February 2012
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January 2012
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January 27th 1945: Liberation of Auschwitz
On this day in 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Auschwitz was a network of concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany, and was used as the place of the “final solution of the Jewish question in Europe”. Jews and other groups were sent to the camps from 1942 onwards, where many were sent to their death in the gas chambers. Most ...
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January 26th 1788: The 'First Fleet' arrives in...
On this day in 1788, the British ‘First Fleet’ (led by Captain Arthur Phillip) sails into Port Jackson (now Sydney Harbour), Australia. Here they established Sydney, which was the first permanent European settlement in Australia. The ‘First Fleet’ carried convicts and settlers from England, and established a penal colony in Sydney. The ‘New South Wales’ region...
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January 25th 1533: Henry VIII secretly marries...
On this day in 1533, King Henry VIII of England secretly married his second wife Anne Boleyn. She failed to produce a male heir, and so he had her executed in 1536
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January 24th 1984: The first Apple Macintosh goes...
On this day in 1984, the first Apple Macintosh PC went on sale. It was introduced by Apple’s then-chairman Steve Jobs, and was the first commercially successful PC with a mouse and interactive, graphical interface. The computer went on sale for $2,495 and sold well, reaching 70,000 on May 3rd 1984. It was first introduced by the famous ‘1984’ advert by Ridley Scott, which aired...
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January 23rd 1556: The Shaanxi earthquake
On this day in 1556 the deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province, China. The earthquake is believed to have claimed around 830,000 lives. It occured during the Ming Dynasty under the rule of the Jiajing Emperor and thus is referred to as the Jiajing Great Earthquake. More than 97 counties in the provinces surrounding Shaanxi were affected. An 840km wide area...
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January 22nd 1924: Ramsay MacDonald becomes the...
On this day in 1924 Ramsay MacDonald became the first ever Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. MacDonald came to power in 1924, having earned public respect for his opposition to the First World War. His first government had a minority in the Houses of Parliament and thus relied on support of the other left-wing party: the Liberals. His government lasted nine months, but was defeated in...
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January 21st 1793: Louis XVI of France executed
On this day in 1793, the King of France Louis XVI was executed by guillotine in ‘Revolution Square’ in Paris. His execution was a turning point of the French Revolution. After the fall of the monarchy on 10th August 1792, Louis was imprisoned and charged with high treason by the National Convention and sentenced to death. His wife Marie Antoinette was executed on 16th October the...
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January 20th 2009: Barack Obama inaugurated 44th...
On this day in 2009, Democrat Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America. Obama made history as the first African-American President. January 20th has been the official ‘Inauguration Day’ of the President since the 20th Amendment in 1933, when it had been 4th March. On this day in 2009, the four year term of Barack Obama as President...
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January 19th 1807: Robert E. Lee born
On this day in 1807, the future Confederate general Robert E Lee was born. He was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia; Lee’s father was a general and Governor of Virginia. He later attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he excelled as an officer and engineer.
The tensions between the North and the South over the issue of slavery had been brewing for years, and...
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January 18th 1769: Zen Buddhism teacher Hakuin...
On this day in 1769, the Zen Buddhist master Hakuin Ekaku died. He was one of the most important masters of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism. Hakuin was born on January 19th 1686 in Hara, a small town at the foot of Mt. Fuji on the Tokkaido Road between Edo (modern day Tokyo) and Kyoto. Rinzai is known for its rather eccentric teaching methods, favouring shouting and sometimes physical...
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January 17th 1945: Nazis begin the evacuation of...
On this day in 1945, the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp begins as Soviet forces close in. The SS sent orders calling for the execution of all remaining prisoners, but due to the chaos of the Nazi retreat, this was never carried out. The Nazi personnel ordered the evacuation of Auschwitz, with 60,000 prisoners being forced on a death march toward Wodzisław Śląski (Loslau) where...
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January 16th 27BC: Augustus becomes the first...
On this day in 27BC, Gaius Octavius Thurinus (grand nephew of Roman general Julius Caesar) was awarded the title of Augustus (‘the revered one’) by the Roman Senate. Thus he became the first emperor of the Roman Empire, and the transition from republicanism to autocracy marked the birth of the Empire.
After his great uncle’s assassination in 44 BC, Octavius discovered that in...
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January 15th 1559: Elizabeth I crowned Queen of...
On this day in 1559 Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, was crowned Queen in Westminster Abbey. She was the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, who was executed 2 years after Elizabeth’s birth. Elizabeth came to the throne after the Catholic Mary I, during whose reign she had been imprisoned on suspicion of supporting Protestants.
As Queen, she established an...
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January 14th 1898: Lewis Carroll dies
On this day in 1898, the English author Lewis Carroll died of pneumonia following influenza. Carroll (birth name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was best known for his book ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and its sequel ‘Through the Looking-Glass’. He was also a mathematician and photographer.
In 1856 a new Dean (Henry Liddell) arrived at Christ Church collge of the...
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January 13th 1966: Robert Weaver appointed first...
(Weaver, left, with Lyndon Johnson at the White House for his swearing-in ceremony in 1966)
On this day in 1966, Robert C. Weaver was appointed as US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B Johnson. Weaver was the first African American to hold a cabinet level position in the United States. Johnson’s predecessor John F. Kennedy was the first to come up with the...
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January 12th 1894: The National Trust is founded...
On this day in 1895 the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty (‘National Trust’), a conservation society, was founded in the United Kingdom. It operates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland has their own National Trust). They own many historic houses and gardens, industrial monuments and social history sites. It is one of the largest...
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January 11th 630: Muhammad leads the conquest of...
(map of the religious sites of Mecca from 1787)
On this day in 630 AD the prophet Muhammad (pbuh), founder of Islam, led an army of 10,000 men to conquer Mecca, Saudi Arabia. At the time of Muhammad’s birth in Mecca in 570, the city was ruled by the pagan Quraysh tribe. In 610, Muhammad is said to have begun recieving divine revelations from God through the Archangel Gabriel. He then...
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January 10th 1920: Treaty of Versailles comes into...
On this day in 1920, the Treaty of Versailles officially came into effect, thus ending the First World War. The treaty officially ended the war between Germany and the Allied Powers which included Great Britain, France and Russia. It was signed on June 28th 1919, which was five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand which sparked the war. Whilst fighting ended with the...
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January 9th 1905: Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg
On this day in 1905, Russian workers were massacred by Tsarist troops, an event which became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’. The workers were staging a peaceful, unarmed march to Tsar Nicholas II’s Winter Palace to petition him. They were gunned down by the Imperial Guard. The massacre, and apparent disregard for the lives of Russian citizens shown by the Tsar undermined support for...
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January 8th 2011: Attempted assassination of...
On this day last year, US Representative Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona’s 8th district and 18 other people were shot at a public meeting near Tucson, Arizona. 6 people died, including Arizona District Court Chief Judge John Roll, and a 9 year old girl who had been born on 9/11. The gunman was Jared Lee Loughner, whose motives remain unclear and who was ruled medically unfit to stand trial...