Monthly Archives: October 2023
On This Day – October 25
On This Day – October 25
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1983 Invasion of Grenada
A U.S. led invasion called Operation Urgent Fury was triggered by a coup that ended with the murder of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. The invasion ended with U.S. victory.
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1962 Uganda joins the UN
Uganda became a member state of the United Nations.
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1940 First African-American made general in US military
Benjamin Oliver Davis became the first African-American general in the United States Army.
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1854 Battle of Balaclava
An alliance of Britain, France, and the Ottoman Empire fought the Battle of Balaclava against the Russian Empire during the Crimean War.
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1760 George III starts his reign
George III started his reign as the King of Great Britain and Ireland.
On This Day – October 24
On This Day – October 24
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2007 China Launches Chang’e 1
It was the first spacecraft of China’s Lunar Exploration Program, which is responsible for sending unmanned robotic space probes to the Moon and the lunar orbit in order to better understand Earth’s largest natural satellite. The space probe crashed into the lunar surface on March 2, 2009, after orbiting the Moon for over a year.
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1964 Zambian independence
The African country gained independence from British rule with the passage of the Zambia Independence Act 1964 by the UK Parliament.
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1945 United Nations founded
The U.N. charter was ratified by the then 5 permanent members and 46 member states.
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1930 Coup in Brazil
President Washington Luís was deposed by the heads of the armed forces just 4 years after he came to office. The coup prevented President-elect Júlio Prestes from coming to power and the military junta instead installed Getúlio Vargas as the de facto President of the country. The coup was in part a response to the government’s “coffee with milk policy”, which allowed governance power to be alternated between the coffee producing state of São Paulo and the milk producing state of Minas Gerais. This policy led to a rebellion in some parts of the country, which in turn prompted the army to take action against the government.
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1926 Last performance of Houdini
The world famous escape artist performed for the last time at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan.
On This Day – October 23
On This Day – October 23
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2002 Dubrovka Theater Hostage Crisis
About 50 Chechen rebels led by Movsar Barayev took over the Dubrovka Theater in Moscow during the performance of Nord-Ost, a musical. The rebels took about 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya. The siege lasted for about 3 days and ended after Russian security forces released a chemical gas in the theater. All of the rebels and about 170 hostages died during the siege.
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2001 Apple announces the first iPod Player
The iPod is the world’s best-selling portable media player. Already 6 years after its initial launch, Apple announced that 100 million devices had been sold. The company has been criticized for its aggressive policies forcing users to use only original batteries and preventing them from freely sharing content with others.
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1998 Swatch Announces Internet Time
The Swiss watch company invented a new unit of time called the .beat, which corresponds to 1 minute and 26.4 seconds. Under the Internet Time system, a day is divided into 1000 .beats.
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1983 Beirut Barracks Bombing
Two bombs exploded in front of American and French barracks during the Lebanese Civil War, killing about 300 French and American military personnel. Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the bombings.
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1964 Jean-Paul Sartre Turns Down Nobel Prize
The French existentialist philosopher and writer published a letter in the newspaper Le Figaro to explain why he did not want to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature he had been awarded the day before on October 22. In his letter, he said he did not want to take sides in the East and West struggle of the Cold War, by accepting an award that was given out by Western institutions.