First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - NOVEMBER 3rd

The Wizard of Oz, Quote

Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high,

There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.

Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue,

And the dreams that you dare to dream.

Really do come true.

~ Judy Garland as "Dorothy Gale" in The Wizard of Oz

Wikiquote (The Wizard of Oz was first shown on television November 3, 1956)

This Day in History

November 3rd, 361

Roman Empire Decline and Fall of Rome

Roman Empire:
361 - Emperor Constantius II dies of a fever at Mopsuestia in Cilicia and declares his cousin Julian rightful successor.

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.


November 3rd, 644

Achaemenid Persian Empire: was an Iranian empire in Western Asia, founded in the 6th century by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation

Sassanid Persian Empire:
644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is assassinated by a Persian slave in Medina.

Wikipedia  Image: Achaemenid Persian Empire: was an Iranian empire in Western Asia, founded in the 6th century by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation ● Persian Archers at Darius' palace at Susa. Exhibited in Pergamon Museum / Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin ● Bas relief nagsh-e-rostam al ● Persian version of a stone relief (from Persepolis) ● Winged sphinx from the palace of Darius the Great at Susa, Louvre.


November 3rd, 1468

Charles the Bold, portrait by Peter Paul Rubens ● Charles' flight after the battle of Grandson, as imagined by Eugène Burnand

Liège is sacked by Charles I of Burgundy's troops.

Wikipedia  Painting: Charles I of Burgundy (Charles the Bold), portrait by Peter Paul Rubens ● Charles' flight after the battle of Grandson, as imagined by Eugène Burnand.


November 3rd, 1493

Christopher Columbus' fleet of three ships sets sail from Spain in 1492, credit Kean Collection / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.

Wikipedia  Paintings: Christopher Columbus' fleet of three ships sets sail from Spain in 1492. credit Kean Collection / Hulton Archive / Getty Images; Christopher Columbus pointing to land in the New World; Romantic Painting of Christopher Columbus arriving to the Americas Primer desembarco de Cristóbal Colón en América, by Dióscoro Puebla 1862.


November 3rd, 1812

Napoleonic Wars: (1803–15) were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Vyazma; Napoleon's armies are defeated

French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1812 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Vyazma; Napoleon's armies are defeated.

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 Vyazma, by Piter von Hess.


November 3rd, 1911

Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T

Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T.

Wikipedia  1911, 1912, and 1913 Chevrolet Series C Classic Six was the first model that Chevrolet sold; Chevrolet Camaro 2013.


November 3rd, 1913

The United States introduces an income tax

The United States introduces an income tax.

Wikipedia  "A Present for the Kid", editorial cartoon; The United States income tax forms.


November 3rd, 1918

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1918 - Austria-Hungary enters into an armistice with the Allies, and the Habsburg-ruled empire dissolves.
1918 - Poland declares its independence from Russia.
1918 - German Revolution of 1918–1919: Kiel mutiny, begins when 40,000 sailors take over the port in Kiel.

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.


November 3rd, 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:
1942 - Guadalcanal Campaign; Koli Point action begins.
1943 - 500 aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshafen harbor in Germany.
1944 - Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Rudolf Viest and Ján Golian are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces.

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;


November 3rd, 1964

Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time

Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time.

Wikipedia  Photo: Washington D.C., Washington Monument and United States Capitol


November 3rd, 1967

Vietnam War: Operation Swift; U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley

Vietnam War:
1967 - Battle of Dak To; begins.
1969 - United States President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.

Wikipedia  Picture: 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


November 3rd, 1973

Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury - on March 29, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet

Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury. (On March 29th, 1974, it becomes the first space probe to reach that planet.)

Wikipedia  Image: Mariner 10 - Mercury, NASA.


November 3rd, 1986

Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, December 22, 1986; Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings in Washington, D.C., 1987

Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been secretly selling weapons to Iran in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.

Wikipedia  Photo: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, December 22, 1986; Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings in Washington, D.C., 1987. credit Associated Press.


November 3rd, 1997

List of modern conflicts in the Middle East

Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
1997 - Human rights in Sudan; The United States imposes economic sanctions against Sudan in response to its human rights abuses of its own citizens and its material and political assistance to Islamic extremist groups across the Middle East and Eastern Africa.

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)


November 3rd, 2013

A rare solar eclipse sweeps across Africa, Europe and the Eastern United States (Darkroom.BaltimoreSun - Desiree Martin, AFP)

A rare solar eclipse sweeps across Africa, Europe and the Eastern United States.

A rare solar eclipse sweeps across Africa, Europe and the Eastern United States

Wikipedia  Photo: Solar eclipse: November 3, 2013 shows a rare hybrid solar eclipse through clouds from the Canary Island of Tenerife. A rare solar eclipse swept across parts of Africa, Europe and the United States today as the moon blocks the sun either fully or partially, depending on the location. The width of the shadow of the eclipse was 58 km and the maximum duration of totality, the maximum time that the moon covered the sun completely, was 1m 40s, on the Spanish Canary island of Tenerife. (Darkroom.BaltimoreSun - Desiree Martin, AFP)


November 3rd, 2016

Chicago Cubs defeat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series, ending the longest Major League Baseball championship drought at 108 years.

Chicago Cubs defeat Cleveland Indians in the World Series, ending the longest Major League Baseball championship drought at 108 years.

Wikipedia  Photo: The Chicago Cubs celebrate after defeating the Cleveland Indians 8-7 in Game 7 to win baseball's 2016 World Series at Progressive Field on November 3, 2016 in Cleveland. (Ezra Shaw—Getty Images)