April 29
1429 Hundred Years War: Joan of Arc enters Orleans. "...The Hundred Years’ War lasted longer than the name suggests. It actually lasted from 1338 to 1453, a total of 115 years. In 1328, the last Captain king of France died. No descendant lived to inherit the throne. King Edward III of England sent an army to enforce his own claims to the French crown. Thus the great war began. Since the English had control of half of France, the French did not have high hopes of a victory. However, in 1428, heavenly voices called upon a young girl in the Lorraine Valley to save France and have the Dauphin Charles VII crowned king. Jeanne D’Arc, or Joan of Arc, became the hero France needed to save their desperate country. She led the French army to a glorious victory at Orléans. Joan’s brilliant leadership during the Battle of Orléans boosted her countrymen’s self-esteem, enabling them to end the Hundred Years’ War in their favor....Joan rallied her troops outside the Saint Loupe Gate. On the side of the Saint-Loupe Gate, "the English were readying themselves for an active defense when Joan arrived before them, and as soon as the French saw Joan, they began to raise a shout, and took the Bastille and fortress" (Pernoud 44). The French, stimulated by the extraordinary victory at the Saint-Loupe Gate, had difficulties controlling their high spirits. The skirmish at Saint-Loupe Gate commenced the beginning of the English downfall not only at Orléans, but also for the entire country of France. The complete battle of Orléans took place between Oct 29, 1428, and May 8, 1429. She recaptured the city of Orléans in just 10 days. The French fought long and hard at least eight months for Orléans. "The French, universally judged to be utterly defeated, had risen and countered the greatest military effort of their conquerors … and this feat was credited to a young girl of sixteen or seventeen..."
1628 Thirty Years War: Sweden and Denmark sign a treaty for the defense of Stralsund.
1661 Chinese forces of the Ming dynasty occupy Taiwan. "Aborigines were the first people to live in Taiwan. Some Chinese people started coming to Taiwan in the 500's. Still the big settlement didn't start until the 1600's. Dutch traders filled the ports of Taiwan from 1624 to 1661. A Chinese Ming dynasty official named Koxinga ran them out. Koxinga wanted to use Taiwan as a attack base against Manchus. Note: Taiwan is now the seat of the Nationalist Chinese government and since 1949 has claimed to have jurisdiction over the People's Republic of China on the mainland. Of course, the People's Republic claims that Taiwan should be under their rule, but both agree that Taiwan is part of China. Taiwan's population is around 21 million. Almost all the people living in Taiwan are Chinese. They moved to Taiwan mostly during the 1800's. Two million more arrived when communists took over the mainland in 1949. Three-fourths of people in Taiwan live in cities and towns. In Taiwan, folks speak Mandarin Chinese."
1667 Birth: John Arbuthnot, Scottish writer; Alexander Pope.
1813 A patent for rubber is given to J.F. Hummel of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1818 Birth: Alexander II, Tsar of Russia, 1855-81.
1852 The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus is published.
1861 US Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes against seceding from the Union.
1863 Birth: William Randolph Hearst, publisher.
1879 Electric arc lights are used for the first time, in Cleveland, Ohio.
1901 Birth: Hirohito, Japanese emperor. "By traditional (and official) count, he was Japan's 124th emperor, but Hirohito ranks first in length of tenure. His reign spanned the years between 1921, when he became regent for his ailing father, and his death in 1989--a record of regal endurance comparable to those of Austria-Hungary's Franz Josef and Britain's Victoria. At his formal accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1926, he took the official name of Showa--which translates as "Enlightened Peace." Ironically, his era was characterized by the brutal military invasion of China, followed by his country's most disastrous war, then its unprecedented foreign occupation and, ultimately, Japan's transformation into the world's second economic super-power. In an odd way his presence and personality became the one persistent unifying factor for his countrymen in a century of sharp and unexpected transformation. The metamorphosis of his imperial image from the plumed militarist on horseback to the democratic monarch waving to crowds with his crushed fedora remains one of history's most puzzling, leaving basic questions about his ability and his legacy..."
1913 An improved version of the zipper is patented by Swedish-born American-engineer Gideon Sundback of Hoboken, New Jersey, as a 'separable fastener.'
1916 Easter Rising: The five-day-old revolt in Dublin collapses as Irish nationalists surrender to British authorities.
1916 WW1: In Mesopotamia, General Townshend's besieged and starving force at Kut-el-Amara capitulates, surrendering 2,070 British and 6,000 Indian troops to the Turks. The British had already taken 21,000 casualties in a series of unsuccessful rescue attempts.
1917 WW1: Almost the entire French army, disheartened and exhausted after the disastrous Nivelle offensive, rebels in mutiny.
1919 Weimar: The German delegation headed by Graf Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau, the German foreign minister, arrives at Versailles.
1927 Construction of the Spirit of St. Louis is completed after two months, at a cost of $10,580. The plane is named in honor of Lindbergh's financial supporters in St. Louis, Missouri.
1930 The film All Quiet On The Western Front opens in the US.
1933 David Ben-Gurion is attacked by members of BETAR, the Zionist youth movement, in Riga, Latvia. (Edelheit)
1940 WW2: King Hakkon of Norway and his government are evacuated from Molde by the British, taking with them the national gold reserves.
1941
1941 WW2: A violent, Pro-Fascist revolt in Iraq is put down by British troops.
1942 WW2: The Japanese army captures the town of Lashio, cutting off the Burma Road between China and India.
1944 WW2: US forces attack Truk in the Caroline Islands, dropping more than 800 tons of bombs.
1945 WW2: Hitler signs his last political testament, which had been quickly typed by Traudl Junge, one of his personal secretaries. "Since 1914, when as a volunteer, I made my modest contribution in the World War which was forced upon the Reich, over thirty years have passed. In these three decades, only love for my people and loyalty to my people have guided me in all my thoughts, actions, and life. They gave me the strength to make the most difficult decisions, such as no mortal has yet had to face. I have exhausted my time, my working energy, and my health in these three decades. is untrue that I or anybody else in Germany wanted war in 1939. It was desired and instigated exclusively by those international statesmen who were either of Jewish origin or working for Jewish interests. I have made so many offers for the reduction and elimination of armaments, which posterity cannot explain away for all eternity, that the responsibility for the outbreak of this war cannot rest on me. Furthermore, I never desired that after the first terrible World War a second war should arise against England or even against America. Centuries may pass, but out of the ruins of our cities and monuments of art there will arise anew the hatred for the people who alone are ultimately responsible: International Jewry and its helpers! As late as three days before the outbreak of the German-Polish War, I proposed to the British Ambassador in Berlin a solution for the German-Polish problem -- similar to the problem of the Saar area, under international control. This offer cannot be explained away, either. It was only rejected because the responsible circles in English politics wanted the war, partly in the expectation of business advantages, partly driven by propaganda promoted by international Jewry. But I left no doubt about the fact that if the peoples of Europe were again only regarded as so many packages of stock shares by these international money and finance conspirators, then that race, too, which is the truly guilty party in this murderous struggle would also have to be held to account: the Jews! I further left no doubt that this time we would not permit millions of European children of Aryan descent to die of hunger, nor millions of grown-up men to suffer death, nor hundreds of thousands of women and children to be burned and bombed to death in their cities, without truly guilty party having to atone for its guilt, even if through more humane means..."
1945 WW2: Russian troops drive toward Hitler's bunker in three main attacks.
1945 WW2: At 6 PM, Hitler announces to his staff that he and his wife, Eva, are going to die unless some miracle intervenes. He then passes out vials of cyanide, after having his favorite wolfhound, Blondi (above, right, in happier times), put to death to ensure that Himmler's SS produced product is what it should be. It is. "As I did not consider that I could take responsibility, during the years of struggle, of contracting a marriage, I have now decided, before the closing of my earthly career, to take as my wife that girl who, after many years of faithful friendship, entered, of her own free will, the practically besieged town in order to share her destiny with me. At her own desire she goes as my wife with me into death. It will compensate us for what we both lost through my work in the service of my people. What I possess belongs - in so far as it has any value - to the Party. Should this no longer exist, to the State; should the State also be destroyed, no further decision of mine is necessary. My pictures, in the collections which I have bought in the course of years, have never been collected for private purposes, but only for the extension of a gallery in my home town of Linz on Donau. It is my most sincere wish that this bequest may be duly executed. I nominate as my Executor my most faithful Party comrade, Martin Bormann. He is given full legal authority to make all decisions. He is permitted to take out everything that has a sentimental value or is necessary for the maintenance of a modest simple life, for my brothers and sisters, also above all for the mother of my wife and my faithful co-workers who are well known to him, principally my old Secretaries Frau Winter etc. who have for many years aided me by their work. I myself and my wife - in order to escape the disgrace of deposition or capitulation - choose death. It is our wish to be burnt immediately on the spot where I have carried out the greatest part of my daily work in the course of a twelve years' service to my people." Signed as witnesses: Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Martin Bormann, Colonel Nicholaus von Below; Given in Berlin, 29th April 1945, 4:00 a.m. Signed: Adolf Hitler
1945 WW2: German forces in Italy sign an unconditional surrender at Caserta.
1945 WW2: Dachau is liberated by the US 45th Infantry Division. Some 20-30 SS men were said to have been captured. Eyewitnesses said 34 of the 200 guards captured were murdered by the Americans after surrendering. The camp inmates are said to have torn apart 15-20 informers and killed all the Capos, who were described for the most part as common German criminals. Also taking part is the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, part of the most decorated regiment in the history of the US military (the 442nd regimental combat team). Note: The 522nd is made up entirely of second generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei).
1945 WW2: Thousands of photographs are taken at Dachau, and throughout the following week. Hundreds of bodies still lie in the perimeter ditch and are scattered in the spaces between the huts. Some are so horrible that they have never been reproduced. During the last year of the war about 40,000 inmates perished at Dachau, 80 percent were Jews. Note: After the war, Dachau serves as a German prisoner-of-war camp, and during a series of war crimes trials, 260 SS functionaries are sentenced to death. (Atlas)
1945 WW2: The terms of surrender of the German armies in Italy are signed; Venice and Mestre are captured by the Allies.
1946 28 former Japanese leaders are indicted as war criminals.
1965 The Nam: The Australian government announces that it has decided to aid the US by sending troops to Vietnam.
1965 Malta becomes the 18th member of the Council of Europe.
1974 Watergate: President Richard Nixon announces that he is releasing edited transcripts of some secretly recorded White House tapes related to Watergate.
1975 The Nam: In the closing hours of the Vietnam War, the last US troops are evacuated from Saigon.
1979 Jaime Roldos of the Concentration of Popular Forces party is elected president of Ecuador.
1985 Four gunmen escape with nearly $8 million in cash stolen from the Wells Fargo armored car company in New York.
1986 An arson fire destroys more than 1 million books in the Los Angeles Central Library.
1992 Rioting erupts in Los Angeles after a jury in Simi Valley, California, acquits four white police officers of nearly all charges in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. Fifty-three people will die in three days of unrest.
1995 Ten days after the blast, rescue workers in Oklahoma City continue the grim task of searching for bodies and pulling debris from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, where 168 people died.
1999 The Reverend Jesse Jackson arrives in Belgrade on a mission to win freedom for three American prisoners of war held by Yugoslavia.
1999 The Palestinians declare they will not declare statehood on 4 May, as previously announced.
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