On a June 29:
2001 The Tourism Authority of Thailand announces
plans to erect four billboards with the full name of the country's capital:
Krungthep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayutthaya Mahadilokphop
Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan
Sathit Sakkathatthiya Witsanukam Prasit (meaning City of Angels,
Great City of Immortals, Magnificent City of the Nine Gems, Seat of the
King, City of Royal Palaces, Home of the Gods Incarnate, Erected by Visvakarman
at Indra's Behest). It is usually just called Krungthep by locals, and Bangkok
("City of Wild Plums") in the rest of the world. It was founded in 1782
by King Rama I,
2000 US President Clinton nominates
former Congressman Norman Mineta to lead the Commerce Department and become
the first Asian-American Cabinet Secretary.
1998 AOL upgrades CompuServe
Nine months after agreeing to
purchase CompuServe's online business, America Online launches an
overhauled version of the service. AOL chose to revise CompuServe
rather than fold it into its existing online service, because the
CompuServe brand was more appealing to business and technical users
than AOL, which was largely known for its chat rooms and celebrity
forums. |
1998 Macy's online
Federated Department Stores,
the owner of Macy's, says it will expand Macy's existing Web site
into an electronic catalog site. The expanded site, slated to launch
in October 1998, will include 250'000 products and an online bridal
registry |
1996 US allies back US President Clinton's demand that
Bosnian Serb leaders indicted for war crimes be forced "out of power and
out of influence."
1995 Microsoft pays IBM patent
fee ^top^
Microsoft agrees to pay IBM
a multimillion-dollar licensing fee for many basic software functions.
The one-time fee covers more than one thousand patents IBM holds on
software basics, such as the movement of a cursor based on the tab
key. Industry observers compare the agreement to a divorce settlement:
The two companies had worked together for twelve years, with Microsoft
providing the operating system for IBM computers, but the two companies
had been at war since launching competing operating systems-Windows
and OS/2. This was the first time IBM had demanded fees its software
patents. |
1994 El socialista Tomiichi Murayama es elegido primer
ministro de Japón.
1994 El transbordador estadounidense
Atlantis y la estación rusa Mir se unen en el espacio, 20 años después del
primer acoplamiento orbital ruso-norteamericano.
1992
The US Supreme Court rules in PLANNED
PARENTHOOD of SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA, ET AL. v. CASEY, GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA,
ET AL
1989 US
Congress votes new sanctions against China
^top^
In yet another reaction to the Chinese government's brutal massacre
of protesters in Tiananmen Square in Beijing earlier in the month,
the House of Representatives unanimously passes a package of sanctions
against the People's Republic of China. American indignation, however,
was relatively short-lived and most of the sanctions died out after
a brief period. On June 4, 1989, Chinese troops and police smashed
into hundreds of thousands of protesters who had gathered in Tiananmen
Square in central Beijing to protest for greater democracy and freedom.
Thousands were killed and tens of thousands arrested. In the United
States, the public and government reacted with horror. President George
Bush immediately ordered sanctions against the Chinese government,
including a ban on arms shipments, the cessation of high-level talks
with Chinese officials, and a suspension of talks about nuclear cooperation.
Bush hoped that these sanctions
would be enough to indicate the US government's displeasure and anger
over the events in Tiananmen Square, but many members of Congress
felt that the president had not gone far enough in punishing China
for its egregious human rights violations. Over Bush's objections,
the House of Representatives unanimously passed a new package of sanctions
on 29 June. The new package included the proviso that the previous
sanctions enacted by Bush could not be lifted until there were assurances
that China was making progress in the area of human rights. The new
sanctions focused on economic and trade relations with China. They
suspended talks and funds for the expansion of US-Chinese trade, and
also banned the shipment of police equipment to China.
In the face of these sanctions, China remained largely unrepentant.
It was not until May 1990 that the Chinese government began to release
some of the thousands of protesters arrested the year before. However,
diplomacy and economics eventually won out over moral indignation.
The United States government had spent nearly 20 years trying to cultivate
better relations with China, which it saw as a growing power and one
that might be profitably used to balance against the Soviet Union.
In addition, US businesspeople were filled with anticipation about
the economic possibilities of the Chinese market. Finally, in 1991
the collapse of the Soviet Union meant the end of the Cold War, and
all talk of "evil empires." In the face of these pressures and events,
most of the sanctions fell by the wayside over the next few years.
|
1982 Voting Rights Act of 1965 extended
1981
Hu Yaobang, a protege of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, was elected Communist
Party chairman, replacing Mao Tse-tung's handpicked successor, Hua Guofeng.
1977 Supreme Court ruled out death penalty for rapists
of adults
1976 Proclamation de l’Indépendance
des Seychelles
^top^
Le pays
adopte une Constitution libérale, démocratique, de type occidental.
Elles sont membres du Commonwealth, mais pratique une politique de
" non-alignement " assez idéaliste. Cet état de l’Océan Indien, au
nord-est de Madagascar, est constitué d’un archipel volcanique de
moins de 500 km². Il compte près de 70'000 autochtones, mais de nombreuses
sociétés et de riches hommes d’affaires ou vedettes étrangers choisissent
d’y habiter pour des raisons fiscales (Paradis !). Sa capitale est
"Victoria" sur la petite île de Mahé. On y parle le créole, ainsi
que le français et l’anglais, suite aux occupations coloniales. Occupée
par les Français dès 1756, les Seychelles passèrent sous contrôle
britannique après la défaite de Napoléon. |
1974 Isabela
de Perón takes office as Argentine President
^top^
With Argentine President Juan Perón
on his deathbed, vice president Isabela Martínez de Perón,
43, his third wife, is sworn in as the leader of the South American
country. President Isabel Perón, a former dancer and Perón's
third wife, is the Western Hemisphere's first female head of government.
Two days later, Juan dies from heart disease, and Isabel is left alone
as leader of a nation suffering from serious economic and political
strife.
Juan Domingo Perón
was first elected president of Argentina in 1946, thanks in part to
the efforts of his charismatic second wife, Eva Duarte de Perón
and to the support of the underprivileged laborers (the descamisados),
After becoming president, Perón constructed an impressive populist
alliance that included workers, the military, nationalists, clerics,
and industrialists. Perón's vision of self-sufficiency for
his country won wide support from the Argentine people, but over the
next decade he became increasingly authoritarian, jailing political
opponents, restricting freedom of the press, and organizing trade
unions into militant groups along Fascist lines. In 1952, the president's
greatest political resource, "Evita" Perón, died, and his unusual
social coalition collapsed, leading to a military coup in 1955 that
forced him to flee the country.
In
exile in Madrid, in 1961 Juan Perón married for the third time
(his first wife had died of cancer, as had Evita); his new wife was
the former María Estela (called Isabel) Martínez, an Argentine dancer.
In Spain, Perón worked to ensure, if not his return to Argentina,
at least the eventual assumption of power by the millions of Peronist
followers, whose memory of his regime improved with time and with
the incapacity of the Argentine governments following Perón's decade
of power.
Perón's economic
reforms remained popular with the majority of Argentineans long after
his departure.In election after election the Peronists emerged as
a large, indigestible mass in the Argentine body politic. Neither
the civilian nor the military regimes that precariously ruled in Argentina
after 1955 were able to solve the relatively rich nation's condition
of “dynamic stagnation,” in part because they refused to give political
office to the Peronists.
The
military regime of General Alejandro Lanusse, which took power in
March 1971, proclaimed its intention to restore constitutional democracy
by the end of 1973 and allowed the reestablishment of political parties,
including the Peronist party. Upon invitation from the military government,
Perón returned to Argentina for a short time in November 1972. In
the elections of March 1973, Peronist candidates captured the presidency
and majorities in the legislature, and, in June 1973 , Perón was welcomed
back to Argentina with wild excitement. In October, in a special election,
he was elected president and, at his insistence, his wife “Isabelita”
— whom the Argentines disliked and resented — became vice president.
After his sudden illness and impending death in the following year,
his wife assumes the presidency.
President Isabel Perón would prove unable to command the support
of any powerful group, let alone construct a necessary coalition,
and the political and economic situation in Argentina worsened. On
24 March 1976, following a sharp rise in political terrorism and guerrilla
activity, the military deposed Isabela de Perón, and instituted
one of the bloodiest regimes in South American history. Isabel de
Perón was imprisoned for five years on a charge of abuse of
property, and upon her release in 1981 settled in Madrid |
1972 US Supreme Court kills
death penalty
^top^
In
Furman
v. Georgia (69-5003), the US Supreme Court rules by a vote
of five to four that capital punishment, as it then employed on the
state and federal level, is unconstitutional. The majority holds that,
in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, the death
penalty qualifies as "cruel and unusual punishment" primarily because
states employ execution in "arbitrary and capricious ways," especially
in regard to race.
It is the
first time that the nation's highest court had ruled against capital
punishment. However, because the Supreme Court suggests new legislation
that could make death sentences constitutional again, such as the
development of standardized guidelines for sentencing juries, it is
not an outright victory for opponents of the death penalty.
In 1976, with 66% of the US population
still supporting capital punishment, the Supreme Court would acknowledged
progress made in jury guidelines and revive the death penalty under
a "model of guided discretion." In 1977, Gary Gilmore, a career criminal
who had murdered an elderly couple because they would not lend him
their car, was the first person to be executed since the end of the
ban. Defiantly facing a firing squad in Utah, Gilmore's last words
to his executioners before they shot him through the heart were "Let's
do it." |
1970 España y la Comunidad Económica Europea firman en
Luxemburgo un acuerdo comercial preferente.
1970 US ground troops leave
Cambodia ^top^
US ground combat troops end
two months of operations in Cambodia and return to South Vietnam.
Military officials reported that 354 US soldiers had been killed and
1689 were wounded in the operation. The South Vietnamese reported
866 killed and 3724 wounded. About 34'000 South Vietnamese troops
remained in Cambodia. US and South Vietnamese forces had launched
a limited "incursion" into Cambodia to clear North Vietnamese sanctuaries
30 km inside the Cambodian border. Some 50'000 South Vietnamese soldiers
and 30'000 US soldiers were involved, making it the largest operation
of the war since Operation Junction City in 1967.
The incursion into Cambodia had given the antiwar movement in the
United States a new rallying point. News of the crossing into Cambodia
set off a wave of antiwar demonstrations, including one at Kent State
University that resulted in the killing of four students by Army National
Guard troops, and another at Jackson State in Mississippi resulting
in the shooting of two students when police opened fire on a women's
dormitory. The incursion also angered many in Congress, who felt that
Nixon was illegally widening the scope of the war; this resulted in
a series of congressional resolutions and legislative initiatives
that would severely limit the executive power of the president. |
1967 Jerusalem is re-unified as Israel removed barricades
separating the Arab Old City from the Israeli sector.
1966 Vietnam
air war escalates
^top^
During
the Vietnam War, US aircraft bombed the major North Vietnamese population
centers of Hanoi and Haiphong for the first time, destroying oil depots
located near the two cities. The US military hoped that by bombing
Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, and Haiphong, North Vietnam's
largest port, Communist forces would be deprived of essential military
supplies and thus the ability to wage war.
In 1961, US President John F. Kennedy had sent the first large force
of US military personnel to Vietnam to bolster the ineffectual autocratic
regime of South Vietnam against Communist forces. Three years later,
with the South Vietnamese government crumbling, President Lyndon B.
Johnson ordered limited-bombing raids on North Vietnam and Congress
authorized the use of US troops. By 1965, Vietcong and North Vietnamese
offensives left President Johnson with two choices: escalate US involvement
or withdraw. Johnson ordered the former, and troop levels soon jumped
to over 300'000 as US air forces commenced the largest bombing campaign
in history.
However, as the Vietcong
were able to fight with an average daily flow of only twenty tons
of supplies from North Vietnam, and US forces in Vietnam required
one thousand times as much, the bombing of Communist industry and
supply routes had little impact on the course of the war. Nevertheless,
North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh placed the destruction of US bombers
in the forefront of his war effort, and by 1969, over 5000 US planes
had been lost.
In addition, the
extended length of the war, the high number of US casualties, and
the exposure of US involvement in war crimes such as the massacre
at My Lai had turned many in the United States against the Vietnam
War. In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon began withdrawing US troops,
but intensified bombing across Indochina in an effort to salvage the
embattled war effort. Large US troop withdrawals continued in the
early 1970s, but Nixon expanded air and ground operations into Cambodia
and Laos in attempts to block enemy supply routes along Vietnam's
borders. This expansion of the war, which accomplished few positive
results, led to new waves of protests in the United States and elsewhere.
Finally, in 1973, representatives of
the United States, North and South Vietnam, and the Vietcong signed
a peace agreement in Paris, ending the US military involvement in
the Vietnam War. By the end of 1973, the US contingent in Vietnam
had shrunk to only fifty military advisors. On 30 April 1975, the
last of these and other US persons were airlifted out of Vietnam as
Communist forces launched their final triumphant offensive into South
Vietnam. The Vietnam War was the longest and most unpopular foreign
war in US history, and cost fifty-eight thousand US lives. |
1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed after 83-day filibuster
in Senate
1964 First
New Zealand troops arrive in Vietnam
^top^
Twenty-four New Zealand Army engineers arrive in Saigon as a token
of that country's support for the American effort in South Vietnam.
The contingent was part of the Free World Military Forces, an effort
by President Lyndon B. Johnson to enlist other nations to support
the American cause in South Vietnam by sending military aid and troops.
The level of support was not the primary issue; Johnson wanted to
portray international solidarity and consensus for US policies in
Southeast Asia and he believed that participation by a number of countries
would achieve that end. The effort was also known as the "many flags"
program. In June 1965, New Zealand increased their commitment to the
war with the arrival of the Royal New Zealand Artillery's 161st Battery.
Two rifle companies from the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment arrived
in South Vietnam in 1967 along with a platoon from New Zealand's commando
force, the Special Air Service. These New Zealand forces were integrated
with the forces of the Australian Task Force and operated with them
in Phuoc Tuy Province, southeast of Saigon along the coast. In 1971,
New Zealand withdrew its military forces from South Vietnam. |
1959 Pope John
XXIII encyclical Ad
Petri Cathedram, on Truth, Unity and Peace
1956
US Federal interstate highway system act signed
1954 US Atomic Energy Commission votes against reinstating Dr
J Robert Oppenheimer's access to classified information.
1951 The United States invites the Soviet Union
to the Korean peace talks on a ship in Wonson Harbor. A
fresh perspective on the Korean War.
1950
President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea.
He relied heavily on Dean Acheson for his most significant foreign policy
achievements.
1949 Las tropas holandesas
abandonan Indonesia.
1949 South Africa begins implementing
apartheid; enacting a ban against racially-mixed marriages.
1949 US troops withdraw from Korea after WW II (it would not be
for long)
1946 British arrest 2700 Jews in Palestine
as alleged terrorists
1945 Ruthenia, formerly in
Czechoslovakia, becomes part of Ukrainian SSR
1941
Overwhelming follow-through to German invasion of USSR.
^top^
Soon after their surprise assault on
Russia, Nazi divisions make staggering advances on Leningrad, Moscow,
and Kiev. Joseph Stalin had ignored warnings that Hitler would betray
the 1939 Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, and the Germans seized over
1'300'000 square kilometers of Russian territory in the first two
months of the invasion. However, the tenacity of the Red Army and
the severity of the Russian winter had yet to be experienced by the
Germans.
One week after launching
a massive invasion of the USSR, German divisions make staggering advances
on Leningrad, Moscow, and Kiev. Despite his signing of the Nazi-Soviet
Pact of 1939, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin knew that war with Nazi
Germany--the USSR's natural ideological enemy--was inevitable. In
1941, he received reports that German forces were massing along the
USSR's eastern border. He ordered a partial mobilization, unwisely
believing that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler would never open another front
until Britain was subdued. Stalin was thus surprised by the invasion
that came on 22 June 1941. On that day, 150 German divisions poured
across the Soviet Union's 2900-km-long eastern frontier in one of
the largest and most powerful military operations in history. Aided
by its far superior air force, the Wehrmacht, the Germans raced across
the USSR in three great army groups, inflicting terrible casualties
on the Red Army and Soviet civilians. On June 29, the cities of Riga
and Ventspils in Latvia fell, 200 Soviet aircraft were shot down,
and the encirclement of three Russian armies was nearly complete at
Minsk in Belarus. Assisted by their Romanian and Finnish allies, the
Germans conquered vast territory in the opening months of the invasion,
and by mid-October the great Russian cities of Leningrad and Moscow
were under siege.
However, like
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812, Hitler failed to take into account the
Russian people's historic determination in resisting invaders. Although
millions of Soviet soldiers and citizens perished in 1941, and to
the rest of the world it seemed certain that the USSR would fall,
the defiant Red Army and bitter Russian populace were steadily crushing
Hitler's hopes for a quick victory. Stalin had far greater reserves
of Red Army divisions than German intelligence had anticipated, and
the Soviet government did not collapse from lack of popular support
as expected.
Confronted with
the harsh reality of Nazi occupation, Soviets chose Stalin's regime
as the lesser of two evils and willingly sacrificed themselves in
what became known as the "Great Patriotic War." The German offensive
against Moscow stalled only 30 km from the Kremlin, Leningrad's spirit
of resistance remained strong, and the Soviet armament industry--transported
by train to the safety of the east--carried on, safe from the fighting.
Finally, what the Russians call "General Winter" rallied again to
their cause, crippling the Germans' ability to maneuver and thinning
the ranks of the divisions ordered to hold their positions until the
next summer offensive.
The winter
of 1941 came early and was the worst in decades, and German troops
without winter coats were decimated by the major Soviet counteroffensives
that began in December. In May 1942, the Germans, who had held their
line at great cost, launched their summer offensive. They captured
the Caucasus and pushed to the city of Stalingrad, where one of the
greatest battles of World War II began. In November 1942, a massive
Soviet counteroffensive was launched out of the rubble of Stalingrad,
and at the end of January 1943 German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus
surrendered his encircled army. It was the turning point in the war,
and the Soviets subsequently recaptured all the territory taken by
the Germans in their 1942 offensive.
In July 1943, the Germans launched their last major attack, at Kursk;
after two months of fierce battle involving thousands of tanks it
ended in failure. From thereon, the Red Army steadily pushed the Germans
back in a series of Soviet offensives. In January 1944, Leningrad
was relieved, and a giant offensive to sweep the USSR clean of its
invaders began in May. In January 1945, the Red Army launched its
final offensive, driving into Czechoslovakia and Austria and, in late
April, Berlin. The German capital was captured on 02 May, and five
days later Germany surrendered in World War II. More than 18 million
Soviet soldiers and civilians lost their lives in the Great Patriotic
War. Germany lost more than three million men as a result of its disastrous
invasion of the USSR. |
1940 II Guerra Mundial: los alemanes llegan a la frontera
franco-española y ocupan las islas anglonormandas.
1940
US passes Alien Registration Act requiring Aliens to register
1939 Dixie Clipper completes first commercial plane flight to
Europe
1936 Pope Pius XI encyclical to US bishops
"On motion pictures"
1932 Siam’s army seizes Bangkok
and announces an end to the absolute monarchy.
1931
Pope
Pius XI publishes his Non
Abbiamo Bisogno, on Catholic Action in Italy
1931
43ºC, Monticello, Florida (state record)
1930 Canonisation par le Pape
Pie XI de Jean de Brébeuf.
^top^
Le
missionnaire Jésuite Français "en Huronie" est né en 1593, mort en
1649, il a participé à l’évangélisation et à la " civilisation " de
ces vastes régions du Québec. Jean de Brébeuf a vécu pendant quinze
années au milieu des Hurons. Nul ne les connaissait mieux que lui
: il leur a consacré des pages qui comptent parmi les plus précieuses
de l’ethnographie amérindienne.
Né à Condé-sur-Vire, en Normandie, il entre chez les Jésuites en 1617
: il est ordonné prêtre en 1622. Désigné pour la nouvelle mission
jésuite du Canada, il débarque à Québec en 1625. Pendant cinq mois,
il suit les Algonquins dans leurs courses vagabondes. Mais c’est à
la nation huronne, à 800 milles de Québec, que son supérieur le destine.
Il s’y rend en 1626, y séjourne trois ans, étudiant la langue et les
mœurs huronnes, mais ne fait aucun progrès dans l’évangélisation.
Rappelé à Québec en 1629, il
est forcé de rentrer en France et ne retourne dans la colonie qu’en
1633, après l’occupation anglaise. Dès 1634, il remonte en Huronie,
comme supérieur, avec l’ordre de fonder et d’organiser une mission
permanente. Le travail missionnaire semble, cette fois, devoir donner
des résultats. Mais, coup sur coup, en 1634, 1636 et 1639, des épidémies
d’une rare violence déciment les Hurons. De 30'000, la population
tombe à 12'000. Il n’en fallait pas tant pour que les Jésuites fussent
accusés de sorcellerie, et la religion nouvelle décriée. Une lutte
ouverte s’engage entre les Indiens courroucés et apeurés et les missionnaires
résignés à mourir assassinés. Plusieurs de ceux-ci se voient à la
dernière extrémité, mais la crainte que les Hurons ont des Français
de Québec les retient toujours de massacrer les Jésuites.
Brébeuf, qui a fondé trois postes avant de céder le supériorat en
1638, est victime d’un accident et doit regagner Québec en 1641. Il
exercera pendant trois ans les fonctions de procureur de la mission.
Quand Brébeuf retourne en Huronie, en 1644, la guerre atteint son
point culminant. Décimés par les maladies, divisés et désorientés
par l’introduction d’une religion et de coutumes nouvelles, démoralisés,
les Hurons sont désormais une proie facile pour leur puissant ennemi.
Incapables de résistance, ils se convertissent par milliers.
Mais la fin est proche. À partir de
1647, les Iroquois détruisent systématiquement la Huronie, bourg après
bourg, et massacrent les missionnaires. Le 16 mars 1649, Brébeuf est
capturé. Les Iroquois le martyrisent longuement, atrocement, avec
les raffinements d’une cruauté inouïe. |
1926 Fascists in Rome add an hour to the work day in an
economic efficiency measure.
1917 The Ukraine proclaims
independence from Russia — Se proclama la República Autónoma de Ucrania.
1916 Boeing aircraft flies for first time
1916 British diplomat convicted
of treason
^top^
Sir
Roger David Casement, the Irish-born diplomat who in 1911 was knighted
by King George V, is convicted of treason for his role in Ireland's
Easter Rebellion, and sentenced to death. Casement, an Irish Protestant
who served as a British diplomat during the early part of the twentieth
century, won international acclaim after exposing the illegal practice
of slavery in the Congo and parts of South America. Despite his Ulster
Protestant roots, he became an ardent supporter of the Irish independence
movement, and after the outbreak of World War I, traveled to the United
States and then to Germany to secure aid for an Irish uprising against
the British. Germany, which was at war with Great Britain, promised
limited aid, and Casement was transported back to Ireland in a German
submarine.
On 21 April 1916,
just a few days before the outbreak of the Easter Rebellion in Dublin,
he landed in Kerry, and was picked up by British authorities almost
immediately. By the end of the month, the Easter Rebellion had been
suppressed, and the majority of its leaders were executed. Casement
was tried separately because of his illustrious past, but nevertheless
was found guilty of treason on 29 June. On 03 August, he was hanged
in London. |
| 1914 Monday: in the aftermath of the previous
day's assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary
and his wife, Sophia:
^top^ Belgrade wires its condolences to Vienna.
Serbian
Prime Minister Nikola Pasic renounces the Black Hand and orders
all public meeting places closed.
The week long Serb festival celebrating St. Vitus Day is cancelled.
Widespread rioting and looting by Croats and Moslems in Sarajevo
directed towards the Serbian population. Good deal of property damage
with injuries.
Austrian
Foreign Minister Count
Leopold von Berchtold's initial stance is one of moderation;
dismiss Belgrade's minister of police, jail all suspected terrorists,
and dissolve extremist groups. Austrian army Chief of Staff General
Conrad von Hotzendorff wants invasion but needs sixteen days
to mobilize his troops.
The Austrians are aware of a trip by French
President Raymond Poincare and Prime Minister Rene Viviani to Russia
that will end 23-Jul-1914. It was agreed that no action should take
place until then. It would not do to have French and Russians in
such close contact during the crisis to follow.
Hungarian Prime Minister, Count Istvan Tisza, does not want any
action that could bring war with Russia. He is in direct conflict
with Austrian counterpart, Count Berchtold.
London newspaper runs headline: "To Hell with Serbia".
However, King
George V decrees seven days of mourning.
Not to be outdone, Czar
Nicholas II orders twelve days of mourning. |
1913 Beginning of the 2nd Balkan War
1913
El Parlamento noruego concede a las mujeres todos los derechos electorales.
1906 Hepburn Act controls US
railroads ^top^
Overwhelmingly elected to the
presidency in 1904, Theodore Roosevelt immediately asked Congress
for substantial powers to regulate interstate railroad rates. Public
demand for effective national regulation of interstate railroad rates
had been growing since the Supreme Court had emasculated the Interstate
Commerce Commission's (ICC) rate-making authority in the 1890s. Determined
to bring the railroads--the country's single greatest private economic
interest--under effective national control, Roosevelt waged an unrelenting
battle with an uncooperative Congress in 1905 and 1906.
The outcome--the Hepburn Act of 1906--was his own personal triumph,
giving teeth to the previously flaccid ICC, despite Congress dragging
its heels and tacking on several self-serving "amendments" before
agreeing to pass the bill. The Hepburn Act greatly enlarged the ICC's
jurisdiction and forbade railroads to increase rates without its approval.
By giving the ICC the authority to set maximum rates, Roosevelt effectively
created the first of the government's regulatory commissions and thus
cleared a milestone on the long road to the modern social-service
state.
By using the same tactics
of aggressive leadership, Roosevelt in 1906 also obtained passage
of a Meat Inspection Act and a Pure Food and Drug Act. Passage of
the former was aided by the publication of Upton Sinclair's famous
novel, The Jungle (1906), which revealed in ghastly detail
the unsanitary conditions of the Chicago stockyards and meat-packing
plants. |
1905 Russian troops intervene as riots erupt in ports all
over the country, leaving many ships looted
1903
The British government officially protests Belgian atrocities in
the Congo.
1900 Comienza a regir la Fundación
Nobel que otorga los premios de este mismo nombre.
1897 Conventions entre l’Etat
Italien et la République libre de Saint-Marin (San-Marino).
^top^
Comme Monaco pour la France, le Liechtenstein
pour la Suisse, Saint-Marin, à l’est de Florence, est une enclave
indépendante. Elle est sous "protectorat", comme les deux exemples
précités. Elle ne compte que 61 km² et 5000 habitants, qui vivent
essentiellement dans la capitale, Saint-Marin.
San-Marino est indépendante depuis le XIème siècle. A cette époque,
en Europe Occidentale, beaucoup de villes se sont développées (suite
à la croissance démographique et à l’évolution vers le commerce et
l’artisanat semi-industriel consécutif aux Croisades) et se sont détachées
du Pouvoir Seigneurial. Elles ont racheté leurs libertés au Seigneur
qui avait besoin d’argent. Elles se sont dotés de lois propres, d’un
Conseil législatif, d’un exécutif propre et d’armées (ainsi que de
murailles) pour garantir leurs droits.
Actuellement, le Grand Conseil (60 membres élus " directement) forment
le législatif ; lequel élit deux "capitaines-régents" pour 6 mois.
La république de San-Marino applique la loi italienne dans son ensemble,
utilise la lire (bientôt l’Euro) mais possède des lois propres (fiscalité,
commerce, taxation etc) régies depuis 1935 par une nouvelle Convention
avec l’Italie de Mussolini. Ces accords n’ont pas encore été revus.
Parce que cette situation relève d’un folklore qui attire beaucoup
de touristes. |
1890 Tratado franco-español por el que se reconoció a España
un territorio en el Golfo de Guinea, actual Guinea Ecuatorial.
1880
Tahiti becomes a French colony, from the. French protectorate it
was since 1842.
1868 Pío IX convoca el Concilio
Vaticano I, que debía inaugurarse en Roma el 8 de diciembre del año siguiente.
1863 Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana continues
1863
Siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi continues
1863
Lee orders his forces to concentrate near Gettysburg, PN
1862 Battle of Savage's Station
^top^
Confederate General Robert E. Lee attacks
Union General George McClellan as he is pulling his army away from
Richmond, Virginia, in retreat during the Seven Days' Battles. Although
the Yankees lost 1,000 men—twice as many as the Rebels—they were able
to successfully protect the retreat. George McClellan spent the spring
of 1862 preparing the Army of the Potomac for a campaign up the James
Peninsula toward Richmond. For nearly three months, McClellan landed
his troops at Fort Monroe, at the end of the peninsula, and worked
northwest to Richmond. The Seven Days' Battles were the climax of
this attempt to take the Confederate capital. Although he had an advantage
in numbers, McClellan squandered it and surrendered the initiative
to Lee, who attacked the Yankees and began driving them away from
Richmond. As McClelland retreated, Lee hounded his army. When the
Union army moved past Savage's Station—a stop on the Richmond and
York River Railroad and the site of a Union hospital—Lee ordered an
assault on the troops screening the retreat. This was a chance to
break McClellan's flank and deal a shattering defeat to the Yankees.
But although Lee's strategy was sound, it was complicated, requiring
precise timing on the part of several generals. The Confederates inflicted
serious damage on the Northerners but were not able to break the rear
guard. Fighting continued until nightfall, when a torrential rainstorm
ended the battle. |
1858 China cedes north bank of Amur River to Russia in
compliance with the "unequal treaty" of Algun of May 16, 1858.
1835
Texan William Travis prepares for war with Mexico
^top^
Determined to win independence for
the Mexican State of Texas, William Travis raises a volunteer army
of 25 soldiers and prepares to liberate the city of Anahuac. Born
in South Carolina and raised in Alabama, William Travis moved to Mexican-controlled
Texas in 1831 at the age of 22. He established a legal practice in
Anahuac, a small frontier town about 40 miles east of Houston. From
the start, Travis disliked Mexicans personally and resented Mexican
rule of Texas politically. In 1832, he clashed with local Mexican
officials and was jailed for a month.
When he was released, the growing Texan independence movement hailed
him as a hero, strengthening his resolve to break away from Mexico
by whatever means necessary. Early in 1835, the Mexican President
Antonio López de Santa Anna overthrew the republican government and
proclaimed himself dictator. Rightly fearing that some Texans would
rebel as a result, Santa Anna quickly moved to reinforce Mexican control
and dispatched troops to Anahuac, among other areas. Accustomed to
enjoying a large degree of autonomy, some Texans resented the presence
of Santa Anna's troops, and they turned to Travis for leadership.
On 29 June 1835, Travis raises
a company of 25 volunteer soldiers. The next day, the small army easily
captured Captain Antonio Tenorio, the leader of Santa Anna's forces
in Anahuac, and forced the troops to surrender. More radical Texans
again proclaimed Travis a hero, but others condemned him for trying
to foment war and maintained that Santa Anna could still be dealt
with short of revolution. By the fall of 1835, however, conflict had
become inevitable, and Texans prepared to fight a war of independence.
As soon as the rebels had formed an army, Travis was made a lieutenant
colonel in command of the regular troops at San Antonio.
On 23 February 1836 Travis joined forces with Jim Bowie's army of
volunteers to occupy an old Spanish mission known as the Alamo. The
following day, Santa Anna and about 4000 of his men laid siege to
the Alamo. With less than 200 soldiers, Travis and Bowie were able
to hold off the Mexicans for 13 days. On 06 March Santa Anna's soldiers
stormed the Alamo and killed nearly every Texan defender, including
Travis. In the months that followed, "Remember the Alamo" became a
rallying cry as the Texans successfully drove the Mexican forces from
their borders. By April, Texas had won its independence. Travis, who
first hastened the war of independence and then became a martyr to
the cause, became an enduring symbol of Texan courage and defiance.
|
1776 Virginia state constitution adopted and Patrick Henry
made governor
1767 The British Parliament approves
the Townshend Revenue Acts, which imposed import duties
on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea shipped to America. Colonists bitterly
protested the Acts, which were repealed in 1770.
1707
Felipe V de España abole los fueros de Aragón e implanta los primeros Decretos
de Nueva Planta.
1706 Guerra de Sucesión. Una
columna de caballería, a las órdenes del marqués de Villaverde, toma posesión
de Madrid en nombre del archiduque Carlos.
1694 Le corsaire Jean Bart (1650
- 1702) est anobli.
^top^
Corsaire
et chef d’escadre dunkerquois, issu d’une famille de marins, Jean
Bart sert d’abord dans la flotte des Provinces-Unies (Les Pays Bas,
la Hollande) sous les ordres de l’amiral De Ruyter (1666). Quand éclate
la guerre franco-hollandaise (1672), il rentre à Dunkerque, s’embarque
sur un navire corsaire et est rapidement promu au commandement d’un
bâtiment (1674). À la fin de la guerre en 1678, il est un des plus
célèbres "capres" (corsaires) de sa ville natale, avec quatre-vingt-une
prises à son actif.
La guerre
de la Ligue d’Augsbourg porte sa réputation à son zénith. Fait prisonnier
en 1689 avec son lieutenant Claude de Forbin, tous deux s’évadent
de Plymouth à bord d’une barque et rejoignent la côte française à
force de rames. Capitaine de vaisseau, il se voit confier par le roi
une escadre légère avec laquelle il multiplie les croisières en mer
du Nord contre le commerce anglais et hollandais, à qui il fait subir
des dommages considérables. Et c’est en vain que les escadres ennemies
font le blocus de Dunkerque et bombardent la ville à deux reprises
(1694-1695) dans l’espoir déçu de lui interdire la haute mer, ainsi
qu’aux autres corsaires.
En
1694, alors que la France souffre de la disette, il protège les arrivages
de blé russe, notamment le 29 juin, quand il reprend aux Hollandais,
qui venaient de s’en emparer, un énorme convoi qu’il amène à bon port,
exploit pour lequel il est anobli. Promu chef d’escadre en 1697, il
est commandant de la marine de Dunkerque, quand il meurt à la veille
d’entrer en campagne dans la guerre de la Succession d’Espagne.
Le succès de Jean Bart résulte de la
conjonction de trois éléments : d’une part, ses qualités personnelles
d’homme de mer, audace et sens tactique (croisières foudroyantes sur
de légères frégates, rapides et bonnes manœuvrières, combat au plus
près, terminé à l’abordage) ; d’autre part, le milieu dunkerquois
avec sa nombreuse population de marins qui lui fournit officiers et
équipages d’un courage héroïque ; et enfin la politique navale du
secrétaire d’État, Louis de Ponchartrain, qui encourage systématiquement
la guerre de course. |
1652 Massachusetts declares itself an independent commonwealth
1613 Shakespeare's theater burns
down ^top^
The Globe Theater, where most
of Shakespeare's plays debuted, burns down on this day in 1613. The
Globe was built by Shakespeare's acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's
Men, in 1599 from the timbers of London's very first permanent theater,
Burbage's Theater, built in 1576. Before James Burbage built his theater,
plays and dramatic performances were ad hoc affairs, performed on
street corners and in the yards of inns.
However, the Common Council of London, in 1574, started licensing
theatrical pieces performed in inn yards within the city limits. To
escape the restriction, actor James Burbage built his own theater
on land he leased outside the city limits. When Burbage's lease ran
out, the Lord Chamberlain's Men moved the timbers to a new location
and created the Globe.
Like other
theaters of its time, the Globe was a round wooden structure with
a stage at one end, and covered balconies for the gentry. The galleries
could seat about 1000 people, with room for another 2000 "groundlings,"
who could stand on the ground around the stage. The Lord Chamberlain's
men built Blackfriars theater in 1608, a smaller theater that seated
about 700 people, to use in winter when the open-air Globe wasn't
practical. |
1529 Se firma el tratado de Barcelona, que restablece
la paz entre el papa Clemente VII y el emperador Carlos I de España y V
de Alemania.
1236 Saint
Ferdinand III of Castile and León takes Córdoba in Spain from
the Moors.
|
^
1969 Moise-Kapenda
Tshombe, 49, of a heart attack (or assassination?)
