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Today in History
- Thread starter zoechs
- Start date
Cheeky Monkey
Banned
April 2, 1982.
On April 2, 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands Islands, a British colony since 1892 and British possession since 1833. Argentine amphibious forces rapidly overcame the small garrison of British marines at the town of Stanley on East Falkland and the next day seized the dependent territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich group. The 1,800 Falkland Islanders, mostly English-speaking sheep farmers, awaited a British response.
The Falkland Islands, located about 300 miles off the southern tip of Argentina, had long been claimed by the British. British navigator John Davis may have sighted the islands in 1592, and in 1690 British Navy Captain John Strong made the first recorded landing on the islands. He named them after Viscount Falkland, who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. In 1764, French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville founded the islands' first human settlement, on East Falkland, which was taken over by the Spanish in 1767. In 1765, the British settled West Falkland but left in 1774 for economic reasons. Spain abandoned its settlement in 1811.
In 1816 Argentina declared its independence from Spain and in 1820 proclaimed its sovereignty over the Falklands. The Argentines built a fort on East Falkland, but in 1832 it was destroyed by the USS Lexington in retaliation for the seizure of U.S. seal ships in the area. In 1833, a British force expelled the remaining Argentine officials and began a military occupation. In 1841, a British lieutenant governor was appointed, and by the 1880s a British community of some 1,800 people on the islands was self-supporting. In 1892, the wind-blown Falkland Islands were collectively granted colonial status.
For the next 90 years, life on the Falklands remained much unchanged, despite persistent diplomatic efforts by Argentina to regain control of the islands. In 1981, the Falkland Islanders voted in a referendum to remain British, and it seemed unlikely that the Falklands would ever revert to Argentine rule. Meanwhile, in Argentina, the military junta led by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri was suffering criticism for its oppressive rule and economic management, and planned the Falklands invasion as a means of promoting patriotic feeling and propping up its regime.
In March 1982, Argentine salvage workers occupied South Georgia Island, and a full-scale invasion of the Falklands began on April 2. Under orders from their commanders, the Argentine troops inflicted no British casualties, despite suffering losses to their own units. Nevertheless, Britain was outraged, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher assembled a naval task force of 30 warships to retake the islands. As Britain is 8,000 miles from the Falklands, it took several weeks for the British warships to arrive. On April 25, South Georgia Island was retaken, and after several intensive naval battles fought around the Falklands, British troops landed on East Falkland on May 21. After several weeks of fighting, the large Argentine garrison at Stanley surrendered on June 14, effectively ending the conflict.
Britain lost five ships and 256 lives in the fight to regain the Falklands, and Argentina lost its only cruiser and 750 lives. Humiliated in the Falklands War, the Argentine military was swept from power in 1983, and civilian rule was restored. In Britain, Margaret Thatcher's popularity soared after the conflict, and her Conservative Party won a landslide victory in 1983 parliamentary elections.
On April 2, 1982, Argentina invades the Falklands Islands, a British colony since 1892 and British possession since 1833. Argentine amphibious forces rapidly overcame the small garrison of British marines at the town of Stanley on East Falkland and the next day seized the dependent territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich group. The 1,800 Falkland Islanders, mostly English-speaking sheep farmers, awaited a British response.
The Falkland Islands, located about 300 miles off the southern tip of Argentina, had long been claimed by the British. British navigator John Davis may have sighted the islands in 1592, and in 1690 British Navy Captain John Strong made the first recorded landing on the islands. He named them after Viscount Falkland, who was the First Lord of the Admiralty at the time. In 1764, French navigator Louis-Antoine de Bougainville founded the islands' first human settlement, on East Falkland, which was taken over by the Spanish in 1767. In 1765, the British settled West Falkland but left in 1774 for economic reasons. Spain abandoned its settlement in 1811.
In 1816 Argentina declared its independence from Spain and in 1820 proclaimed its sovereignty over the Falklands. The Argentines built a fort on East Falkland, but in 1832 it was destroyed by the USS Lexington in retaliation for the seizure of U.S. seal ships in the area. In 1833, a British force expelled the remaining Argentine officials and began a military occupation. In 1841, a British lieutenant governor was appointed, and by the 1880s a British community of some 1,800 people on the islands was self-supporting. In 1892, the wind-blown Falkland Islands were collectively granted colonial status.
For the next 90 years, life on the Falklands remained much unchanged, despite persistent diplomatic efforts by Argentina to regain control of the islands. In 1981, the Falkland Islanders voted in a referendum to remain British, and it seemed unlikely that the Falklands would ever revert to Argentine rule. Meanwhile, in Argentina, the military junta led by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri was suffering criticism for its oppressive rule and economic management, and planned the Falklands invasion as a means of promoting patriotic feeling and propping up its regime.
In March 1982, Argentine salvage workers occupied South Georgia Island, and a full-scale invasion of the Falklands began on April 2. Under orders from their commanders, the Argentine troops inflicted no British casualties, despite suffering losses to their own units. Nevertheless, Britain was outraged, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher assembled a naval task force of 30 warships to retake the islands. As Britain is 8,000 miles from the Falklands, it took several weeks for the British warships to arrive. On April 25, South Georgia Island was retaken, and after several intensive naval battles fought around the Falklands, British troops landed on East Falkland on May 21. After several weeks of fighting, the large Argentine garrison at Stanley surrendered on June 14, effectively ending the conflict.
Britain lost five ships and 256 lives in the fight to regain the Falklands, and Argentina lost its only cruiser and 750 lives. Humiliated in the Falklands War, the Argentine military was swept from power in 1983, and civilian rule was restored. In Britain, Margaret Thatcher's popularity soared after the conflict, and her Conservative Party won a landslide victory in 1983 parliamentary elections.
World grieves as Pope John Paul dies
15:35 AEDT Sun Apr 3 2005
AP - Pope John Paul II, who helped topple communism in Europe and left a deeply conservative stamp on the church he led for 26 years, is dead.
"The angels welcome you," Vatican TV said after the papal death was announced.
Speculation is now focused on the cardinals John Paul had appointed.
Who will they choose to lead the world's 1.1 billion Catholics in the coming weeks? They will meet to set a date for a funeral sometime this week.
Authorities predict two million people will cram into Rome and the Vatican for the event.
"Our beloved holy father John Paul has returned to the house of the father," said Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, announcing the death to a huge crowd that had gathered under the pontiff's windows to pray for a miraculous recovery that never came.
The Pope died in his bed at 9:37pm Rome time (05:37 AEST on Sunday), surrounded by the only family he had - his closest Polish aides.
As the news spread through the Eternal City, as many as 130,000 faithful streamed to the Vatican, paying homage to a man who revolutionised his office and made the church a powerful force in world affairs.
The slow mourning toll of one of the great bells of St Peter's Basilica was the only sound to break the silence.
Far beyond the Vatican walls, John Paul's death triggered a rare outpouring of global grief.
World leaders and people of all faiths praised his humanity, courage and moral integrity.
He was the most travelled Pope in history and spoke eight languages. He reached out to other religions like no other pontiff. John Paul was the third-longest serving Pope and the first to enter a synagogue and a mosque. He canonised more saints than all his predecessors had done combined and put many more on the road to sainthood through beatification.
The exact cause of death was not given. But the Pope's health had deteriorated steadily over the past decade with the onset of Parkinson's disease and arthritis.
Earlier this year it took a sharp turn for the worse.
He had an operation in February to ease serious breathing problems, but never regained his strength and last Thursday developed an infection and high fever that soon precipitated heart failure, kidney problems and ultimately death.
"The Catholic church has lost its shepherd. The world has lost a champion of human freedom and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home," US President George W Bush said in a televised address from the White House.
Two hours after his death, tens of thousands were in St Peter's Square, police estimated.
Necks craned up toward the lighted windows of the Pope's apartments where his once vigorous body lay.
"I can't believe that's it. I know God will provide a new Pope but we'll miss him so much," said Irishman Adrian McCracken, who apologised for crying.
The Vatican announced that the Pope's body would lie in state for public viewing in St Peter's Basilica.
Many countries decreed periods of national mourning, with his native Poland announcing six days of mourning and communist Cuba three days. Italy also called for three days of mourning.
The conclave to elect a new Pope will start in 15 to 20 days, with 117 cardinals from around the globe gathering in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to choose a successor.
Almost all the cardinals were appointed by John Paul - leading many to speculate that a moral conservative will be picked.
There is no favourite candidate to take over. The former Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was himself regarded as an outsider when he was elevated to the papacy on October 16, 1978.
In Poland, bells rang out across the country and sirens wailed in the capital Warsaw as news of the death dashed any lingering hopes of a miraculous recovery.
Wojtyla, who saw his country occupied by the Nazis in his late teens, cut his teeth as a clergyman when Poland was run by atheist pro-Soviet communists after World War II.
Apart from his battle against communism and quest for global peace, John Paul also will be remembered for his unswerving defence of traditional Vatican doctrines. It drew criticism from liberal Catholics who opposed his proclamations against contraception, abortion, married priests and women clergy.
The first non-Italian pope in 455 years, John Paul threw off the stiff trappings of the papacy, meeting ordinary people everywhere he travelled - 129 countries and territories in all.
But as the years passed, his energy faded.
Once a lithe athlete and powerful speaker, he suffered a series of health dramas, including a near-fatal shooting by a Turkish gunman in 1981.
15:35 AEDT Sun Apr 3 2005
AP - Pope John Paul II, who helped topple communism in Europe and left a deeply conservative stamp on the church he led for 26 years, is dead.
"The angels welcome you," Vatican TV said after the papal death was announced.
Speculation is now focused on the cardinals John Paul had appointed.
Who will they choose to lead the world's 1.1 billion Catholics in the coming weeks? They will meet to set a date for a funeral sometime this week.
Authorities predict two million people will cram into Rome and the Vatican for the event.
"Our beloved holy father John Paul has returned to the house of the father," said Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, announcing the death to a huge crowd that had gathered under the pontiff's windows to pray for a miraculous recovery that never came.
The Pope died in his bed at 9:37pm Rome time (05:37 AEST on Sunday), surrounded by the only family he had - his closest Polish aides.
As the news spread through the Eternal City, as many as 130,000 faithful streamed to the Vatican, paying homage to a man who revolutionised his office and made the church a powerful force in world affairs.
The slow mourning toll of one of the great bells of St Peter's Basilica was the only sound to break the silence.
Far beyond the Vatican walls, John Paul's death triggered a rare outpouring of global grief.
World leaders and people of all faiths praised his humanity, courage and moral integrity.
He was the most travelled Pope in history and spoke eight languages. He reached out to other religions like no other pontiff. John Paul was the third-longest serving Pope and the first to enter a synagogue and a mosque. He canonised more saints than all his predecessors had done combined and put many more on the road to sainthood through beatification.
The exact cause of death was not given. But the Pope's health had deteriorated steadily over the past decade with the onset of Parkinson's disease and arthritis.
Earlier this year it took a sharp turn for the worse.
He had an operation in February to ease serious breathing problems, but never regained his strength and last Thursday developed an infection and high fever that soon precipitated heart failure, kidney problems and ultimately death.
"The Catholic church has lost its shepherd. The world has lost a champion of human freedom and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home," US President George W Bush said in a televised address from the White House.
Two hours after his death, tens of thousands were in St Peter's Square, police estimated.
Necks craned up toward the lighted windows of the Pope's apartments where his once vigorous body lay.
"I can't believe that's it. I know God will provide a new Pope but we'll miss him so much," said Irishman Adrian McCracken, who apologised for crying.
The Vatican announced that the Pope's body would lie in state for public viewing in St Peter's Basilica.
Many countries decreed periods of national mourning, with his native Poland announcing six days of mourning and communist Cuba three days. Italy also called for three days of mourning.
The conclave to elect a new Pope will start in 15 to 20 days, with 117 cardinals from around the globe gathering in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel to choose a successor.
Almost all the cardinals were appointed by John Paul - leading many to speculate that a moral conservative will be picked.
There is no favourite candidate to take over. The former Archbishop Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was himself regarded as an outsider when he was elevated to the papacy on October 16, 1978.
In Poland, bells rang out across the country and sirens wailed in the capital Warsaw as news of the death dashed any lingering hopes of a miraculous recovery.
Wojtyla, who saw his country occupied by the Nazis in his late teens, cut his teeth as a clergyman when Poland was run by atheist pro-Soviet communists after World War II.
Apart from his battle against communism and quest for global peace, John Paul also will be remembered for his unswerving defence of traditional Vatican doctrines. It drew criticism from liberal Catholics who opposed his proclamations against contraception, abortion, married priests and women clergy.
The first non-Italian pope in 455 years, John Paul threw off the stiff trappings of the papacy, meeting ordinary people everywhere he travelled - 129 countries and territories in all.
But as the years passed, his energy faded.
Once a lithe athlete and powerful speaker, he suffered a series of health dramas, including a near-fatal shooting by a Turkish gunman in 1981.
Cheeky Monkey
Banned
April 3, 1882.
America's most famous criminal, Jesse James, is shot to death by fellow gang member Bob Ford, who betrayed James for reward money. For 16 years, Jesse and his brother, Frank, robbed and murdered throughout the Midwest. Detective magazines and pulp novels glamorized the James gang, turning them into mythical Robin Hoods who were driven to crime by unethical landowners and bankers. In reality, Jesse James was a ruthless killer who stole only for himself.
The teenage James brothers joined up with Southern guerrilla leaders when the Civil War broke out. Both participated in massacres of settlers and troops affiliated with the North. After the war was over, the quiet farming life that the James brothers had grown up with no longer seemed exciting. Jesse's first bank robbery occurred on October 30, 1866, in Lexington, Missouri.
Over the next couple of years, the James brothers became the suspects in several bank robberies throughout western Missouri. However, locals were sympathetic to ex-Southern guerrillas and vouched for the brothers. Throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s, the James gang robbed only a couple banks a year, otherwise keeping a low profile.
In 1873, they got into the train robbery game. During one such robbery, the gang declined to take any money or valuables from Southerners. The train robberies brought out the Pinkerton Detective Agency, employed to bring the James gang to justice. However, the Pinkerton operatives' botched attempt to kill James left a woman and her child injured and elicited public sympathy for Jesse and Frank James.
The James gang suffered a setback in 1876 when they raided the town of Northfield, Minnesota. The Younger brothers, cousins of the James brothers, were shot and wounded during their brazen midday robbery. After running off in a different direction from Jesse and Frank, the Younger brothers were captured by a large posse and later sentenced to life in prison. Jesse and Frank, the only members of the gang to escape successfully, headed to Tennessee to hide out.
After spending a few quiet years farming, Jesse organized a new gang. Charlie and Robert Ford were on the fringe of the new gang, but they disliked Jesse intensely and decided to kill him for the reward money. On April 3, while Jesse's mother made breakfast, the new gang met to hear Jesse's plan for the next robbery. When Jesse turned his back to adjust a picture on the wall, Bob Ford shot him several times in the back.
His tombstone reads, "Jesse W. James, Died April 3, 1882, Aged 34 years, 6 months, 28 days, Murdered by a traitor and a coward whose name is not worthy to appear here."
America's most famous criminal, Jesse James, is shot to death by fellow gang member Bob Ford, who betrayed James for reward money. For 16 years, Jesse and his brother, Frank, robbed and murdered throughout the Midwest. Detective magazines and pulp novels glamorized the James gang, turning them into mythical Robin Hoods who were driven to crime by unethical landowners and bankers. In reality, Jesse James was a ruthless killer who stole only for himself.
The teenage James brothers joined up with Southern guerrilla leaders when the Civil War broke out. Both participated in massacres of settlers and troops affiliated with the North. After the war was over, the quiet farming life that the James brothers had grown up with no longer seemed exciting. Jesse's first bank robbery occurred on October 30, 1866, in Lexington, Missouri.
Over the next couple of years, the James brothers became the suspects in several bank robberies throughout western Missouri. However, locals were sympathetic to ex-Southern guerrillas and vouched for the brothers. Throughout the late 1860s and early 1870s, the James gang robbed only a couple banks a year, otherwise keeping a low profile.
In 1873, they got into the train robbery game. During one such robbery, the gang declined to take any money or valuables from Southerners. The train robberies brought out the Pinkerton Detective Agency, employed to bring the James gang to justice. However, the Pinkerton operatives' botched attempt to kill James left a woman and her child injured and elicited public sympathy for Jesse and Frank James.
The James gang suffered a setback in 1876 when they raided the town of Northfield, Minnesota. The Younger brothers, cousins of the James brothers, were shot and wounded during their brazen midday robbery. After running off in a different direction from Jesse and Frank, the Younger brothers were captured by a large posse and later sentenced to life in prison. Jesse and Frank, the only members of the gang to escape successfully, headed to Tennessee to hide out.
After spending a few quiet years farming, Jesse organized a new gang. Charlie and Robert Ford were on the fringe of the new gang, but they disliked Jesse intensely and decided to kill him for the reward money. On April 3, while Jesse's mother made breakfast, the new gang met to hear Jesse's plan for the next robbery. When Jesse turned his back to adjust a picture on the wall, Bob Ford shot him several times in the back.
His tombstone reads, "Jesse W. James, Died April 3, 1882, Aged 34 years, 6 months, 28 days, Murdered by a traitor and a coward whose name is not worthy to appear here."
DR. KING IS ASSASSINATED:
April 4, 1968
Just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Motel Lorraine in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He was 39 years old.
April 4, 1968
Just after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Motel Lorraine in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and was on his way to dinner when a bullet struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He was 39 years old.
April 5
1994 Kurt Cobain commits suicide
Modern rock icon Kurt Cobain is dead. His body was discovered inside his home in Seattle, Washington, three days later by Gary Smith, an electrician, who was installing a security system in the suburban house. Despite indications that Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, killed himself, several skeptics questioned the circumstances of his death and pinned responsibility on his wife, Courtney Love.
1994 Kurt Cobain commits suicide
Modern rock icon Kurt Cobain is dead. His body was discovered inside his home in Seattle, Washington, three days later by Gary Smith, an electrician, who was installing a security system in the suburban house. Despite indications that Cobain, the lead singer of Nirvana, killed himself, several skeptics questioned the circumstances of his death and pinned responsibility on his wife, Courtney Love.
Cheeky Monkey
Banned
April 5, 1945.
On this day in 1945, Yugoslav partisan leader Tito signs an agreement permitting "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory."
Josip Broz, alias "Tito," secretary general of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, led a partisan counteroffensive movement against the Axis occupying powers of Germany and Italy in 1941. Recognized by the Allies as the leader of the Yugoslav resistance, he was, in fact, the leader of a power grab meant not only to expel the Axis forces but to wrest control of Yugoslavia in the postwar environment from both royalist and democratic movements. Once the Soviet army liberated Serbia, the fate of Yugoslavia as a communist-dominated nation was sealed. Tito's task now lay in remaining independent of both the U.S.S.R. and the West. To this end, he created a "second Yugoslavia," a socialist federation that became known for its nonalignment stance.
As part of the agreement signed on April 5, 1945, Tito secured a proviso that the Soviets would leave Yugoslavia once its "operational task" was completed. Ensuring compliance with this clause proved problematic, as Stalin tried to maintain a presence in postwar Yugoslavia, attempting to co-opt the Yugoslav Communist Party and create another puppet state. He failed; Tito played the West against the East in a Machiavellian scheme to keep his own Stalin-like grip on his country. Although he permitted cultural and scientific freedom unheard of in Soviet-bloc countries, he was also guilty of purging centrist and democratic forces fighting for reform within Yugoslavia and centralizing all power in one party. But upon Tito's death, in 1980, the center could not hold--chaos was ultimately unleashed in the form of ethnic civil war.
On this day in 1945, Yugoslav partisan leader Tito signs an agreement permitting "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory."
Josip Broz, alias "Tito," secretary general of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, led a partisan counteroffensive movement against the Axis occupying powers of Germany and Italy in 1941. Recognized by the Allies as the leader of the Yugoslav resistance, he was, in fact, the leader of a power grab meant not only to expel the Axis forces but to wrest control of Yugoslavia in the postwar environment from both royalist and democratic movements. Once the Soviet army liberated Serbia, the fate of Yugoslavia as a communist-dominated nation was sealed. Tito's task now lay in remaining independent of both the U.S.S.R. and the West. To this end, he created a "second Yugoslavia," a socialist federation that became known for its nonalignment stance.
As part of the agreement signed on April 5, 1945, Tito secured a proviso that the Soviets would leave Yugoslavia once its "operational task" was completed. Ensuring compliance with this clause proved problematic, as Stalin tried to maintain a presence in postwar Yugoslavia, attempting to co-opt the Yugoslav Communist Party and create another puppet state. He failed; Tito played the West against the East in a Machiavellian scheme to keep his own Stalin-like grip on his country. Although he permitted cultural and scientific freedom unheard of in Soviet-bloc countries, he was also guilty of purging centrist and democratic forces fighting for reform within Yugoslavia and centralizing all power in one party. But upon Tito's death, in 1980, the center could not hold--chaos was ultimately unleashed in the form of ethnic civil war.
Cheeky Monkey
Banned
April 6, 1896.
On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition.
The first recorded Olympic Games were held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis in 776 B.C., but it is generally accepted that the Olympics were at least 500 years old at that time. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus. In the eighth century B.C., contestants came from a dozen or more Greek cities, and by the fifth century B.C. from as many as 100 cities from throughout the Greek empire. Initially, Olympic competition was limited to foot races, but later a number of other events were added, including wrestling, boxing, horse and chariot racing, and military competitions. The pentathlon, introduced in 708 B.C., consisted of a foot race, the long jump, discus and javelin throws, and wrestling. With the rise of Rome, the Olympics declined, and in 393 A.D. the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games as part of his efforts to suppress paganism in the Roman Empire.
With the Renaissance, Europe began a long fascination with ancient Greek culture, and in the 18th and 19th centuries some nations staged informal sporting and folkloric festivals bearing the name "Olympic Games." However, it was not until 1892 that a young French baron, Pierre de Coubertin, seriously proposed reviving the Olympics as a major international competition that would occur every four years. At a conference on international sport in Paris in June 1894, Coubertin again raised the idea, and the 79 delegates from nine countries unanimously approved his proposal. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was formed, and the first Games were planned for 1896 in Athens, the capital of Greece.
In Athens, 280 participants from 13 nations competed in 43 events, covering track-and-field, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, shooting, and tennis. All the competitors were men, and a few of the entrants were tourists who stumbled upon the Games and were allowed to sign up. The track-and-field events were held at the Panathenaic Stadium, which was originally built in 330 B.C. and restored for the 1896 Games. Americans won nine out of 12 of these events. The 1896 Olympics also featured the first marathon competition, which followed the 25-mile route run by a Greek soldier who brought news of a victory over the Persians from Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. In 1924, the marathon was standardized at 26 miles and 385 yards. Appropriately, a Greek, Spyridon Louis, won the first marathon at the 1896 Athens Games.
Pierre de Coubertin became IOC president in 1896 and guided the Olympic Games through its difficult early years, when it lacked much popular support and was overshadowed by world's fairs. In 1924, the first truly successful Olympic Games were held in Paris, involving more than 3,000 athletes, including more than 100 women, from 44 nations. The first Winter Olympic Games were also held that year. In 1925, Coubertin retired. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the foremost international sports competition. At the 2000 Summer Olympic in Sydney, more than 10,000 athletes from 200 countries competed, including nearly 4,000 women.
On April 6, 1896, the Olympic Games, a long-lost tradition of ancient Greece, are reborn in Athens 1,500 years after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I. At the opening of the Athens Games, King Georgios I of Greece and a crowd of 60,000 spectators welcomed athletes from 13 nations to the international competition.
The first recorded Olympic Games were held at Olympia in the Greek city-state of Elis in 776 B.C., but it is generally accepted that the Olympics were at least 500 years old at that time. The ancient Olympics, held every four years, occurred during a religious festival honoring the Greek god Zeus. In the eighth century B.C., contestants came from a dozen or more Greek cities, and by the fifth century B.C. from as many as 100 cities from throughout the Greek empire. Initially, Olympic competition was limited to foot races, but later a number of other events were added, including wrestling, boxing, horse and chariot racing, and military competitions. The pentathlon, introduced in 708 B.C., consisted of a foot race, the long jump, discus and javelin throws, and wrestling. With the rise of Rome, the Olympics declined, and in 393 A.D. the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games as part of his efforts to suppress paganism in the Roman Empire.
With the Renaissance, Europe began a long fascination with ancient Greek culture, and in the 18th and 19th centuries some nations staged informal sporting and folkloric festivals bearing the name "Olympic Games." However, it was not until 1892 that a young French baron, Pierre de Coubertin, seriously proposed reviving the Olympics as a major international competition that would occur every four years. At a conference on international sport in Paris in June 1894, Coubertin again raised the idea, and the 79 delegates from nine countries unanimously approved his proposal. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was formed, and the first Games were planned for 1896 in Athens, the capital of Greece.
In Athens, 280 participants from 13 nations competed in 43 events, covering track-and-field, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, wrestling, weightlifting, fencing, shooting, and tennis. All the competitors were men, and a few of the entrants were tourists who stumbled upon the Games and were allowed to sign up. The track-and-field events were held at the Panathenaic Stadium, which was originally built in 330 B.C. and restored for the 1896 Games. Americans won nine out of 12 of these events. The 1896 Olympics also featured the first marathon competition, which followed the 25-mile route run by a Greek soldier who brought news of a victory over the Persians from Marathon to Athens in 490 B.C. In 1924, the marathon was standardized at 26 miles and 385 yards. Appropriately, a Greek, Spyridon Louis, won the first marathon at the 1896 Athens Games.
Pierre de Coubertin became IOC president in 1896 and guided the Olympic Games through its difficult early years, when it lacked much popular support and was overshadowed by world's fairs. In 1924, the first truly successful Olympic Games were held in Paris, involving more than 3,000 athletes, including more than 100 women, from 44 nations. The first Winter Olympic Games were also held that year. In 1925, Coubertin retired. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the foremost international sports competition. At the 2000 Summer Olympic in Sydney, more than 10,000 athletes from 200 countries competed, including nearly 4,000 women.
may he rip
RKO!!!05
Banned
From me too, Prince Rainier rest in peace.
7th April -
1970, On The US Top 5 singles chart at No.5, 'Bridge Over Trouble Water' Simon and Garfunkel, No.4, 'Spirit In The Sky' Norman Greenbaum' No.3, 'Instant Karma' John Lennon, No.2, 'ABC' The Jackson Five and No.1, 'Let It Be', The Beatles.
7th April -
1970, On The US Top 5 singles chart at No.5, 'Bridge Over Trouble Water' Simon and Garfunkel, No.4, 'Spirit In The Sky' Norman Greenbaum' No.3, 'Instant Karma' John Lennon, No.2, 'ABC' The Jackson Five and No.1, 'Let It Be', The Beatles.
April 7
1891 P.T. Barnum dies.
American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum dies in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Though he was gravely ill, the 81-year-old showman's sense of humor hadn't deserted him. He requested that a New York paper run his obituary before he died so he could enjoy reading it, and the paper obliged.
1891 P.T. Barnum dies.
American showman Phineas Taylor Barnum dies in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Though he was gravely ill, the 81-year-old showman's sense of humor hadn't deserted him. He requested that a New York paper run his obituary before he died so he could enjoy reading it, and the paper obliged.
Cheeky Monkey
Banned
April 7, 1994.
Rwandan armed forces kill 10 Belgian peacekeeping officers in a successful effort to discourage international intervention in their planned genocide that had begun only hours earlier. In less than three months, Hutu extremists who controlled Rwanda murdered an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 innocent civilian Tutsis in the worst episode of ethnic genocide since World War II. The Tutsis, a minority group that made up about 10 percent of Rwanda's population, received no assistance from the international community, although the United Nations later conceded that a mere 5,000 soldiers deployed at the outset would have stopped the wholesale slaughter.
The immediate roots of the 1994 genocide went back a few years. In the early 1990s, President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, began using anti-Tutsi rhetoric to consolidate his own power among the Hutus. Beginning in October 1990, there were several massacres of hundreds of Tutsis. Although the two ethnic groups were very similar, sharing the same language and culture for centuries, the law required registration based on ethnicity. The government and army began to assemble the Interahamwe (meaning "those who attack together") and prepared for the elimination of the Tutsis by arming Hutus with guns and machetes. In January 1994, the United Nations forces in Rwanda warned that larger massacres were imminent.
On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana's plane was shot down, killing him and several of his close advisers. It is not known if the attack was carried out by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi military organization stationed outside the country at the time, or by Hutu extremists trying to instigate a mass killing. In any event, Hutu extremists in the military, led by Colonel Bagosora, immediately went into action, murdering Tutsis and moderate Hutus within hours of the plane crash.
The Belgian peacekeepers were killed the following day, a key factor in the withdrawal of U.N. forces from Rwanda. Within days, the radio stations in Rwanda were broadcasting appeals to the Hutu majority to kill all Tutsis in the country. The army and the national police directed the slaughter, sometimes threatening Hutu civilians when persuasion didn't work. Thousands of innocent people were hacked to death with machetes by their neighbors. Despite the horrific crimes, the international community, especially the United States, hesitated to take any action. They wrongly ascribed the genocide to chaos amid tribal war.
It was left to the RPF to begin an ultimately successful military campaign for control of Rwanda. By the summer, the RPF had defeated the Hutu forces and driven them out of the country and into several neighboring nations. However, by that time, 75 percent of the Tutsis living in Rwanda had been murdered. Years after the genocide, thousands of Hutus remained in prison awaiting trials for murder. Unfortunately, there were not enough people, either living or innocent of the crimes, to staff the legal system.
Rwandan armed forces kill 10 Belgian peacekeeping officers in a successful effort to discourage international intervention in their planned genocide that had begun only hours earlier. In less than three months, Hutu extremists who controlled Rwanda murdered an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 innocent civilian Tutsis in the worst episode of ethnic genocide since World War II. The Tutsis, a minority group that made up about 10 percent of Rwanda's population, received no assistance from the international community, although the United Nations later conceded that a mere 5,000 soldiers deployed at the outset would have stopped the wholesale slaughter.
The immediate roots of the 1994 genocide went back a few years. In the early 1990s, President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, began using anti-Tutsi rhetoric to consolidate his own power among the Hutus. Beginning in October 1990, there were several massacres of hundreds of Tutsis. Although the two ethnic groups were very similar, sharing the same language and culture for centuries, the law required registration based on ethnicity. The government and army began to assemble the Interahamwe (meaning "those who attack together") and prepared for the elimination of the Tutsis by arming Hutus with guns and machetes. In January 1994, the United Nations forces in Rwanda warned that larger massacres were imminent.
On April 6, 1994, President Habyarimana's plane was shot down, killing him and several of his close advisers. It is not known if the attack was carried out by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Tutsi military organization stationed outside the country at the time, or by Hutu extremists trying to instigate a mass killing. In any event, Hutu extremists in the military, led by Colonel Bagosora, immediately went into action, murdering Tutsis and moderate Hutus within hours of the plane crash.
The Belgian peacekeepers were killed the following day, a key factor in the withdrawal of U.N. forces from Rwanda. Within days, the radio stations in Rwanda were broadcasting appeals to the Hutu majority to kill all Tutsis in the country. The army and the national police directed the slaughter, sometimes threatening Hutu civilians when persuasion didn't work. Thousands of innocent people were hacked to death with machetes by their neighbors. Despite the horrific crimes, the international community, especially the United States, hesitated to take any action. They wrongly ascribed the genocide to chaos amid tribal war.
It was left to the RPF to begin an ultimately successful military campaign for control of Rwanda. By the summer, the RPF had defeated the Hutu forces and driven them out of the country and into several neighboring nations. However, by that time, 75 percent of the Tutsis living in Rwanda had been murdered. Years after the genocide, thousands of Hutus remained in prison awaiting trials for murder. Unfortunately, there were not enough people, either living or innocent of the crimes, to staff the legal system.
April 7, 1521 - Inquisitor-general Adrian Boeyens bans Lutheran books
April 7, 1943 - Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini met for an Axis conference in Salzburg
April 7, 1979 - Henri La Mothe dives 28' into 12 3/8" of water (crazy foo'!)
April 7, 1986 - Wrestlemania II at 3 locations, Hulk Hogan beats King Kong Bundy
April 7, 1988 - Russia announced it would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
April 7, 2005 - Thorne posts in this thread for the first time
April 7, 1943 - Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini met for an Axis conference in Salzburg
April 7, 1979 - Henri La Mothe dives 28' into 12 3/8" of water (crazy foo'!)
April 7, 1986 - Wrestlemania II at 3 locations, Hulk Hogan beats King Kong Bundy
April 7, 1988 - Russia announced it would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
April 7, 2005 - Thorne posts in this thread for the first time
Cheeky Monkey
Banned
April 8, 1899.
Martha Place is the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. The electric chair, ostensibly designed to be less barbarous than hanging, was first used in the execution of William Kemmler in 1890.
The use of electricity as a means of capital punishment had arisen in the 1880s after the governor of New York claimed that hanging was a method from the dark ages and that electricity was the modern, scientific way to kill people. People were beginning to feel squeamish about the public spectacle of hangings at that time. The electric chair also had the advantage of taking up less space than the gallows.
As electricity was being developed and touted by early supporters for commercial uses in the United States, its energy-source competitors attempted to raise questions about its safety. They hoped that its association with executions would scare the public away from using electricity. Obviously, with the widespread use of electricity today, it didn't quite work out that way.
The controversy surrounding the method of execution has come full circle as the 21st century begins. Most states have discontinued the use of the electric chair in favor of lethal injection.
Martha Place is the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. The electric chair, ostensibly designed to be less barbarous than hanging, was first used in the execution of William Kemmler in 1890.
The use of electricity as a means of capital punishment had arisen in the 1880s after the governor of New York claimed that hanging was a method from the dark ages and that electricity was the modern, scientific way to kill people. People were beginning to feel squeamish about the public spectacle of hangings at that time. The electric chair also had the advantage of taking up less space than the gallows.
As electricity was being developed and touted by early supporters for commercial uses in the United States, its energy-source competitors attempted to raise questions about its safety. They hoped that its association with executions would scare the public away from using electricity. Obviously, with the widespread use of electricity today, it didn't quite work out that way.
The controversy surrounding the method of execution has come full circle as the 21st century begins. Most states have discontinued the use of the electric chair in favor of lethal injection.
zoechs
ex FreeOnes Team Member
April 9 1881
Billy the Kid convicted of murder
After a one-day trial, Billy the Kid is found guilty of murdering the Lincoln County, New Mexico, sheriff and is sentenced to hang.
There is no doubt that Billy the Kid did indeed shoot the sheriff, though he had done so in the context of the bloody Lincoln County War, a battle between two powerful groups of ranchers and businessmen fighting for economic control of Lincoln County. When his boss, rancher John Tunstall, was murdered before his eyes in February 1878, the hotheaded young Billy swore vengeance. Unfortunately, the leader of the men who murdered Tunstall was the sheriff of Lincoln County, William Brady. When Billy and his partners murdered the sheriff several months later, they became outlaws, regardless of how corrupt Brady may have been.
After three years on the run and several other murders, Pat Garrett finally arrested Billy in early 1881. Garrett, a one-time friend, was the new sheriff of Lincoln County. On this day in 1881, a court took only one day to convict Billy of the murder of Sheriff Brady. Sentenced to hang, Billy was imprisoned in Lincoln's county jail while Sheriff Garrett gathered the technical information and supplies needed to build an effective gallows.
On April 28, while Garrett was out of town, Billy managed to escape. While one of the jail's two guards was escorting a group of prisoners across the street to dinner, Billy asked the remaining guard to take him to the jail outhouse. As the guard escorted him back to his cell, Billy somehow managed to slip a wrist through his handcuffs. He slugged the guard and shot him with a pistol either that he took from the guard or that a friend had hidden in the outhouse for him. Hearing the shot, the second guard ran back to the jail, and Billy killed him with a blast from a shotgun he found in Garrett's office. Reportedly, Billy then smashed the gun and threw it down on the dead guard, yelling, "You won't follow me any more with that gun!"
After murdering the guards, Billy seemed in no hurry to flee. He armed himself with two pistols and, according to one account, "danced about the balcony, laughed and shouted as though he had not a care on earth." Apparently, the people of Lincoln were either too fearful or too admiring of the young outlaw to act. After nearly an hour, Billy rode off.
He was not able to ride far enough. Upon his return to Lincoln, Garrett immediately formed a posse and set off to recapture the outlaw. On July 14, 1881, Garrett surprised Billy in a darkened room not far from Lincoln and shot him dead.
Billy the Kid convicted of murder
After a one-day trial, Billy the Kid is found guilty of murdering the Lincoln County, New Mexico, sheriff and is sentenced to hang.
There is no doubt that Billy the Kid did indeed shoot the sheriff, though he had done so in the context of the bloody Lincoln County War, a battle between two powerful groups of ranchers and businessmen fighting for economic control of Lincoln County. When his boss, rancher John Tunstall, was murdered before his eyes in February 1878, the hotheaded young Billy swore vengeance. Unfortunately, the leader of the men who murdered Tunstall was the sheriff of Lincoln County, William Brady. When Billy and his partners murdered the sheriff several months later, they became outlaws, regardless of how corrupt Brady may have been.
After three years on the run and several other murders, Pat Garrett finally arrested Billy in early 1881. Garrett, a one-time friend, was the new sheriff of Lincoln County. On this day in 1881, a court took only one day to convict Billy of the murder of Sheriff Brady. Sentenced to hang, Billy was imprisoned in Lincoln's county jail while Sheriff Garrett gathered the technical information and supplies needed to build an effective gallows.
On April 28, while Garrett was out of town, Billy managed to escape. While one of the jail's two guards was escorting a group of prisoners across the street to dinner, Billy asked the remaining guard to take him to the jail outhouse. As the guard escorted him back to his cell, Billy somehow managed to slip a wrist through his handcuffs. He slugged the guard and shot him with a pistol either that he took from the guard or that a friend had hidden in the outhouse for him. Hearing the shot, the second guard ran back to the jail, and Billy killed him with a blast from a shotgun he found in Garrett's office. Reportedly, Billy then smashed the gun and threw it down on the dead guard, yelling, "You won't follow me any more with that gun!"
After murdering the guards, Billy seemed in no hurry to flee. He armed himself with two pistols and, according to one account, "danced about the balcony, laughed and shouted as though he had not a care on earth." Apparently, the people of Lincoln were either too fearful or too admiring of the young outlaw to act. After nearly an hour, Billy rode off.
He was not able to ride far enough. Upon his return to Lincoln, Garrett immediately formed a posse and set off to recapture the outlaw. On July 14, 1881, Garrett surprised Billy in a darkened room not far from Lincoln and shot him dead.
FIRST ASTRONAUTS INTRODUCED:
April 9, 1959
On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America's first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America's first manned space program. NASA planned to begin manned orbital flights in 1961.
April 9, 1959
On April 9, 1959, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduces America's first astronauts to the press: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald Slayton. The seven men, all military test pilots, were carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in Project Mercury, America's first manned space program. NASA planned to begin manned orbital flights in 1961.
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