27 BCE

Today in History 01/16/17

Marble statue of Gaius Octavianus (© Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)(27 BCE) The Roman Empire begins
The Roman Senate grants to Octavian, the adopted son of Julius Caesar, the title Augustus, giving him imperial powers, thus marking the end of the republic and the birth of an empire. Over the next five centuries, this world-shaking power will rise and fall in spectacular fashion.
The Roman Empire was the post-Roman Republic period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterized by government headed by emperors and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean Sea in Europe, Africa and Asia. The city of Rome was the largest city in the world c. 100 BC – c. 400 AD, with Constantinople becoming the largest around 500 AD, and the Empire’s populace grew to an estimated 50 to 90 million inhabitants. The 500-year-old republic which preceded it was severely destabilized in a series of civil wars and political conflict, during which Julius Caesar was appointed as perpetual dictator and then assassinated in 44 BC. Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavian’s power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power and the new title Augustus, effectively marking the end of the Roman Republic.
Founded: 27 BC
Dissolved: 1453
Population: 56.80 million (1 AD)
Area: 1.06 million sq miles (2.75 million km²)
Capitals: Rome · Constantinople · Ravenna
Official language: Latin

wiki/Roman_Empire
Painting of Tsar Ivan IV Vasilyevich 'The Terrible' (© The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images)(1547) Ivan the Terrible crowned czar of Russia
Sixteen-year-old Ivan Vasilyevich begins a 37-year reign over Russia that will see him popular with common folk, feared by the nobility, prone to bouts of mental illness, and earning the infamous nickname.
Ivan IV Vasilyevich, commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome, was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then “Tsar of All the Russias” until his death in 1584. The last title was used by all his successors.
Lived: Aug 25, 1530 – Mar 28, 1584 (age 53)
Spouse: Maria Nagaya (m. 1581 – 1584) · Maria Dolgorukaya (m. 1580 – 1580) · Vasilisa Melentyeva (m. 1579 – 1579) · Anna Vasilchikova (m. 1575) · Anna Koltovskaya (m. 1572 – 1574) · Marfa Sobakina
Children: Feodor I of Russia (Son) · Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich of Russia (Son) · Dmitry of Uglich (Son) · Tsarevich Dmitry Ivanovich of Russia (Son) · Tsarevna Maria Ivanovna (Daughter) · Tsarevich Vasili Ivanovich
Parents: Vasili III of Russia (Father) · Elena Glinskaya (Mother)
Buried: Cathedral of the Archangel
Siblings: Kudeyar
Highlights
  • 1547: Ivan the Terrible married Anastasia Romanovna on February 03, 1547; their marriage lasted 13 years till August 07, 1560.

  • 1550: The German merchant companies ignored the new port built by Ivan on the River Narva in 1550 and continued to deliver goods in the Baltic ports owned by Livonia.

  • 1551: In 1551 the wooden fort of Sviyazhsk was transported down the Volga from Uglich all the way to Kazan.

  • 1552: On 16 June 1552 Ivan IV led a 150,000-strong Russian army towards Kazan.

  • 1556: In 1556, the khanate was conquered by Ivan the Terrible, who had a new fortress built on a steep hill overlooking the Volga.

  • 1566: In 1566 Ivan extended the oprichnina to eight central districts.

wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible
Two men pour alcohol down a drain during Prohibition, circa 1920. (© Buyenlarge/Getty Images)(1919) Alcohol Prohibition ratified in US
Banning the making, selling, or transport of “intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes,” the 18th Amendment is ratified by the US after a strong push by a loose coalition of “dry crusaders.” Prohibition won’t go into effect for another year, but will be repealed in 1933.
Prohibition in the United States was a nationwide constitutional ban on the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages that remained in place from 1920 to 1933. It was promoted by the “dry” crusaders, a movement led by rural Protestants and social Progressives in the Prohibition, Democratic, and Republican parties. It gained a national grass roots base through the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. After 1900 it was coordinated by the Anti-Saloon League. Prohibition was mandated in state after state, then finally nationwide under the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920. Enabling legislation, known as the Volstead Act, set down the rules for enforcing the ban and defined the types of alcoholic beverages that were prohibited. For example, religious uses of wine were allowed. Private ownership and consumption of alcohol were not made illegal under federal law; however, in many areas, local laws were stricter, with some states banning possession outright. In the 1920s the laws were widely disregarded, and tax revenues were lost. Their opposition mobilized and nationwide, Prohibition ended with the ratification of the Twenty-first Amendment, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, on December 5, 1933. Some states continued statewide prohibition.
Start date: 1920
End date: 1933

wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States
Band leader Benny Goodman (standing right) and his band perform in their debut perfomance at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Jan. 16, 1938 (© Robert A. Simon/Metronome/Getty Images)(1938) Jazz comes to Carnegie Hall
A full house greets Benny Goodman and his band, Count Basie’s band, and members of Duke Ellington’s orchestra, as the first jazz and swing music concert is held at New York’s famed Carnegie Hall.
The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert by Benny Goodman, Columbia Records catalogue item SL-160, is a two-disc LP of Swing music first issued in 1950. The program it captured has been described as “the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz’s “coming out” party to the world of “respectable” music.
Release year: 1950
Genre: Jazz, Dixieland / Traditional
Label: Hallmark
Artist: Benny Goodman

wiki/The_Famous_1938_Carnegie_Hall_Jazz_Concert
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