First Confidential

THIS DAY IN HISTORY - NOVEMBER 4th

Will Rogers, Quote

“There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.”

~ Will Rogers

Wikiquote (William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) an American humorist and entertainer; known primarily as Will Rogers.)

This Day in History

November 4th, 1429

Joan of Arc Collage: An artist's interpretation, since the only known direct portrait has not survived. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490) (1485); Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake, by Hermann Stilke (1843); Jeanne d' Arc, by Eugene Thirion (1876); Joan at the coronation of Charles VII, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in (1854); Joan of Arc and Prophet-French Pilgrimage; Joan interrogated in her prison cell by Cardinal Winchester, by Hippolyte Delaroche, (1824); Saint Joan of Arc, Vatican City; Joan of Arc in Battle, by Hermann Anton Stilke

Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc:
1429 - Liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.

Wikipedia  Painting: Joan of Arc: An artist's interpretation, since the only known direct portrait has not survived. (Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris, AE II 2490) (1485); Joan of Arc's Death at the Stake, by Hermann Stilke (1843); Jeanne d' Arc, by Eugene Thirion (1876); Joan at the coronation of Charles VII, by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres in (1854); Joan of Arc and Prophet-French Pilgrimage; Joan interrogated in her prison cell by Cardinal Winchester, by Hippolyte Delaroche, (1824); Saint Joan of Arc, Vatican City; Joan of Arc in Battle, by Hermann Anton Stilke.


November 4th, 1501

Portrait of Katharine of Aragon by Michael Sittow, 1502 Henry VIII; Coat of Arms and Seal of Henry VIII of England; Catherine of Aragon as a young widow, by court painter Michael Sittow, 1502; Anne Boleyn, Henry's second queen; a later copy of an original painted 1534; Jane Seymour<, Henry's third wife; Anne of Cleves, Henry's forth wife by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1539; Catherine Howard<, Henry's fifth wife, by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1540; Catherine Parr, Henry's sixth and last wife

Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII's first wife) meets Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII's older brother.

Wikipedia  Painting: Henry VIII Coat of Arms and Seal of Henry VIII of England; Catherine of Aragon as a young widow, by court painter Michael Sittow, 1502; Anne Boleyn, Henry's second queen; a later copy of an original painted 1534; Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife; Anne of Cleves, Henry's forth wife by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1539; Catherine Howard, Henry's fifth wife, by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1540; Catherine Parr, Henry's sixth and last wife. Portrait of Catherine of Aragon by Michael Sittow, 1502. (The youngest surviving child of the 'Catholic Kings' of Spain, Katharine was born on 16 December 1485, the same year that Henry VII established the Tudor dynasty.)


November 4th, 1576

Eighty Years' War Collage

Eighty Years' War:
1576 - Sack of Antwerp; in Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (after three days the city is nearly destroyed).

Wikipedia  Painting: Siege of the Schenkenschans by Gerrit van Santen; Relief of Leiden after the siege, (1574); Frederick Henry and Ernst Casimir at the siege of 'sHertogenbosch by Pauwels van Hillegaert; Disarming the waardgelders in Utrecht, 31 July 1618, by Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot; Swearing of the Peace of Münster by Gerard ter Borch.


November 4th, 1677

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

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

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.


November 4th, 1783

Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria

Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.

Wikipedia  Image: Mozart / 'Papageno', from Mozart's 'The Magic Flute', by Lynn Barnes and Papageno; Metropolitain Opera; 'Papageno' by Kay Konrad.


November 4th, 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 Johnsonville; Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in material.

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.


November 4th, 1918

World War I: Collage

World War I:
1918 - Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.

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 4th, 1921

Sturmabteilung or SA, whose members were known as 'brownshirts', physically assault Adolf Hitler's opposition after his speech in Munich

Sturmabteilung or SA, whose members were known as "brownshirts", physically assault Adolf Hitler's opposition after his speech in Munich.

Wikipedia  Photo: Hitler and the Brownshirts; German Nazi activist Horst Wessel (left) at the head of a parade of S.A. stormtroopers, or “brownshirts”, in Nuremberg, Germany, 1929.


November 4th, 1939

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:
1939 - United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents.
1942 - Second Battle of El Alamein; Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.
1944 - Bitola Liberation Day.

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.


November 4th, 1955

After being destroyed in World War II, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio

After being destroyed in World War II, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera reopens with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio.

Wikipedia  Photo: The Vienna State Opera; The Vienna State Opera at Night.


November 4th, 1956

Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union

Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union - thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country.

Wikipedia  Photo: Hungarians gather around the head of the toppled Stalin Monument in Budapest; Protests outside of the embassy in Budapest; Militants during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; photo: Historical Archives of the Hungarian State Security.


November 4th, 1979

Iran hostage crisis begins: a group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American)

Islamic revolution of Iran, Iran hostage crisis:
1979 - A group of Iranians, mostly students, invades the United States embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).

Wikipedia  Photo: The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian Revolution. President Carter called the hostages "victims of terrorism and anarchy", adding that the "United States will not yield to blackmail". The hostages were formally released into United States custody the following day, just minutes after the new American president Ronald Reagan was sworn into office.


November 4th, 2008

Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States

Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States.

Wikipedia  Photo: US President-elect Senator Barack Obama enters the stage with his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, and his wife Michelle to speak to supporters during his election night rally after being declared the winner of the 2008 U.S. Presidential Campaign in Chicago November 4, 2008. (Reuters / Jim Young).


November 4th, 2015

Airliners Crash: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the 'Miracle on the Hudson' navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP

Aviation accidents and incidents:
2015 - Juba An-12 crash; A cargo plane crashes shortly after takeoff from Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan, killing 37 people.
2010 - Qantas Flight 32; Airbus A380, suffers an uncontained engine failure over Indonesia shortly after taking off from Singapore, crippling the jet. The crew manage to safely return to Singapore, saving all 469 passengers and crew.
2010 - Aero Caribbean Flight 883; Guasimal, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba crashes killing all 68 passengers and crew.

Wikipedia  Photo: ● Pan AM 747 ● U.S. Airways flight 1549 also known as the "Miracle on the Hudson" navigates an exit ramp near Burlington, New Jersey, June 5, 2011 ● Passengers stand on the wings of a U.S. Airways plane as a ferry pulls up to it after it landed in the Hudson River in New York, Reuters ● US Airways plane crashes into New York Hudson River, Photo: AP