First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - JANUARY 1st

Plato, Quote

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark.

The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

~ Plato

Wikiquote (Plato (428/427 or 424/423 BC – 348/347 BC, age 80) was an Athenian philosopher during the Classical period in Ancient Greece, founder of the Platonist school of thought, and the Academy, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.

This Day in History

January 1st

Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Gregorian calendar:
January 1, as the first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (364 days in a year (365 in leap years) officially becomes the start of the year as follows:
1522 - The Republic of Venice
1544 - Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
1556 - Spain, Portugal
1559 - Prussia, Sweden
1564 - France
1576 - Southern Netherlands
1579 - Lorraine
1583 - United Provinces of the Netherlands (northern)
1600 - Scotland
1700 - Russia
1721 - Tuscany
1752 - Great Britain (excluding Scotland) and its colonies

Wikipedia  Image: Detail of the tomb of Pope Gregory XIII celebrating the introduction of the Gregorian calendar.

January 1st, 153 BC

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that began growing on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to become one of the largest empires in the ancient world Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
153 BC - Roman consuls begin their year in office.
45 BC - The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time.
42 BC - The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.
69 - The Roman legions in Germania Superior refuse to swear loyalty to Galba. They rebel and proclaim Vitellius as emperor.
193 - The Roman Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emperor.
404 - An infuriated Roman mob tears Telemachus, a Christian monk, to pieces for trying to stop a gladiators' fight in the public arena held in Rome.
414 - Galla Placidia, half-sister of emperor Honorius, is married to the Visigothic king Ataulf at Narbonne. (The wedding is celebrated with Roman festivities and magnificent gifts from the Gothic booty.
417 - Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum).

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Ancient roman statue ● Detail of Head from Roman Statue of Antinous, credit Corbis ● Statue of Neptune, Trevi Fountain, Rome ● International Sand Sculpture Festival, FIESA 7 ancient Rome.
Relief from a 3rd-century sarcophagus depicting a battle between Romans and Germanic warriors; the central figure is perhaps the emperor Hostilian / Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.

January 1st, 1001

Saint Stephen< (He greatly expanded Hungarian control over the Carpathian Basin during his lifetime, broadly established Christianity in the region, and is generally regarded as the founder of the Kingdom of Hungary); Statue of Saint Stephen, Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary. David Noton/Getty Images

Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II.

Wikipedia  Image: Saint Stephen (He greatly expanded Hungarian control over the Carpathian Basin during his lifetime, broadly established Christianity in the region, and is generally regarded as the founder of the Kingdom of Hungary); Statue of Saint Stephen, Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary. David Noton/Getty Images.

January 1st, 1068

Byzantine Empire Collage

Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
1068 - Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa Byzantine Emperor.
1259 - Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.

Wikipedia  Image: The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic Palace); Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria; Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna; The Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid); Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty.

January 1st, 1775

American Revolutionary War Collage

American Revolutionary War:
1775 - Burning of Norfolk; Norfolk, Virginia is burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
1781 - 1,500 soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.

Wikipedia  Paintings: Washington Crossing the Delaware, by Emanuel Leutz; Battle of the Chesapeake, French (left) and British (right) lines; Battle of Bunker Hill, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill by John Trumbull; The Defeat of the Floating Batteries at Gibraltar, September 13, 1782, by John Singleton Copley; Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown, 1781; "The surrender at Saratoga" shows General Daniel Morgan in front of a French de Vallière 4-pounder; Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by (John Trumbull, 1797).

January 1st, 1847

Map of the Falkland Islands and Patagonia; Perito Moreno glacier and Lago Argentino, credit Wideview.it

The world's first "Mercy" Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by the Sisters of Mercy, the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.

Wikipedia  Photo: Sisters of Mercy Mother Catherine McAuley, R.S.M., foundress of the Religious Sisters of Mercy; The Sisters of Mercy gathered in 1899 for this photo. Six years earlier they opened San Diego’s first home for senior citizens, while five years after the picture was taken they opened the city’s first nursing school, courtesy Scripps Mercy Hospital.

January 1st, 1863

Lincoln Memorial: an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument American Civil War: Battle of Antietam; Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland American Civil War, Battle of Mobile Bay: at Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports

American Civil War:
1863 - Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
1863 - The first claim under the Homestead Act is made by Daniel Freeman for a farm in Nebraska.

Wikipedia  Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● Battle of Mobile Bay (1890) by Xanthus Russell Smith.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.

January 1st, 1890

Collage of Tournament of Roses Parade photos, credit craftcritique, Los Angeles Times and Tournament of Roses

Tournament of Roses Parade:
1890 - In Pasadena,_California, the first Tournament of Roses Parade is held.
1954 - NBC makes the first coast-to-coast NTSC color broadcast when it telecast the Tournament of Roses Parade, with public demonstrations given across the United States on prototype color receivers.

Wikipedia  Photo: Collage of Tournament of Roses Parade photos, credit CraftCritique, Los Angeles Times and Tournament of Roses.

January 1st, 1892

Ellis Island, an island in Upper New York Bay that was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954

Ellis Island opens to begin processing immigrants into the United States.

Wikipedia  Image: Ellis Island, an island in Upper New York Bay that was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States as the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954.

January 1st, 1898

The Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks New York, most populous city in the United States of America, and one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world

New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.

Wikipedia  Photo: Statue of Liberty; Manhattan, New York City, credit National Geographics; The Manhattan Bridge (completed 1909), spanning the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan Island, New York City, credit: Larry Brownstein / Getty Images; Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, flanked by the apartment buildings of the Upper East Side, credit: © Bruce Stoddard—FPG International; New York city, Manhattan through a fish eye view, credit Victor Barajas Photography.

January 1st, 1899

Spanish-American War: Satellite image Cuba, credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA / GSFC; A Catalan satirical drawing published in La Campana de Gràcia (1896), criticizing U.S. behavior regarding Cuba; W. A. Rogers. 'The Battle of Desmayo - The Cuban Balaklava' In: Harper's Pictorial History of the War with Spain. Vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1899. NYPL, United States History, Local History and Genealogy Division

Spanish–American War: Spanish rule ends in Cuba.

Wikipedi  Image: Satellite image Cuba, credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA / GSFC; A Catalan satirical drawing published in La Campana de Gràcia (1896), criticizing U.S. behavior regarding Cuba; W. A. Rogers. "The Battle of Desmayo - The Cuban Balaklava" In: Harper's Pictorial History of the War with Spain. Vol. 1. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1899. NYPL, United States History, Local History and Genealogy Division.

January 1st, 1908

The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York, New York New Year's Eve celebration Times Square ball drop (test), in New York, New York

December 31th, 1907 - The first New Year's Eve celebration is held in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York City.
January 1st, 1908 - For the first time, a ball is dropped in Times Square (then known as Longacre Square) in New York City to signify the start of the New Year at misnight.

Wikipedia  Image: New York City The New York Times building at 42nd and Broadway in 1907, called One Times Square (later became known as Times Square); Sydney, London, Hong Kong, Copenhagen, San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and Seattle.
New Year's Eve celebration Times Square ball drop (test), in New York, New York.

January 1st, 1916

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1916 - German troops abandon Yaoundé and their Kamerun (Cameroon) colony to British forces and begin the long march to Spanish Guinea.

Wikipedia  Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.

January 1st, 1942

World War II: Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless World War II: Battle of Leyte Gulf; Battle of Leyte Gulf; The first kamikaze attack: A Japanese plane carrying a 200-kilogram (440 lb) bomb attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island World War II: German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944) World War II: Eastern Front (World War II); was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945

World War II:
1942 - Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
1945 - Chenogne massacre; in retaliation for the Malmedy massacre U.S. troops massacre 30 SS prisoners at Chenogne.
1945 - Operation Bodenplatte; German Luftwaffe launches a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
1945 - Operation Nordwind;, the last major German offensive on the Western Front begins.
Post World War II:
1947 - American and British occupation zones in Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, that later became West Germany.
1947 - Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
1948 - The British railway network is nationalised to form British Railways.
1948 - The Constitution of Italycomes into force.

Wikipedia  Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945.
USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.

Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.

January 1st, 1949

Map Satellite India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet AR, Bangladesh

United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between Pakistan and India stops accordingly.

Wikipedia  Image: Map Satellite India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet AR, Bangladesh.

January 1st, 1958

European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe

European Economic Community:
1958 - European Economic Community is established.
1998 - The European Central Bank is established.
1999 - The Euro currency is introduced in 11 countries - members of the European Union.
2002 - The Member state of the European Union; Euro banknotes and coins become legal tender in twelve of the European Union's member states.
2011 - Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the seventeenth eurozone country.

Wikipedia  Image: European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe (Western Europe Satellite Map).

January 1st, 1959

Cuban Revolution Collage

Cuban Revolution:
1959 - Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces.

Wikipedia  Photo / Map: The leadership of the Cuban revolution; Fidel Castro played the leading role in the Cuban revolution against Fulgencio Batista (1957) AFP; Fidel Castro leads men in a cheer, Cuba, 1957, Bettmann/ Corbis; Cuban Airlift to the United States (1959 and 1962); Resiste Cuba, homenaje a la revolución cubana y sus héroes música: Protesta-Por Cuba; Che Guevara and Fidel Castro ; Official caption: "Off loading Cuban refugees at the Miami sea buoy", photo dated 4 May 1964; Photo No. 7CGD-050464 #12; Guerrillero Heroico - Alberto Korda's famous photograph of Che Guevara; The popularized cropped version.

January 1st, 1965

Middle East Regional Map, credit eMapStore; An Afghan woman begs for alms, as a man rides past, with a backdrop of the Darul Aman's palace which was destroyed during the civil war of 1992 in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 23, 2008, credit AP / Rahmat Gul; Mazar-e Sharif's blue-tiled Hazrat Ali mosque draws Muslim faithful, tourists, and hungry pigeons, credit Robert Stahl / Getty Images; Afghanistan poppy fields (opium poppy cultivation); An Afghan boy works in an opium poppy field in Musa Qala in Helmand province (poppy production has skyrocketed since 2001), credit Omar Sobhani, Reuters; Eastern Afghanistan, Band-e Amir; Afghanistan Sunset

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Wikipedia  Image: Middle East Regional Map, credit eMapStore; An Afghan woman begs for alms, as a man rides past, with a backdrop of the Darul Aman's palace which was destroyed during the civil war of 1992 in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 23, 2008, credit AP / Rahmat Gul; Mazar-e Sharif's blue-tiled Hazrat Ali mosque draws Muslim faithful, tourists, and hungry pigeons, credit Robert Stahl / Getty Images; Afghanistan poppy fields (opium poppy cultivation); An Afghan boy works in an opium poppy field in Musa Qala in Helmand province (poppy production has skyrocketed since 2001), credit Omar Sobhani, Reuters; Eastern Afghanistan, Band-e Amir; Afghanistan Sunset.

January 1st, 1971

In 1971 cigarette advertisements are banned on American television (1950's Lucky Strike cigarette ad, courtesy of Cornelia Cotton Gallery; The Marlboro Man is assuredly the most successful and most controversial manly brand icon on the list. Created in 1954 by advertiser Leo Burnett, the Marlboro Man was a lone, rugged cowboy who always had a Marlboro cigarette coolly dangling from his lips; In the 1950s and 1960s, cigarettes as Christmas gifts, Ronald Reagan touting Chesterfield cigarettes; Camel cigarettes, picture of the typical 'cool guy' from around the fifties; Camel 1993 Cigarette Ad - Joe Camel Lights Hanging by the Convertible)

Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.

Wikipedia  Image: 1950's Lucky Strike cigarette ad, courtesy of Cornelia Cotton Gallery; The Marlboro Man is assuredly the most successful and most controversial manly brand icon on the list. Created in 1954 by advertiser Leo Burnett, the Marlboro Man was a lone, rugged cowboy who always had a Marlboro cigarette coolly dangling from his lips; In the 1950s and 1960s, cigarettes as Christmas gifts, Ronald Reagan touting Chesterfield cigarettes; Camel cigarettes, picture of the typical “cool guy” from around the fifties; Camel 1993 Cigarette Ad - Joe Camel Lights Hanging by the Convertible.

January 1st, 1995

NASA's 'Blue Marble' Earth map; World Trade Organization logo

World Trade Organization goes into effect.

Wikipedia  Image: NASA's “Blue Marble” Earth map; World Trade Organization logo.

January 1st, 2002

Aircraft hijacking (also known as skyjacking) is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group (In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers, Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves) 2006 Madrid-Barajas Airport terrorist attack

Treaty on Open Skies:
2002 - The Open Skies mutual surveillance treaty, initially signed in 1992, officially comes into force.

Wikipedia  Photo: Hijacked Sudan passenger jet lands in Libya, August 27, 2008; Amsterdam false alarm revives airplane hijacking memories, Passengers leave a Vueling plane at a field near Amsterdam Airport after a hijack scare last week that led the Netherlands to scramble F-16 fighter jets, September 2, 2012 Reuters; Egypt Air flight 648 was hijacked in November 1985 by the terrorist Abu Nidal organisation, credit AP; Cockpit section of Pan Am 103 wreckage following a mid-air explosion, December 21, 1988; 747 Pan Am airliner that exploded and crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland, with 259 passengers on board in 1988; Debris lies in a deep gash through the town of Lockerbie, Scotland, caused by the crash of Pan Am flight 103, credit AP; Flight 175 hits the WTC South Tower. The picture was taken from a traffic helicopter. credit: WABC 7/ Salient Stills; Hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the South Tower of the World Trade Center and explodes at 9:03 a.m. on September 11, 2001 in New York City, credit Spencer Platt / Getty Images.
Madrid-Barajas International Airport terrorist attack.

January 1st, 2017

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2017 - Istanbul nightclub shooting; An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others.
2010 - Lakki Marwat suicide bombing; A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.

Wikipedia  Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)