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“In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want... everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear... anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.”
~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Wikiquote (Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States. FDR's 8th State of the Union address, also known as the "Four Freedoms" speech (delivered January 6, 1941).)
(Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms; Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear.)
January 6th, 1066
Edward the Confessor dies childless the previous day, sparking a succession crisis:
Harold Godwinson is crowned King of England, that will eventually lead to the Norman conquest of England.
Wikipedia Image: Bayeux Tapestry embroidered cloth depicting the Battle of Hastings and the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England
January 6th, 1118
Reconquista:
1118 - Alfonso the Battler conquers Zaragoza.
1492 - Ferdinand and Isabella, The Catholic Monarchs enter Granada completing the Reconquista.
Wikipedia Painting: Reconquista; The Surrender of Granada by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz.
January 6th, 1449
Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
1449 - Constantine XI is crowned Byzantine-Roman Emperor in Milan.
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 6th, 1540
King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves.
Wikipedia Painting: Henry VIII Coat of Arms and Seal of Henry VIII of England; Catherine of Aragon as a young widow, by court painter Michael Sittow, 1502; Anne Boleyn, Henry's second queen; a later copy of an original painted 1534; Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife; Anne of Cleves, Henry's forth wife by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1539; Catherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife, by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1540; Catherine Parr, Henry's sixth and last wife.
January 6th, 1781
American Revolutionary War:
1781 - Battle of Jersey; The British defeat the last attempt by France to invade Jersey.
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 6th, 1809
French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1809 - Invasion of Cayenne Combined British, Portuguese and colonial Brazilian forces begin the invasion of Cayenne, French Guiana.
Wikipedia Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar;
Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806;
Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet;
Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani);
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo;
Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807;
Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars;
Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen;
Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford;
Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay).
January 6th, 1839
Night of the Big Wind: The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland , damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin.
Wikipedia Image: O’Brien’s Tower, credit Ryan Donnell, Aurora, National Geographic; United Kingdom Storm System image, credit NOAA-17 satellite.
January 6th, 1907
Maria Montessori opens her first school and daycare center for working class children in Rome, Italy.
Wikipedia Photo: Maria Montessori created an alternative to traditional education.
January 6th, 1912
New Mexico is admitted as the 47th U.S. state.
Wikipedia Photo: Santa Fe, New Mexico.
January 6th, 1912
German geophysicist Alfred Wegener first presents his theory of continental drift.
Wikipedia Image: Whole Earth, satellite image, credit Science Photo Library; Continental Drift in the past 200 million years, credit Geog.nau.edu.
January 6th, 1929
Mother Teresa arrives in Calcutta to begin her work among India's poorest and sick people.
Wikipedia Photo: Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious congregation, which in 2012 consisted of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries.
January 6th, 1931
Thomas Edison submits his last patent application.
Wikipedia Photo: Thomas Edison (right) demonstrating the kinetograph (motion picture camera), with the assistance of George Eastman, who helped develop the film used in the early motion picture machines.
January 6th, 1941
United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his Four Freedoms speech in the State of the Union address.
Wikipedia Photo: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt fireside chat.
January 6th, 1947
Pan American Airlines becomes the first commercial airline to schedule a flight around the world.
Wikipedia Photo: Pan American Airways Martin M-130 flying boat, the China Clipper, leaves San Francisco Bay for Manila carrying the first United States trans-Pacific air mail on Nov. 22, 1935. In the background is Coit Tower and the San Francisco skyline, credit AP / San Francisco Chronicle.
January 6th, 1951
Korean War:
1951 - Ganghwa massacre.
Wikipedia Photo: Korean War Collage credit, The Big Picture, Boston Globe - (Associated Press; U.S. Department of Defense / SGT. F.C. Kerr; AP Photo; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Charles B. Tyler; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Charles B. Tyler; U.S. Department of Defense / TSGT. Robert H. Mosier; AP Photo / Max Desfor; U.S. Department of Defense / CPL. P. McDonald; AP Photo / Max Desfor; AP Photo/George Sweers; U.S. Navy / Maj. R.V. Spencer, UAF; AP Photo / Max Desfor).
January 6th, 1960
Aircraft hijacking:
1960 - National Airlines Flight 2511 is destroyed in mid-air by a bomb, while en route from New York City to Miami, Florida.
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.
January 6th, 1967
Vietnam War:
1967 - The United States Marine Corps and Army of the Republic of Vietnam troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
Wikipedia Photo: Vietnam_War; Side view of an HH-53 helicopter of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as seen from the gunner's position on an A-1 of the 21st Specialist Operations Squadron. (USAF Photo by Ken Hackman), Boston Globe;
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, credit Free Republic;
Vietnam War: The Big Picture / Boston Globe.
January 6th, 1974
In response to the 1973 oil crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly four months early in the United States.
Wikipedia Image: Map of the World Time Zones, credit Mihalko-family
January 6th, 2017
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2017 - Fort Lauderdale - Hollywood International Airport; 5 people are killed and 6 others injured in a mass shooting at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida.
2012 - Al-Midan bombing; Twenty-six people are killed and 63 wounded when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a police station in Damascus.
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)