**** THIS DAY IN HISTORY ****

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 12:30 pm
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"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
― George Santayana

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19 SEPTEMBER 1957


On this day in 1957, the United States detonates a 1.7 kiloton nuclear weapon in an underground tunnel at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), a 1,375 square mile research center located 65 miles north of Las Vegas. The test, known as Rainier, was the first fully contained underground detonation and produced no radioactive fallout. A modified W-25 warhead weighing 218 pounds and measuring 25.7 inches in diameter and 17.4 inches in length was used for the test. Rainier was part of a series of 29 nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons safety tests known as Operation Plumbbob that were conducted at the NTS between May 28, 1957, and October 7, 1957.

In December 1941, the U.S. government committed to building the world's first nuclear weapon when President Franklin Roosevelt authorized $2 billion in funding for what came to be known as the Manhattan Project. The first nuclear weapon test took place on July 16, 1945, at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico. A few weeks later, on August 6, 1945, with the U.S. at war against Japan, President Harry Truman authorized the dropping of an atomic bomb named Little Boy over Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, on August 9, a nuclear bomb called Fat Man was dropped over Nagasaki. Two hundred thousand people, according to some estimates, were killed in the attacks on the two cities and on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers.

1957's Operation Plumbbob took place at a time when the U.S. was engaged in a Cold War and nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. In 1963, the U.S. signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, underwater and outer space. A total of 928 tests took place at the Nevada Test Site between 1951 and 1992, when the U.S. conducted its last underground nuclear test. In 1996, the U.S signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear detonations in all environments.

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American Revolution

Generals Arnold and Gates argue at First Battle of Saratoga, 1777

Old West

Jim Bowie stabs a Louisiana banker with his famous knife, 1827

Civil War

Union forces defeat Rebels at the Battle of Iuka, 1862

World War I

British offensive begins in Palestine , 1918

World War II

Germans bombard Leningrad, 1941

Vietnam War

Pressure mounts against continued U.S. involvement in Vietnam, 1966

Nixon cancels draft calls for November and December, 1969

Cold War

Khrushchev barred from visiting Disneyland, 1959

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2011 11:00 pm
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20 September 1565

Spanish forces under Pedro Menéndez de Avilés capture the French Huguenot settlement of Fort Caroline, near present-day Jacksonville, Florida. The French, commanded by Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere, lost 135 men in the first instance of colonial warfare between European powers in America. Most of those killed were massacred on the order of Aviles, who allegedly had the slain hanged on trees beside the inscription "Not as Frenchmen, but as heretics." Laudonniere and some 40 other Huguenots escaped.

In 1564, the French Huguenots (Protestants) had settled on the Banks of May, a strategic point on the Florida coast. King Philip II of Spain was disturbed by this challenge to Spanish authority in the New World and sent Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to Florida to expel the French heretics and establish a Spanish colony there. In early September 1565, Aviles founded San Augustin on the Florida coast, which would later grow into Saint Augustine--the oldest city in North America. Two weeks later, on September 20, he attacked and destroyed the French settlement of Fort Caroline.

The decisive French defeat encouraged France to refocus its colonial efforts in America far to the north, in what is now Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada.

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American Revolution

Redcoats kill sleeping Americans in Paoli Massacre, 1777

Old West

The returning Lewis and Clark reach the first white settlement on the Missouri, 1806

Civil War

Confederates score a victory at the Battle of Chickamauga, 1863

World War I

U.S. officer George S. Patton writes home after Saint-Mihiel offensive, 1918

World War II

British launch Operation Source, 1943

Vietnam War

U.S. officials defend use of defoliants, 1968

U.S. planes mine waters in northern Quang Tri, 1972

Cold War

Kennedy proposes joint mission to the moon, 1963



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PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 1:18 pm
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21 September 1792


In Revolutionary France, the Legislative Assembly votes to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic. The measure came one year after King Louis XVI reluctantly approved a new constitution that stripped him of much of his power.

Louis ascended to the French throne in 1774 and from the start was unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems that he inherited from his predecessors. In 1789, food shortages and economic crises led to the outbreak of the French Revolution. King Louis and his queen, Mary-Antoinette, were imprisoned in August 1792, and in September the monarchy was abolished. Soon after, evidence of Louis' counterrevolutionary intrigues with foreign nations was discovered, and he was put on trial for treason.

In January 1793, Louis was convicted and condemned to death by a narrow majority. On January 21, he walked steadfastly to the guillotine and was executed. Marie-Antoinette followed him to the guillotine nine months later.


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American Revolution

Spaniards capture Baton Rouge, 1779

Old West

The great Nez Perce leader Chief Joseph dies in Washington, 1904

Civil War

Union General John Reynolds is Born, 1820

World War I

Central Powers respond to Papal Peace Note, 1917

World War II

The Superfortress takes flight, 1942

Vietnam War

5th Special Forces Group is activated at Fort Bragg, 1961

Cold War

Mao Zedong outlines the new Chinese government, 1949


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 21, 2011 10:20 pm
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22 September 1862


On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issues a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which sets a date for the freedom of more than 3 million black slaves in the United States and recasts the Civil War as a fight against slavery.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, shortly after Lincoln's inauguration as America's 16th president, he maintained that the war was about restoring the Union and not about slavery. He avoided issuing an anti-slavery proclamation immediately, despite the urgings of abolitionists and radical Republicans, as well as his personal belief that slavery was morally repugnant. Instead, Lincoln chose to move cautiously until he could gain wide support from the public for such a measure.

In July 1862, Lincoln informed his cabinet that he would issue an emancipation proclamation but that it would exempt the so-called border states, which had slaveholders but remained loyal to the Union. His cabinet persuaded him not to make the announcement until after a Union victory. Lincoln's opportunity came following the Union win at the Battle of Antietam in September 1862. On September 22, the president announced that slaves in areas still in rebellion within 100 days would be free.

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebel states "are, and henceforward shall be free." The proclamation also called for the recruitment and establishment of black military units among the Union forces. An estimated 180,000 African Americans went on to serve in the army, while another 18,000 served in the navy.

After the Emancipation Proclamation, backing the Confederacy was seen as favoring slavery. It became impossible for anti-slavery nations such as Great Britain and France, who had been friendly to the Confederacy, to get involved on behalf of the South. The proclamation also unified and strengthened Lincoln's party, the Republicans, helping them stay in power for the next two decades.

The proclamation was a presidential order and not a law passed by Congress, so Lincoln then pushed for an antislavery amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ensure its permanence. With the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865, slavery was eliminated throughout America (although blacks would face another century of struggle before they truly began to gain equal rights).

Lincoln's handwritten draft of the final Emancipation Proclamation was destroyed in the Chicago Fire of 1871. Today, the original official version of the document is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.



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American Revolution

Nathan Hale, an American patriot executed for spying, 1776

Old West

Coronado dies, without finding the fabled cities of gold, 1554

Civil War

Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation is announced, 1862

World War I

German U-boat devastates British squadron, 1914

World War II

Patton questions necessity of Germany's "denazification", 1945

Vietnam War

Goldwater attacks Johnson's Vietnam policy, 1964

Cold War

President Kennedy signs Peace Corps legislation, 1961



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 6:04 pm
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23 September 1846

On this day in 1846, German astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle discovers the planet Neptune at the Berlin Observatory.

Neptune, generally the eighth planet from the sun, was postulated by the French astronomer Urbain-Jean-Joseph Le Verrier, who calculated the approximate location of the planet by studying gravity-induced disturbances in the motions of Uranus. On September 23, 1846, Le Verrier informed Galle of his findings, and the same night Galle and his assistant Heinrich Louis d'Arrest identified Neptune at their observatory in Berlin. Noting its movement relative to background stars over 24 hours confirmed that it was a planet.

The blue gas giant, which has a diameter four times that of Earth, was named for the Roman god of the sea. It has eight known moons, of which Triton is the largest, and a ring system containing three bright and two dim rings. It completes an orbit of the sun once every 165 years. In 1989, the U.S. planetary spacecraft Voyager 2 was the first human spacecraft to visit Neptune.



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American Revolution

John Paul Jones wins in English waters, 1779

Old West

Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time after stealing a basket of laundry. He later broke out of jail and roamed the American West, eventually earning a reputation as an outlaw and murderer and a rap sheet that allegedly included 21 murders, 1875

Civil War

Lincoln plans to send army to Chattanooga, 1863

World War I

German pilot Werner Voss shot down over Western Front , 1917

World War II

Mussolini re-establishes a fascist regime in northern Italy, 1943

Vietnam War

South Vietnam executes three accused VC agents, 1965

Cold War

Truman announces Soviets have exploded a nuclear device, 1949


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:41 pm
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Here's an interesting retrospective...

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World War II is the story of the 20th Century. The war officially lasted from 1939 until 1945, but the causes of the conflict and its horrible aftermath reverberated for decades in either direction. While feats of bravery and technological breakthroughs still inspire awe today, the majority of the war was dominated by unimaginable misery and destruction. In the late 1930s, the world's population was approximately 2 billion. In less than a decade, the war between the nations of the Axis Powers and the Allies resulted in some 80 million deaths -- killing off about 4 percent of the whole world.

These images give us glimpses into the real-life experiences of our parents, grandparents and great grandparents, moments that shaped the world as it is today.

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http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/ww2.html


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Posts: 5
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 9:56 pm
PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:10 pm
Couldn't pass this day up in History...

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-hist ... first-time

Sep 23, 1875:
Billy the Kid arrested for first time

On this day in 1875, Billy the Kid is arrested for the first time after stealing a basket of laundry. He later broke out of jail and roamed the American West, eventually earning a reputation as an outlaw and murderer and a rap sheet that allegedly included 21 murders.

The exact details of Billy the Kid's birth are unknown, other than his name, William Henry McCarty. He was probably born sometime between 1859 and 1861, in Indiana or New York. As a child, he had no relationship with his father and moved around with his family, living in Indiana, Kansas, Colorado and Silver City, New Mexico. His mother died in 1874 and Billy the Kid—who went by a variety of names throughout his life, including Kid Antrim and William Bonney—turned to crime soon afterward.

McCarty did a stint as a horse thief in Arizona before returning to New Mexico, where he hooked up with a gang of gunslingers and cattle rustlers involved in the notorious Lincoln County War between rival rancher and merchant factions in Lincoln County in 1878. Afterward, Billy the Kid, who had a slender build, prominent crooked front teeth and a love of singing, went on the lam and continued his outlaw's life, stealing cattle and horses, gambling and killing people. His crimes earned him a bounty on his head and he was eventually captured and indicted for killing a sheriff during the Lincoln County War. Billy the Kid was sentenced to hang for his crime; however, a short time later, he managed another jail break, murdering two deputies in the process. Billy the Kid's freedom was brief, as Sheriff Pat Garrett caught up with the desperado at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, on July 14, 1881, and fatally shot him.

Although his life was short, Billy the Kid's legend grew following his death. Today he is a famous symbol of the Old West, along with such men as Kit Carson, Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, and his story has been mythologized and romanticized in numerous films, books, TV shows and songs. Each year, tourists visit the town of Fort Sumner, located about 160 miles southeast of Albuquerque, to see the Billy the Kid Museum and gravesite.
PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:45 pm
Nice one Billy !!


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Location: New York
PostPosted: Thu Sep 22, 2011 8:48 pm
Imagine if they still did things that way.
PostPosted: Fri Sep 23, 2011 11:06 am
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Another item of note....

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September 23, 1933: Standard Oil geologists arrive in Saudi Arabia


On September 23, 1933, a party of American geologists lands at the Persian Gulf port of Jubail in Saudi Arabia and begins its journey into the desert. That July, with the discovery of a massive oil field at Ghawar, Saudi King Abdel Aziz had granted the Standard Oil Company of California a concession to "explore and search for and drill and extract and manufacture and transport" petroleum and "kindred bituminous matter" in the country's vast Eastern Province; in turn, Standard Oil immediately dispatched the team of scientists to locate the most profitable spot for the company to begin its drilling.

As automobiles and other internal-combustion machines proliferated, both in the United States and around the globe, Standard Oil was eager to control as much of the market for gasoline as it could. As a result, it would do almost anything to have first dibs on Saudi oil. The partnership between Abdel Aziz's government and Standard Oil became known as the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). (Texaco soon joined the partnership; about a decade later, so did Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum Oil.) The company promised to provide the Saudi government with a steady income, along with an outright payment of 50,0000 British pounds; in return, Aramco got exclusive rights to all the oil underneath the eastern desert. In 1938, the company's gamble (after all, while Aramco engineers knew there was oil in the region, no one knew exactly where or how much) paid off: its geologists and drillers discovered oil in "commercial quantities" at the Dammam Dome, near Dhahran. The next year, Aramco exported its first tanker-load of petroleum.

In 1950, once it had become clear how very much oil there was under that desert, Aramco agreed to split its profits with the Saudi government. In 1980, after several years of squabbling over the price and availability of the country's petroleum (Saudi Arabia was a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, whose 1973 embargo precipitated a massive fuel crisis in the United States and other parts of the industrial world), Saudis won total control of the company: It's now known as Saudi Aramco. The next year, the kingdom's oil revenues reached $118 billion.

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 11:10 am
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24 September 1964


On this day in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson receives a special commission's report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which had occurred on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas.

Since the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was killed by a man named Jack Ruby almost immediately after murdering Kennedy, Oswald's motive for assassinating the president remained unknown. Seven days after the assassination, Johnson appointed the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy to investigate Kennedy's death. The commission was led by Chief Justice Earl Warren and became known as the Warren Commission. It concluded that Oswald had acted alone and that the Secret Service had made poor preparations for JFK's visit to Dallas and had failed to sufficiently protect him.

The circumstances surrounding Kennedy's death, however, have since given rise to several conspiracy theories involving such disparate characters as the Mafia, Cuban exiles, military leaders and even Lyndon Johnson. The Warren Commission's conclusion that Oswald was a "lone gunman" failed to satisfy some who witnessed the attack and others whose research found conflicting details in the commission's report. Critics of the Warren Commission's report believed that additional ballistics experts' conclusions and a home movie shot at the scene disputed the theory that three bullets fired from Oswald's gun could have caused Kennedy's fatal wounds as well as the injuries to Texas Governor John Connally, who was riding with the president in an open car as it traveled through Dallas' Dealey Plaza that fateful day. So persistent was the controversy that another congressional investigation was conducted in 1979; that committee reached the same conclusion as the Warren Commission.

During its almost year-long investigation, the Warren Commission reviewed reports by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service, Department of State and the attorney general of Texas. It also pored over Oswald's personal history, political affiliations and military record. Overall, the Warren Commission listened to the testimony of 552 witnesses and even traveled to Dallas several times to visit the site where Kennedy was shot. The enormous volume of documentation from the investigation was placed in the National Archives and much of it is now available to the public. Access to Kennedy's autopsy records, though, are highly restricted. To view them requires membership in a presidential or congressional commission or the permission of the Kennedy family.



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American Revolution

Congress prepares instructions for negotiating treaty with France, 1776


Old West

The Mormon Church officially renounces polygamy, 1890


Civil War

Union General Henry Slocum is born, 1827


World War I

Bulgaria seeks ceasefire with Allied powers , 1918


World War II

Japanese gather preliminary data for sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, 1941


Vietnam War

Secy of Defense Robert McNamara assess situation in Vietnam, 1963


Cold War

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles declares that the United States will not "cringe or become panicky" in the face of Soviet nuclear weapons. Dulles' speech indicated that although the Korean War had finally reached a peaceful conclusion, the United States would continue its policy of containing communist expansion, by force if necessary.



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PostPosted: Sat Sep 24, 2011 10:48 pm
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25 September 2005

Two months after announcing its intention to disarm, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) gives up its weapons in front of independent weapons inspectors. The decommissioning of the group s substantial arsenal took place in secret locations in the Republic of Ireland. One Protestant and one Catholic priest as well as officials from Finland and the United States served as witnesses to the historic event. Automatic weapons, ammunition, missiles and explosives were among the arms found in the cache, which the head weapons inspector described as "enormous."

Originally founded in 1919 to militarily oppose British rule in Ireland, the IRA had operated since about the 1960s as the military arm of Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist political party. The IRA (and splinter groups using various derivatives of the name) had used terrorist tactics and assassinations for more than 30 years in their struggle to free Northern Ireland from British rule.

In April 1998, after more than 22 months of negotiating, a 67-page peace accord called the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement was finally signed. Endorsed by the British and Irish governments, eight of Northern Ireland s ten political parties, and the region s voters, the agreement included power-sharing among Catholics and Protestants in government, a commitment to peace and democracy, and a pledge by paramilitary groups on both sides to decommission their weapons within two years. A ceasefire had been in place since 1997, and although they continued to abide by it, the IRA initially refused to give up their weapons. This stalled the peace process for almost six years.

Although many Northern Irish Protestants did not trust that the IRA was truly giving up all of its weapons, the disarmament represented an important step toward lasting peace in the long-troubled region. In the aftermath of the disarmament, IRA splinter groups threatened to continue the violence.


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American Revolution

Ethan Allen is captured, 1775

Old West

Cattle pioneer Oliver Loving dies of gangrene, 1867

Civil War

Confederate president visits General Hood in Georgia, 1864

World War I

The Battle of Loos begins, 1915

World War II

Gestapo headquarters targeted in Norway, 1942

Vietnam War

Congressional opponents of Nixon Vietnam policy renew opposition, 1969

Cold War

Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet for talks, 1959


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PostPosted: Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:29 pm
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26 September 1580

English seaman Francis Drake returns to Plymouth, England, in the Golden Hind, becoming the first British navigator to circumnavigate the globe

On December 13, 1577, Drake set out from England with five ships on a mission to raid Spanish holdings on the Pacific coast of the New World. After crossing the Atlantic, Drake abandoned two of his ships in South America and then sailed into the Straits of Magellan with the remaining three. A series of devastating storms besieged his expedition in the treacherous straits, wrecking one ship and forcing another to return to England. Only the Golden Hind reached the Pacific Ocean, but Drake continued undaunted up the western coast of South America, raiding Spanish settlements and capturing a rich Spanish treasure ship.

Drake then continued up the western coast of North America, searching for a possible northeast passage back to the Atlantic. Reaching as far north as present-day Washington before turning back, Drake paused near San Francisco Bay in June 1579 to repair his ship and prepare for a journey across the Pacific. Calling the land "Nova Albion," Drake claimed the territory for Queen Elizabeth I.

In July, the expedition set off across the Pacific, visiting several islands before rounding Africa's Cape of Good Hope and returning to the Atlantic Ocean. On September 26, 1580, the Golden Hind returned to Plymouth, England, bearing its rich captured treasure and valuable information about the world's great oceans. In 1581, Queen Elizabeth I knighted Drake during a visit to his ship. The most renowned of the Elizabethan seamen, he later played a crucial role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. The explorer died 1596 at the age of 56.


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American Revolution

Congress elects agents to negotiate treaty with France, 1776

Old West

The famous frontiersman Daniel Boone dies in Missouri, 1820

Civil War

Rebels begin attack against Fort Davidson, Missouri, 1864

World War I

Meuse-Argonne offensive opens, 1918

World War II

Allies slaughtered by Germans in Arnhem, 1944

Vietnam War

First American soldier killed in Vietnam, 1945 ( date is correct )

Cold War

Anti-censorship law approved by Soviet legislature, 1989


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:56 pm
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27 September 1540

In Rome, the Society of Jesus--a Roman Catholic missionary organization--receives its charter from Pope Paul III. The Jesuit order played an important role in the Counter-Reformation and eventually succeeded in converting millions around the world to Catholicism.

The Jesuit movement was founded by Ignatius de Loyola, a Spanish soldier turned priest, in August 1534. The first Jesuits--Ignatius and six of his students--took vows of poverty and chastity and made plans to work for the conversion of Muslims. If travel to the Holy Land was not possible, they vowed to offer themselves to the pope for apostolic work. Unable to travel to Jerusalem because of the Turkish wars, they went to Rome instead to meet with the pope and request permission to form a new religious order. In September 1540, Pope Paul III approved Ignatius' outline of the Society of Jesus, and the Jesuit order was born.

Under Ignatius' charismatic leadership, the Society of Jesus grew quickly. Jesuit missionaries played a leading role in the Counter-Reformation and won back many of the European faithful who had been lost to Protestantism. In Ignatius' lifetime, Jesuits were also dispatched to India, Brazil, the Congo region, and Ethiopia. Education was of utmost importance to the Jesuits, and in Rome Ignatius founded the Roman College (later called the Gregorian University) and the Germanicum, a school for German priests. The Jesuits also ran several charitable organizations, such as one for former prostitutes and one for converted Jews. When Ignatius de Loyola died in July 1556, there were more than 1,000 Jesuit priests.

During the next century, the Jesuits set up ministries around the globe. The "Black-Robes," as they were known in Native America, often preceded other Europeans in their infiltration of foreign lands and societies. The life of a Jesuit was one of immense risk, and thousands of priests were persecuted or killed by foreign authorities hostile to their mission of conversion. However, in some nations, such as India and China, the Jesuits were welcomed as men of wisdom and science.

With the rise of nationalism in the 18th century, most European countries suppressed the Jesuits, and in 1773 Pope Clement XIV dissolved the order under pressure from the Bourbon monarchs. However, in 1814, Pope Pius VII gave in to popular demand and reestablished the Jesuits as an order, and they continue their missionary work to this day. Ignatius de Loyola was canonized a Catholic saint in 1622.


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American Revolution

John Adams appointed to negotiate peace terms with British, 1779

Old West

Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok proves too wild for Kansas, 1869

Civil War

Confederate guerillas sack Centralia, Missouri, 1864

World War I

John Kipling killed at the Battle of Loos , 1915

World War II

Poland surrenders, 1939

The Tripartite Pact is signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan, 1940

Vietnam War

Antiwar sentiment increases, 1967

Thieu comments on Nixon's Vietnamization policy, 1969

Cold War

Khrushchev ends trip to the United States, 1959


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 10:55 pm
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28 September 1918

On this day in 1918, a Liberty Loan parade in Philadelphia prompts a huge outbreak of the flu epidemic in the city. By the time the epidemic ended, an estimated 30 million people were dead worldwide.

Influenza is a highly contagious virus that attacks the respiratory system and can mutate very quickly to avoid being killed by the human immune system. Generally, only the very old and the very young are susceptible to death from the flu. Though a pandemic of the virus in 1889 had killed thousands all over the world, it was not until 1918 that the world discovered how deadly the flu could be.

The most likely origin of the 1918 flu pandemic was a bird or farm animal in the American Midwest. The virus may have traveled among birds, pigs, sheep, moose, bison and elk, eventually mutating into a version that took hold in the human population. The best evidence suggests that the flu spread slowly through the United States in the first half of the year, then spread to Europe via some of the 200,000 American troops who traveled there to fight in World War I. By June, the flu seemed to have mostly disappeared from North America, after taking a considerable toll.

Over the summer of 1918, the flu spread quickly all over Europe. One of its first stops was Spain, where it killed so many people that it became known the world over as the Spanish Flu. The Spanish Flu was highly unusual because it seemed to affect strong people in the prime of their lives rather than babies and the elderly. By the end of the summer, about 10,000 people were dead. In most cases, hemorrhages in the nose and lungs killed victims within three days.

As fall began, the flu epidemic spiraled out of control. Ports throughout the world usually the first locations in a country to be infected--reported serious problems. In Sierra Leone, 500 of 600 dock workers were too sick to work. Africa, India and the Far East reported epidemics. The spread of the virus among so many people also seems to have made it even more deadly and contagious as it mutated. When the second wave of flu hit London and Boston in September, the results were far worse than those from the previous flu strain.

Twelve thousand soldiers in Massachusetts came down with the flu in mid-September. Each division of the armed services was reporting hundreds of deaths each week due to flu. Philadelphia was the hardest-hit city in the United States. After the Liberty Loan parade on September 28, thousands of people became infected. The city morgue, built to hold 36 bodies, was now faced with the arrival of hundreds within a few days. The entire city was quarantined and nearly 12,000 city residents died. Overall, in the United States, five out of every thousand people fell victim to the flu.

In the rest of the world, the death toll was much worse. In Latin America, 10 out of every thousand people died. In Africa, it was 15 per thousand and in Asia it was as high as 35 per thousand. It is estimated that up to 20 million people perished in India alone. Ten percent of the entire population of Tahiti died within three weeks. In Western Samoa, 20 percent of the population died. More people died from the flu than from all of the battles of World War I combined.

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American Revolution

Battle of Yorktown begins, 1781

Old West

Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay, 1542

Civil War

Union generals blamed for Chickamauga defeat, 1863

World War I

British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler, 1918

World War II

General Hap Arnold fights for unique bombers, 1942

Vietnam War

Battle for Thuong Duc begins, 1968

Cold War

Khrushchev and Eisenhower offer views on summit meeting, 1959


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PostPosted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 10:26 pm
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29 September 1982


Flight attendant Paula Prince buys a bottle of cyanide-laced Tylenol. Prince was found dead on October 1, becoming the final victim of a mysterious ailment in Chicago, Illinois. Over the previous 24 hours, six other people had suddenly died of unknown causes in northwest Chicago. After Prince's death, Richard Keyworth and Philip Cappitelli, firefighters in the Windy City, realized that all seven victims had ingested Extra-Strength Tylenol prior to becoming ill. Further investigation revealed that several bottles of the Tylenol capsules had been poisoned with cyanide.

Mary Ann Kellerman, a seventh grader, was the first to die after ingesting the over-the-counter pain reliever. The next victim, Adam Janus, ended up in the emergency room in critical condition. After visiting his older brother in the hospital, Stanley Janus went back to Adam's house with his wife, Theresa. To alleviate their stress-induced headaches, they both took capsules from the open Tylenol bottle that was sitting on the counter. They too were poisoned--Stanley died and Theresa lapsed into a coma. That same day, Mary Reiner, who had a headache after giving birth, took the tainted pills. A woman named Mary McFarland was also poisoned.

While bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol were recalled nationwide, the only contaminated capsules were found in the Chicago area. The culprit was never caught, but the mass murder led to new tamper-proof medicine containers. It also led to a string of copycat crimes, as others sought to blackmail companies with alleged poisoning schemes, most of which proved to be false alarms.



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American Revolution

British spy sentenced to death, 1780

Old West

The great singing cowboy, Gene Autry, is born in Texas, 1907

Civil War

Union tries to break stalemate in Virginia, 1864

World War I

Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line , 1918

World War II

Nazis and communists divvy up Poland, 1939

Vietnam War

Hanoi announces that downed pilots will be treated as war criminals, 1965

Cold War

Russians want the American dream, 1953



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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:47 pm
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30 September 1954

The USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear submarine, is commissioned by the U.S. Navy.

The Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy Captain Hyman G. Rickover, a brilliant Russian-born engineer who joined the U.S. atomic program in 1946. In 1947, he was put in charge of the navy's nuclear-propulsion program and began work on an atomic submarine. Regarded as a fanatic by his detractors, Rickover succeeded in developing and delivering the world's first nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule. In 1952, the Nautilus' keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman, and on January 21, 1954, first lady Mamie Eisenhower broke a bottle of champagne across its bow as it was launched into the Thames River at Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned on September 30, 1954, it first ran under nuclear power on the morning of January 17, 1955.

Much larger than the diesel-electric submarines that preceded it, the Nautilus stretched 319 feet and displaced 3,180 tons. It could remain submerged for almost unlimited periods because its atomic engine needed no air and only a very small quantity of nuclear fuel. The uranium-powered nuclear reactor produced steam that drove propulsion turbines, allowing the Nautilus to travel underwater at speeds in excess of 20 knots.

In its early years of service, the USS Nautilus broke numerous submarine travel records and in August 1958 accomplished the first voyage under the geographic North Pole. After a career spanning 25 years and almost 500,000 miles steamed, the Nautilus was decommissioned on March 3, 1980. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982, the world's first nuclear submarine went on exhibit in 1986 as the Historic Ship Nautilus at the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut.


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American Revolution

Washington blames militia for problems, 1776

Old West

Wyoming legislators write the first state constitution to grant women the vote, 1889

Civil War

Battle of Poplar Springs Church (Peeble's Farm), 1864

World War I

Turks abandon Damascus as Allies approach, 1918

World War II

Hitler appeased at Munich, 1938

Vietnam War

First large scale antiwar demonstration staged at Berkeley, 1964

Cold War

Berlin Airlift ends, 1949


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:36 am
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01 October 1890


On this day in 1890, an act of Congress creates Yosemite National Park, home of such natural wonders as Half Dome and the giant sequoia trees. Environmental trailblazer John Muir (1838-1914) and his colleagues campaigned for the congressional action, which was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison and paved the way for generations of hikers, campers and nature lovers, along with countless "Don't Feed the Bears" signs.

Native Americans were the main residents of the Yosemite Valley, located in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, until the 1849 gold rush brought thousands of non-Indian miners and settlers to the region. Tourists and damage to Yosemite Valley's ecosystem followed. In 1864, to ward off further commercial exploitation, conservationists convinced President Abraham Lincoln to declare Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias a public trust of California. This marked the first time the U.S. government protected land for public enjoyment and it laid the foundation for the establishment of the national and state park systems. Yellowstone became America's first national park in 1872.

In 1889, John Muir discovered that the vast meadows surrounding Yosemite Valley, which lacked government protection, were being overrun and destroyed by domestic sheep grazing. Muir and Robert Underwood Johnson, a fellow environmentalist and influential magazine editor, lobbied for national park status for the large wilderness area around Yosemite Valley. On October 1 of the following year, Congress set aside over 1,500 square miles of land (about the size of Rhode Island) for what would become Yosemite National Park, America’s third national park. In 1906, the state-controlled Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Grove came under federal jurisdiction with the rest of the park.

Yosemite's natural beauty is immortalized in the black-and-white landscape photographs of Ansel Adams (1902-1984), who at one point lived in the park and spent years photographing it. Today, over 3 million people get back to nature annually at Yosemite and check out such stunning landmarks as the 2,425-foot-high Yosemite Falls, one of the world's tallest waterfalls; rock formations Half Dome and El Capitan, the largest granite monolith in the U.S.; and the three groves of giant sequoias, the world's biggest trees.


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American Revolution

Patriots learn of increased French support, 1776

Old West

Congress creates Yosemite National Park, 1890

Civil War

Rose Greenhow dies, 1864

World War I

Crisis in Germany, 1918

World War II

Experiments begin on homosexuals at Buchenwald, 1944

Vietnam War

South Vietnam requests a bilateral defense treaty, 1961

Cold War

Mao Zedong proclaims People's Republic of China, 1949

Mikhail Gorbachev becomes head of Supreme Soviet, 1988


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:25 pm
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02 October 1944

The Warsaw Uprising ends with the surrender of the surviving Polish rebels to German forces.

Two months earlier, the approach of the Red Army to Warsaw prompted Polish resistance forces to launch a rebellion against the Nazi occupation. The rebels, who supported the democratic Polish government-in-exile in London, hoped to gain control of the city before the Soviets "liberated" it. The Poles feared that if they failed to take the city the Soviet conquerors would forcibly set up a pro-Soviet communist regime in Poland.

The poorly supplied Poles made early gains against the Germans, but Nazi leader Adolf Hitler sent reinforcements. In brutal street fighting, the Poles were gradually overcome by superior German weaponry. Meanwhile, the Red Army occupied a suburb of Warsaw but made no efforts to aid the Polish rebels. The Soviets also rejected a request by the British to use Soviet air bases to airlift supplies to the beleaguered Poles.

After 63 days, the Poles--out of arms, supplies, food, and water--were forced to surrender. In the aftermath, the Nazis deported much of Warsaw's population and destroyed the city. With protestors in Warsaw out of the way, the Soviets faced little organized opposition in establishing a communist government in Poland.



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American Revolution

Benedict accomplice hanged, 1780

Old West

First shots of the Texas Revolution fired in the Battle of Gonzales, 1835

Civil War

Confederates score victory at the Battle of Saltville, 1864

World War I

U.S President Woodrow Wilson suffers massive stroke, 1919

World War II

Operation Typhoon is launched, 1941

Vietnam War

Soviets report that Russian military personnel have come under fire, 1966

Aerial offensive against North Vietnam continues, 1967

Cold War

The Cold War comes to Africa, as Guinea gains its independence, 1958


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:29 am
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03 October 1952


Britain successfully tests its first atomic bomb at the Monte Bello Islands, off the northwest coast of Australia.

During World War II, 50 British scientists and engineers worked on the successful U.S. atomic bomb program at Los Alamos, New Mexico. After the war, many of these scientists were enlisted into the secret effort to build an atomic bomb for Britain. Work on the British A-bomb officially began in 1947, and Los Alamos veteran William Penney served as the program head. In February 1952, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill publicly announced the plans to test a British nuclear weapon, and on October 3 a 25-kiloton device--similar to the U.S. atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan--was successfully detonated in the hull of the frigate HMS Plym anchored off the Monte Bello Islands. The test made Britain the world's third atomic power after the United States and the Soviet Union.



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American Revolution

French and Americans cut off British supplies at Gloucester, 1781

Old West

U.S. Army hangs four Modoc Indians for the murder of a Civil War hero, 1873

Civil War

North and South clash at the Second Battle of Corinth, 1862

World War I

War Revenue Act passed in U.S. , 1917

World War II

Germany conducts first successful V-2 rocket test, 1942

Vietnam War

Operation Wallowa commences, 1967

Cold War

East and West Germany reunite after 45 years, 1990



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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:06 pm
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04 October 1777


Near the British-occupied city of Philadelphia, Patriot forces under General George Washington attempt an early morning attack on Sir William Howe's British troops at Germantown. Heavy morning fog threw Washington's divisions into disarray, and by 10 o'clock the battle was over. Although the Americans were forced into a retreat, both sides suffered heavy losses, and the battle demonstrated Washington's strategic abilities. Coupled with the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga in New York on October 17, the Battle of Germantown convinced France to recognize and support American independence and give open military assistance, thus marking a turning point in the American Revolution. After Germantown, General Washington led his forces into their winter quarters at Valley Forge.



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American Revolution

Both sides battered at Germantown, 1777

Old West

Frederic Remington is born in Canton, New York, 1861

Civil War

Lincoln watches a balloon ascension, 1861

World War I

Germany telegraphs President Wilson seeking armistice , 1918

World War II

Heinrich Himmler encourages his SS group leaders, 1943

Vietnam War

Johnson orders the commencement of Oplan 34A raids, 1964

Cold War

Soviet Union launches Sputnik I, 1957


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:05 pm
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05 October 1813


During the War of 1812, a combined British and Indian force is defeated by General William Harrison's American army at the Battle of the Thames near Ontario, Canada. The leader of the Indian forces was Tecumseh, the Shawnee chief who organized intertribal resistance to the encroachment of white settlers on Indian lands. He was killed in the fighting.

Tecumseh was born in an Indian village in present-day Ohio and early on witnessed the devastation wrought on tribal lands by white settlers. He fought against U.S. forces in the American Revolution and later raided white settlements, often in conjunction with other tribes. He became a great orator and a leader of intertribal councils. He traveled widely, attempting to organize a united Indian front against the United States. When the War of 1812 erupted, he joined the British, and with a large Indian force he marched on U.S.-held Fort Detroit with British General Isaac Brock. In August 1812, the fort surrendered without a fight when it saw the British and Indian show of force.

Tecumseh then traveled south to rally other tribes to his cause and in 1813 joined British General Henry Procter in his invasion of Ohio. The British-Indian force besieged Fort Meigs, and Tecumseh intercepted and destroyed a Kentucky brigade sent to relieve the fort. After the U.S. victory at the Battle of Lake Erie in September 1813, Procter and Tecumseh were forced to retreat to Canada. Pursued by an American force led by the future president William Harrison, the British-Indian force was defeated at the Battle of the Thames River on October 5.

The battle gave control of the western theater to the United States in the War of 1812. Tecumseh's death marked the end of Indian resistance east of the Mississippi River, and soon after most of the depleted tribes were forced west.



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American Revolution

Washington informs Congress of espionage, 1775

Old West

The Dalton Gang is wiped out in Coffeyville, Kansas, 1892

Civil War

Union scores a victory at the Battle of Allatoona, 1864

World War I

Britain and France commit troops to operation in Salonika, Greece, 1915

World War II

"Stalingrad must not be taken by the enemy.", 1942

Vietnam War

South Vietnamese generals plan coup, 1963

Cold War

Iran-Contra scandal unravels, 1986



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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 8:30 pm
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06 October 1961

President John F. Kennedy, speaking on civil defense, advises American families to build bomb shelters to protect them from atomic fallout in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. Kennedy also assured the public that the U.S. civil defense program would soon begin providing such protection for every American. Only one year later, true to Kennedy's fears, the world hovered on the brink of full-scale nuclear war when the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted over the USSR's placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba. During the tense 13-day crisis, some Americans prepared for nuclear war by buying up canned goods and completing last-minute work on their backyard bomb shelters.

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06 October 1973

Hoping to win back territory lost to Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war, Egyptian and Syrian forces launch a coordinated attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Taking the Israeli Defense Forces by surprise, Egyptian troops swept deep into the Sinai Peninsula, while Syria struggled to throw occupying Israeli troops out of the Golan Heights.

Israel's stunning victory in the Six-Day War of 1967 left the Jewish nation in control of territory four times its previous size. Egypt lost the 23,500-square-mile Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, Jordan the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Syria the strategic Golan Heights. When Anwar el-Sadat became president of Egypt in 1970, he found himself leader of an economically troubled nation that could ill afford to continue its endless crusade against Israel. He wanted to make peace and thereby achieve stability and recovery of the Sinai, but after Israel's 1967 victory it was unlikely that Israel's peace terms would be favorable to Egypt. So Sadat conceived of a daring plan to attack Israel again, which, even if unsuccessful, might convince the Israelis that peace with Egypt was necessary.

In 1972, Sadat expelled 20,000 Soviet advisers from Egypt and opened new diplomatic channels with Washington, which, as Israel's key ally, would be an essential mediator in any future peace talks. He formed a new alliance with Syria, and a concerted attack on Israel was planned.

When the fourth Arab-Israeli war began on October 6, 1973, many of Israel's soldiers were away from their posts observing Yom Kippur, and the Arab armies made impressive advances with their up-to-date Soviet weaponry. Iraqi forces soon joined the war, and Syria received support from Jordan. After several days, Israel was fully mobilized, and the Israel Defense Forces began beating back the Arab gains at a heavy cost to soldiers and equipment. A U.S. airlift of arms aided Israel's cause, but President Richard Nixon delayed the emergency military aid for seven days as a tacit signal of U.S. sympathy for Egypt. In late October, an Egyptian-Israeli cease-fire was secured by the United Nations.

Although Egypt had again suffered military defeat at the hands of its Jewish neighbor, the initial Egyptian successes greatly enhanced Sadat's prestige in the Middle East and provided him with an opportunity to seek peace. In 1974, the first of two Egyptian-Israeli disengagement agreements providing for the return of portions of the Sinai to Egypt were signed, and in 1979 Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the first peace agreement between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors. In 1982, Israel fulfilled the 1979 peace treaty by returning the last segment of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.

For Syria, the Yom Kippur War was a disaster. The unexpected Egyptian-Israeli cease-fire exposed Syria to military defeat, and Israel seized even more territory in the Golan Heights. In 1979, Syria voted with other Arab states to expel Egypt from the Arab League. On October 6, 1981, Sadat was assassinated by Muslim extremists in Cairo while viewing a military parade commemorating the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War.



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American Revolution

British capture Forts Montgomery and Clinton, 1777

Old West

The Reno brothers carry out the first train robbery in U.S. history, 1866

Civil War

Confederate guerillas attack Baxter Springs, Kansas, 1863

World War I

Austria-Hungary annexes Bosnia-Herzegovina , 1908

World War II

Pierre Laval attempts suicide, 1945

Vietnam War

U.S. jets strike targets in North Vietnam, 1967

Cold War

The Yom Kippur War brings United States and USSR to brink of conflict, 1973



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PostPosted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 12:08 pm
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07 October 2001

On this day in 2001, a U.S.-led coalition begins attacks on Taliban-controlled Afghanistan with an intense bombing campaign by American and British forces. Logistical support was provided by other nations including France, Germany, Australia and Canada and, later, troops were provided by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance rebels. The invasion of Afghanistan was the opening salvo in the United States "war on terrorism" and a response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

Dubbed "Operation Enduring Freedom" in U.S. military parlance, the invasion of Afghanistan was intended to target terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, which was based in the country, as well as the extreme fundamentalist Taliban government that had ruled most of the country since 1996 and supported and protected al-Qaida. The Taliban, which had imposed its extremist version of Islam on the entire country, also perpetrated countless human rights abuses against its people, especially women, girls and ethnic Hazaras. During their rule, large numbers of Afghans lived in utter poverty, and as many as 4 million Afghans are thought to have suffered from starvation.

In the weeks prior to the invasion, both the United States and the U.N. Security Council had demanded that the Taliban turn over Osama bin Laden for prosecution. After deeming the Taliban's counteroffers unsatisfactory—among them to try bin Laden in an Islamic court—the invasion began with an aerial bombardment of Taliban and al-Qaida installations in Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Konduz and Mazar-e-Sharif. Other coalition planes flew in airdrops of humanitarian supplies for Afghan civilians. The Taliban called the actions "an attack on Islam." In a taped statement released to the Arabic al-Jazeera television network, Osama bin Laden called for a war against the entire non-Muslim world.

After the air campaign softened Taliban defenses, the coalition began a ground invasion, with Northern Alliance forces providing most of the troops and the U.S. and other nations giving air and ground support. On November 12, a little over a month after the military action began, Taliban officials and their forces retreated from the capital of Kabul. By early December, Kandahar, the last Taliban stronghold, had fallen and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar went into hiding rather than surrender. Al-Qaida fighters continued to hide out in Afghanistan's mountainous Tora Bora region, where they were engaged by anti-Taliban Afghan forces, backed by U.S. Special Forces troops. Al-Qaida soon initiated a truce, which is now believed to have been a ploy to allow Osama bin Laden and other key al-Qaida members time to escape into neighboring Pakistan. By mid-December, the bunker and cave complex used by al-Qaida at Tora Bora had been captured, but there was no sign of bin Laden.

After Tora Bora, a grand council of Afghan tribal leaders and former exiles was convened under the leadership of Hamid Karzai, who first served as interim leader before becoming the first democratically elected president of Afghanistan on December 7, 2004. Even as Afghanistan began to take the first steps toward democracy, however, with more than 10,000 U.S. troops in country, al-Qaida and Taliban forces began to regroup in the mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They continue to engage U.S. and Afghan troops in guerilla-style warfare and have also been responsible for the deaths of elected government officials and aid workers and the kidnapping of foreigners. Hundreds of American and coalition soldiers and thousands of Afghans have been killed and wounded in the fighting.

Afghans continue to make up the largest refugee population in the world, though nearly 3 million have returned to Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, further straining the country's war-ravaged economy.



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American Revolution

Patriots prevail in Carolinas, 1780

Old West

First double-decked steamboat, the Washington, arrives in New Orleans, 1816

Civil War

North and South clash at the Battle of Darbytown, 1864

World War I

Antwerp under siege, 1914

World War II

German troops enter Romania, 1940

Japanese execute nearly 100 American prisoners on Wake Island, 1943

Vietnam War

Wheeler announces progress in the Vietnamization effort, 1969

Cold War

Kennedy and Nixon debate Cold War foreign policy, 1960



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PostPosted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 12:10 pm
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08 October 1998

On this day in 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives votes to proceed toward impeaching President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. By December 1998, the Republican-led House had gathered enough information from an investigation committee to vote in favor of impeachment, which in turn sent the case to the Senate.

The House of Representatives' decision to send the impeachment process to the Senate came after a four-year investigation into Clinton and his wife Hillary's alleged involvement in several scandals including allegedly improper Arkansas real-estate deals, suspected fundraising violations, claims of sexual harassment and accusations of cronyism involving the firing of White House travel agents. Over the course of the investigation, the independent prosecutor assigned to the case, Kenneth Starr, was informed of an extramarital affair between Clinton and a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. The president had denied the affair as part of another lawsuit (the Paula Jones case), but when questioned by Starr, Clinton tried to invoke executive privilege to avoid responding. An undeterred Starr then charged the president with obstruction of justice, which forced the president to testify before a grand jury in August 1998.

In his testimony, the president admitted to an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky and that he regretted misleading his wife and the American people when he denied the affair earlier. He insisted he gave "legally accurate" answers in his testimony and "at no time" did he ask anyone to "lie, hide or destroy evidence or to take any unlawful action." When addressing the investigation into his past business dealings, Clinton insisted the investigation did not prove that he or his wife Hilary had engaged in any illegal activity.

After his testimony, members of the House of Representatives engaged in a battle over whether or not to impeach Clinton. While Democrats favored censure, Republicans called loudly for impeachment, claiming Clinton was unfit to lead the country. In December 1998, the House voted to impeach the president; he was acquitted, though, after a five-week trial in the Senate. Public opinion polls at the time revealed that many people disapproved of the Lewinsky affair--which was conducted in the White House Oval Office--but did not consider it an action worthy of impeachment or resignation.

Bill Clinton was the first president to be impeached by the House of Representatives since Andrew Johnson in 1868. Johnson was also acquitted.


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American Revolution

Continentals raid Unadilla, 1778

Old West

The Great Fire destroys much of Chicago, 1871

Civil War

Union troops stop Rebels at the Battle of Perryville, 1862

World War I

U.S. soldier Alvin York displays heroics at Argonne, 1918

World War II

Germans overrun Mariupol, in southern Russia, 1941

Vietnam War

U.S. and South Vietnamese navies commence Operation Sealords, 1968

Cold War

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wins the Nobel Prize in literature, 1970


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