevelt proposes a plan to enlarge the Supreme Court of the United States.

1924  The Royal Greenwich Observatory begins broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the “BBC pips”.

Royal Greenwich Observatory:

1919  Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D. W. Griffith launch United Artists.

1918  SS Tuscania is torpedoed off the coast of Ireland; it is the first ship carrying American troops to Europe to be torpedoed and sunk.

1918  Stephen W. Thompson shoots down a German airplane. It is the first aerial victory by the US military.

1917  The Congress of the United States passes the Immigration Act of 1917 over President Woodrow Wilson‘s veto. Also known as the Asiatic Barred Zone Act, it forbade immigration from nearly all of south and southeast Asia.

1917  The current constitution of Mexico is adopted, establishing a federal republic with powers separated into independent executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

Constitution of Mexico of 1917:

1913  Greek military aviators, Michael Moutoussis and Aristeidis Moraitinis perform the first naval air mission in history, with a Farman MF.7 hydroplane.

1909  Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announces the creation of Bakelite, the world’s first synthetic plastic.

1905  In Mexico, the General Hospital of Mexico is inaugurated, started with 4 basic specialities.

1885  King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal possession.

Belgian Congo:

History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Foreign Relations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

Economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

1869  The largest alluvial gold nugget in history, called the “Welcome Stranger“, is found in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia.

1859  Wallachia and Moldavia are united under Alexandru Ioan Cuza as the United Principalities, an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire, which ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state.

1852  The New Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world, opens to the public.

1849  University of Wisconsin–Madison‘s first class meets at Madison Female Academy.

1818  Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.

1810  Peninsular War: Siege of Cádiz begins.

Peninsula War:

Siege of Cádiz:

1782  Spanish defeat British forces and capture Minorca.

1597  A group of early Japanese Christians are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.

_____________________________________________

 (Sources and references: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/january_30   february_05; http://www.onthisday.com/events/january/30   to february/05;   http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/january_30.html.    to february_05.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

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 30 Jan 2017.

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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