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“As good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye.”
~ John Milton
Wikiquote (John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost.)
(Areopagitica by John Milton, published November 23, 1644)
November 23rd, 534 BC
Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage.
Wikipedia Photo: Thespis' wagon, relief of the Giotto's Belltower in Florence, Italy, Nino Pisano, 1334–1336
November 23rd, 1248
Conquest of Seville by the Christian troops under Ferdinand III of Castile.
Wikipedia Photo: Statue of the king Ferdinand III of Castile, named the Saint, in the Gardens of Sabatini, Madrid.; Statue of king Ferdinand III of Castile in Plaza Nueva, Seville.
November 23rd, 1499
Pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. (He had invaded England in 1497, claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV of England.)
Wikipedia Photo: Tower of London; The Tower with the River Thames and Tower Bridge to the south (The outer curtain walls were erected in the 13th century); Saint John's Chapel - inside the "White Tower" inside the Tower of London, and was built sometime between 1066 and 1087, credit Neil Alderney, Flickr”
November 23rd, 1510
First campaign of Ottoman Empire against Kingdom of Imereti (modern western Georgia). Ottoman armies sack its capital Kutaisi and burn Gelati Monastery.
Wikipedia Photo: Gelati Monastery; Kutaisi, Imereti Province (Mkhare), Georgia; The Monastery of the Virgin - Gelati near Kutaisi (Imereti region of Western Georgia) was founded by the King of Georgia David the Builder (1089-1125) in 1106. credit Paata Vardanashvili, Flickr.
November 23rd, 1644
English Civil War:
1644 - John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.
Wikipedia Painting: English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers);
John Milton publishes Areopagitica;
Battle of Naseby, victory of the Parliamentarian New Model Army;
Battle of Marston Moor, 1644;
"Cromwell at Dunbar", by Andrew Carrick Gow; Oliver Cromwell; King Charles I, painted by Van Dyck;
"And when did you last see your father?" by William Frederick Yeames.
November 23rd, 1863
American Civil War:
1863 - Battle of Chattanooga; Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee and counter-attack Confederate troops.
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 23rd, 1876
Corrupt Tammany Hall leader William Magear Tweed (better known as Boss Tweed is delivered to authorities in New York City after being captured in Spain.
Wikipedia Image: William M. Tweed, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 5th district; "Stone Walls Do Not a Prison Make", January 1876 editorial cartoon by Thomas Nast depicting Tweed's escape from prison.
November 23rd, 1889
The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
Wikipedia Photo: Reproduction Wurlitzer 1015 in the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana.
November 23rd, 1914
Mexican Revolution:
1914 United States occupation of Veracruz; The last of U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, occupied seven months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair.
Wikipedia Photo: Satellite view of Mexico; American forces at Veracruz; Pancho Villa And Army; Peasant soldiers patrol the town of Tampico during the Mexican Revolution; Zapata's soldiers breakfast at Sanborns, Mexico City, 1914.
November 23rd, 1936
Life magazine is reborn as a photo magazine and enjoys instant success.
Wikipedia Photo: Life magazine, credit Original Life Magazines.
November 23rd, 1940
World War II:
1940 - Romania becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
1943 - The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed. It will eventually be rebuilt in 1961 and be called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
1943 - Tarawa_Atoll and Makin fall to American 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 23rd, 1946
Vietnam:
1946 - French Navy fire in Hai Phong Vietnam, kills 6,000 civilians.
Wikipedia Photo: Hang En Cave, Vietnam, by Carsten Peter; Tour boats moored in Ha Long Bay at dusk enjoy a serene seascape of limestone sculptures hewn by nature.This UNESCO World Heritage site is host to a diversity of ecosystems including sandy beaches, mangrove forests, and offshore coral reefs. Some of its roughly 1,600 islands and islets boast beautiful grottos with hidden ponds and unusual stone formations; Terraced rice paddies ring the Vietnamese countryside in bright green. The crop, has been grown in Vietnam for thousands of years; Halong Bay, Vietnam; Ba Vi National Park, Hanoi. credit National Geographic.
November 23rd, 1980
Earthquake
1980 - Irpinia earthquake; A series of earthquakes in southern Italy kills approximately 3,000 people.
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.
November 23rd, 1981
Iran-Contra Affair:
1981 - United States President Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
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 23rd, 1985
Aircraft hijacking:
1985 - Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 while en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the aircraft, but 60 people die in the raid.
1996 - Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.
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.
November 23rd, 2006
Modern conflicts in the Middle East, social unrest and terrorist attacks:
2006 - Sadr City bombings; A series of bombing kills at least 215 people and injures 257 others in Sadr City, making it the second deadliest sectarian attack since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.
2009 - Maguindanao massacre; occurs in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Philippines.
2010 - Bombardment of Yeonpyeong; occurs on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. The North Korean artillery attack kills 2 civilians and 2 South Korean marines.
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 23rd, 2011
Arab Spring: Yemeni revolution;
2011 - After 11 months of protests in Yemen, The Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.
Wikipedia Photo: Arab Spring; Syrian civil war - Syrian uprising, an armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it.