This Week In History!

[Dorothy LaRouge]

Howdy! Welcome to This Week In History, where we look at the coming week and discuss historical events which occurred on its dates! Every week we'll bring you a new list. Feel free to discuss this week's events, or even list some of your own you think we've neglected!

Our first installment of TWIH is for the week of May 11, 2014. Let's get started!



- May 11 - On May 11, 330 CE, the city of Constantinople, formerly known as Byzantium, was founded. Constantinople would serve as the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

- May 12 - On May 12, 1940, the Germans crossed the Meuse River, beginning their conquest of France. France's capture would serve as a harsh blow to the Allied forces, and the situation in Europe would remain extremely precarious until at least the next year.

- May 13 - On May 13, 1607, Jamestown was founded in Virginia, the first permanent British settlement in the Americas. Jamestown would serve as the capital of British colonial America until 1699.

- May 14 - On May 14, 1955, the Warsaw Pact was signed by a number of European Socialist states, including the Soviet Union, Poland, and Bulgaria. The Pact would serve as a Soviet-dominated counterpart to the US-led NATO until the Iron Curtain fell.

- May 15 - On May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio began his historic hitting streak of 56 games. "Joltin'" Joe remains one of the most famous baseball players of all time.

- May 16 - On May 16, 1888, Austin was dedicated as the capital of Texas, named for Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas." Austin remains the capital of Texas to this day, one of the fastest-growing cities in America.

- May 17 - On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States reached a unanimous ruling in the case of Brown v Board of Education, declaring that segregating schools by race was an inherently unequal separation. This ruling was part of the civil rights reforms which swept the US in the mid-20th Century.



That's it for this week! Feel free to discuss this week's events or list your own, and I'll be back next Sunday with a new set!

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

Week 2! The week of May 18, 2014!

- May 18: On May 18, 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French. Napoleon's empire would be the eye of a European storm lasting over a decade in the Napoleonic Wars.

- May 19: On May 19, 1890, the man who would become known as Ho Chi Minh was born. Minh, born Nguyễn Sinh Côn, would go on to become a leading figure in the Vietnamese Communist movement.

- May 20: On May 20, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope delivered its first images. The telescope has been in service since 1990, and is expected to remain online until at least 2018.

- May 21: On May 21, 427 BCE, the philosopher Plato is believed to have been born. Plato's work, particularly his Republic, remain some of the most famous and influential works of philosophy ever written.

- May 22: On May 22, 1939, the Pact of Steel was signed between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, uniting those countries in a military alliance. Italy and Germany, along with Japan and minor states such as Romania and Hungary, would form the Axis Powers in World War II.

- May 23: On May 23, 1701, following a conviction for piracy, Captain William Kidd was hanged in London. Though Kidd's pirate career spanned only around four or five years, he remains one of history's most notorious criminals.

- May 24: On May 24, 1686, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Danzig, then part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Fahrenheit is best known for inventing the mercury-in-glass thermometer, and for developing an eponymous temperature scale still officially used by a number of countries, including the Bahamas, Belize, and the United States.

That's it for this week! Feel free to discuss this week's events or list your own, and I'll be back next Sunday (mas o menos) with a new set!

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

This week: the week of May 25, 2014!


- May 25: On May 25, 1935, Babe Ruth hit his final home run, the 714th in his career. His record would remain unmatched for almost four decades.

- May 26: On May 26, 1940, the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk in France began. The so-called "Miracle at Dunkirk" was extremely costly to the Allied cause, which would remain heavily weakened until the United States entered the war in the following year.

- May 27: On May 27, 1923, Henry Kissinger was born. As America's 56th Secretary of State, Kissinger would play a role in ending the Vietnam War, opening diplomacy with China, and advancing detente with the Soviet Union.

- May 28: On May 28, 1961, Amnesty International was founded. Since its inception, AI has remained one of the most prominent humanitarian organizations on Earth.

- May 29: On May 29, 1453, the city of Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks under Mehmed II. Thrace has remained under Turkish control ever since, and the city's fall ended the Byzantine Empire, and by extension the independent Roman state which had existed for millennia.

- May 30: On May 30, 1967, the breakaway state of Biafra declared secession from Nigeria. This sparked a civil war that would rage for three years and would end with Biafra's reabsorption into Nigeria.

- May 31: On May 31, 1979, Zimbabwe attained full independence, following a tumultuous and complicated struggle between Great Britain, Zimbabwean nationalists, and the white minority government of what was then known as Rhodesia. Zimbabwe remains independent to this day.



That's it for this week! Tune in next time when we start out June! See ya!

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to update last Sunday. Sorry! I'll be back this weekend, though!

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

This week: the week of June 8, 2014!

- June 8: On June 8, 1965, US troops in South Vietnam were ordered to begin fighting in offense. This escalated the already-decade-old Vietnam War, which would continue for a further ten years.

- June 9: On June 9, 1940, Norway surrendered to Germany following the success of Germany's Operation Weserübung, which also involved the conquest of Denmark. Norway would remain under German control until the war's end.

- June 10: On June 10, 1946, Italy established a republic, ending the monarchy which had existed since the 1860s. Italy remains a republic to this day.

- June 11: On June 11, 1770, Captain James Cook discovered the Great Barrier Reef after running aground off the coast of Australia. The Reef has been hailed as one of the natural wonders of the world, and is a tourist draw to this day.

- June 12: On June 12, 1812, Napoleon's invasion of Russia began. This invasion would prove disastrous for Napoleon, and would in part spell the end for his Empire.

- June 13: On June 13, 1900, the Boxer Rebellion erupted violently. The Rebellion was opposed to growing foreign control in China, and would end with the victory of the foreign Alliance of Eight Nations.

- June 14: On June 14, 1777, the Stars and Stripes was proclaimed as the national flag of the United States. Since 1916, every June 14 has been celebrated as the American Flag Day.

That's it for this week! Feel free to discuss this week's events or list your own, and I'll be back next week with a new set!

 

[Dorothy LaRouge]

This week: The week of June 22, 2014!

- June 22: On June 22, 1933, Germany became a single-party state, as all political parties besides the National Socialist Party were banned. The Weimar Republic was, by this point, completely dead.

- June 23: On June 23, 1848, a rebellion of workers erupted in France. The June Days Uprising was an outgrowth of the third French Revolution, itself a part of the larger 1848 Spring of Nations.

- June 24: On June 24, 1910, the Japanese Army invaded Korea. Japan would occupy Korea until 1945, and the scars of the occupation are still felt today.

- June 25: On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded the South, beginning the Korean War. That war never officially ended despite an armistice, meaning it is among the longest wars in modern history.

- June 26: On June 26, 1945, the UN Charter was signed by a group of 50 countries in San Francisco. The UN, successor to the League of Nations, exists to this day.

- June 27: On June 27, 1880, Helen Keller was born. Keller was the first deafblind individual to earn a bachelor of arts degree, and remains among the most noted authors, lecturers, and activists in history to this day. Keller died in 1968.

- June 28: On June 28, 1967, Israel declared Jerusalem unified and under its jurisdiction after claiming the city's Arab sector in the 1967 war. The matter of Jerusalem's division or lack thereof remains a matter of great controversy well into 2014.

That's it for this week! Come back next time for another week of interesting dates! See ya!