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Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 7:45 pm
by Arneb
I think we'll leave that as today's only entry.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 2:02 pm
by Arneb
19 October, 1918 - Large territorial gains for the Allied forces, notably at courtrai and Denain.
Haig makes a case for accepting a conditional surrender, because he sees what Ludendorff sees: That Germany might recover and gain strength in winter.

For today, only a dose of terrorism
1978 - Hanns Martin Schleyer, the President of the German Employers Association, is found murdered in a cart trunk near Mulhouse, Alsace, France. He had been abducted, and all his personnel gunned down, on Sep 5. The German government refused to give in to demands. The killing follows on the heels of the liberation, in Mogadishu, of a German plane abducted en route from Majorca, and the collective suicide of three German top terrorists in their prison cells.
1984 - three Polish secret policemen abduct and kill a prominent Polish priest Jerzy Popiełuszko.
1994 - 21 Israelis and a Dutchman die in bus bombing on Dizengoff rd., Jerusalem

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 2:34 pm
by Heid the Ba
A remarkably shitty day historically.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Fri Oct 19, 2018 7:17 pm
by Lianachan
Indeed. Some better things though:

1453 - Hundred Years War ends with French recapture of Bordeaux.
1466 - Thirteen Years War ends.
1900 - Max Planck discovers black-body radiation.
1943 - First antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis is isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
Every Year - puppies and kittens are born.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Sun Oct 21, 2018 10:55 pm
by Arneb
And now for something completely insignificant: On a sunny and calm late autunn morning on 22 Oct 1968, a young judge in a courtroom of the Court on Social Affairs received a hand-written note handed to him by an elderly clerk, reading, Congratulations. A healthy boy. At the same time in the Klinikum Neukölln delivery room, a not-too young mother and her baby were recovering from a somewhat iffy suction-aided delivery.

It all meant nothing to history, but everything to two people among (at the time) 4 billion humans.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 1:25 am
by Lance
Arneb wrote:And now for something completely insignificant: On a sunny and calm late autunn morning on 22 Oct 1968, a young judge in a courtroom of the Court on Social Affairs received a hand-written note handed to him by an elderly clerk, reading, Congratulations. A healthy boy. At the same time in the Klinikum Neukölln delivery room, a not-too young mother and her baby were recovering from a somewhat iffy suction-aided delivery.

It all meant nothing to history, but everything to two people among (at the time) 4 billion humans.

Aw.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 5:59 am
by Heid the Ba
And lo! A saviour was born unto Germany, and the two parts would re-unite a mere twenty-ish years later . . .

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 22, 2018 12:34 pm
by Heid the Ba
Oh, and congratulations. Pack the bairns off to their grandparents and crack open a bottle!

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 10:59 am
by Heid the Ba
On 24th October 1918, the first anniversary of the crushing defeat of the Italian Army at Caporetto, the Allied Army in Italy began the Battle of Vittorio Veneto which would drive the Austro-Hungarian Empire out of the war. The vast majority of troops involved were Italian but much of the heavy lifting was done by the three British divisions who viewed the A-H Army as a soft touch and not anywhere near as good as the Germans. The Allies also included a Czech division formed from prisoners and deserters from the A-H Army who were fighting to break up the Empire, which by this point was riven with dissent and populist movements seeking independence for the regions.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:07 am
by Arneb
Hey, now I know I can safely go on holiday... :D

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:19 pm
by Heid the Ba
As a break from the Great War:

26th October 1775 – King George III of Great Britain goes before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion, and authorizes a military response to quell the American Revolution.

That should put a swift stop to that nonsense.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 11:45 am
by Arneb
Back from holiday...

28 October, 1918 - BEF parades through Lille. But there is still back-and-fro on the Western front, with Mont Houy taken by 51st BEF division, and later taken back by 3 German divisions.
Czechoslovakia becomes independent of the Habsburg monarchy
There is a last, ignominious, U boat deployment. UB 16 wants to destroy the Navey Flagship, Queen Elizabeth, purproted to lie at Scapa Flow. She isn't there, and UB 16 is sunk unceremoniously by an electrically ignited minefield.

392 - Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantive uinites the Western Roman Empire. You, know, in hoc signo vince, and all that stuff.
1776 - Battle of White Plains, where the good, hard-working white Protestants serving to keep His Majesty the King in possession of his rightful property beat evil renegade hard-working white Protestants under common criminal insurgent George Washington, but fail to make minced meat of their beaten rivals. You know, they should have, and today Her Majesty would still be the Rightful Master of Her Western Colonies, and nobody would say shit like aluminum, color, or restroom.
1908 - Back when newspapers were still important, our own version of Donald Trump, Wílhelm II, makes a splash at home with a pseudo-interview published in and authgorized for the Daily Telegraph.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:18 am
by Arneb
29 October, 1918 - The Austrian-Hungarian Army raises the White Flag in the Alps
Yugoslavia declares independence
Emperor Karl seeks a ceasefire from General Diaz, the Italian Army Chief
Hidenburg is sent a telegram that says, basically, that the Austro-Hungarian Empire is folding.

1923 - Turkish Republic founded
1976 - Erich Hocnecker grabs another post, even if it is only the President of the State Council, a kind of primus iter pares of a collective State Presidency
2006 - Lula is elected President of Brasil. I get the feeling everyone will long back to those days very, very soon.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 8:49 am
by Arneb
30 October, 1918 - Osmanic Empire signs a cease-fire.
A mutiny in the German North Sea fleet is imminent.

Technological stuff for today:
1961 - The biggest ever man-made Boom on Earth, the Tsar Bomba goes off on Navaya Zemlya in the Arctic ocean, converting energy to the tune of 100 million metric tons of TNT, ca. 8,000 Hirshima bombs worth.
1990 - The Rot from Brussels finally seeps into the Sacred Isles of Her Majesty's Kingdom of Great Britain and Norn Iron, when the tunnel borers from both sides join for the first time.
2008 - Last day of operations of Tempelhof airfield in Berlin. I tis not just the closure of any airport, it is the closure of the airport that supported the Berlin Airlift. Fittingly, the last two planes to land are a Ju-52 ("Auntie Ju"), and an original DC-3 "raisin bomber" that flew during the airlift.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 10:18 am
by Heid the Ba
Nice touch with the Ju 52 and Dakota.

The Ottoman surrender was signed on the battleship HMS Agememnon, yes, of the forty or so battleships available they chose the one named after the Greek commander of the Trojan War, and yes that is the site of Troy you can see over there in the Dardanelles . . .

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 7:47 pm
by Arneb
Yeah, nice touch. Humiliating the vanquished enemy is the new thing, we aren't a bit surprised to learn...

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:35 pm
by Arneb
"200 years ago today, Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht ("Silent Night...") was first performed in a Christmas Eve service in Oberndorf, Austria. It has been heavily criticized by theologians (because Jesus didn't seem superhuman enough in the song), it has been misused by everyone from Nazis to Communists, it has been covered a gazillion times, is being sung in about 300 languages - and it is still unstoppable, a shining beauty, a humble image of what Christmas could be.

Here's a version I am partial to: The original four-part, with one of our top choirs, RIAS Kammerchor (RIAS: Radio im Amerikanischen Sektor, of West Berlin fame), and under a conductor under whom I sang as a student. Enjoy.
Watch on youtube.com

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 6:33 pm
by g-one
Thanks for that Arneb, I believe it should read "200 years ago".
I was fortunate to have been able to perform it with my late mother (on violin), in a church here some 14 or so years ago. She had decided at 80 that she wanted to learn violin, and did quite well at it for the few years she was able.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:32 pm
by Arneb
Wow, an amazing achievement, learning an instrument in old age.

Yes, that weas meant to be "200", I crorrected it.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Wed Dec 26, 2018 10:58 pm
by Lance
A day late but:

On 12/25 in the year 0, a little child was born that brought peace and hope to the world for the rest of eternity. And we are all so much the better for it.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 10:20 pm
by Lianachan
31st December 1918 - the sinking of HMY Iolaire entering Stornoway harbour. The terrible loss to the small island community of over 200 men who had survived the horrors of the Great War, only to die on their way home - for some literally when they could see their house - left a dark shadow that exists to this day. On the 100th anniversary of the tragic event, I raise a glass to them tonight.

(It set out on Dec 31st, but sank in the small hours of the morning of Jan 1st 1919)

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:03 pm
by Heid the Ba
A sad day indeed.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Tue Jan 01, 2019 4:36 pm
by Lance
That's sad.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 1:08 pm
by Мастер
Today, December 25th, the world celebrates Christmas.

Re: On this day in history...

PostPosted: Mon Jan 07, 2019 4:30 pm
by Lance
I think you flew East too many times.