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Grant as president in the 1870s. (Wikipedia). On this day in 1862, American Major-General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11, a decree ordering the removal of all Jews from Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi. Grant was commander of all Union (northern, "Yankee") forces during the American Civil War, and he sought the eradication of…
A Bangladeshi poster commemorating their war for independence. (Flickr) On this day in 1971, the Pakistan Armed Forces (PAF) signed a formal ceasefire with India and the new nation of Bangladesh in the Pakistani Instrument of Surrender. The agreement ended the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. Initial fighting had broken out…
Continue reading ➞ 12/16 – The Pakistani Instrument of Surrender
The memorial at Drobitsky Yar. (Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1941, men of the German Wehrmacht (regular army) massacred 15,000 Jewish people in Drobitsky Yar, a ravine on the outskirts of Kharkiv, Ukraine. Although the circumstances of the massacre are not completely clear, the general historical consensus is that Wehrmacht units invading Ukraine (then…
Mary, Queen of Scots sails away from France to a tumultuous future. (New Historian) On this day in 1542, 6 day-old Mary Stuart became Mary, Queen of Scots with the passing of her father, King James V of Scotland. Mary spent most of her younger years in France and was married to the 12 year-old…
The Graf Spee in Montevideo, heavily damaged and about to be scuttled. (Pinterest) On this day in 1939, the German Kriegsmarine (Navy) heavy cruiser Admiral Graf Spree was on a "commercial raiding mission" off the coast of Uruguay and Argentina. Before WWII's start, the Graf Spee had been authorized to sail around the South Atlantic…
Knights of a chivalric order engage in "friendly" competition. (Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1408, Hungarian King Sigismund von Luxembourg founded the Order of the Dragon, a chivalric order dedicated to protecting Central Europe from foreign incursions. Knights and important figures from the Holy Roman Empire, Wallachia, Aragon, Moldova, Hungary and the Serbian Despotate…
Chechen militants with a Russian Hind they've shot down. (Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1994, troops from the newfound Russian Federation entered Chechnya, a federal republic within Russia. The intervention - ordered by Boris Yeltsin, Russia's first president - came as a result of ongoing civil war and unrest emanating from the Chechen capital…
A copy of Raczyński's Note. (Polish Government) On this day in 1942, the Polish government-in-exile delivered Raczyński's Note - an official report on the Holocaust - to 26 Western governments engaged in WWII. Polish resistance member Jan Karski had smuggled secret information documenting Nazi war crimes to London, where it was reviewed by horrified Polish…
Marguerite Durand. (Jules Cayron) On this day in 1897, French activist Marguerite Durand founded La Fronde, a feminist newspaper based in Paris. Unlike most publications of the time that targeted women, Durand's paper covered more "masculine" topics: politics, sports, philosophy. Referring to the 1648 Fronde (slingshot) uprisings against French monarchy, the paper was run entirely…
Secretary General Gorbachev (L) and President Reagan (R) sign the INF Treaty. (DOD) On this day in 1987, Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and American President Ronald Reagan signed the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF. The treaty was a significant step towards cooperation and disarmament between the two Cold War superpowers. Under the treaty, all…
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