On this day in 1849, a Russian court sentences Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for his allegedly antigovernment activities linked to a radical intellectual group. His execution is stayed at the last minute.

Dostoevsky’s father was a doctor at Moscow’s Hospital for the Poor, where he grew rich enough to buy land and serfs. After his father’s death, Dostoevsky, who suffered from epilepsy, studied military engineering and became a civil servant while secretly writing novels. His first, Poor People, and his second, The Double, were both published in 1846-the first was a hit, the second a failure.

Dostoevsky began participating in a radical intellectual discussion group called the Petrashevsky Circle. The group was suspected of subversive activites, which led to Dostoevsky’s arrest in 1849, and his sentencing to death.

On December 22, 1849, Dostoevsky was led before the firing squad but received a last-minute reprieve and was sent to a Siberian labor camp, where he worked for four years. He was released in 1854 and worked as a soldier on the Mongolian frontier. He married a widow and finally returned to Russia in 1859. The following year, he founded a magazine and two years after that journeyed to Europe for the first time.

In 1864 and 1865, his wife and his brother died, the magazine folded, and Dostoevsky found himself deeply in debt, which he exacerbated by gambling.

In 1866, he published Crime and Punishment, one of his most popular works. In 1867, he married a stenographer, and the couple fled to Europe to escape his creditors. His novel The Possessed (1872) was successful, and the couple returned to St. Petersburg. He published The Brothers Karamazov in 1880 to immediate success, but he died a year later.

FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY IS SENTENCED TO DEATH

— Source: www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fyodor-dostoevsky-is-sentenced-to-death

Sherman’s March to the Sea, more formally known as the Savannah Campaign, was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 to December 21, 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. The campaign began with Sherman’s troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta, on November 15 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. His forces destroyed military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property and disrupted the Confederacy’s economy and its transportation networks. Sherman’s bold move of operating deep within enemy territory and without supply lines is considered to be revolutionary in the annals of war.

Start date: Nov 15, 1864
End date: Dec 21, 1864

— Source: wiki/Sherman’s_March_to_the_Sea

Colo is a western gorilla widely known as the first gorilla to be born in captivity anywhere in the world and as the oldest gorilla in captivity in the world. Colo was born at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium to Millie Christina and Baron Macombo. She was briefly called Cuddles before a contest was held to officially name her. Colo’s name is derived from the place of her birth, Columbus, Ohio. Tomatoes are her favorite food.

— Source: wiki/Colo_(gorilla)

The 1984 New York City Subway shooting was a shooting in the New York City Subway, in which Bernhard Goetz shot four alleged muggers on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan on December 22, 1984. He fired five shots, seriously wounding all four men. Goetz surrendered to police nine days after the shooting and was eventually charged with attempted murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and several firearms offenses. A jury found him not guilty of all charges except for one count of carrying

Location: New York City, United States
Date: December 22, 1984
Attack type: Mass shooting
Weapons: Smith & Wesson Model 38
Non-fatal injuries: 4
Perpetrator: Bernhard Goetz

— Source: wiki/1984_New_York_City_Subway_shooting

George Washington was an American soldier and statesman who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. During the American Revolutionary War, Washington served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army; as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, he presided over the convention that drafted the United States Constitution and came to be known as the “father of his country” during his lifetime and to this day.

Lived: Feb 22, 1732 – Dec 14, 1799 (age 67)
Height: 6′ 2″ (1.88 m)
Spouse: Martha Washington (m. 1759 – 1799)
Children: Martha Parke Custis · Daniel Parke Custis, Jr. · Frances Parke Custis · Nellie Davis
Vice President: John Adams
Parents: Augustine Washington (Father) · Mary Ball Washington (Mother)

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Highlights

• 1759: On January 6, 1759, Washington married the wealthy widow Martha Dandridge Custis, then 28 years old.


• 1775: Washington assumed command of the Continental Army in the field at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in July 1775, during the ongoing siege of Boston.


• 1783: Remarking on Washington’s resignation in December 1783, and his decision to retire to Mount Vernon, poet Philip Freneau wrote: Thus He, whom Rome’s proud legions sway’d/Return’d, and sought his sylvan shade.


• 1784: Prior to these, he had a set made with real human teeth, likely ones he purchased from “several unnamed ‘Negroes,’ presumably Mount Vernon slaves” in 1784.


• 1789: On April 30, 1789, Washington was inaugurated, taking the first presidential oath of office on the balcony of Federal Hall in New York City.


• 1796: Washington’s Farewell Address (issued as a public letter in 1796) was one of the most influential statements of republicanism.

— Source: wiki/George_Washington

The United Nations is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was established on 24 October 1945 after World War II in order to prevent another such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The headquarters of the United Nations is in Manhattan, New York City, and experiences extraterritoriality. Further main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi, and Vienna. The organization is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.

Founded: 1945 · Lake Success, NY
Founders: United States · United Kingdom · Soviet Union · Canada · France · India · Australia · Iran · Brazil · Mexico · Turkey · Egypt · Syria · Netherlands · New Zealand
Headquarters: New York, NY
Nominations: Academy Award for Best Documentary

— Source: wiki/United_Nations

“Million Dollar Quartet” is a recording of an impromptu jam session involving Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash made on December 4, 1956, at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. An article about the session was published in the Memphis Press-Scimitar under the title “Million Dollar Quartet”. The recording was first released in Europe in 1981 as The Million Dollar Quartet with 17 tracks. A few years later more tracks were discovered and released as The Complete Million Dollar Session. In 1990, the recordings were released in the United States as Elvis Presley – The Million Dollar Quartet. This session is considered a seminal moment in rock and roll history.

Albums: Million Dollar Quartet (Original Broadway Cast Recording) · The Complete Million Dollar Quartet · Million Dollar Quartet

— Source: wiki/Million_Dollar_Quartet

Terry A. Anderson is an American journalist. He reported for the Associated Press. In 1985, he was taken hostage by Shiite Hezbollah militants and held until 1991. In 2004, he ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio State Senate.

Born: Oct 27, 1947 (age 69) · Lorain, OH
Spouse: Madeleine Bassil
Founded: Vietnam Children’s Fund
Education: Iowa State University
Children: Gabrielle Anderson · Sulome Anderson

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Highlights

• 1965: He graduated from Batavia High School in 1965.


• 1983: He then joined the Associated Press, serving in Asia and Africa before being assigned to Lebanon as chief Mideast correspondent in 1983.


• 1996: His friend, Father Jenco, who died in 1996, also wrote his memoirs, Bound to Forgive, to which Anderson wrote the preface.


• 2009: In 2009, Anderson joined the faculty of the School of Journalism at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky.


• 2011: In 2011, he became a visiting professional at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.


• 2013: In 2013, he acted as Honorary Chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, a non-profit that supports press freedom around the globe.

— Source: wiki/Terry_A._Anderson