2008 (Feast of Saints Peter and Paul) Beginning of the Year of Saint Paul declared by Pope Benedict XVI for Catholics to meditate on Saint Paul's spirituality of faith, hope and charity; reread his Epistles the first Christian communities; relive the early years of the Church; study his teaching to the Gentiles; revitalize the faith and role of Catholics in our days; pray and work for the return of separated Christians to a reunited Church. Activities will include a pastoral programme (daily ordinary and extraordinary liturgical celebrations, meetings for prayer and the Sacrament of Penance; a cultural religious programme (catecheses on Saint Paul, conferences, congresses, concerts); pilgrimages; a cultural artistic programme (exhibitions, publications, postage stamps, the coining of a special medal, the issue of a stamp and a two euro coin by Vatican City State); publications (a new edition of the Acts of the Apostles and of the Epistles of Saint Paul, and the web site www.annopaolino.org. —(080123)
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2005 The Mexican postal service emits five stamps
featuring Memín
Pinguín, a Black boy who is the title character of a long-running
Mexican comic strip. Pinguín has nothing to do with “penguin”,
but is a fond diminutive of “pingo” (rascal). Racially
sensitive persons, or those who pretend to be (for example certain
politicians), especially in the US, criticize the stamps. Have they raised any objections to Speedy Gonzalez, which makes fun of Mexicans? 
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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 |
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1995 Microsoft pays IBM patent fee 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 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
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1989 US Congress votes new sanctions
against China 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. |
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
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1976 Proclamation de l’Indépendance des Seychelles 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. |
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1974 Isabela de Perón takes
office as Argentine President With Argentine President Juan Perón [08 Oct 1895 – 01 Jul 1974] on his deathbed, vice president Isabela Martínez de Perón [04 Feb 1931~], 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 [07 May 1919 – 26 Jul 1952] 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 |
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1972 US Supreme Court kills death penalty 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." |
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1970 US ground troops leave Cambodia 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. |
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1966 Vietnam air war escalates 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. |
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1964 First New Zealand troops
arrive in Vietnam 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. |
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
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1941 Overwhelming follow-through
to German invasion of USSR. 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 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)
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1930 Canonisation de Jean de Brébeuf par le Pape Pie
XI. Le missionnaire Jésuite Français "en Huronie" a participé à l’évangélisation et à la " civilisation " de ces vastes régions du Québec. Jean de Brébeuf [25 Mar 1593 – 16 Mar 1649] 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. |
1917 The Ukraine proclaims independence from Russia — Se proclama la República Autónoma de Ucrania.
1916 Boeing aircraft flies for first time
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1916 British diplomat is convicted of treason 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. |
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1914 Monday: in the aftermath of the previous day's assassination
in Sarajevo of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his
wife, Sophia: |
1913 El Parlamento noruego concede a las mujeres todos los derechos electorales.
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1906 Hepburn Act controls US railroads 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. |
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.
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1897 Conventions entre l’Etat Italien et la République
libre de Saint-Marin (San-Marino). 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. |
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
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1862 Battle of Savage's Station 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. |
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1835 Texan William Travis prepares
for war with Mexico 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. |
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.
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1694 Le corsaire Jean Bart (1650 - 1702) est anobli. 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. |
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1613 Shakespeare's theater burns down 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. |
1236 Saint Ferdinand III of Castile and León takes Córdoba in Spain from the Moors.
