First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - OCTOBER 28th

Jonas Salk, Quote

“Life is an error-making and an error-correcting process, and nature in marking man's papers will grade him for wisdom as measured both by survival and by the quality of life of those who survive.”

~ Jonas Salk

Wikiquote (Jonas Salk (Jonas Edward Salk (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995) an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of the first successful polio vaccine.)

This Day in History

October 28th, 97

Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Emperor:
97 - Nerva is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus as his heir and successor.
306 - Maxentius is proclaimed Roman Emperor.
312 - Battle of Milvian Bridge; Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman 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.

October 28th, 1061

Antipope (Latin: antipapa) is a person who, in opposition to the one who is generally seen as the legitimately elected Pope, makes a significantly accepted competing claim to be the Pope, the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Catholic Church

Empress Agnes , acting as regent for her son, brings about the election of bishop Cadalus, the antipope Honorius II.

Wikipedia.org  Image: Fresco painting of the Resurrection Chora Church, Istanbul, Turkey.

October 28th 1628

The French Wars of Religion (1562–98): Period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) (The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise (Lorraine), and both sides received assistance from foreign sources)

French Wars of Religion:
1628 - Siege of La Rochelle; , which had lasted for 14 months, ends with the surrender of the Huguenots.

Wikipedia  Painting: The French Wars of Religion; (1562–98): Period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). (The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise (Lorraine), and both sides received assistance from foreign sources).
● Depiction of the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre by François Dubois. ● Armed procession of the Catholic League in Paris in 1590, Musée Carnavalet. ● Catherine de' Medici One morning at the gates of the Louvre, 19th-century painting by Édouard Debat-Ponsan.

October 28th, 1636

John Harvard (November 26, 1607 – September 14, 1638) an English minister in America whose deathbed bequest to the Massachusetts Bay Colony's fledgling New College was so gratefully received that the school was renamed Harvard College in his honor Harvard College: first commencement exercises occur

Harvard College: Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, today known as Harvard University.

Wikipedia  Photo: John Harvard (November 26, 1607 – September 14, 1638) an English minister in America which Massachusetts Bay Colony's fledgling New College was renamed Harvard College in his honor. (John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard ● Tablet, Emmanuel College (Cambridge) chapel ● Emmanuel College window (1884) depicting John Harvard on left)
Annenberg Hall: "the great bristling brick Valhalla....that house of honor and hospitality which...dispenses...laurels to the dead and dinners to the living." Henry James, from The American Scene (1907), credit: Steve Rosenthal.

October 28th, 1707

Global Earthquake epicenters

Earthquake
1707 - Hōei earthquake causes more than 5,000 deaths in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, Japan.
1891 - Mino-Owari earthquake; the largest inland earthquake in Japan's history, strikes Gifu Prefecture, there were approximately 7,273 deaths and 17,175 casualties.

Wikipedia  Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.

October 28th, 1775

American Revolutionary War Collage

American Revolutionary War:
1775 - A British proclamation forbids residents from leaving Boston.
1776 - Battle of White Plains; British Army forces arrive at White Plains, New_York attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.

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).

October 28th, 1864

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:
1864 - Battle of Fair Oaks & Darbytown Road; ends - Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.

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.

October 28th, 1918

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1918 - Czechoslovakia is granted independence from Austria-Hungary marking the beginning of an independent Czechoslovak state, after 300 years.
1918 - A new Polish government in Western Galicia is established.

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.

October 28th, 1922

March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government

March on Rome: Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.

Wikipedia  Photo: Benito Mussolini (IL Duce) Leader of Fascist Italy and Adolf Hitler (Der Fuhrer) Chancellor and Leader of Nazi Germany.

October 28th, 1942

Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska

Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Wikipedia  Photo: Muskwa Ranges, north-east British Columbia, crossed by the Alaska Highway.

October 28th 1998

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)

Aircraft hijacking:
1998 - An Air China; jetliner is hijacked by disgruntled pilot Yuan Bin and flown to Taiwan.

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.

October 28th, 2009

Constellation program: Ares I-X mission; NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its later-cancelled

Constellation program: Ares I-X mission; NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its later-cancelled.

Wikipedia  Photo: NASA's Ares I-X rocket rises from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center October 28 during its maiden flight. credit John Raoux, Associated Press.

October 28th, 2013

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2013 - Tiananmen Square attack; Beijing, China - Five people are killed and 38 are injured after a car crashes into barriers just outside the Forbidden City.
2009 - Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.
2006 - A group of angry activists of Bangladesh Awami League attacked one of their rival political party meeting inttacked one of their rival political party meeting in Dhaka with oars and sculls and killed their 14 activists.

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)