History: April 27

April 27

4977BC Johannes Kepler's date for the creation of universe.

1296 Battle of Dunbar: The English under Edward I crush a Scottish army under the Earl of Athol.

1509 Pope Julius II excommunicates the Italian state of Venice.


1522 Death: Ferdinand Magellan, Spanish explorer, after being struck by a poisoned arrow during a skirmish with warriors on the Island of Mactan. His expedition, which had set sail from Spain, more than 18 months earlier, with five ships and 270 men, is usually considered the first to circumnavigate the globe.


1565 Cebu City is established; the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

1737 Birth: Edward Gibson, in England, historian, author; Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire.


1805 Barbary War: A force led by US Marines captures the Moslem city of Derna, on the shores of Tripoli. "...At long last, on April 25, they arrived at Derna. Surely by then, many in this small army must have been happy at the prospect of battle, as opposed to dying a miserable death in the desert. A message was sent to the governor of Derna to surrender. His defiant reply was, "My head or yours." Shortly after this, the attacking force was bolstered by the arrival of the USS Argus, USS Hornet, and USS Nautilus in the harbor.


Lt. Presley Neville O'Bannon

It was decided that Hamet and his Mamelukes would attack the governor's castle, while O'Bannon, with his Americans, along with the Greeks and Turks, would lead an assault on the harbor fort. The naval guns would assist by bombarding the objectives. As the attack began, the firing from the governor's castle proved too much for Hamet's force, and they held back. With enemy reinforcements known to be on the way, the attackers were in dire need of a quick victory. Eaton ordered O'Bannon to lead his men in a frontal assault on the harbor fort. Two hours of desperate fighting ensued, but finally O'Bannon and his men drove the Tripolitans from the fort and captured the guns there before they could be spiked. This would prove to be important. O'Bannon had carried a U.S. flag with him, and now, for the first time in history, the Stars and Stripes was raised over foreign soil..."


1822 Birth: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States, in Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio. "...The best evidence of the changes that had occurred in warfare from Jomini to Clausewitz can be found in the campaigns of Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. The latter was born Hiram Ulysses Grant in Ohio but through confusion at West Point he became Ulysses Simpson Grant. Appointed to the military academy, he found it distasteful and hoped that Congress would abolish the institution, freeing him. He excelled only in horsemanship for that he had displayed a capability early in life and graduated in 1843, 2lst out of 39 graduates...In the postwar reorganization of the army he was promoted to full general in 1866 and oversaw the military portion of Reconstruction and the reduction of the army. During Andrew Johnson's fight with the Radical Republicans in Congress Grant was in an awkward position. He was ordered to replace the suspended Edwin M. Stanton as secretary of war, in violation of the Tenure of Office Act. He weathered the storm and became the party's nominee for president in 1868. Elected, he served two terms during which-although he personally remained untainted-there were many scandals, especially in relation to the Whiskey Tax and the appointment of Indian agents. Despite his interest in creating a peace with the Indians, Custer's Massacre occurred during his tenure. Also the freedmen lost much ground during his term, as the white supremacists regained control in the Southern states. During his term the problems with England evolving from the Civil War were resolved and an attempt to gain Santo Domingo for the United States failed. Thwarted for a third term, he embarked on a two-year tour around the world..."


1828 The London Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park opens.

1865 Days after the end of the Civil War, the worst maritime disaster in American history occurs when the steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,100 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing all but 400 of those aboard. The Mississippi, with its dikes and levees damaged by four years of war, stands at flood stage, and most of those who die are drowned in the surging river. All but 100 of those killed are Union veterans, and most are Yankee survivors of Andersonville and other brutal Confederate prisoner of war camps. Many mourn the loss of these men, who survive the deplorable conditions at the Confederate camps only to die during their long-awaited trip home. The Sultana, overloaded with passengers, explodes just north of Memphis, Tennessee, in the early morning hours. The cause of the blast is determined to be a boiler malfunction.

1880 Francis Clarke and M. G. Foster patent the electrical hearing aid.

1899 Volkishness: Father Georg (Adolf Josef Lanz) renounces his holy vows and leaves Heiligenkreuz Abbey. The abbey register refers to his leaving as a "surrender to the lies of the world and carnal love." (Daim)

1909 A group known as the Young Turks depose Sultan Abdul Hamid II, three days after a liberation army had taken Constantinople.

1913 The dead body of 14-year-old Mary Phagan is found is found in a pencil factory in Marietta, Georgia. Leo Frank, a 29-year-old Jew is convicted of the crime even though Miss Phagan left a note saying she had been assaulted by a Negro. After Frank's sentence was commuted by the governor, Tom Watson, a Georgia demagogue, denounced him as "King of the Jews." (See Aug 16, 1915)


1917 WW1: April 27 - May 20 Dispatch Runner Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler serves at the front with 3 Company, 16 Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment at Arras. A later Hitler reminiscence: "…in 1917, at the battle of Arras, the situation was such that the Richthofen Squadron was able to clear the sky of all enemy aircraft…I myself witnessed part of an engagement in which the last remnants of a formation of ten aircraft were shot down. We had the sky to ourselves."--Hitler

1922 Yakut ASSR is formed in Russian SFSR.


1922 Weimar: Munich is treated to another speech by the drummer of the Nationalist Right, Adolf Hitler. "...As a foundation for a new currency, the property of those who are not our blood must do service. If families who have lived in Germany for a thousand years are now expropriated, we must do the same to the Jewish usurers..."

1927 Weimar: Adolf Hitler informs the authorities in Linz that he wishes to renounce his Austrian citizenship. (See April 30) (Maser)

1927 Birth: Coretta Scott King, civil rights activist.

1932 Death: Writer Hart Crane jumps over the side of the ship Orizaba in his pajamas, and drowns while traveling from Mexico to the United States. Crane, racked with self-doubt about his ability to write good poetry, and agonizing over his binges in homosexuality, had been mentally unstable for some time. Life preservers are thrown to him, but he makes no effort to reach them. The ship halts in the water, ten miles off the Florida coast, but never recovers his body.

1934 The Swiss government informs Germany that a mutual arrangement between the two countries must take place without prejudice on racial origins of Swiss citizens. (Edelheit)

1937 The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco opens. At 4,200 feet long, it is the world's longest suspension bridge.

1938 The Woodhead Commission arrives in Palestine to study the Peel Commissions partition plan.


1938 Geraldine Apponyi becomes the first American woman to reign as a Queen when she weds King Zog of Albania.

1939 The British House of Commons votes to conscript men of 20 for military service. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declares that it is a departure from cherished traditions, but vital to send the right message to Herr Hitler. Conscripts face six months of intensive training before transfer to the Territorials.


1941 WW2: German tanks roll into Athens. The King of Greece and Government flee to Crete. Churchill, in a 'Report on the War' radio speech, reviews recent events and reasserts the importance of the battle of the Atlantic: "...You will remember how, in November, the Italian dictator fell upon the unoffending Greeks and without reason and without warning invaded their country, and how the Greek nation, reviving their classic frame, hurled his armies back at the double-quick. Meanwhile, Hitler, who had been creeping and worming his way steadily forward, doping and poisoning and pinioning one after the other, Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria, suddenly made it clear that he would come to the rescue of his fellow-criminal. The lack of unity among the Balkan States had enabled him to build up a mighty army in their midst. While nearly all the Greek troops were busy beating the Italians the tremendous German military machine suddenly towered up on their other frontier. In their mortal peril the Greeks turned to us for succour. Strained as were our resources we could not say them nay. By solemn guarantee, given before the war, Great Britain had promised them her help. They declared they would fight for their native soil even if neither of their neighbours made common cause with them and even if we left them to their fate. But we could not do that. There are rules against that kind of thing and to break those rules would be fatal to the honour of the British Empire, without which we could neither hope nor deserve to win this hard war. Military defeat or miscalculation can be remedied. The fortunes of war are fickle and changing. But an act of shame would deprive us of the respect which we now enjoy throughout the world and thus would sap the vitals of' our strength. During the last year we have gained by our bearing and conduct a potent hold upon the sentiments of the people of the United States. Never, never in our long history have we been held in such admiration and regard across the Atlantic Ocean. In that Great Republic, now in much travail and stress of soul, it is customary to use all the many valid, solid arguments about American interests and American safety which depend on the destruction of Hitler and his foul gang and even fouler doctrine. But, in the long run-believe me for I know-the action of the United States will be dictated not by methodical calculations of profit and loss but by moral sentiment..."

1941

1942 Holocaust: In his "Comments on the General Plan for the East," a plan formulated by the SS, Dr. Wetzel mentions the anthropological investigation, supported by the DFG, and conducted by Professor Abel (a department head at the KWI of Anthropology), involving Soviet citizens in German prisoner-of-war camps: "...he [Abel] gave a stern warning that the Russians should not be underrated... In these circumstances, Abel saw only two possible solutions: either the extermination of the Russian people or a Germanization of its Nordic elements." (Science)

1945 Holocaust: During a death march from Rehmsdorf, a satellite camp of Buchenwald, 1,000 prisoners are killed with machine-gun fire and grenades at Marienbad station. Another 1,200 are killed as the march continues toward Theresienstadt, where 500 are killed on arrival. (Atlas)

1945 WW2: The second Republic of Austria is formed.

1945 WW2: The Allies reject peace offers by German SS chief Heinrich Himmler, insisting on unconditional surrender.

1946 The first commercial, carrier ship to be equipped with radar, the SS African Star, is placed in service.

1950 Britain recognizes the state of Israel one day after its founding.

1950 South Africa passes the Group Areas Act, segregating races.

1950 Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies introduces a bill to outlaw the Communist Party.

1957 Death: Mario A. Gianini, creator of the maraschino cherry.

1960 The submarine, Tullibee, is launched from Groton, Connecticut; the first sub to be equipped with closed-circuit television.

1960 The French-administered UN Trust Territory of Togoland gains independence as the Republic of Togo.

1961 Sierra Leone gains independence within the Commonwealth from Great Britain and parliament holds its first session with Sir Milton Margai as prime minister.

1964 John Lennon's book, In His Own Write, is published in the United States, with an initial print run of 90,000 copies.

1968 Abortion is legalized in Britain.

1973 Watergate: Acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigns.

1976 Rock singer David Bowie is detained on a train trip from Russia to Poland after Nazi books and mementos are found in his luggage.

1978 Afghanistan's armed forces seize power, establishing a government based on Islamic principles. President Daoud is killed and new President Nur Mohammed Taraki proclaims the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.

1978 Watergate: Convicted Watergate defendant John Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months.

1981 Birth: The computer mouse. For $16,000, buyers can receive a Xerox computer system with a new invention by Douglas Englebart - the mouse. Englebart had actually invented the mouse in 1963 and patented the mouse (then named: X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System) in 1970.

1987 The US Justice Department bars Austrian Chancellor Kurt Waldheim from entering the US, due to his collaboration with Nazi Germany during WW2.

1989 Beijing students take over Tiananmen Square in China.

1990 Joe Slovo, South African Communist leader, returns home to join peace talks after 27 years in exile.


1990 The aperture door of the Hubble Space Telescope is opened by ground controllers as the space shuttle Discovery, which had carried the Hubble into orbit, prepares to return home.

1992 Russia and most of the other former Soviet republics are welcomed into the free-market fold as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank approve them for membership.

1993 Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia after 30 years of civil war following a UN-monitored referendum.

1993 China and Taiwan opens two days of talks in Singapore, their highest-level negotiations since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

1999 A week after the Columbine High School massacre, President Clinton calls for new gun control measures.

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2003 A sabotage attack on a captured ammunition dump brings carnage to a residential area of Baghdad.

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