1918

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Today in History 08/13/17

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Newly recruited Marine Opha Johnson at Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, DC (© Marine Corps Women's Marine Reserve/Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections)(1918) US Marines enlist their first female recruit
Her country embroiled in World War I, 39-year-old Opha Johnson is first in line to enlist at the US Marine Corps Reserves, becoming the first female Marine in history. More than 300 other women will follow Johnson’s lead and serve as Marines during the war, paving the way for future women in the US military.
Opha May Johnson was the first woman to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. She joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1918, officially becoming the first female Marine.
Born: 1879 · Indiana, Midwestern United States
Died: Aug 11, 1955 · Washington, D.C., United States
Buried: Rock Creek Cemetery
Highlights
  • 1898: Historical records identify she married Victor H. Johnson on 20 December 1898 at the Sixth Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.

  • 1918: According to 1918 newspaper articles, as well as the published history of Women Marines in World War I, Johnson’s first duties were as a clerk at Marine Corps headquarters, managing the records of other female reservists who joined after she did.

  • 1955: Opha May Johnson died on Thursday, 11 August 1955, at Mount Alto Veterans Hospital in Washington, D.C.

wiki/Opha_May_Johnson
Two East German workers put pieces of broken glass on the top of the Berlin wall in August 1961 (© Kreusch/AP)(1961) East is sealed off from West in a divided capital
While the city sleeps, Soviet-backed East German soldiers begin erecting a barbed-wire barrier in Berlin, making solid what’s been for 15 years a geopolitical split within Germany’s capital. Transit between communist East Berlin and capitalist West Berlin is now strictly verboten.
The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic, starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, “fakir beds” and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the Wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that had marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period.
Address: Zimmer Street 88 · 10117 Berlin
Phone: 030 3087770
Construction started: Aug 13, 1961
Destroyed: Nov 09, 1989
Berlin Wall Map
Map of the Berlin Wall, showing checkpoints.

wiki/Berlin_Wall
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Today in History 04/21/17

The bronze sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf with the mythological founders of the city of Rome, Romulus and Remus, displayed at the Campidoglio in central Rome (© Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images)(753 BCE) Rome is founded
According to tradition, orphaned twins Romulus and Remus establish what will become one of the world’s great cities. Legend holds that the twins had been saved from starvation by a she-wolf who’d found them abandoned in a cave on Palatine Hill. This area will eventually become Rome’s center.

The founding of Rome can be investigated through archaeology, but traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth.

The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous of all Roman myths, is the story of Romulus and Remus, the twins who were suckled by a she-wolf. This story had to be reconciled with a dual tradition, set earlier in time, the one that had the Trojan refugee Aeneas escape to Italy and found the line of Romans through his son Iulus, the namesake of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.


wiki/Founding_of_Rome
The Battle of San Jacinto' 1895 painting by Henry Arthur McArdle (© Universal History Archive/Getty Images)(1836) Texas wins independence at Battle of San Jacinto
The Texas Revolution ends as General Sam Houston and his Texian Army soundly defeat the forces of Mexican General Santa Anna in a surprise attack. The Battle of San Jacinto lasts just 18 minutes, and will lead to the independence of the Republic of Texas.
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes.
Date: Apr 21, 1836

wiki/Battle_of_San_Jacinto
Manfred von Richthofen, widely known as the Red Baron, in his Albatros aircraft, 1917 (© ullstein bild/Getty Images)(1918) Fabled and feared WWI flying ace ‘The Red Baron’ shot down
Although hit in the chest with a fatal bullet during an aerial dogfight, 25-year-old German fighter pilot Baron Manfred von Richthofen, famed for his unmatched run of 80 combat victories, lands his plane near the French village of Vaux-sur-Somme, and utters “kaputt” before dying in the cockpit.
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during the First World War. He is considered the ace-of-aces of the war, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories.
Born: May 02, 1892 · Wrocław, Poland
Died: Apr 21, 1918 · Vaux-sur-Somme, France
Siblings: Lothar von Richthofen (Brother) · Ilse von Richthofen (Sister) · Bolko von Richthofen (Brother)
Parents: Albrecht Philipp Karl Julius Freiherr von Richthofen (Father) · Kunigunde Hildegard Marie Luise Elisabeth von Schickfus (Mother)
Founded: Jagdgeschwader 1
Highlights
  • 1915: After a chance meeting with the German ace fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke, Richthofen entered training as a pilot in October 1915.

  • 1916: In February 1916 Manfred “rescued” his brother Lothar from the boredom of training new troops in Luben and encouraged him to also transfer to the Fliegertruppe.

  • 1917: He switched to the Albatros D.III in January 1917, scoring two victories before suffering an in-flight crack in the spar of the aircraft’s lower wing on 24 January.

  • 1917: In January 1917, after his 16th confirmed kill, Richthofen received the Pour le Mérite (informally known as “The Blue Max”), the highest military honour in Germany at the time.

  • 1917: He returned to his Albatros D.III on 2 April 1917 and scored 22 victories in it before switching to the Albatros D.V in late June.

  • 1918: Richthofen was shot down and killed near Amiens on 21 April 1918.

wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen
Andrea McArdle as Annie with costar Sandy in 1977 (© Bettman/Getty Images)​(1977) ‘Annie’ opens on Broadway
The musical version of the newspaper comic strip finds a home in New York’s Alvin Theatre and goes on to win seven Tony Awards. Andrea McArdle stars in the title role, and will later be replaced by Sarah Jessica Parker, Allison Smith and others during the show’s six-year run.
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre. It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical’s songs “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life” are among its most popular musical numbers.
Authors: Charles Strouse · Thomas Meehan
First performed: Aug 10, 1976
First published: Nov 14, 2013
Adaptations: Annie (1982) · Annie (2014) · Annie (1999)

wiki/Annie_(musical)
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Today in History 04/01/17

1857 ticket to the 'Washing of the lions' (Public domain)(1698) April fools flock to the Tower of London
Several gullible people are sent to the Tower of London to see the “washing of the lions” (a nonexistent practice), as will be reported April 2 by a London newspaper. The prank will endure for centuries, making clear that the tradition of tricking dupes on April 1 is becoming increasingly popular.
April Fools’ Day is celebrated every year on April 1 by playing practical jokes and spreading hoaxes. The jokes and their victims are called April fools. People playing April Fool jokes expose their prank by shouting April Fool. Some newspapers, magazines, and other published media report fake stories, which are usually explained the next day or below the news section in small letters. Although popular since the 19th century, the day is not a public holiday in any country.
wiki/April_Fools’_Day
Official war photographers and SE 5a Scouts of No 1 Squadron, RAF at Clairmarais aerodrome near Ypres, France in 1918 (© 2nd Lt. D McLellan/IWM via Getty Images)(1918) Britain’s Royal Air Force is formed
Combing the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service, the RAF is the world’s largest air force. Formed at the tail end of World War I, the force will find its greatest glory 22 years later during the Battle of Britain.
The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom’s aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history, in particular, playing a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.
Website: www.raf.mod.uk
Founded: Apr 01, 1918
Founder: Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard
Subsidiary: Royal Air Force Air Cadets

wiki/Royal_Air_Force
German architect Walter Gropius in Berlin on May 15, 1933 standing in front of a drawing of one of his projects, a design for the Chicago Tribune building (© AP)(1919) Walter Gropius founds the Bauhaus school
Architect Walter Gropius opens the Bauhaus school in Weimar, Germany, to teach modernist art and design. Ideas that spring from the school will revolutionize the world’s aesthetic sense, from painting to textiles to architecture.
Staatliches Bauhaus, commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicised and taught.
Founded: 1919
Ceased operation: 1933
Founder: Walter Gropius

wiki/Bauhaus
Spanish people search through the rubble in Madrid where their homes once were, during the Spanish Civil War (© Hulton Archive/Getty Images)(1939) Spanish Civil War ends
Almost three years after a coup against Spain’s elected leftist government sparked a bloody battle of ideologies, the country’s civil war is over and the right-leaning Nationalists, headed by General Francisco Franco, have won.
The Spanish Civil War, widely known in Spain simply as The Civil War or The War, took place from 1936 to 1939 and was fought between the Republicans, who were loyal to the democratic, left-leaning and relatively urban Second Spanish Republic in an alliance of convenience with the Anarchists, versus the Nationalists, a falangist, Carlist, and a largely aristocratic conservative group led by General Francisco Franco. Although the war is often portrayed as a struggle between democracy and fascism, some historians consider it more accurately described as a struggle between leftist revolution and rightist counter-revolution. Ultimately, the Nationalists won, and Franco then ruled Spain for the next 36 years, from April 1939 until his death in November 1975.
Start date: Jul 17, 1936
End date: Apr 01, 1939

wiki/Spanish_Civil_War
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Today in History 03/11/17

Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (© Culture Club/Getty Images)(1818) Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ is published
English author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, just 21 at the time, sees her debut novel, ‘Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus’ unleashed to an unsuspecting public. The work will be considered the first science-fiction novel and spawn countless adaptations.
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque but sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. Shelley started writing the story when she was 18, and the first edition of the novel was published anonymously in London in 1818, when she was 20. Her name first appeared on the second edition, published in France in 1823.
Authors: Mary Shelley · Henry M. Milner · Mary Lowe-Evans
First published: Mar 11, 1818
ATOS reading level: 4.20
Characters: Frankenstein’s monster · Victor Frankenstein · Elizabeth Lavenza · Dr. Henry Clerval · Captain Robert Walton
Genres: Gothic fiction · Horror · Soft science fiction
Adaptations: Frankenstein (1931) · Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) · Bride of Frankenstein (1935) · Frankenstein: The True Story (1973) · Victor Frankenstein (2015) · Young Frankenstein (1974)

wiki/Frankenstein
Influenza victims crowd into an emergency hospital near Fort Riley, Kansas, in this 1918 file photo (© National Museum of Health/AP)(1918) Deadliest flu pandemic in recorded history begins
Hundreds of soldiers at Fort Riley, Kansas, are sick with a virulent form of influenza, prompting the first reporting of the epidemic. The flu will go on to infect some 500 million people and kill between 50 million and 100 million, according to most estimates.
The 1918 flu pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus. It infected 500 million people across the world, including remote Pacific islands and the Arctic, and resulted in the deaths of 50 to 100 million, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history. Disease had already greatly limited life expectancy in the early 20th century. A considerable spike occurred at the time of the pandemic, specifically the year 1918. Life expectancy dropped by about 12 years.
Fatalities: 50,000,000

wiki/1918_flu_pandemic
Mikhail Gorbachev, General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party, speaking in 1985 (© Sovfoto/UIG/Getty Images)(1985) Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of USSR
Mikhail Gorbachev is chosen to succeed Konstantin Chernenko as the General Secretary of the Communist Party and de facto leader of the USSR. He will usher in ‘glasnost’ (transparency) and ‘perestroika’ (restructuring), ultimately serving as the Soviet Union’s final leader before its dissolution.
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman. He was the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, when the party was dissolved. He was the country’s head of state from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991.
Website: www.gorby.ru/en
Born: Mar 02, 1931 (age 86) · Privolnoye, Krasnogvardeysky District, Stavropol Krai, Russia
Height: 5′ 9″ (1.75 m)
Spouse: Raisa Gorbacheva (m. 1953 – 1999)
Previous offices: Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (1989 – 1990) · General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985 – 1991)
Children: Irina Mihailovna Virganskaya (Daughter)
Founded: Union of Social Democrats · Club of Madrid · Social Democratic Party of Russia · The Gorbachev Foundation · Green Cross International · Global Green USA · Kombat Armouring
Highlights
  • 1953: Mikhail Gorbachev married Raisa Gorbacheva on September 25, 1953; their marriage lasted 46 years till September 20, 1999.

  • 1984: Andropov died in 1984, and indicated that he wanted Gorbachev to succeed him as general secretary.

  • 1985: Within three years of the death of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, following the brief “interregna” of Andropov and Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected general secretary by the Politburo in 1985.

  • 1986: Gorbachev initiated his new policy of perestroika (literally “restructuring” in Russian) and its attendant radical reforms in 1986; they were sketched, but not fully spelled out, at the XXVIIth Party Congress in February–March 1986.

  • 1988: In June 1988, at the CPSU’s Party Conference, Gorbachev launched radical reforms meant to reduce party control of the government apparatus.

  • 1990: On 15 March 1990, Gorbachev was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union with 59% of the Deputies’ votes.

wiki/Mikhail_Gorbachev
This TV publicity image released by Fox shows police officers in Hillsborough, Florida, interrogating occupants of a car for suspicious drug activity in an episode of 'Cops' (© Fox/AP)(1989) ‘Cops’ premiere makes for arresting TV
Responding to a writer’s strike, TV producers look for unscripted fare to fill timeslots, and it pays off as the Fox network debuts ‘Cops.’ Great ratings, and a seemingly unending reality TV craze, will follow.
“Cops” was among the earliest reality-based law enforcement shows, and remains one of the most popular of the genre. Each week, a camera crew followed the activities and daily beats of the officers of a different city’s police department. Incidents ranged from routine traffic stops that evolve into charging the subjects with drug-related offenses; domestic violence; high-speed chases; and stakeouts and raids. The success of “Cops” led to other similar programs, with varying degrees of success.
Website: www.cops.com
First episode: Mar 11, 1989
Episode duration: 30 minutes
Creators: John Langley · Malcolm Barbour
Theme song: Bad Boys
Producers: John Langley · Malcolm Barbour · Paul Stojanovich · Bertram van Munster
Genres: Reality television · Documentary · Action

wiki/Cops_(TV_series)
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Today in History 11/11/16

Today in History
(1852) Louisa May Alcott sees her first published story in print
1852 American writer Lousia May Alcott, 21, receives $5 in payment from the Saturday Evening Gazette, a Boston weekly, for her story “The Rival Painters: A Story of Rome.” Alcott will go on to publish several more stories in the Gazette before writing the popular children’s novel, ‘Little Women.’.

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo’s Boys. Raised by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May and Amos Bronson Alcott in New England, she grew up among many of the well-known intellectuals of the day such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.

Born: Nov 29, 1832 · Germantown, PA
Died: Mar 06, 1888 · Boston, MA
Siblings: Abigail May Alcott Nieriker (Sister) · Anna Alcott Pratt (Sister) · Elizabeth Sewall Alcott (Sister)
Parents: Amos Bronson Alcott (Father) · Abby May (Mother)

— Source: wiki/Louisa_May_Alcott
(1918) The ‘war to end all wars’ has itself finally ended
Germany and the Allies sign an armistice to end the war at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month. Over 16 million people have died in four years of fighting. WWI is described as ‘the war to end all wars’ due to the bloody devastation. This day will hereafter be known as Armistice Day. . 1918

The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was an armistice during the First World War between the Allies and Germany – also known as the Armistice of Compiègne after the location in which it was signed – and the agreement that ended the fighting on the Western Front. It went into effect at 11 a.m. Paris time on 11 November 1918 (“the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”), and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not formally a surrender. The Germans were responding to the policies proposed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points of January 1918. The actual terms, largely written by French Marshal and Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies Ferdinand Foch, included the cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of German troops to behind their own borders, the preservation of infrastructure, the exchange of prisoners, a promise of reparations, the disposition of German warships and submarines, and conditions for prolonging or terminating the armistice. Although the armistice ended the actual fighting, it took six months of negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty, the Treaty of Versailles.

Observance: Commemoration of the Armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front.
Date: 11 November
Frequency: annual
First time: World’s first official observance at Buckingham Palace, London, on 11 November 1919
Related to: Coincides with Remembrance Day and Veterans Day; and related to Remembrance Sunday

— Source: wiki/Armistice_with_Germany_(Compiègne)
— Related Source: wiki/Armistice_Day
(1921) The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated in Arlington
1921 The remains of an unknown US soldier killed in World War I have been interred in a tomb in Arlington National Cemetery, and US President Warren Harding consecrates the monument known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Many more soldier remains will follow..

The Tomb of the Unknowns is a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. It is also known as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but it has never been officially named so. It is located in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, United States of America. The World War I “Unknown” is a recipient of the Medal of Honor, the Victoria Cross, and several other foreign nations’ highest service awards. The U.S. Unknowns who were interred are also recipients of the Medal of Honor, presented by U.S. Presidents who presided over their funerals.

Address: Memorial Dr, Arlington, VA 22211
Website: arlingtoncemetery.mil
Phone: (877) 907-8585
Opened: 1921
Architect: Thomas Hastings

— Source: wiki/Tomb_of_the_Unknowns
(2000) Disaster strikes an Austrian train
A funicular railway crammed with skiers turns into death trap when it catches fire in an Alpine tunnel. Toxic smoke and flames overwhelm the passengers, which include many children, claiming 115 lives. Only 12 people escape. A heater turns out to be the source of the fire.. 2000

The Kaprun disaster was a fire that occurred in an ascending train in the tunnel of the Gletscherbahn Kaprun 2 funicular in Kaprun, Austria, on 11 November 2000. The disaster claimed the lives of 155 people, leaving 12 survivors from the burning train. The victims were skiers on their way to the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier.

Fatalities: 155
Date: Nov 11, 2000

— Source: wiki/Kaprun_disaster
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