1985 IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 released.
1938 Electronic television system patented, VK Zworykin.
| 1922 The USSR
is established In post-revolutionary Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USS.R.) is established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Byelorussia, the Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation. Also known as the Soviet Union, the new republic was the successor to the Russian Empire and the first state in the world to claim to be based on Marxist Socialism. During the Russian Revolution of 1917 and subsequent three-year Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik Party under Vladimir Lenin dominated the Soviet forces, a coalition of workers' and soldiers' committees calling for the establishment of a socialist state in the former Russian Empire. In the USS.R., all levels of government were controlled by the Communist Party, and the Party's politburo, with its increasingly powerful general secretary, effectively ruled the country. Soviet industry was owned and managed by the state, and agricultural land was divided into state-run collective farms. In the decades after its establishment, the Russian-dominated Soviet Union grew into one of the world's most powerful and influential states, and eventually encompassed fifteen republics--Russia, the Ukraine, Georgia, Byelorussia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzsatn, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. In 1991, the Soviet Union was dissolved following the collapse of its communist government. — L'Union des Républiques Socialistes Soviètiques se forme par l'union de la R.S.S. Fédérées de Russie, la R.S.S. d'Ukraine, la R.S.S. de Biélo-russie et la R.S.S. transcaucasienne. |
1904 Dmitri Kabalevsky St Petersburg Russia, composer (In the Fire)
1897 Saks, mathematician
| 1884 Tojo Hideki,
dictatorial Japanese Prime Minister during World War II, war criminal Born in Tokyo, Tojo graduated from the Imperial Military Academy and the Military Staff College, then was sent to Berlin as Japan's military attaché after World War I. Having already earned a reputation for sternness and discipline, Tojo was given command of the 1st Infantry Regiment upon return to Japan. In 1937, he was made chief of staff of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, China. Returning again to his homeland, Tojo assumed the office of vice-minister of war and quickly took the lead in the military's increasing control of Japanese foreign policy, advocating the signing of the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in 1940 that made Japan an "Axis" power. In July of 1940, he was made minister of war and soon clashed with the Prime Minister, Prince Fumimaro Konoye, who had been fighting to reform his government by demilitarizing its politics. In October, Konoye resigned because of increasing tension with Tojo, who succeeded as prime minister while holding on to his offices of army minister and war minister, and assuming the offices of minister of commerce and of industry as well. Tojo, now a virtual dictator, quickly promised a "New Order in Asia," and toward this end supported the bombing of Pearl Harbor despite the misgivings of several of his generals. Tojo's aggressive policies paid big dividends early on, with major territorial gains in Indochina and the South Pacific. But despite Tojo's increasing control over his own country, even assuming the position of the chief of the general staff, he could not control the determination of the United States, which began beating back the Japanese in the South Pacific. When Saipan fell to the US Marines and Army, Tojo's government collapsed. Upon Japan's surrender, Tojo tried to commit suicide by shooting himself with an American .38 pistol but was saved by an American physician who gave him a transfusion of American blood. He lived only to be convicted of war crimes by an international tribunal--and was hanged on 22 December 1948. |
In British South Africa, the Transvaal province is declared an independent
Boer republic, setting off an armed conflict with Britain that serves as
a precursor for the South African Boer War two decades later. Boers, also
known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers
of southern Africa. At the end of the Napoleonic wars, Britain took possession
of the Dutch Cape colony, sparking resistance from the independence-minded
Boers, who resented the Anglicization of South Africa and Britain's anti-slavery
policies. In 1833, the Boers began an exodus into African tribal territory,
where they founded the republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.
The two new republics lived peaceably with
their British neighbors until 1867, when the discovery of diamonds and gold
in the region made conflict between the Boer states and Britain inevitable.
Following declarations of independence from the Boer states during the 1880s,
minor fighting with Britain ensued before the outbreak of full-scale war
in 1899. In 1902, after three years of fighting, Britain is victorious in
the South African Boer War, and in 1910, the Union of South Africa is created
within the British Empire, comprising the two Boer republics and the old
Cape and Natal colonies.
1880 Alfred Einstein, German-born US musicologist and critic who died on 13 February 1952. (not to be confused with THE Albert Einstein).
1879 Ramana Maharshi, Hindu philosopher and yogi, who died on 14 April 1950.
1879 The Pirates of Penzance, by Gilbert and Sullivan, is first performed, at Paignton, Devon, England.
1873 Alfred “Al” Smith [photo >], Catholic, 4 times governor of New York, 1928 Democratic Party presidential nominee (he lost all but 8 of the 48 state to Republican Herbert Hoover). He died on 04 October 1944.
1869 Stephen Leacock Canada, economist/humorist/professor
1867 Simon Guggenheim, [< portrait] 5th of the 7 sons of mining tycoon Meyer Guggenheim (01 Feb 1828 – 15 Mar 1905), brother of Daniel Guggenheim (09 July 1856 – 28 Sep 1930) and of Solomon Guggenheim (1861-1949), US senator for Colorado (1907-1913), president of the American Smelting and Refining Company (1919-1941). He died on 02 November 1941. Philanthropist founder in 1925 (in memory of his son John Simon, who died on 26 April 1922) of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to award fellowships to aid artists and scholars studying abroad (not to be confused with the Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation, the Daniel Guggenheim Foundation for the Promotion of Aeronautics, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, or the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation for the advancement of art). [The 6th son of Meyer, Ben Guggenheim died in the sinking of the Titanic, on 15 April 1912]
