November 23

1889 The jukebox makes its debut, at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. (AP) [Bit off-topic, but I couldn't resist it.—Ed.]

1903 Singer Enrico Caruso makes his American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, appearing in "Rigoletto." (AP)

1915 World War I: Battle of Ctesiphon in Mesopotamia: Fighting between Allied and Turkish forces continues into a second day during the Battle of Ctesiphon (or Selman Pak), on the Tigris River in Mesopotamia, modern-day Iraq. [For further details, Click here.]

1916 World War I: Belgium: Governor Ferdinand von Bissing on Germany's Policy of Deporting Belgians to Germany:

The extensive unemployment which prevails in Belgium is a great social evil and the employment of idle Belgians in Germany brings them great benefit.  I said to your Eminence, on my arrival in Belgium, that I wanted to heal the wounds inflicted by the war upon the Belgian people; the recent measures are not in the least in contradiction with this declaration. I must also consider as a misrepresentation of facts the way your Eminence sets aside the many and often successful efforts which I have made to revive Belgium's economic life with the remark that, on the contrary, unemployment has been artificially created.

1918 World War I: General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck surrenders his command in Africa.

1923 Various:

Weimar: German army commander General von Seeckt bans the NSDAP and KPD.

Weimar: Germany's Stresemann government falls to the SPD.

1926 Weimar: Hitler gives a speech to the party faithful. Short Excerpt.

1933 Various:

Romania: Premier Ion Duca outlaws the anti-Semitic Cuzist Party and the Garda de Fier (Iron Guard).

Spanish Civil War: The Monarchists are victorious in Spain.

1936 Holocaust: The Nazis blacklist some 2,000 works written by Jewish authors.

1938 Holocaust: All Jewish-owned plants and retail businesses in Germany are dissolved by a special administrative order. Jews are completely eliminated from German economic life.

1939 Various:

Holocaust: Poland: Mandatory wearing of the Star of David by Jews is introduced by the Germans.

World War II: Wartime speech by Hitler:

For the first time in 67 years it must be made clear we do not have a two-front war to wage. That which has been desired since 1870, and considered as impossible to achieve, has come to pass. For the first time in our history, we have to fight on only one front, the other front is at present free. But no one can know how long that will remain so. I have doubted for a long time whether I should strike in the East and then in the West. Basically I did not organize the armed forces in order not to strike. The decision to strike was always in me. Earlier or later I wanted to solve the problem. Under pressure it was decided that the East was to be attacked first.

1940 World War II: Romania becomes an Axis "power":

On this day in 1940, Romania signs the Tripartite Pact, officially allying itself with Germany, Italy, and Japan.

As early as 1937, Romania had come under control of a fascist government that bore great resemblance to that of Germany's, including similar anti-Jewish laws. Romania's king, Carol II, dissolved the government a year later because of a failing economy and installed Romania's Orthodox Patriarch as prime minister. But the Patriarch's death and peasant uprising provoked renewed agitation by the fascist Iron Guard paramilitary organization, which sought to impose order. In June 1940, the Soviet Union co-opted two Romanian provinces, and the king searched for an ally to help protect it and appease the far right within its own borders. So on July 5, 1940, Romania allied itself with Nazi Germany—only to be invaded by its "ally" as part of Hitler's strategy to create one huge eastern front against the Soviet Union.

King Carol abdicated on September 6, 1940, leaving the country in the control of fascist Prime Minister Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. Signing the Tripartite Pact was now inevitable. Originally formulated in Berlin on September 27, the pact formally recognized an alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan, termed the "Axis." As more European nations became subject to fascist domination and invasion, they too were drawn into the pact, albeit as unequal partners (Hungary was made an Axis "power" on November 20). Now it was Romania's turn.

While Romania would recapture the territory lost to the Soviet Union when the Germans invaded Russia, it would also have to endure the Germans' raping its resources as part of the Nazi war effort. Besides taking control of Romania's oil wells and installations, Hitler would help himself to Romania's food crops, causing a food shortage for native Romanians. (History.com)

1941 World War II: Various:

Russian Front: In the Moscow sector, Germans forces continue to advance. Some are within 35 miles of Moscow.

Joseph Goebbels verbally attacks Britain:

The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, as is well known, is a close friend of alcohol. His relations to the truth are a bit more strained. He has been on a war footing ever since his entry into political life. He is one of the world's best-known liars."

1942 Various:

Stalingrad: The South-West and Stalingrad Fronts link up. Sixth and part of Fourth Panzer Armies, comprising 22 divisions and some 330,000 men, are trapped. The Roumanian Third Army has been destroyed and the Fourth badly battered. The task is to destroy the trapped German army, but the Soviet forces are too weak to do so immediately.

Australia: Japanese planes bomb Port Darwin.

1944 World War II: The US 7th Army under General Patch takes Strasbourg.

1954 Wall St: The Dow Jones industrial average finally surpasses it's pre-crash high - 25 years after Black Tuesday - when it closes at 382.74. (AP)

1971 The People's Republic of China is given China's permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Edited by Levi Bookin (Copy editor)
levi.bookin@gmail.com

 


 







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