Today in History ^01/24/17

January 24, 2017 by GµårÐïåñ

Painting of the assassination of the Roman Emperor Caligula in 41 CE (© Lazzaro Baldi/De Agostini/Getty Images)

(41 CE) Roman Emperor Caligula assassinated

Stabbed by his own Praetorian Guards, the infamously deviant Caligula’s reign over Rome comes to an end. Hopes of restoring a Republic are dashed when Caligula’s uncle, Claudius, is declared Emperor.

Caligula, properly Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was Roman emperor from AD 37–41. Born Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula’s biological father was Germanicus, and he was the great-nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius. The young Gaius earned the nickname “Caligula” from his father’s soldiers while accompanying him during his campaigns in Germania.

Lived: 12 AD – 41 AD (age 28)
Spouse: Milonia Caesonia (m. 39 AD – 41 AD) · Lollia Paulina (m. 38 AD) · Livia Orestilla (m. 37 AD) · Junia Claudilla (m. 33 AD)
Related movies: Caligula
Siblings: Agrippina the Younger (Sister) · Julia Drusilla (Sister) · Nero Julius Caesar (Brother) · Julia Livilla (Sister) · Drusus Caesar (Brother)
Children: Julia Drusilla (Daughter)
Parents: Germanicus (Father) · Agrippina the Elder (Mother)
Highlights
29 AD: Agrippina and Caligula’s brother, Nero, were banished in 29 AD on charges of treason.

30 AD: In 30 AD, his brother, Drusus Caesar, was imprisoned on charges of treason and his brother Nero died in exile from either starvation or suicide.

35 AD: In 35 AD, Caligula was named joint heir to Tiberius’s estate along with Tiberius Gemellus.

37 AD: When Tiberius died on 16 March 37 AD, his estate and the titles of the principate were left to Caligula and Tiberius’s own grandson, Gemellus, who were to serve as joint heirs.

38 AD: His favorite sister Julia Drusilla died in 38 AD of a fever: his other two sisters, Livilla and Agrippina the Younger, were exiled.

38 AD: Caligula married Lollia Paulina in 38.

39 AD: Caligula married Milonia Caesonia in 39.

wiki/Caligula

Painting depicting fortune seekers during the California Gold Rush in 1849 (© Stock Montage/Getty Images)

(1848) California Gold Rush begins

James Marshall’s morning work on a mill on California’s American River is interrupted when he catches sight of something glimmering in the sand. The discovery of gold will rock the nation.

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands, and Latin America, and they were the first to start flocking to the state in late 1848. All in all, the news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. Of the 300,000, approximately half arrived by sea and half came overland on the California Trail and the Gila River trail.

Start date: Jan 24, 1848
End date: 1855

wiki/California_Gold_Rush

Robert Baden-Powell in 1914 (© PA Archive/Press Association Images)

(1908) The scouting movement is launched

Writer, British Army officer, and national hero, Robert-Baden Powell publishes the first handbook of his ‘Scouting For Boys’ series. Inspired youngsters will start troops throughout England and, eventually, in many other countries of the world as well.

Scouting for Boys: A handbook for instruction in good citizenship is a book on Boy Scout training, published in various editions since 1908. Early editions were written and illustrated by Robert Baden-Powell with later editions being extensively rewritten by others. The book was originally a manual for self-instruction in observation, tracking and woodcraft skills as well as self-discipline and self-improvement, about the Empire and duty as citizens with an eclectic mix of anecdotes and unabashed personal observations and recollections. It is pervaded by a degree of moral proselytizing and references to the author’s own exploits. It is based on his boyhood experiences, his experience with the Mafeking Cadet Corps during the Second Boer War at the Siege of Mafeking, and on his experimental camp on Brownsea Island, England.

Author: Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
First published: 1908
Genres: Nature · All Ages · Ages 9-12 Nonfiction

wiki/Scouting_for_Boys

Shoichi Yokoi at Guam Memorial Hospital in Agana, Guam, in 1972 after he was found in the jungle by fishermen (© AP)

(1972) Japanese soldier found on Guam 27 years after WWII ends

Shoichi Yokoi, Japanese Imperial Army sergeant, is found living in a remote underground jungle cave on the island of Guam. Having believed it is his duty to die rather than surrender after WWII ends, Yokoi says, upon his return to Japan, “It is with much embarrassment, but I have returned.”

Shōichi Yokoi was a Japanese sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War. He was among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945, discovered in the jungles of Guam on 24 January 1972, almost 28 years after US forces had regained control of the island in 1944.

Born: Mar 31, 1915 · Saori, Aichi, Japan
Died: Sep 22, 1997 · Nagoya, Japan
Highlights
1941: He was an apprentice tailor when he was conscripted in 1941.

1944: When American forces captured the island in the 1944 Battle of Guam, Yokoi went into hiding with nine other Japanese soldiers.

1974: Yokoi was the third-to-last Japanese soldier to surrender after the war, preceding Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda (relieved from duty by his former commanding officer on 9 March 1974) and Private Teruo Nakamura (arrested 18 December 1974).

1997: Shoichi Yokoi died on September 22, 1997 in Nagoya, Japan.

wiki/Shoichi_Yokoi

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Today in History

September 13, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(335) A church is consecrated on Christendom’s hallowed ground

	In Jerusalem, Constantine the Great consecrates a new church built over the purported sites of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Christendom’s holiest place, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre will be destroyed and rebuilt more than once. .
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre Latin: Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri; also called the Church of the Resurrection or Church of the Anastasis by Orthodox Christians, is a church within the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a few steps away from the Muristan. Burials: Godfrey of Bouillon · Baldwin IV of Jerusalem · Baldwin I of Jerusalem · Fulk, King of Jerusalem · Baldwin V of Jerusalem Religion: Christianity Architectural styles: Romanesque architecture · Baroque architecture Category: Church — Source: wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre
(1848) ‘American Crowbar Case’ influences ideas on brain function

Phineas Gage is working on a Vermont railroad when a 3-foot 7-inch iron tamping rod is driven through his head with explosive force. The resulting injury, which Gage will survive for another 12 years, changes both his personality and doctors’ opinions in the field of neurology. .
Phineas P. Gage was an American railroad construction foreman remembered for his improbable survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain’s left frontal lobe, and for that injury’s reported effects on his personality and behavior over the remaining twelve years of his life—effects sufficiently profound that friends saw him as “no longer Gage.” Born: Jul 09, 1823 · Grafton County, NH Died: May 21, 1860 · San Francisco, CA Buried: Cypress Lawn Memorial Park — Source: wiki/Phineas_Gage
(1990) Two separate yet equally important groups debut on NBC

	Detective Mike Logan arrests the perpetrators and DA Ben Stone prosecutes them as ‘Law & Order,’ a combo of police procedural and courtroom drama, makes its prime-time bow. The show will go on to be the longest-running crime drama on US television and spawn spin-offs galore..
The show follows a crime, ususally adapted from current headlines, from two separate vantage points. The first half of the show concentrates on the investigation of the crime by the police, the second half follows the prosecution of the crime in court. Number of episodes: 456 First episode: Sep 13, 1990 Episode duration: 45 minutes Creator: Dick Wolf — Source: wiki/Law_&_Order
(1993) Arab-Israeli peace process gets a boost at the White House

US President Bill Clinton hosts Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House as their representatives sign the ‘Oslo Accords,’ another step in the complex Israeli-Palestinian peace process..
The Oslo Accords are a set of agreements between the government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993 and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba in 1995. The Oslo Accords marked the start of the Oslo process, a peace process that is aimed at achieving a peace-treaty based on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 and 338, and to fulfill the “right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.” The Oslo process started after secret negotiations in Oslo, resulting in the recognition by the PLO of the State of Israel and the recognition by Israel of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and as a partner in negotiations. The Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority, whose functions are the limited self-governance over parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip; and, it acknowledged that the PLO is now Israel’s partner in permanent status negotiations about the remaining issues. The most important issues are the borders of Israel and Palestine, the Israeli settlements, the status of Jerusalem, the question of Israel’s military presence in and control over the remaining territories after the recognition of the Palestinian autonomy by Israel, and the Palestinian right of return. The Oslo Accords, however, did not create a Palestinian state. — Source: wiki/Oslo_Accords
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Today in History

July 19, 2016 by GµårÐïåñ

(64 CE) A blaze flares up in the twisting streets of Rome
	The moon is full, the wind high, and when a fire breaks out in a shop stocking explosives, it soon whips into a conflagration in the narrow streets and packed neighborhoods of Rome. The fire will rage for six days, but contrary to popular belief, Emperor Nero will not fiddle around..
(1545) Henry VIII’s ‘Mary Rose’ sinks while fighting the French
A massive English warship, the 800-ton Mary Rose, has given more than three decades of service to king and country when she is sunk in battle just off the Isle of Wight. The ship will be painstakingly raised from the deep and reconstructed as a breathtaking Tudor time capsule 437 years later..
(1848) Seneca Falls hosts a watershed moment in women’s rights
	Crowds gather in Seneca Falls, New York, for the opening of a two-day Women’s Rights Convention, the first of its kind ever held in America. Prominent speakers, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, will call for equal rights for women, including the right to vote. .
(1870) Baited by Bismarck, France declares war
Napoleon III’s war declaration against the North German States and the Kingdom of Prussia is just what Chancellor Otto von Bismarck ordered. His desire to see southern German states joined with the north will be fulfilled after they unite to fight, and beat, their common French enemy. .