First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - JANUARY 18th

Lord Acton, Quote

“The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. The law of liberty tends to abolish the reign of race over race, of faith over faith, of class over class.”

~ Lord Acton

Wikiquote (Lord Acton (January 10, 1834 – June 19, 1902) was an English historian, commonly known simply as Lord Acton.)

This Day in History

January 18th, 350

Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
350 - Generallus Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans and proclaims himself Emperor.

Wikipedia  Image: 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 18th, 474

Byzantine Empire Collage

Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
474 - Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. (He would die some ten months later.)
532 - Nika riots in Constantinople fail.

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 18th, 1126

China: the world's most populous country, covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, second-largest country by land area (China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; Great Wall China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic)

China:
1126 - Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.

Wikipedia  Photo: China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; © Great Wall of China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic.

January 18th, 1486

Henry VII of England (Late 16th century copy of a portrait of Henry VII); Elizabeth of York (A portrait of Elizabeth is thought to be the basis for the queen's picture found in a deck of cards)

King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV.

Wikipedia  Painting: Henry VII of England (Late 16th century copy of a portrait of Henry VII); Elizabeth of York (A portrait of Elizabeth is thought to be the basis for the queen's picture found in a deck of cards).

January 18th, 1520

CKing Christian II of Denmark, by P. van Coninxloo, 1521 Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark

King Christian II of Denmark and Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Åsunden.

Wikipedia  Painting: King Christian II of Denmark, by P. van Coninxloo, 1521 Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark.

January 18th, 1591

The Great Battle of Yuthathathi - King Naresuan fights the Burmese crown prince near Suphanburi in 1682 Statue in Muang Boraan, Bangkok, Thailand

The Great Battle of Yuthathathi: King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed marked as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.

Wikipedia  Photo: The Great Battle of Yuthathathi - King Naresuan fights the Burmese crown prince near Suphanburi in 1682 Statue in Muang Boraan, Bangkok, Thailand.

January 18th, 1778

James Cook: portrait by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1775, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; British explorer James Cook's ship was named the HMS Endeavour; Captain James Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, Lord Sandwich, Dr Daniel Solander and Dr John Hawkesworth, credit National Library of Australia (NLA) digital collections; Captain James Cook (1728-1779) is shown meeting Nootka leader Muquinna (died 1798) at Nootka Sound on what is now Vancouver Island, in 1778, during his explorations of Canada’s northwest coast, credit Canadian Military History

British Captain James Cook and his crew become the first Europeans to to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands".

Wikipedia  Painting: James Cook, portrait by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1775, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; British explorer James Cook's ship was named the HMS Endeavour; Captain James Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, Lord Sandwich, Dr Daniel Solander and Dr John Hawkesworth, credit National Library of Australia (NLA) digital collections; Captain James Cook (1728-1779) is shown meeting Nootka leader Muquinna (died 1798) at Nootka Sound on what is now Vancouver Island, in 1778, during his explorations of Canada’s northwest coast, credit Canadian Military History.

January 18th, 1788

Austrlian satellite; Whole Earth, satellite image, credit Science Photo Library The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships that sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787

The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay.

Wikipedia  Image: Austrlian satellite; Whole Earth, satellite image, credit Science Photo Library.
Painting: The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships that sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787

January 18th, 1896

While experimenting with electricity, Wilhelm Röntgen discovers the X-ray

An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H.L. Smith.

Wikipedia  Image: X-ray images of the foot, hands, and spine.

January 18th, 1911

Aviator Eugene Ely performs the first take off from a ship in Hampton Roads, Virginia - taking off from a makeshift deck on the USS Birmingham in a Curtiss pusher

Aviator Eugene Ely performs the first landing on the deck of a ship - the USS Pennsylvania stationed in San Francisco harbor.

Wikipedia  Photo: © Curtiss pusher, by Marty McGuire; World's First Aircraft Carrier 1910, The Atlantic; F18 takeoff; Replica 1910 Ely-Curtiss pusher airplane; Takeoff from Aircraft Carrier USS Enterprise, Official U.S. Navy Imagery; USS Forrestal, by roger4336, flickr.

January 18th, 1913

World War I: Collage

Pre World War I:
1913 - First Balkan War; Naval Battle of Lemnos - a Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
World War I:
1915 - Japan issues the "Twenty-One Demands" to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
Post World War I:
1919 - The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
1919 - Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.

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 18th, 1941

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:
1941 - East African Campaign (World_War_II) Allied counter offensive; British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
1944 - Soviet forces liberate Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), effectively ending a three year Nazi siege, known as the Siege of Leningrad.

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 18th, 1955

Chinese Civil War Collage

Chinese Civil War:
1955 - Battle of Yijiangshan Islands; is fought (was a conflict between forces of the Republic of China Army and the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China, over one of the last strongholds of Nationalist (ROC) forces near mainland China on the Yijiangshan Islands).

Wikipedia  Photo: In 1934, Mao Zedong headed the Long March. The Long March was when the Chinese Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, forced the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong, on a march to the caves of Shaanxi. (colorized); Government soldiers train with modern machine guns; People's Liberation Army attacking government defensive positions in Shangtang; US diplomat Patrick J. Hurley, Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek, Chang Ch'ün, Wang Shi Jie (王世杰), Mao Zedong; A Communist leader addressing Long March survivors; The PLA enters Beijing in the Pingjin Campaign and control the later capital of PRC.

January 18th, 1983

American Professional Football Association (later renamed National Football League) is organized in Canton, Ohio, United States

The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals to his family.

Wikipedia  Photo: In an era where an incomplete pass resulted in a 15-yard penalty, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School showcased the potential of the pass. (Library of Congress) ● Jim Thorpe (far right) stands with teammates from the Carlisle Indian Industrial School football team in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was named an All-American football player in 1911 and 1912. In 1920, he became the first president of the American Professional Football Association, now known as the National Football League. Credit Associated Press / Hansi Lo Wang, Amanda Steen. Carlisle Indian School Football, 1920, additional source: Smithsonian.

January 18th, 2005

The Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France

Airbus A380, the world's largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France.

Wikipedia  Image: Airbus A380 ● A380 Airbus, Singapore Airlines taxiing over traffic.

January 18th, 2007

Hurricane Collage: (A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a low-pressure center surrounded by a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain)

2007 - Hurricane Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.

Wikipedia  Image: Hurricane Andrew sequence, NASA ● Hurricane Mitch at peak intensity (formed October 22, 1998 - Dissipated November 5, 1998) ● Hurricane Katrina taken on August 28, 2005, at 11:45 AM EDT by NOAA when the storm was a Category Five hurricane ● Hurricane Jeanne September 23, 2004, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ● PDC Global Hazards Atlas displaying 3 hour precipitation accumulation, typhoon Evan (04P), with JTWC positions, segments, and winds...over the South Pacific Ocean ● Satellite imagery provided by NOAA and taken by the Japan Meteorological Agency's MTSAT weather satellite shows Typhoon Roke as it approaches Japan, September 20, 2011. Over 1.3 million ordered to evacuate in Japan ahead of Typhoon Roke.

January 18th, 2008

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2009 - Gaza War (2008–2009): Hamas anannounces they will accept Israel Defense Forces offer of a ceasefire, ending the assault.

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)