First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - APRIL 22nd

Anne Frank, Quote

“I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.”

~ Anne Frank

Wikiquote (Anne Frank Annelies "Anne" Marie Frank (June 12, 1929 – early March 1945) is one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust.)

This Day in History

April 22nd, 238

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:
238 - Year of the Six Emperors; The Roman Senate outlaws emperor Maximinus Thrax for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne.

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.

April 22nd, 1500

Pedro Álvares Cabral: a Portuguese explorer and nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the discoverer of Brazil

Portuguese explorers:
1500 - Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil.

Wikipedia  Image: Cabral (center-left, pointing) sights the Brazilian mainland for the first time on 22 April 1500. ● Romantic depiction of Cabral's first landing on the Island of the True Cross (present-day Brazil). He can be seen on the shore (center) standing in front of an armored soldier, who is carrying a banner of the Order of Christ. ● Twelve of 13 ships that were part of Cabral's fleet are depicted. Many were lost, as can be seen in this drawing from Memória das Armadas, 1568 .

April 22nd, 1519

Hernán Cortés Collage

Spanish conquistador:
1519 - Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.

Wikipedia  Painting: Hernán Cortés Collage; In the early 16th century, the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II ruled from the city of Tenochitilan, situated in the location of present day Mexico City. His armies were feared by neighbouring states who paid tribute to the Aztecs and had hundreds of thousands of their citizens sacrificed in elaborate religious rituals to the Aztec gods. In scuttling the fleet, Cortés moved swiftly to squash mutineers. To make sure such a mutiny did not happen again, he decided to scuttle his ships, on the pretext that they were no longer seaworthy.

April 22nd, 1529

Treaty of Saragossa divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas on April 22nd, 1529.

Treaty of Zaragoza: divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues or 17° east of the Moluccas.

Wikipedia  Image: Portuguese discoveries; The Cantino planisphere, made by an anonymous cartographer in 1502, shows the world as it was known after the great discoveries of the end of the fifteenth century ● In 1494, Spain and Portugal agreed to split the "rights" to lands outside of Europe, drawing a line in the Atlantic a short distance west of Africa, credit Toranosuke, Flickr.

April 22nd, 1809

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:
1809 - The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl; The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon I of France and driven over the Danubee in Regensburg.

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).

April 22nd, 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: American Civil War: First Battle Between Ironclads; CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads

American Civil War:
1863 - Grierson's Raid; Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
1864 - Coinage Act of 1864; The United States Congress mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.

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
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● 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.

April 22nd, 1898

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: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and the USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship.

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.

April 22nd, 1915

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1915 - Second Battle of Ypres; The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon.

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.

April 22nd, 1930

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

Pre World War II:
1930 - The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
World War II:
1944 - The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with CSAR (Combat search and rescue) operations in the China-Burma-India theater.
1944 - Operation Persecution is initiated Allied forces land in the Hollandia (Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
1945 - Führerbunker: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.
Post World War II:
1948 - Arab-Israeli War; Battle of Haifa - Haifa, a major port of Israel, is captured from Arab forces.
2005 - Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.

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.

April 22nd, 1945

World War II, The Holocaust

World War II: Holocaust;
1945 - Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. 520 are killed and 80 escape.

Wikipedia  Photo: World War II, The Holocaust. Sources: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum USHMM, History 1900s, Internet Masters of Education Technology IMET, Techno Friends, Veterans Today, Concern.

April 22nd, 1954

Red Scare: The 'Hollywood Ten' are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios

Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army-McCarthy Hearings begins.

Wikipedia  Photo: House Un-American Activities Committee.

April 22nd, 1970

Earth Day originally celebrated at Spring Equinox around March 20, is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment

The first Earth Day is celebrated.

Wikipedia  Photo: Earth Day originally celebrated at Spring Equinox around March 20, is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth's natural environment. (Now Earth Day is coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network)

April 22nd, 1977

Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic on April 22nd, 1977

The first Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.

Wikipedia  Image: Fiber optic strands emitting light. credit: Henrik Jonsson, iStockphoto

April 22nd, 2013

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East and terrorist attacks:
2013 - VIA Rail Canada terrorism plot; Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrest and charge two men with plotting to disrupt a Toronto area train service in a plot claimed to be backed by Al-Qaeda elements.

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)

April 22nd, 2016

The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.

Paris Agreement: The Paris Agreement (French: Accord de Paris, Paris climate accord or Paris climate agreement) is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.

Wikipedia  Photo: Paris Agreement: The Paris Agreement (French: Accord de Paris, Paris climate accord or Paris climate agreement) is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming. Laurent Fabius (m), flanked by Francois Hollande and Ban Ki-Moon, calling on the world's countries to adopt the agreement. (Photo: UNclimatechange)