28 June 1919

Treaty of Versailles signed,

establishes peace after World War I

The Signing of Peace in the Hall of Mirrors, Versailles, 28 June 1919 by William Orpen. Source: Imperial War Museum Collections

The treaty was the result of months of bitter negotiation, in which Wilson tried in vain to create a nonpunitive piece. Clemenceau, whose nation had suffered severely at the hands of the Germans, was disinclined to mercy. He insisted that Germany lose land (with some of it coming to France), be demilitarized, admit responsibility for the war, and pay reparations to the victors. The German delegates had no choice but to accept the terms; they were given no voice in the conditions.

On the day of the signing, two German officials walked slowly into the room, led in by military officers from the United States, Britain, France, and Italy. A member of the British government delegation described the scene: “They keep their eyes fixed away from those two thousand staring eyes, fixed upon the ceiling. They are deathly pale. They do not appear as representatives of a brutal militarism. The one is thin and pink-eyelidded. The other is moon-faced and suffering.”

After Clemenceau addressed the audience with some uncharitable remarks, the signing began. The Germans were first, followed by many others. The vast room was a buzz of conversation, as diplomats exchanged comments on the historic scene. Outside, cannons boomed in celebration, and crowds cheered.

The War to End All Wars was officially over. It would only take 20 years for the next one, caused in part by the punitive terms of the Versailles Treaty, to begin.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Treaty of Versailles signed appeared first on OUPblog.

26 June 1948

Berlin Airlift begins

On 26 June 1948, after three months of Communist rulers blocking the delivery of supplies to the American, British, and French zones of West Berlin, the western powers struck back with a bold response. American and British planes stepped up their process of flying supplies to West Berlin to an around the clock operation and the Berlin Airlift was on.

At the end of World War II, Berlin was divided among the three western powers and the Soviet Union. The American, British, and French zones were in a difficult position, however, as Berlin sat deep within Communist East Germany. As a result, its people depended on long train lines and highways for supplies.

Relations between the three western powers and the Soviet Union soured in March of 1948 when the Americans, British, and French agreed to unite their three zones. The Soviets were angered by the move. It began to block access to West Berlin by road. On 24 June, it went further and announced that all railroad and highway traffic would cease. It also cut off electricity to the western areas of the city.

Berliners watching a C-54 land at Berlin Tempelhof Airport, 1948. Source: United States Air Force Historical Research Agency.

The Airlift was a bold response to the Soviet blockade. American and British planes had to bring 2,000 tons of food and supplies every day. In the winter, the need to cart coal into the city increased the demand to 5,000 tons a day. The mission dubbed “Operation Vittles” by American pilots had planes landing every three minutes to keep West Berlin’s two million fed.

The western powers also put pressure on the Soviets and their East German allies by blocking exports from leaving Eastern Europe. In 12 May 1949, the Soviets finally lifted the blockade. With land transportation once again permitted, the Airlift could end, having delivered more than 2.3 million tons of supplies in nearly a year of flights.

Operation Vittles had succeeded.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Berlin Airlift begins appeared first on OUPblog.

24 June 1901

Pablo Picasso gives first exhibition outside Spain

On 24 June 1901, two Spanish artists joined in an exhibition of their works at the Paris gallery of Ambroise Vollard. One of these artists was Francisco Iturrino, who had lived off and on in Paris since 1895 and whom Vollard had mentored. The other was a not-yet-20-year-old named Pablo Picasso, who had been befriended by Iturrino and the gallery owner.

Portrait of Pablo Picasso by Juan Gris, 1912. The Art Institute of Chicago. Source: Wikipaintings.

Picasso would soon prevent any other critics from making such a claim. The death of his close friend Carles Casagemas later in 1901 led to a deep sadness that helped produce Picasso’s Blue Period, three years marked by brooding canvases and somber tones.

During this time, after traveling back and forth between Spain and Paris, Picasso settled permanently in the French capital. There he befriended avant-garde artists such as Jacob; French poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who became a roommate; American writer Gertrude Stein; and Georges Braque.

It was 1907, when he completed Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (The Women of Avignon), that Picasso put a truly distinct stamp on his art. While he didn’t show the work publicly, it represented his probing experimentation with form and presentation. Over the next few years, he worked closely with Braque to develop Cubism, revolutionizing art.

Picasso went on to a long and brilliant career, becoming the most renowned and influential painter of the twentieth century. And it all began in that small exhibit in 1901.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Pablo Picasso gives first exhibition outside Spain appeared first on OUPblog.

21 June 1900

Chinese Empress Cixi declares war on foreigners

On 21 June 1900, in the midst of anti-western attacks in China, the Dowager Empress of China, 65-year-old Cixi, tried to seize the chance to restore Chinese authority and declared war on all foreigners.

The conflict had been decades in building. Throughout the nineteenth century, western powers and Japan had carved up China, creating their own zones where they effectively ruled and where their nationals enjoyed privileged status. Weakened by obsolete technology and its own internal problems, China could do little to resist. China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War in the middle 1890s underlined the nation’s weakness.

Thousands of frustrated Chinese joined a secret group called the Yihequan (“Righteous and Harmonious Fists”). The Boxers (as this group was called in the West) became more aggressive against foreigners, attacking westerners. As they abandoned another of their goals (overthrowing the imperial dynasty) and focused on anti-western attacks, the government edged toward accepting them.

Chinese nianhua painting of Eight-Nation Alliance officers being captured by Chinese General Dong Fuxiang during the Battle of Yangcun in the Boxer Rebellion. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

In January of 1900, Cixi ended the policy of suppressing the Boxers, an action that drew foreign protests. In June, Boxers and imperial troops began attacking foreign interests in Beijing and elsewhere. On 20 June, Boxers stormed the German embassy and killed the German ambassador. Other western diplomats huddled for safety in their legations in Beijing, besieged by hostile Chinese.

The next day, Cixi issued her declaration of war. Foreigners were not the only target of the Boxers — thousands of Chinese Christians were killed across China. Unfortunately for the imperial family, the effort to expel the foreigners failed as some provincial governors refused to cooperate.

In the middle of August, a foreign military force finally reached Beijing, defeated the Boxers, and liberated the trapped diplomats. The foreign troops then rampaged through the city, seizing valuables and destroying property. Cixi and the imperial court fled for safety. The fighting finally ended and the empress was forced to accept the foreigners’ conditions for peace the following year.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Chinese Empress Cixi declares war on foreigners appeared first on OUPblog.

18 June 1815

Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo

In a day-long battle near Brussels, Belgium, a coalition of British, Dutch, Belgian, and German forces defeated the French army led by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo led to his second and final fall from power, and ended more than two decades of wars across Europe that had begun with the French Revolution.

Napoleon had been defeated in 1814 and forced to give up his imperial throne. Exiled on the island of Elba, he plotted a return to power that he launched in March 1815 with his escape and return to France.

Reaching Paris and seizing power once more, Napoleon organized a new government and then quickly gathered an army about him. He marched northeast to meet a hastily-assembled coalition against him. With around 100,000 soldiers each, the two forces were nearly equal in size.

Battle of Waterloo 1815 by William Sadler, ~1839. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Napoleon had the advantage of facing armies that were separated from one another, and his forces won initial victories on June 16 against the Duke of Wellington’s British forces and Gebhard von Blücher’s Germans. However, the Prussian rear guard held French forces under Emmanuel de Grouchy in check far from the main battlefield while the rest of the German army conducted a forced march to join Wellington and the other allies there.

That failure — coupled with Napoleon’s decision to delay his attack until midday, to allow the ground to dry after a rain — doomed the French army. During a long afternoon of fighting, Blücher’s troops forced Napoleon to commit more of his army to one side of the battlefield, preventing him from exploiting advances against Wellington’s forces. When the final French attack was mounted, at eight in the evening, it was repulsed by stiff defense. Then the allies counterattacked and the French forces were overwhelmed, leaving the field in a panic.

Napoleon lost 25,000 men (killed and wounded) and had another 9,000 captured. Allied casualties numbered about 23,000. Within days, Napoleon was forced to abdicate once again. This time, he was exiled to far-off St. Helena, where he died nearly six years later.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo appeared first on OUPblog.

14 June 1907

Norway gives women partial suffrage

On 14 June 1907, Norway’s Storting (Stortinget) demonstrated the difficulty faced by women’s suffrage advocates around the world. On the one hand, the national legislature approved a bill that would allow some of Norway’s women to vote for lawmakers and even to win seats in the Storting. On the other hand, the male lawmakers limited national voting rights to women who had the right to vote in municipal elections.

First woman to cast her vote in the municipal election, Akershus slott, Norway, 1910. Oslo Museum collection (via DigitaltMuseum) under Creative Commons License.

Those limits meant that only women who were at least 25 years old and met certain tax-paying thresholds had the right to vote. The Storting voted by a 3-to-2 margin not to enact universal female suffrage.

From the 1300s to the 1800s, Norway was joined with its neighbors Denmark or Sweden. While reforms in the late 1800s created a powerful Norwegian legislature and considerable autonomy over domestic conditions, Norway did not gain full independence until 1905. Even then, the legislature accepted a king and put a constitutional monarchy into place.

Democratic reformers were among of the forces pushing for these changes in the late 1800s. Norwegian men gained the right to vote in 1898. A women’s suffrage movement had been active since 1885 but was unable to convince the Storting to extend the right to women. Norway’s women did enjoy some advances. In 1854, they gained the right to inherit property, and in the 1890s, they won the right to control their own property.

Nevertheless, it was another six years after the 1907 vote for the Storting to agree to full women’s suffrage. While the delay may have frustrated Norway’s women, they were still better off than the women in all but three other countries. Only New Zealand, Australia, and Finland allowed women to vote at that time.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Norway gives women partial suffrage appeared first on OUPblog.

13 June 1991

Boris Yeltsin elected Russia’s first President

On 13 June 1991, millions of Russians went to the polls for the first time in an open election to choose a president. Emerging as winner was 60-year-old Boris Yeltsin, a maverick with a reputation for alcohol abuse who had for some time advocated political and economic reforms.

Boris Yeltsin. Photo by Susan Biddle. Source: White House Photo Office.

Nevertheless, by 1989 he was back in prominence after winning election to a seat in the Congress of People’s Deputies, the national legislature. The following year, the legislature of the Russian Federation voted him as Russia’s president. Recognizing that the Communist leadership had little regard for him — and perhaps sensing the weakening hold of communism on national power — Yeltsin bolted from the party.

Just two months after his popular election as president in 1991, Yeltsin faced his first and most crucial challenge. In August, Communist hardliners attempted a coup aimed at ousting Gorbachev, and ending his and Yeltsin’s competing reform efforts. Yeltsin rallied the Russian people and encouraged Soviet troops to oppose the coup. In the face of Yeltsin’s and popular defiance, and the loss of military support that coup leaders had counted on, the takeover attempt failed.

Yeltsin’s rule as Russia’s president was tumultuous. He survived a coup attempt against him in 1993 and won a second election in 1996. Political fights marked his rule with a legislature unwilling to fully embrace his economic reforms, his tendency to rule by edict to bypass that legislature, and a bloody and costly war to defeat an independence movement in the province of Chechnya. In 1999, Yeltsin resigned and named Vladimir Putin as acting president.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Boris Yeltsin elected Russia’s first President appeared first on OUPblog.

11 June 2001

Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh executed

Early in the morning of 11 June 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed for planning and carrying out the worst terrorist attack in United States history to date: the bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City in April 1995. Eleven children in an-office daycare center were among the 168 people killed in the blast. Five hundred more people were wounded.

Timothy McVeigh. FBI mugshot. 1995.

As a youth, McVeigh was attracted to militant conservative ideologues who believed that the federal government was bent on depriving Americans of their freedoms and their right to bear arms. After medal-winning service in the Persian Gulf War of 1990–1991, he left the army and drifted for a few years.

In 1993, he watched the federal government’s attack on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, which confirmed his radical views. The following year, he began planning his destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building.

With the help of Terry Nichols, a former army buddy, McVeigh used a truck bomb to blast the façade off the building. The 19 April date of the bombing coincided with the second anniversary of the Branch Davidian attack.

McVeigh was arrested soon after the attack on an unrelated gun charge. Within two days, he was identified as the prime suspect in the bombing. McVeigh was tried in the spring of 1997 and found guilty of multiple charges of murder and conspiracy. He was the first person to be executed under federal law in more than thirty years.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh executed appeared first on OUPblog.

7 June 1099

Crusaders begin the Siege of Jerusalem

On 7 June 1099, some 13,000 Christian Crusaders reached the outskirts of Jerusalem. They were poised on realizing the key goal of the First Crusade — capture of the holy city.

The declining power of the Byzantine Empire had allowed Muslims to seize parts of modern Syria and Turkey. Under threat, the Byzantine emperor pleaded with Western Europe for aid. At the same time, reports filtered west of Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land harassed by Muslims.

In 1095, Pope Urban II called for a crusade to seize the Holy Land. The promise of spiritual blessing — and the opportunity to gain land and wealth — led nobles and knights (chiefly French) to form an army and set out for the east in 1096. Despite slow progress, the Crusaders succeeded in 1098 in capturing the fortified city of Antioch. Then quarrels among rival leaders delayed the Crusaders’ departure for Jerusalem.

After months of squabbling, the Crusaders finally set out for the ancient city. When they arrived, the Crusaders foolishly tried to storm the walls without benefit of siege towers. They succeeded in taking the outer walls, but couldn’t mount the inner walls in force.

Defeated, the Crusaders turned to building the siege engines they needed. With wood scarce, they destroyed homes and churches to confiscate any materials they could scavenge. Meanwhile, their lack of supplies caused widespread hunger and thirst. Eventually, supply ships from Genoa brought badly needed food. Revived by the food and the discovery of a forest some 30 miles from the city, the Crusaders resumed their efforts in earnest.

In mid-July, they mounted the final attack. After two days of fighting, the Crusaders gained the walls and forced the city’s surrender. Leaders promised mercy to the inhabitants, but the fighters could not be controlled. Hundreds of Muslims and Jews, including women and children, were killed in the slaughter that followed.

The First Crusade had attained its goal and simultaneously tarnished its achievement.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Crusaders begin the Siege of Jerusalem appeared first on OUPblog.

6 June 1984

Indian forces massacre Sikhs in Amritsar

After months of standoff between India’s government and Sikh dissidents, the Indian army attacked those dissidents who had taken refuge in the holiest Sikh shrine — the Golden Temple, in Amritsar, India — on 6 June 1984. The fighting left hundreds dead and more captured. The attack also enraged many Sikhs across India, which would have fatal consequences for Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, who had ordered the assault.

Sikh man at the Golden Temple. Created by Claude Renault. Used under Creative Commons license.

Sikhism is a faith that had its origins in the Punjab more than 350 years ago. Persecuted over the years by both Indian Hindus and Muslims, many Sikhs have dreamed for centuries for more autonomy. Those hopes were dashed when British India was portioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan in 1947 as the Punjab was divided between the two new nations. In the 1960s, India made some concessions to Sikhs, but to some Sikhs it was not enough.

Among these dissidents was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who led a group of militant Sikhs. In 1983, they moved to the Golden Temple, setting off a confrontation with the government.

The government had refrained from moving on the temple for months, fearing the backlash that would result. Finally, Gandhi ordered the attack, code-named “Operation Bluestar.” After a week of fighting, around 1,000 were dead including about 800 Sikhs, Bhindrawnwale among them.

Months later, in October, two Sikh bodyguards shot Prime Minister Gandhi during a morning walk in her garden. She died soon thereafter. The two guards had no time to explain the reason for their action. They were immediately killed by other guards. It is generally assumed, though, that they had been angered by the attack on the Golden Temple.

Unfortunately for India’s Sikhs, the attack on the prime minister prompted attacks on innocent Sikhs across India, in which more than a thousand people lost their lives until order was restored.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Indian forces massacre Sikhs in Amritsar appeared first on OUPblog.

May 29, 1953

Hillary and Tenzing climb Mt. Everest

On May 29, 1953, at about 11:30 a.m., New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Tibetan Tenzing Norgay stood on top of the world. They had spent more than two hours straining every muscle against ice, snow, rock, and low oxygen to reach this point. But they were atop Mount Everest, more than 29,000 feet above sea level, the highest peak in the world.

Relieved that the climbing was over, Hillary looked at his partner. As he later wrote, “In spite of the balaclava, goggles and oxygen mask all encrusted with long icicles that concealed his face, there was no disguising his infectious grin of pure delight.” The two men embraced.

Hillary took some photographs of the view and of Tenzing waving small flags representing New Zealand, Nepal, Britain, and the United Nations. Hillary left a small crucifix while Tenzing deposited some food as a Buddhist offering. After 15 minutes, the two decided that, with oxygen running low, they should descend.

View of the majestic Mount Everest from the Rongbuk valley, close to base camp and the terminus of the Rongbuk glacier at 5,200m. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Mt. Everest had long loomed as perhaps the most daunting physical challenge on Earth. Two climbers — George Mallory and Andrew Irvine — had died in a 1924 attempt. Many others had simply failed. Hillary, a skilled mountain climber, was determined to conquer the mountain. He took part in a 1951 British expedition that found a promising southern route up the slope. The 1953 trip followed that route.

That expedition reached its highest camp by the middle of May. Preparations began for the final ascent. One pair made an attempt on May 27, but failed. Two days later, Hillary and Tenzing succeeded in their joint attempt — and captured the world’s attention.

Hillary was soon knighted by Britain’s newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II. Tenzing was given medals by Britain and Nepal. While others have followed their path to the top, no one can diminish their achievement. They were the first.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Hillary and Tenzing climb Mt. Everest appeared first on OUPblog.

May 27, 1963

Kenyatta elected Kenya’s First Prime Minister

Jomo Kenyatta, 22 February 1966. Source: German Federal Archive.

Kenyatta, speaking to all Kenyans, promised peace and goodwill toward Britain and white settlers in the African nation. “We are not to look to the past — racial bitterness, the denial of fundamental rights, the suppression of our culture,” he said. “Let there be forgiveness.”

The historic vote came while Britain still controlled Kenya as a colony but marked a step in the move toward full Kenyan independence. That independence was recognized by Britain in December of 1963. The following year, the Republic of Kenya was declared and, in new elections, Kenyatta became its first president.

Kenyatta’s rule was not without problems. Unrest in the armed forced later in 1964 forced Kenyatta to call on British military aid to maintain stability. Members of other ethnic groups charged that he unfairly favored his own Kikuyu people, the nation’s majority group. His vice president, Oginga Odinga of the Luo people, formed an opposition party, but it and other parties were banned as Kenyatta built a one-party state. Odinga and others also argued that the capitalist economy Kenyatta built abandoned the socialist principles he had claimed to support and left too many people poor. A military coup was attempted in 1971, but failed.

Despite these problems, Kenyatta remained in power until his death in 1978. The major role he played in spearheading Kenya’s independence movement was widely recognized at his passing.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Kenyatta elected Kenya’s First Prime Minister appeared first on OUPblog.

May 24, 1883

The Brooklyn Bridge opens

On May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge opened to great fanfare. With schoolchildren and workers enjoying a rare holiday, thousands flocked from Brooklyn and Manhattan to attend the dedication, led by President Chester Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland. The crowd cheered as Emily Roebling – wife of the chief engineer and an integral figure in its construction — became the first person to cross. That night, fireworks illuminated the sky.

A bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan had long been appealing but faced obstacles. The swift waters of the East River seemed impossible to span. Also, any bridge would have to rise high above the river to allow the tall ships to pass beneath.

Bird's-eye view of the great suspension bridge, connecting the cities of New York and Brooklyn, from New York looking so... (1883). Source: New York Public Library.

In the 1850s, bridge designer John Roebling proposed a design to overcome these problems: build a suspension bridge, with the deck held aloft by cables hung from lofty towers. Not until 1869 did Roebling win approval for the project, however.

Almost immediately, the bridge seemed jinxed. Exploring the site, Roebling suffered a serious foot injury that led to a tetanus infection and his death. But with his son Washington supervising construction, work began.

Source: NYPL Labs Stereogranimator.

By 1877, work on the towers and the cables was complete. Next came the task of building the 1,600-foot-long roadway, the longest suspension span then known. Workers finished that work in 1883, and the celebrating began. As a sign hung in Brooklyn proudly declared, “Babylon had her hanging gardens, Egypt her pyramids, Athens her Acropolis…; so Brooklyn has her Bridge.”

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post The Brooklyn Bridge opens appeared first on OUPblog.

May 22, 1570

Ortelius publishes first world atlas

On May 22, 1570, bookmaking and map-making history were made. Abraham Ortelius, a Flemish book collector and engraver published the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (Epitome of the Theater of the World) — the world’s first atlas.

Several features make Ortelius’s work groundbreaking. His was the first book that bound together a collection of maps that were consistently presented. It was also the first map collection to aim at comprehensive coverage of the known world and the first to organize the maps logically, with all those applying to the same continent or region grouped together. Finally, the Theatrum was the first work to include explanatory texts that discussed the regions portrayed.

Ortelius World Map ("Typvs Orbis Terrarvm"), 1570. Source: Library of Congress.

The Theatrum is important for another reason as well. In it, Ortelius drew from the work of several different cartographers, trying to create the most accurate maps possible based on the best sources available. The desire to make his maps authoritative helps explain why Ortelius published several new editions before his death in 1598. He and those who carried on his work expanded the volume as well. The 1612 edition had 167 maps, more than double the 70 maps in the original 1570 edition.

Ortelius was a careful scholar, and his atlas cited the work of 33 cartographers upon whom he drew. His listing of more than 50 other contemporary geographers gives useful insight into the fields of geography and cartography in the late sixteenth century.

Ortelius’s Theatrum quickly became recognized as the standard collection of world maps and as the model for all atlases to follow. By the early 1600s though, those who carried on the Theatrum were less careful than he had been. The work was discontinued after 1612, having been eclipsed in authority by a new atlas based on the work of Gerardus Mercator — the first book to use the name atlas for the genre.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Ortelius publishes first world atlas appeared first on OUPblog.

May 20, 1498

Da Gama reaches Calicut, India

On May 20, 1498, sailing for the Portuguese crown, Vasco da Gama reached Calicut, India. Having successfully sailed around the southern tip of Africa, da Gama had pioneered a sea route from Europe to Asia that bypassed the Muslim nations that controlled the overland spice trade.

In his late thirties at the time of his voyage, da Gama was the son of a minor Portuguese nobleman. Why he was chosen by Portugal’s King Manuel to lead the expedition to India is unknown; his only achievement to date had been carrying out a mission for Manuel’s predecessor a few years earlier. Nevertheless, he was named to head the historic voyage.

Vasco da Gama's ship with gods above by Ernesto Casanova (ca. 1880). Source: Library of Congress.

The voyage posed many challenges. The trip across the southern Atlantic left the ships a worrying three months without sight of land, and the expedition met hostile natives in southern Africa — who gave da Gama an arrow wound — and Muslims in eastern Africa. The long voyage also took a serious toll of the crew; around two-thirds died during the voyage, most of disease.

Once he reached Calicut, da Gama’s reception was not very warm. The goods Manuel had sent as gifts were of poor value, infuriating Calicut’s ruler. Still, da Gama was able to leave India with some spices. After a long and harrowing return trip — which included the death of his brother — da Gama reached Portugal in September of 1499, more than two years after having set out.

He was greeted as a hero and richly rewarded by the king. With his voyage, the Portuguese overseas empire was born.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Da Gama reaches Calicut, India appeared first on OUPblog.

May 17, 1642

Montréal is founded

Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, jumped from the wooden boat onto land. Falling to his knees, he blessed the ground. His followers also came ashore and built an altar, where a Jesuit father offered a blessing. “You are a grain of mustard-seed,” he said, “that shall rise and grow till its branches overshadow the earth.” With these words, French settlers founded Ville-Marie de Montréal — Montréal, Canada — on May 17, 1642.

Jacques Cartier had first recommended the site of Montréal for a settlement on his second voyage to Canada, in 1535–1536. In fact, he gave the name Mont-Réal to the 760-foot hill rising above the St. Lawrence River. At the time, the land was home to a large settlement of some 1,000 Huron Indians, who called the site Hochelaga.

Though Cartier claimed the St. Lawrence River valley for France, further exploration and settlement of the region did not begin until the early 1600s. Samuel de Champlain, who led the colonization effort, also saw the site of Montréal as a favorable location, as it lay at the junction of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers and just below rapids that made the upper reaches of the St. Lawrence unnavigable.

Montréal as viewed from Mount Royal in 1784 by James Peachy. Source: National Archives of Canada.

Still, it took nearly four decades after Champlain founded Québec before Maisonneuve and his few dozen settlers finally established the first French settlement at the site. He had been put in charge of the company by a group of men who had religious as much as economic goals in planting the colony. They wanted to convert and educate the local Native Americans and found a religious hospital. Thus, along with building a stockade for defense and homes for the settlers, Maisonneuve had a chapel and hospital built as well.

Despite the colony’s lofty goals, it had poor relations with the Native Americans of the area for decades. Not until 1701 did the settlers and the indigenous peoples agree to a lasting peace. By then, Montréal was well established. The mustard seed had grown.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Montréal is founded appeared first on OUPblog.

May 14, 1948

Israel declares statehood

Late in the afternoon of May 14, 1948, a group of Jewish settlers fulfilled a long-cherished dream and declared, as of midnight that night, the existence of the state of Israel. The announcement created the first Jewish state in nearly two millennia — and outraged the Palestinian people and their Arab allies.

Theodor Herzl

The Zionists’ dream received a boost in 1917, when Foreign Minister Arthur Balfour of Great Britain endorsed the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine. The Balfour Declaration also held that any Jewish state would not “prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” Five years later, the idea of a Jewish state was incorporated into the League of Nations agreement creating a British mandate in Palestine.

The Holocaust intensified the move for a Jewish state; six million European Jews were lost during World War II. Meanwhile, a weakened Britain was ready to end its role in Palestine. In 1947, it announced that the mandate would terminate on May 15 of the following year. That November, the United Nations General Assembly voted to create separate Jewish and Palestinian states in the area.

Early in 1948, fighting between Jews and Palestinians broke out. In the midst of this conflict, on the eve of the British departure, a group called the Jewish People’s Council declared Israeli statehood.

Hours later, President Harry Truman issued a statement recognizing the Jewish state. On May 15, as Israel came into existence, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria issued a formal declaration in opposition and launched an attack, beginning the first of several Arab-Israeli wars in the region.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Israel declares statehood appeared first on OUPblog.

May 11, 330

Constantine dedicates Constantinople

Six years before, the emperor had ordered the building of a vast new city. On May 11, 330, construction was sufficiently complete for that city to be dedicated. The Emperor Constantine took part in a solemn mass at St. Eirene, his newly built church, that dedicated the new city to the Virgin Mary. He issued an edict that declared the city New Rome, or the Second Rome, capital of the empire. Within a hundred years, though, the city came to be known by another name — Constantinople.

Colossal statue of Constantine: head, 313-324 AD in the Musei Capitolini, Rome. Photo by Jean-Christophe Benoist. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Echoing the old Rome, the new capital was built on seven hills. A key new structure was the Milion, a monument that would serve as the point from which all imperial distances were measured. Crowning this structure was a holy relic — a piece of wood thought to be from the cross on which Jesus was crucified.

Constantine had an oval forum built entirely of marble. In its central plaza, he erected a 100-foot-tall porphyry column on a glittering marble base. Atop the column was placed a statue of the Greek god Apollo — his head replaced by a likeness of the emperor.

Constantine expanded the old hippodrome where chariot races were held and built an extensive palace as well. He also built stout walls, but these were eventually replaced, as his city swelled in population and needed to grow.

Thousands of workers had labored years to complete these buildings and to decorate them with treasures taken from sites around the Mediterranean. They enjoyed the forty days of festivities that followed the city’s dedication. Then they went back to work, finishing Constantine’s new capital.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Constantine dedicates Constantinople appeared first on OUPblog.

May 7, 1824

Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premieres

Back to the audience, facing the orchestra, the composer steadily marked the tempo with his hands. He was not conducting, though — he was deaf. Thus it was that, when the orchestra and chorus finished, he could not hear the applause and cheers of the Vienna audience. When a musician turned him around so he could see the joy on listeners’ faces, Ludwig von Beethoven bowed in gratitude — and wept.

It was May 7, 1824, the premiere performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Beethoven’s Ninth was the first symphony to contain a choral movement — in this case, a setting of poet Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.” Beethoven had long admired Schiller’s poem for its vision of peace and universal brotherhood. He first thought of setting the poem to music as early as 1793. He never developed a satisfactory setting, however.

By the 1810s, Beethoven had determined to introduce voices into a symphony. Later in the decade, he began working on his ninth symphony, which he reworked and revised many times over the next few years. Not until 1823 did he decide to incorporate a choral setting of the ode into the symphony — and even then, he fretted over how to do so.

Beethoven solved the problem by eliminating the fourth movement he had written and replacing it with a new movement. It began with the orchestra repeating — and then musically rejecting — the themes of the first three movements. With a brilliant transition from instrument to a solo baritone, he introduced voice, the lone singer soon joined by a chorus that fills the hall with powerful music.

Beethoven’s musical revolution received mixed reactions. A critic who attended the premiere effused praise: “the effect was indescribably great and magnificent, jubilant applause from full hearts was enthusiastically given the master.” A London critic who heard the work in 1825 called the hour-plus length “a fearful period indeed, which puts the muscles and lungs of the band and the patience of the audience to a severe trial.”

Most listeners today are more inclined to the judgment of music critic Ted Libbey: “Here is Beethoven at his most revolutionary, transforming the symphony, for the first time in its history, into an act of moral philosophy.”

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony premieres appeared first on OUPblog.

May 6, 1527

The Sack of Rome

On May 6, 1527, a mass of German Lutheran and Spanish Catholic troops — unlikely allies — reached Rome. They had been kept unpaid for months and were resentful of the riches of the papacy. As the soldiers — by now a rampaging mob — entered the Vatican, Pope Clement VII was saying a mass in the Sistine Chapel. With Swiss Guards being slaughtered in St. Peter’s Square, the pope was hustled away to safety in the stout Castel Sant’Angelo. And the sack of Rome was on.

Breve trattato delle afflittioni d'Italia et del conflitto di Roma con pronosticatione. Source: NYPL.

Thus Charles’s forces entered Rome, and the Vatican itself, with little opposition. Once in control of both, they killed men and children. Thousands died, their bodies thrown into the Tiber River. The soldiers also raped women — including nuns — and plundered anything of value, stripping churches and convents of their priceless artifacts.

The army remained in Rome for months, suffering a plague-marred summer that added to the city’s misery. Finally, the pope surrendered — though he remained in his fortress. Romans bemoaned their fate in laments that included lines such as this: “My name is Rome, mistress of the world, / Woe is me, who was mistress of all.”

The sack of Rome had a significant aftermath. The pope and emperor reconciled in 1530. A few years later, when England’s Henry VIII petitioned the pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, Clement refused. Catherine was Charles V’s aunt. The pope’s refusal, of course, led Henry to leave the Catholic Church and create the separate Church of England.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post The Sack of Rome appeared first on OUPblog.

May 5, 1260

Kublai Khan Becomes Mongol Emperor

Khubilai Khan on the Hunt (1280). National Palace Museum in Taipei

When he took the throne, Kublai was in his forties. He was the fourth son of the fourth son of Genghis and had only about a decade’s experience in military and political leadership. But he proved his worth and justified the name given him by Mongols, Setsen Khan, or “the Wise Khan.”

Shortly after taking the throne, Kublai returned to his efforts to complete the Mongol conquest of China. The Mongols’ superb cavalry had easily overrun other lands across Central Asia, but that type of force was less effective in river-crossed and highly-urbanized China. Following the advice of Chinese advisors, Kublai built a fleet that navigated the rivers and made it possible to defeat the towns. By 1279, he was fully in control of China.

Ironically, Kublai’s focus on China cost him control of the larger empire. During the conquest of China, regional leaders in the western parts of the Mongol Empire broke away, creating rival states.

The Great Khan was probably quite content with China and Mongolia, however. In 1264, he moved his capital from Karakorum to Beijing, making it the capital of China for the first time. That capital was magnificent — as attested to by Venetian merchant Marco Polo, who reached it a few years later. Polo called the Khan’s palace “so vast, so rich, and so beautiful, that no man on earth could design anything superior to it.”

Kublai ruled until his death in 1294. While his rule was a time of prosperity for China, his Yuan dynasty he founded lasted less than a hundred years.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Kublai Khan becomes Mongol Emperor appeared first on OUPblog.

May 2, 2011

Osama bin Laden killed

In the middle of the night, 2 May 2011, a brief message was radioed from Pakistan to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia: “EKIA.” “EKIA” is military shorthand for “enemy killed in action.” The enemy was Osama bin Laden. After a manhunt of nearly 10 years, the United States had found and killed the al Qaeda leader who had ordered the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

Bin Laden’s death came in a raid by about two dozen Navy SEALs on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The previous year, intelligence officials had tracked a known bin Laden courier to the compound. The complex — with high walls and tight security measures — became the focus of months of intense study as a possible hideaway for the elusive al Qaeda leader. Meanwhile, two versions of it were built so the SEALs could train for a possible raid.

Aerial view of Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad made by the CIA. Source: Department of Defense.

Despite the scrutiny, officials could not be certain that Osama used the compound or that — even if he did — he would be there on May 2. Gambling, President Barack Obama ordered the SEALs to strike.

The raid was not perfect. A helicopter flown to the compound was damaged in a hard landing. The noise of the crash ruined the element of surprise and forced the SEALs to blast their way through several walls to enter the home inside the compound. There, they found bin Laden and quickly shot him dead.

Bin Laden was not the only casualty. Two guards, a woman, and one of his sons were also killed, and two of his wives were wounded. They and about ten others were left tied up in a room. Less than an hour after entering the compound, the SEALs left with bin Laden’s body — and a treasure of computer hard drives and other intelligence data. They destroyed the downed helicopter before leaving.

Later that night, President Barack Obama addressed the nation on television to deliver the news. Paying tribute to the SEALs who carried out the operation and recalling bin Laden’s role in the 9/11 attacks, the president said, “Justice has been done.”

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Osama bin Laden killed appeared first on OUPblog.

April 26, 1994

South Africa holds first multiracial election

April 26, 1994 marked the beginning of the end of a period of monumental change in South Africa. On that day, for the first time in the nation’s history, more than 17 million black South Africans began casting their votes for government officials. When the election ended four days later, the vote made Nelson Mandela South Africa’s first black president.

For decades, the white minority had ruled South Africa. Since the 1940s, those whites had consolidated their power by creating a system of strict racial segregation called apartheid. Later developments that forced black South Africans to live only in certain parts of cities or in rural regions called “homelands” reinforced that system.

As a result of these policies and others — favoring whites and putting black South Africans at a disadvantage — the two groups were sharply different in socioeconomic status. Denied voting rights, black South Africans could do nothing to change the laws within the system.

Equal rights activists — among them Mandela — tried various forms of protest to push the government to change. Nations around the world joined in the effort, imposing sanctions on certain economic transactions with South Africa and banning South African cultural figures and athletes from international events.

Not until 1990 though, did this pressure have an effect. Then, South African President F. W. de Klerk began dismantling the laws that supported apartheid. He also negotiated with Mandela — who had been in prison for decades — to arrange his release from prison and cooperation with the creation of a temporary government to lead the country for five years while a new multiracial constitution was written.

Prior to the historic election, some analysts feared that violence would mar the voting process. Nothing of the kind took place. Instead, millions of South Africans went to the polls, some standing in lines that stretched a mile or more, thrilled to take part in an historic vote.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post South Africa holds first multiracial election appeared first on OUPblog.

April 25, 1953

Scientists identify DNA

DNA replication split. Source: Dept of Energy Human Genome Project.

Watson was an American-born biologist who became interested in the effort to crack the secrets of DNA in his early twenties. Crick, a British-born biologist, began working on the structure of large molecules in living organisms in the 1940s. The two ended up collaborating at the same British laboratory.

What later became known as DNA was first discovered by a Swiss chemist in 1869. In 1919, a Lithuanian biochemist published a paper proposing that substances called nucleic acids, or nucleotides, combined to make DNA. In 1944, researchers identified DNA as the determinant of heredity. The next step, by an Austrian biochemist, came in 1950. The combination of nucleotides in different species differs, and the amount of two nucleotides is matched by the amount of two others.

Watson and Crick explained how the nucleotides fit together and what form DNA took. The nucleotides were held in place, they said, by ribbons formed of sugar-phosphate compounds. These ribbons form two strands with the nucleotides that pair together on opposite locations of each strand. The ribbons twist in a spiral structure they called a double helix. They found this structure by using cardboard models of the nucleotides, which they tried assembling in different combinations. They also explained how the DNA could reproduce itself.

Watson and Crick’s work launched a flurry of research to learn more about DNA. While refinements have been made, the basic principles they outlined in 1953 have been proved. The two scientists and a third researcher won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1962 for this work.

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Scientists identify DNA appeared first on OUPblog.

April 23, 1616

Shakespeare and Cervantes die

Source: NYPL.

Shakespeare, of course, is renowned as the greatest playwright in the English and arguably any language. His thirty-seven surviving plays, written from around 1590 to 1611, convey sharp insight into the human condition with unsurpassed power and beauty.

Born in 1564 to a tradesman and town official, Shakespeare grew up in Stratford but left some time in the 1580s for London where he became involved in the burgeoning Elizabethan theater first as an actor, and then as a playwright and businessman. After penning The Tempest, he retired back to Stratford, where he lived for only five more years.

Some years after his death, Shakespeare’s associates arranged to publish a collected volume of his plays. In a dedicatory poem, rival playwright Ben Jonson said Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time!”

Source: NYPL.

Back in Spain, he began writing plays, only two of which survive. Financial difficulties landed him in prison. During that time or shortly afterward, he began writing his masterpiece, Don Quixote. The epic novel, a satire of chivalric romances of the late Middle Ages, introduced two of world literature’s most memorable characters, the idealistic, ungainly Don Quixote, and his earthy, round sidekick, Sancho Panza.

Only in his last year did Cervantes enjoy the same esteem Shakespeare did. In his late sixties, wracked with pain, he dedicated his last work to a noble. In a letter composed four days before his death, he wrote, “With the agony of death upon me, / Great Lord, I write this to you.”

“This Day in World History” is brought to you by USA Higher Education.
You can subscribe to these posts via RSS or receive them by email.

The post Shakespeare and Cervantes die appeared first on OUPblog.