First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - FEBRUARY 8th

Martin Buber, Quote

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”

~ Martin Buber

Wikiquote (Martin Buber (Hebrew: מרטין בובר‎; February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) an Austrian-born Israeli Jewish philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship.)

This Day in History

February 8th, 1238

Map of Mongol Empire at its height; Genghis Khan, credit The Field Museum in Chicago; Genghis Khan various Mongolian tribes joined together in 1206; Mongol warriors was created for an Islamic history book, Rashid al-Din's History of the World of 1307, courtesy of the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland

Mongol Empire:
1238 - Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.

Wikipedia  Image: Map of Mongol Empire at its height; Genghis Khan, credit The Field Museum in Chicago; Genghis Khan various Mongolian tribes joined together in 1206; Mongol warriors was created for an Islamic history book, Rashid al-Din's History of the World of 1307, courtesy of the Edinburgh University Library, Scotland.

February 8th, 1250

Crusades collage: Crusades were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by Pope Urban II and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem - Jerusalem considered a sacred city and symbol of all three major Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity and Islam)

Crusades:
1250 - Seventh Crusade; Battle of Al Mansurah - Crusaders engage Ayyubid forces.

Wikipedia  Image: The Siege of Antioch, from a 15th-century miniature; After the successful siege of Jerusalem in 1099, Godfrey of Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade, became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; Baldwin I of Jerusalem; Medieval image of Peter the Hermit, leading knights, soldiers and women toward Jerusalem during the First Crusade; The Battle of Ager Sanguinis, 1337 miniature; Pope Innocent III excommunicating the Albigensians, Massacre against the Albigensians by the crusaders; The capture of Jerusalem marked the First Crusade's success.

February 8th, 1347

Byzantine Empire Collage

Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
1347 - Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347; ends with a power-sharing agreement between John VI Kantakouzenos and John V Palaiologos.

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.

February 8th, 1575

Leiden University (Dutch: Universiteit Leiden), located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands (The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War)

Leiden University is founded, and given the motto Praesidium Libertatis.

Wikipedia  Photo: Leiden University (Dutch: Universiteit Leiden), located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands (The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War).

February 8th, 1587

Mary, Queen of Scots, (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was queen regnant of Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567 and queen consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560

Mary, Queen of Scots is executed on suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

Wikipedia  Painting: Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was queen regnant of Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567 and queen consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560.

February 8th, 1601

Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth I of England

Elizabethan era begins (1558–1603):
1601 - Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, rebels against Queen Elizabeth I – the revolt is quickly crushed.

Wikipedia  Painting: Elizabeth I in her coronation robes, patterned with Tudor roses and trimmed with ermine; The Lady Elizabeth in about 1546; Elizabeth playing the virginals; Elizabeth and Philip, King of Spain, relations deteriorated ending in the defeat of the Spanish Armada; A wedding feast, 1569; Ivan the Terrible shows his treasures to Elizabeth's ambassador, by Alexander Litovchenko, 1875; Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty. Detail from The Family of Henry VIII: An Allegory of the Tudor Succession, 1572, attributed to Lucas de Heere.

February 8th, 1693

Mary II of England marries William, Prince of Orange. They would later jointly reign as William and Mary

The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia is granted a charter by King William III and Queen Mary II.

Wikipedia  Painting: Detail of William and Mary from the ceiling of the Painted Hall; Anthony van Dyck painting of Mary Stuart and William of Orange. (He was 14 and she was 10); The Old Royal Naval College, on the south bank of the river Thames in Greenwich, London viewed from the north side. The Queen's House in the middle of the picture. The Royal Observatory visible in the background.

February 8th, 1726

Anna of Russia as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740 (On the death of Peter II the Russian Supreme Privy Council made Anna Empress - They had hoped that she would feel indebted to the nobles for her unexpected fortune and remain a figurehead at best; malleable at worst, However, [the laws that limited her power] proved a minor inconvenience to her, and she soon established herself as an autocratic ruler)

The Supreme Privy Council is established in Russia.

Wikipedia  Painting: Anna of Russia as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740 (On the death of Peter II the Russian Supreme Privy Council made Anna Empress - They had hoped that she would feel indebted to the nobles for her unexpected fortune and remain a figurehead at best; malleable at worst, However, [the laws that limited her power] proved a minor inconvenience to her, and she soon established herself as an autocratic ruler). credit The Oddment Emporium.

February 8th, 1807

Napoleonic Wars: (1803–15) were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions French Revolutionary Wars, Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay): Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action

French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1807 - Battle of Eylau; Napoleon defeats Russians under General Bennigsen.

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).

February 8th, 1817

The very nature of Chile's topography made it one of the toughest parts of South America for the Spanish to conquer (Torres del Paine National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Torres del Paine) is a national park encompassing mountains, a glacier, a lake, and river-rich areas in southern Chilean Patagonia)

1817 - Crossing of the Andes: Juan Gregorio de las Heras crosses the Andes with an army to join José de San Martín and liberate Chile from Spain.

Wikipedia  Photo: The very nature of Chile's topography made it one of the toughest parts of South America for the Spanish to conquer (Torres del Paine National Park (Spanish: Parque Nacional Torres del Paine) is a national park encompassing mountains, a glacier, a lake, and river-rich areas in southern Chilean Patagonia); Lautaro; The Mapuche were the original inhabitants of central and southern Chile; Chilean and Argentinean troops going to the Battle of Chacabuco (February 12, 1817) led by José de San Martín.

February 8th, 1887

American Indians collage

American Indian Wars:
1887 - The Dawes Act authorizes the President of the United States to survey Native American tribal land and divide it into individual allotments.

Wikipedia  Photos: American Indians - Chief Crazy Horse, Tashunca-uitco (1849 - 1877) ● Geronimo Apache Chief (1829 - 1909) ● Indian Chief 'Two Eagles'; Crow Indian Chief ● Snake Cheif ● Band of Chiricahua Apache Indians, followers of legendary renegade Geronimo, attending a peace negotiation after a long struggle against U.S. government attempts to force them onto reservations - Tombstone, Arizona (1886), Life Magazine ● American Horse - Oglala ● Native American Arapaho Indian ● Washakie, Shoshone leader ● Arapaho American Indian Chief.

February 8th, 1904

Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet; Cossacks capture Japanese detachment and their commander; Aftermath of Mukden: the Russians defeated; Photographing Russians on the move in Manchuria; Cossacks protect the Telegraph lines; Battle of Mukden with piles of Japanese dead at the Ramparts, credit Andrewn.tripod

Russo-Japanese War:
1904 - Battle of Port Arthur; A surprise torpedo attack by the Japanese at Port Arthur, China starts the Russo-Japanese War.

Wikipedia  Image: Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet ● Cossacks capture Japanese detachment and their commander ● Aftermath of Mukden: the Russians defeated ● Photographing Russians on the move in Manchuria ● Cossacks protect the Telegraph lines ● Battle of Mukden with piles of Japanese dead at the Ramparts, credit Andrewn.tripod.

February 8th, 1915

The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) is a 1915 silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken)

D.W. Griffith's controversial film The Birth of a Nation premieres in Los Angeles.

Wikipedia  Image: The Birth of a Nation (originally called The Clansman) is a 1915 silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and based on the novel and play The Clansman, both by Thomas Dixon, Jr. Griffith co-wrote the screenplay (with Frank E. Woods), and co-produced the film (with Harry Aitken).

February 8th, 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 - Battle of Singapore; Japan invades Singapore.
1945 - Operation Veritable; The United Kingdom and Canada occupy the west bank of the Rhine.
Post World War II:
1962 - Charonne massacre; Nine trade unionists are killed by French police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Paris Prefecture of Police.

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.

February 8th, 1948

Korean War Collage

Korean War:
1948 - The formal creation of the Korean People's Army of North Korea is announced.

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).

February 8th, 1949

József Mindszenty arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy (He was an opponent of communism and the Stalinist persecution in his country)

Cardinal József Mindszenty of Hungary is sentenced for treason.

Wikipedia  Painting: József Mindszenty arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy. (He was an opponent of communism and the Stalinist persecution in his country.)

February 8th, 1950

Cold War: often dated from 1947–1991, was a sustained state of political and military tension between the powers of the Western world, led by the United States and its NATO allies, and the communist world, led by the Soviet Union, its satellite states and allies

Cold War:
1950 - Stasi, the secret police of East Germany is established.

Wikipedia  Photo: Lockheed C-130 Hercules; RAF Menwith Hill, a large site in the United Kingdom, part of ECHELON and the UKUSA Agreement; New Zealand nuclear test, British nuclear tests near the Malden and Christmas Islands in the mid-Pacific in 1957 and 1958; Nevada nuclear tests, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Bureau of Federal Facilities.

February 8th, 1960

The Walk of Fame at the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard, looking eastward (The Dolby Theatre is in the foreground at left - In the upper left quadrant is the famous intersection of Hollywood and Highland)

Hollywood Walk of Fame: The first eight brass star plaques are installed.

Wikipedia  Image: Hollywood Walk of Fame; at the 6800 block of Hollywood Boulevard, looking eastward (The Dolby Theatre is in the foreground at left - In the upper left quadrant is the famous intersection of Hollywood and Highland).

February 8th, 1971

US federal judge ordered 37 US brokerage houses to pay 1.03 billion USD to cheated NASDAQ investors to compensate for price-fixing. This is the largest civil settlement in United States history

NASDAQ stock market index opens for the first time.

Wikipedia  Photo: © The Nasdq Board in NYC Times Square District.

February 8th, 1971

Vietnam War: Operation Swift; U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley Vietnam War: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

Vietnam War:
1971 - Operation Lam Son 719; South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration.

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.

February 8th, 1993

General Motors v. NBC Dateline

General Motors sues NBC after Dateline NBC allegedly rigs two crashes intended to demonstrate that some GM pickups can easily catch fire if hit in certain places. NBC settles the lawsuit the next day.

Wikipedia  Photo: General Motors v. NBC