1985
Gorbachev chosen as ruler of the USSR.
^top^
Capping his rapid rise through the Communist Party hierarchy, Mikhail
Sergeyevich Gorbachev is selected as the new general secretary and
leader of the Soviet Union, following the death of Konstantin U. Chernenko
the day before. Gorbachev oversaw a radical transformation of Soviet
society and foreign policy during the next six years.
Gorbachev was born on 02 March 1931, the son of peasant farmers, near
Stavropol. As a young man he joined the Komsomol. In 1952, he traveled
to Moscow to earn his degree in law. Upon his return to his native
town of Stavropol, Gorbachev became extremely active in party politics
and began a rapid rise through the Communist Party bureaucracy. Part
of his success was due to his intelligence, drive, and ability to
see and exploit opportunities. He was also aided by his ability to
attach himself to important mentors, such as Mikhail Suslov, the leading
party ideologue, and Yuri Andropov, the head of the KGB. With Andropov's
support, Gorbachev was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist
Party in 1971.
During the next
decade and a half, Gorbachev worked hard to promote his own career
and to support Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. When Brezhnev died in
1982, Andropov took power. Gorbachev's role in the new government
expanded, and then Andropov died in 1984. It was widely assumed that
Gorbachev would be his successor, but his youth, combined with suspicions
from some old-line Communist Party officials that the young man was
too reform-minded, led to the selection of Konstantin Chernenko.
Gorbachev did not have to wait long
for a second chance, however. Chernenko died after less than a year
in office. With the rapid-fire deaths of Andropov and Chernenko, Gorbachev
had outlived his only serious competition, and he was selected to
become the new leader of the Soviet Union on 11 March 1985. During
the next six years, Gorbachev led the Soviet Union through a dizzying
pace of domestic reforms and foreign policy changes. He relaxed political
oppression and led the push for reform of the nation's crumbling economic
system. On the foreign policy scene, he worked hard to secure better
relations with the United States, and in 1987, he and President Ronald
Reagan signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty,
which reduced the number of medium-range missiles each nation kept
in Europe.
The pace of change,
however, might have been too rapid. By the late-1980s, the Soviet
Union was cracking to pieces. Eastern European satellites were breaking
free, various Russian republics were pushing for independence, and
the economy was on a downward spiral. In December 1991, Gorbachev
resigned as president and the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist. |
1985 Son liberados 200 presos políticos en Uruguay, entre ellos Raúl Sendic,
jefe de los tupamaros.
1981 Auto de procesamiento
contra el general español Alfonso Armada Comyns por su participación en
el intento de golpe de Estado del 23 febrero, por el que fue condenado.
1981 Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte inicia
una segunda etapa en la dictadura: asume la Presidencia de la República
de Chile por un período de ocho años y jura la nueva Constitución, que es
proclamada parcialmente.
1978 Aprobadas las preautonomías
para Galicia, la Comunidad Valenciana, Aragón y Canarias.
1977
El Gobierno español, presidido por Adolfo Suárez González, aprueba
una amnistía total.
1977 More than 130 hostages held
in Washington by Hanafi Muslims are freed after ambassadors from three Islamic
nations joined the negotiations.
1975 Acusado de
una supuesta conjura militar, el general portugués António Sebastião
Ribeiro de Spínola busca refugio político en Brasil.
1969
Rafael Antonio Caldera toma posesión como nuevo presidente de Venezuela.
1967
Fierce fighting around Tay Ninh province in Vietnam.
^top^
US 1st Infantry Division troops engage in one of the heaviest battles
of Operation Junction City. The fierce fighting resulted in 210 reported
North Vietnamese casualties. Operation Junction City was an effort
to smash the communist stronghold in Tay Ninh Province and surrounding
areas along the Cambodian border northwest of Saigon. The purpose
of the operation was to drive the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops
away from populated areas and into the open, where superior American
firepower could be more effectively used. Junction City was the largest
operation of the war to date, involving more than 25'000 soldiers.
The first day's operation was supported by 575 aircraft sorties, a
record number for a single day in South Vietnam. The operation was
marked by one of the largest airmobile assaults in history when 240
troop-carrying helicopters descended on the battlefield. In one of
the few airborne operations of the war, 778 "Sky Soldiers" parachuted
into the Junction City area of operations 45 km north of Tay Ninh
City. There were 2728 enemy casualties by the end of the operation
on 17 March. |
1966 Military coup led by Indonesian Gen Suharto breaks
out.
1961 Tropas marroquíes apresan a técnicos petroleros
de diversas nacionalidades, entre ellos cinco españoles que trabajan en
la provincia española del Sáhara Occidental.
1954
The US Army charges that Wisconsin Senator Joseph R. (“Red Scare”)
McCarthy and his House Unamerican Affairs subcommittee's chief counsel,
Roy Cohn, have exerted pressure to obtain favored treatment for Pvt. G.
David Schine, a former consultant to the subcommittee.
1953
An American B-47 accidentally drops a nuclear bomb on South Carolina,
the bomb doesn't go off due to 6 safety catches
1948
Jewish Agency of Jerusalem bombed
1942
General MacArthur leaves the Philippines, saying: “I shall return.”
^top^
After struggling against great odds, made worse by his disregard of
War Department orders, to save the Philippines from Japanese conquest,
US General Douglas MacArthur abandons the island fortress of Corregidor
under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt. Left behind at Corregidor
and on the Bataan Peninsula were 90'000 American and Filipino troops,
who, lacking food, supplies, and support, would soon succumb to the
Japanese offensive.
The
Philippines had been part of the American commonwealth since Spain
ceded it at the close of the Spanish-American War, and the US refused
to grant independence. When the Japanese invaded China in 1937 and
signed the Tripartite Pact with fascist nations Germany and Italy
in 1940, the United States responded by, among other things, strengthening
the defense of the Philippines. General MacArthur was called out of
retirement and took command of 10'000 American Army troops, 12'000
Filipino enlisted men who fought as part of the US Army, and 100'000
Filipino army soldiers, who were poorly trained and prepared. MacArthur
radically overestimated his strength and underestimated Japan's. The
Rainbow War Plan, a defensive strategy for US interests in the Pacific
drawn up and refined by the War Department, required that MacArthur
withdraw his troops into the mountains of the Bataan Peninsula and
await better-trained and equipped American reinforcements. Instead,
MacArthur decided to take the Japanese head on-and never recovered.
07 December 1941, the day of
the Pearl Harbor bombing, also saw the Japanese destruction of almost
half of the American aircraft based in the Philippines. Amphibious
landings of Japanese troops along the Luzon coast followed. By late
December, MacArthur had to pull his forces back defensively to the
Bataan Peninsula-the original strategy belatedly pursued. By 02 January
1942, the Philippine capital, Manila, fell to the Japanese. President
Roosevelt had to admit to himself (if not to the American people,
who believed the Americans were winning the battle with the Japanese
in the Philippines), that the prospects for the American forces were
not good--and that he could not afford to have General MacArthur fall
captive to the Japanese. A message arrived at Corregidor on 20 February,
ordering MacArthur to leave immediately for Mindanao, then on to Melbourne,
Australia, where he was to assume command of all United States troops.
MacArthur balked; he was fully prepared to fight alongside his men
to the death, if necessary. MacArthur finally obeys the president's
order on 11 March.
After leaving
Corregidor, MacArthur and his family traveled by boat 900 km to the
Philippine island of Mindanao, braving mines, rough seas, and the
Japanese Navy. At the end of the hair-raising 35-hour journey, MacArthur
told the boat commander, John D. Bulkeley, "You've taken me out of
the jaws of death, and I won't forget it." On March 17, the general
and his family boarded a B-17 Flying Fortress for Northern Australia.
He then took another aircraft and a long train ride down to Melbourne.
During this journey, he was informed that there were far fewer Allied
troops in Australia than he had hoped. Relief of his forces trapped
in the Philippines would not be forthcoming. Deeply disappointed,
he issued a statement to the press in which he promised his men and
the people of the Philippines, "I shall return." The promise would
become his mantra during the next two and a half years, and he would
repeat it often in public appearances. For his valiant defense of
the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the Congressional Medal of
Honor and celebrated as "America's First Soldier."
Put in command of Allied forces in the Southwestern Pacific, his first
duty was conducting the defense of Australia. Meanwhile, in the Philippines,
Bataan fell in April, and the 70'000 American and Filipino soldiers
captured there were forced to undertake a death march in which at
least 7,000 perished. Then, in May, Corregidor surrendered, and 15'000
more Americans and Filipinos were captured. The Philippines--MacArthur's
adopted home--were lost, and the US Joint Chiefs of Staff had no immediate
plans for their liberation. After the US victory at the Battle of
Midway in June 1942, most Allied resources in the Pacific went to
US Admiral Chester Nimitz, who as commander of the Pacific Fleet planned
a more direct route to Japan than via the Philippines. Unperturbed,
MacArthur launched a major offensive in New Guinea, winning a string
of victories with his limited forces. By September 1944, he was poised
to launch an invasion of the Philippines, but he needed the support
of Nimitz's Pacific Fleet. After a period of indecision about whether
to invade the Philippines or Formosa, the Joint Chiefs put their support
behind MacArthur's plan, which logistically could be carried out sooner
than a Formosa invasion.
On
20 October 1944, a few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded
ashore onto the Philippine island of Leyte. That day, he made a radio
broadcast in which he declared, "People of the Philippines, I have
returned!" In January 1945, his forces invaded the main Japanese island
of Luzon. In February, Japanese forces at Bataan were cut off, and
Corregidor was captured. Manila, the Philippine capital, fell in March,
and in June MacArthur announced his offensive operations on Luzon
to be at an end; although scattered Japanese resistance continued
until the end of the war in August. Only one-third of the men MacArthur
left behind on 11 March 1942, survived to see his return. "I'm a little
late," he told them, "but we finally came." |
1941
Lend-Lease makes US “the Great Arsenal of Democracy”.
^top^
By early 1941, the Germans had made significant inroads in their campaign
to conquer Europe, which put US President Franklin Roosevelt in something
of a bind. Although he increasingly wanted to aid Great Britain in
the war effort against what he perceived as the "unholy alliance"
of the Axis powers, Roosevelt's actions were constrained by public
opinion. Sizable pockets of the country considered the nation's involvement
in World War I to have been a mistake, and thus hewed to the belief
that the US should stay neutral in the face of the mounting crisis
in Europe. Roosevelt devised a fiscal and barter-based solution to
this problem, which he laid out in a fireside chat in 1940; the US
would serve as "the great arsenal of democracy" and thus provide Great
Britain with the money and military machinery necessary to battle
back the Axis. Roosevelt called on Congress to rapidly pass lend-lease
legislation that would sanction this system. Legislators heeded the
president's words and shot the bill through the Senate and House.
On 11 March, Roosevelt signed
the Lend-Lease Act into law, paving the way for an initial aid package
worth roughly $7 billion. Although the US soon chucked its neutral
stance and entered the war, the Lend-Lease program kept pumping until
1946. All told, the US funneled $50.6 billion worth of Lend-Lease
aid to the Allies during the war, the majority of which went to Britain
and the USS.R.(the latter hardly a democracy).
The
Lend-Lease program was devised by Roosevelt as a means of aiding Great
Britain in its war effort against the Germans, by giving the chief
executive the power to "sell, transfer title to, exchange, lease,
lend, or otherwise dispose of" any military resources the president
deemed ultimately in the interest of the defense of the United States.
The reasoning was that if a neighbor was successful in defending his
home, the security of your home would be enhanced. It also served
to bolster British morale by giving them the sense that they were
no longer alone in their struggle against Hitler.
The program was finally authorized by Congress and signed into effect
on 11 March 1941. By November, after much heated debate, Congress
extended the terms of Lend-Lease to the Soviet Union, even though
the USSR had already been the recipient of American military weapons
and had been promised $1 billion in financial aid. By the end of the
war, more than $50 billion in funds, weapons, aircraft, and ships
had been distributed to 44 countries. After the war, the Lend-Lease
program morphed into the Marshall Plan, which allocated funds for
the revitalization of "friendly" democratic nations-even if they were
former enemies. |
1938
Anschluss ^top^
German term designating the incorporation
of Austria into Germany in the 1930s. Anschluss was first advocated
by Austrian Social Democrats. The 1919 peace treaty of St. Germain
prohibited Anschluss, to prevent a resurgence of a strong Germany.
After Hitler's rise to power the Nazis took over the idea. In 1938,
Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg was forced to agree to Hitler's demands
for Anschluss, but reneged, calling for a plebiscite. After the Chancellor's
forced resignation, the Austrian President refused to name an Austrian
Nazi, Seyss-Inquart, to replace him, and the German agent in Vienna
telegrammed for German troops. Adolf Hitler occupied Austria on 11
March 1938, and, to popular approval, annexed it as the province of
Ostmark. In the Moscow Declaration (1943) the United States, Great
Britain, and the Soviet Union annulled the Anschluss, recognizing
Austria's right to independence; an independent government was not
established until the end of World War II.
(German:
"Union"), political union of Austria with Germany, achieved through
annexation by Adolf Hitler in 1938. Mooted in 1919 by Austria, Anschluss
with Germany remained a hope (chiefly with Austrian Social Democrats)
during 1919-33, after which Hitler's rise to power made it less attractive.
In July 1934 Austrian and German Nazis together attempted a coup but
were unsuccessful. An authoritarian right-wing government then took
power in Austria and kept perhaps half the population from voicing
legitimate dissent; that cleavage prevented concerted resistance to
the developments of 1938.
In
February 1938 Hitler invited the Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg
to Germany and forced him to agree to give the Austrian Nazis virtually
a free hand. Schuschnigg later repudiated the agreement and announced
a plebiscite on the Anschluss question. He was bullied into canceling
the plebiscite, and he obediently resigned, ordering the Austrian
Army not to resist the Germans. President Wilhelm Miklas of Austria
refused to appoint the Austrian Nazi leader Arthur Seyss-Inquart as
chancellor. The German Nazi minister Hermann Göring ordered Seyss-Inquart
to send a telegram requesting German military aid, but he refused,
and the telegram was sent by a German agent in Vienna. On 12 March
Germany invaded, and the enthusiasm that followed persuaded Hitler
to annex Austria outright on 13 March. A controlled plebiscite of
10 April gave a 99.7% approval.
On
09 March 1938, the Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced
a plebiscite on the independence of Austria. Adolf Hitler took this
as an opportunity to take action against the Austrian State. Schuschnigg
was pressed to resign. The National Socialist Arthur Seyss-Inquart
took over the chancellorship and formed a new government. The Austrian
National Socialists took power in Austria. On the morning of 12 March
1938, troops of the German Wehrmacht and the SS crossed the German-Austrian
border. On 13 March 1938, Hitler announced in Linz the legislation
on the “Anschluss” (Annexation) of Austria into the German Reich.
During the great celebrations in all of Austria, many potential opponents
of the regime were arrested, as well as the Jews who were expropriated
and deprived of civil rights. National Socialist rule was established
now in Austria through propaganda, terror and enticements.
THE "PLEBISCITE"
After the “Anschluss”
in March 1938, the Austrian army was incorporated into the German
Wehrmacht. German laws came into force without delay. A “Plebiscite”
was set for 10th April on the annexation of Austria to the German
Reich, which was only a mockery. Austrian citizens who were of Jewish
descent were excluded from the election. People who were of other
political opinions were arrested. Despite this, many Austrian intellectuals
and known personalities from all areas publicly supported Hitler’s
annexation. The former Chancellor Karl Renner who had founded the
First Republic and the Austrian bishops did their best to convince
the many who had remained sceptical. A free democratic election was
not possible on 10th April: Election publicity was present in front
of and in the election booth, the votes were surveyed and the voting
papers were manipulated. Despite the complete lack of choice that
the voters had, the former National Socialist Mayor of the City of
Linz, Franz Langoth, voiced his opinion in 1951 (!) “that the election
on 10th April 1938 in Austria had been an example of a true, democratic
plebiscite and would be recorded as a pure and clean vote in future
history”. |
1938 In hopes of combating the Great Depression, the US
Congress passes the Revenue Act, calling for a series of corporate tax cuts.
But it was controversial and President Franklin Roosevelt refused to signature
it. Congress would override Roosevelt's veto later that spring.
1926
De Valera Resigns as Sinn Fein President.
^top^
Eamon De Valera, the American-born leader of the Irish independence
movement, resigns as leader of the Sinn Fein, a political party dedicated
to achieving an unified and independent Ireland. Born in New York
in 1882, De Valera came to Ireland as a child and joined the Easter
Rebellion against British rule in 1916. Saved from execution because
of his American citizenship, he was released under a general amnesty
in 1917. The same year, he became leader of Sinn Fein, which achieved
an electoral majority in Ireland in 1919. Imprisoned by the British,
he escaped and fled to the United States in the next year. During
his exile, he was elected president of Ireland by the Dail Eireann,
a revolutionary parliament that proclaimed Irish independence. When
he returned to Ireland in the next year, Sinn Fein and the Irish volunteers
were engaged in a widespread and effective guerrilla campaign against
British forces. In 1921, a cease-fire was declared and in 1922, Arthur
Griffith and other former Sinn Fein leaders broke with De Valera in
signing a treaty with Britain, calling for the partition of Ireland,
with the south becoming autonomous and the six northern counties of
the island remaining in Great Britain. De Valera deplored the period
of civil war that followed but maintained his opposition to the British
government. In 1926, he left Sinn Fein, which had become the unofficial
political wing of the underground movement for Northern independence,
and entered Irish Free State politics. He formed the Fianna Fail political
party, and in 1932, he was elected Irish president as his party gained
control of the Irish Free State government. For the next sixteen years,
President De Valera pursued a policy of complete political separation
from Great Britain, including the introduction of a new constitution
declaring Ireland a fully sovereign state and a policy of neutrality
during World War II. In 1948, he narrowly lost a reelection vote and
was forced to resign, but in 1951 he returned as Irish prime minister,
and in 1959 as president of the republic. He retired from Irish politics
in 1973. |
1920 El Gobierno soviético reconoce Letonia como independiente.
1917 Los ingleses se apoderan de Bagdad en el transcurso
de la Primera Guerra Mundial.
1917
Petrograd troops shoot at strikers but have second thoughts
(on 26 February Julian = 11 March Gregorian) ^top^
On 08 March (23 February Julian) thousands
of women textile workers in Petrograd shut down their factories, partly
in commemoration of International Women's Day but mainly to protest
bread shortages, thus adding to the already large number of men and
women on strike. Strikers marched through the streets shouting "Give
us bread" (Daite khleb and Khleba, khleba). Crowds headed toward the
city center. Demonstrators -- who were in a nasty mood -- broke store
windows, halted street-cars, and forced other workers to join them.
During the next two days, encouraged by hundreds of experienced rank-and-file
socialist activists, workers in factories and shops throughout the
capital went on strike.
By 10
March, virtually every industrial enterprise in Petrograd is shut
down, as are many commercial and service enterprises. The demands
-- visible on banners and audible in the shouts of demonstrators and
in speeches at rallies -- escalate, again with the encouragement of
activists, from demands for bread to appeals to end the war and abolish
the autocracy.
Demonstrators
march and protest all the more boldly when police and cossacks, under
orders to show restraint, hesitate to stop them. Students, white-collar
workers, and teachers join workers in the streets and at public meetings.
Although the protests and meetings are generally peaceful, the potential
for mass violence is barely contained: some workers carry sticks,
nuts, bolts, screws, pieces of metal, and, occasionally, pistols;
crowds smash shop windows, especially the windows of food and bread
stores; looters become more common; demonstrators attack and beat
police officers -- fatally on a couple of occasions. Although socialist
activists condemn the violence and vandalism, the outbreaks become
more frequent. Meanwhile, liberal and socialist deputies in the Duma
shrilly denounce the current government and again demand a responsible
cabinet of ministers.
Nicholas
receives ambiguous information about the seriousness of events. Reports
are also partially overshadowed by news that his children have been
stricken with measles just after he left Tsarskoe Selo. On 09 and
10 March, word of the disturbances reached him at Headquarters --
in Alexandra's letters and in telegrams from War Minister Mikhail
Beliaev, Minister of Internal Affairs Protopopov, and the military
commander of Petrograd, General Sergei Khabalov. Alexandra discounts
the disturbances: "Its a hooligan movement, young boys and girls running
about and screaming that they have no bread, only to excite -- and
then the workmen preventing others from work -- if it were very cold
they would. probably stay indoors. But this will all pass and quiet
down -- if the Duma would only behave itself".
Although the official reports are more thorough in describing the
scale of the disturbances -- the spreading strikes, the demands for
bread, the mass demonstrations on Nevsky Prospect (Petrograd's main
throughfare and the symbol of its urbanity), and the attacks on police
officers -- they also assure Nicholas that the police and the army
are having no difficulty in controlling the disorders. This is far
from accurate.
About 21:00 on
10 March, General Khabalov receives a telegram from Nicholas that
would transform the unrest into revolution: "I command you tomorrow
to stop the disorders in the capital, which are unacceptable in the
difficult time of war with Germany and Austria." Meeting with his
unit commanders an hour later, Khabalov ordered them to use all necessary
force to disperse crowds, including firing at demonstrators, and he
issued a proclamation to the population, posted the next morning,
banning demonstrations and warning that this order would be enforced
with arms. He also publicly warned strikers that they would be conscripted
and sent to the front if they did not return to work by 13 March.
In the evening of 10 March, the Council of Ministers is informed of
the tsar's command to use military force to restore order. A majority
of the ministers dismiss Protopopov's sanguine assurances that all
would be well and suggest forming a new cabinet in consultation with
the Duma as the only way to end the disorders. They delegate two members
to begin negotiations with the Duma.
On
11 March, as demonstrators again pour into the streets of Petrograd,
police and soldiers, as commanded, fire systematically into the crowds,
wounding and killing many. The show of force convinces many socialist
leaders that the regime is determined and able to restore order. It
also convinced the Council of Ministers to abandon efforts to achieve
a political compromise with the Duma -- that no longer seemed necessary.
Instead, the council recommends to Nicholas that he again prorogue
the Duma, which he does. After the confident and effective use of
force, the telegram from the chairman of the Duma to Nicholas on the
night of 11 March, insisting that "state authority is totally paralyzed
and utterly unable to reimpose order" seems to conflict with the facts,
and thus the pleas for a cabinet responsible to the Duma hardly seems
worth answering. Indeed, Nicholas dismisses the warning: "That fat
Rodzianko has written all sorts of nonsense to me, to which I will
not even reply." That night Rodzianko is handed the order proroguing
the Duma. But the tsar's confidence is premature. Leaders of the rebellion
and of the government both underestimate the psychological and moral
effect on the soldiers themselves of the order that they shoot at
demonstrating civilians. Most obeyed the order on the 26th. But as
they returned to their barracks, they thought and talked about whether
to follow orders or their consciences the following day. The next
day the answer would soon emerge in regiment after regiment: mutiny
Four days later, the Petrograd
insurgents have taken over the capital and Tsar Nicholas II is forced
to abdicate.
A provisional government
composed mainly of moderates is established, and the Soviet--a coalition
of workers’ and soldiers’ committees--calls for an end to violent
revolutionary activity. Meanwhile, Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik
revolutionary party, leaves his exile in Switzerland and crosses German
enemy lines to arrive at Petrograd on 16 April 1917. The Bolshevik
Party, founded in 1903, was a militant group of professional revolutionaries
who sought to overthrow the czarist government of Russia and set up
a Marxist government in its place.
On 06 November 1917, the Bolsheviks seize control of the Russian state
in the October Revolution, and Lenin becomes virtual dictator of the
country. However, civil war and foreign intervention delay complete
Bolshevik control of Russian until 1920. Lenin’s Soviet government
nationalizes industry and distributes land, and on 30 December 1922,
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USS.R.) is established.
In the USSR, the Communist Party controls
all levels of government, and the Party’s politburo, with its increasingly
powerful general secretary, effectively rules the country. Soviet
industry is owned and managed by the state, and agricultural land
is divided into state-run collective farms. In the decades after its
establishment, the Russian-dominated Soviet Union grows into one of
the world’s most powerful and influential states, and eventually encompasses
fifteen republics--Russia, the Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Uzbekistan,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan,
Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. |
1901 El Reino Unido se niega a acceder a las reivindicaciones
estadounidenses sobre el canal de Panamá.
1888 Great
blizzard of '88 strikes NE US.
1875 El general carlista
Ramón Cabrera y Griño firma en París su acta de adhesión al rey de
España Alfonso XII.
1867 Great Mauna Loa
eruption (Hawaiian volcano)
1865 Gen Sherman's
Union forces occupies Fayetteville, NC
1863 Abraham
Lincoln relieves George B. McClellan from his position as General-in-Chief
of the Federal Armies
1862 Siege of New Madrid,
Missouri continues
1862 Confederates check Union
amphibious forces descending the Tallahassee River at Fort Pemberton, Mississippi
1861
Confederate Constitution adopted
^top^
In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from
South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
and Texas adopt the Permanent Constitution of the Confederate States
of America. The constitution resembles the Constitution of the United
States, even repeating much of its language, but is actually more
comparable to the Articles of Confederation--the first post-Revolutionary
War US constitution--in its delegation of extensive power to the states.
The constitution also contains substantial
differences from the US Constitution in its protection of the institution
of American slavery, which is "recognized and protected" in slave
states and territories. However, in congruence with US policy since
the beginning of the nineteenth century, the foreign slave trade is
prohibited. The document also provides for six-year terms for the
president and vice president, and the president is ineligible for
successive terms.
Although a presidential item veto is
granted, the power of the central Confederate government is sharply
limited by its constitutional dependence on state consent for the
use of any funds and resources. After some initial problems, the government
of Jefferson Davis, the first president of the Confederacy, grows
stronger as he learns to use executive power to secure control of
the armed forces and the use of manpower.
However, some Southern state governments
resist Davis’s centralization and deprive him of needed resources,
especially after the Civil War begins to turn against the Confederacy.
Although Britain and France both briefly
consider entering the Civil War on the side of the South, the Confederate
States of America never wins foreign recognition as an independent
government. |
1824 US War Dept creates the Bureau of Indian Affair
1779 US army Corps of Engineers established (first time)
1702 first London daily newspaper
1665
New York's English Deputies approved a new legal code, which guaranteed
all Protestants the right to practice their religious observances unhindered.
(There were currently a host of Protestant groups thriving within this now_English
colony, acquired only seven months earlier from the Dutch.)
1649
Se firma en Francia la Paz de Rueil, por la que la reina Anne d'Autriche
concede el perdón a los rebeldes que defendían la Primera Fronda o Fronda
Parlamentaria.
1649
Fin de la Fronde. ^top^
Anne d'Autriche et Mazarin liquident
la Fronde parlementaire. Les magistrats renoncent à limiter en France
le pouvoir du roi. En 1648, la France est gouvernée par Anne d'Autriche,
mère de Louis XIV (9 ans). La régente bénéficie des utiles conseils
de Mazarin. Elle doit mener une guerre difficile contre les Espagnols
et cet effort nécessite d'augmenter les impôts. Il n'en faut pas plus
pour entraîner les magistrats dans une révolte. Issus de la bourgeoisie,
les magistrats achètent leur charge, ce qui les met normalement à
l'abri des sanctions (le roi ne peut pas déposséder un magistrat de
sa charge). Le Parlement de Paris convie ses collègues de province
à s'unir à lui pour réformer les abus de l'État.
Anne d'Autriche fait arrêter le chef des frondeurs, Pierre Broussel,
auquel son intégrité vaut une immense popularité. Face à la révolte
des Parisiens, elle doit presque aussitôt le faire libérer. Mais la
fin victorieuse de la guerre donne les mains libres à Mazarin et à
la régente pour en finir avec les frondeurs.
Le 05 janvier 1649, le roi fuit Paris pour Saint-Germain-en-Laye tandis
que son armée, commandée par le Grand Condé, fait le siège de la capitale.
Les magistrats, qui jouissent de nombreux privilèges, n'ont pas vraiment
envie d'une Révolution. Ils rendent les armes. Après ce succès, Mazarin
et la régente devront combattre la Fronde des Princes, plus brouillonne
et bagarreuse.
La monarchie
française va sortir renforcée de ces épreuves tandis qu'à la même
époque, l'Angleterre fait l'expérience de la République après avoir
exécuté son roi Charles 1er. C'est ainsi que la France va évoluer
vers une monarchie absolue et l'Angleterre vers une monarchie constitutionnelle.
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1482 Tomás de Torquemada es nombrado Inquisidor de España.
0537 Goths lay siege to Rome
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