December 5
1349 500 Jews are massacred at Nuremberg in Black death riots.
1355 Death: Jan III, duke of Brabant/Limburg.
1484 Innocent VIII issues his famous 'Witch Bull,' ordering an inquisition to systematically discover, torture and execute witches throughout Europe. It led to the ease with which witchcraft is charged and punished, even in the American colonies two centuries later. (Bradley)
1496 Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I.
1545 Birth: Janus Dousa (Johan van de Does), Dutch politician, poet.
1547 Birth: Ubbo Emmius (van Embden), Dutch-Frisian humanist, historian.
1560 Death: François II, King of France (1559-60), at 16.
1594 Death: Gerardus Mercator, Flemish philosopher, cartographer, at 82.
1661 Birth: Robert Haley, earl of Oxford, English premier (Whig, 1710-14).
1757 Battle at Leuthen: The Prussian army beats the Austrians.
1766 James Christie, founder of the famous auctioneers, holds his first sale in London.
1770 Death: James Stirling, Scottish mathematician; Formula of Stirling, at 78.
1776 Phi Beta Kappa, the first American Greek letter scholastic fraternity, is founded at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia. (Bradley)
1782 Birth: Martin Van Buren, in Kinderhook, New York, 8th US President (1837-41): The first born in the United States of America.
1784 Death: Phillis Wheatley, first important black poet in America, in Boston.
1791 Death: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer, of typhus, in Vienna. He is buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.
1792 French Revolution: The trial of France's King Louis XVI begins.
1792 George Washington is reelected as US President, John Adams as Vice-President. "...usually leaning upon Hamilton for advice, Washington supported his plan for the assumption of state debts, concurred in the constitutionality of the bill establishing the Bank of the United States, and favored enactment of tariffs by Congress to provide federal revenue and protect domestic manufacturers. Washington took various other steps to strengthen governmental authority, including suppression of the Whisky Rebellion (1794). To unify the country, he toured the Northeast in 1789 and the South in 1791. During his tenure, the government moved from New York to Philadelphia (1790), he superintended planning for relocation to the District of Columbia, and he laid the cornerstone of the Capitol (1793). In foreign affairs, despite opposition from the Senate, Washington exerted dominance. He fostered United States interests on the North American continent by treaties with Britain and Spain. Yet, until the nation was stronger, he insisted on the maintenance of neutrality. For example, when the French Revolution created war between France and Britain, he ignored the remonstrances of pro-French Jefferson and pro-English Hamilton. Although many people encouraged Washington to seek a third term, he was weary of politics and refused to do so..."
1804 Thomas Jefferson is reelected as US President, George Clinton as Vice-President. "...Although he was still the undisputed leader of his party, Jefferson encountered greater difficulties, on both the domestic and foreign fronts, in his second term than in his first. One of the domestic problems was the Burr-Conspiracy. Former vice president Burr stood on trial for treason. But the rulings of judge John Marshall made conviction impossible. And Jefferson erred gravely in saying in advance that Burr's guilt was beyond dispute. One of the largest foreign problems was the Embargo adopted in december 1807. It was regarded by Jefferson as the only alternative to war and submission. The act barred all exports to Britain and France. But it had less effect abroad than had been expected and caused economic difficulty at home. Toward the end of his administation, he assented to the embargo's repeal, to save the Union, he said. A more moderate measure was adopted, but it did not avert war with Britian in 1812.."
1824 Birth: Titian James Coffey, Union Attorney General.
1826 Birth: John Benjamin Sanborn, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers).
1830 Birth: Christina Rossetti, in London, poet (Winter Rain, Passing Away).
1831 Former President John Quincy Adams takes his seat as a member of the House of Representatives.
1832 Andrew Jackson is reelected as President of US, Martin Van Buren as Vice-President. "...Jackson's presidency defined itself in two central episodes: the nullification crisis and the "Bank War." Jackson took office amid mounting sectional acrimony over the "American System" program of fostering economic development through transportation subsidies and through protective tariffs on imports to aid American manufacturers. Many Southerners believed these policies promoted Northern growth at their expense. Jackson curbed the American System by vetoing road and canal bills beginning with the Maysville Road in 1830. However, in 1832 the state of South Carolina declared the existing tariff unconstitutional, null and void. The state took steps to block tariff collections within its borders. Though he favored a lower tariff, Jackson acted quickly to uphold federal supremacy -- by force, if necessary. In a ringing proclamation, he declared the Union indivisible and branded nullification as treason. Congress reduced the tariff in 1833, defusing the crisis. The Second Bank of the United States was a corporation chartered by Congress to provide a national paper currency and manage the government's finances. Like Thomas Jefferson, Jackson believed such a bank to be dangerous and unconstitutional. In 1832, he vetoed a bill to extend the Bank's charter beyond its scheduled expiration in 1836. Jackson's veto message counterposed the virtuous plain people against the Bank's privileged stockholders. The next year Jackson moved the federal government's deposits from the Bank to state-chartered banks, triggering a brief financial panic and prompting the Senate to censure him in 1834. Undeterred, Jackson launched a broader assault against all forms of government-granted privilege, especially corporate charters. His Farewell Address in 1837 warned of an insidious "money power." Jackson's Bank War and its populistic, egalitarian rhetoric shaped the platform and rhetoric of his new Democratic party. (His policies also arguably helped trigger a financial panic in 1837, which deepened into a severe depression.) By casting himself as the people's tribune against the moneyed elite and their tools in government, he introduced an enduring theme in American politics. He also carved out a stronger role for the Presidency.."
1835 Death: August von Platen, writer, at 39.
1837 An uprising under William Lyon Mackenzie takes place in Canada.
1839 Birth: George Armstrong Custer, Union cavalry leader who will meet his fate at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
1846 C.F. Schoenbein obtains a patent for cellulose nitrate explosive.
1848 President James Polk confirms the discovery of gold in California, leading to the 'gold rush' of 1848 and 1849.
1848 Death: Joseph Mohr, at 56, Austrian Roman Catholic vicar and author in 1818 of the enduring Christmas hymn, Stille Nacht (Silent Night).
1859 Death: Louis Poinsot, French mathematician, instrument maker, at 82.
1861 In the US Congress, hundreds of petitions and bills calling for the abolition of slavery are introduced. Note: The above mentioned John Quincy Adams, son of the only Founding Father to have never owned a slave, will push these petitions session after session, to the utter dismay of Southerners. While JQA's presidency was unsuccessful, his career in the Congress is one of the most exemplary in history.
1861 Birth: Armando V. Diaz, Italian marshal, minister of War (1922-24).
1861 US Civil War: The Gatling gun is patented.
1861 US Civil War: The opportunistic Palmerston writes the Queen that Britian is in a better state than at any former time to inflict a severe blow upon the United States.
1862 US Civil War: Union General Ulysses S. Grant's cavalry receives a setback in an engagement on the Mississippi Central Railroad at Coffeeville, Mississippi.
1863 Birth: Paul P. Painlevé, French Prime Minister (1917, 1925), mathematician.
1864 US Civil War: Confederate General John Bell Hood sends Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry and a division of infantry toward Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
1867 Birth: Antti Aarne, Finnish sociologist (Verzeichnis is der Märchentypen).
1870 Death: Alexandre Dumas, writer; The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, at 68.
1876 The Stillson wrench is patented by Daniel C. Stillson of Somerville, Massachusetts; the first practical pipe wrench.
1879 The first automatic telephone switching system is patented.
1881 The 47th US Congress (1881-83) convenes.
1885 Birth: Dirk H.W. Filarski, Dutch painter, lithographer (Bergense School).
1887 Stanley's expedition reaches a plateau at Lake Albert, Congo.
1890 Birth: Fritz Lang, in Germany, pioneering film director (Metropolis, M).
1892 Anti-Semite Hermann Ahlwardt is elected to the German Reichstag.
1896 Birth: (Lady Huxley) Juliette Baillot, author.
1901 Birth: Werner Heisenberg, German physicist; will formulate the uncertainty principle (Nobel 1932).
1902 Birth: (Steve James) Strom Thurmond, former US Senator (D/R-South Carolina). Image Note: 2001 Cartoon.
1903 Birth: Cecil Frank Powell, in England, physicist; will discover pion (Nobel 1950).
1904 Russo-Japanese War: The Russian Fleet is destroyed by a Japanese sneak attack at Port Arthur.
1905 Henry Campbell-Bannerman becomes Liberal Prime Minister of England.
1907 Birth: Lin Piau, Chinese politician.
1909 George Taylor makes the first manned glider flight in Australia in a glider that he designed himself.
1911 Birth: Alfred Manessier, French painter of leaded windows.
1912 Birth: Maisie Fitter, editor, conservationist.
1912 Italy, Austria and Germany renew the Triple Alliance for six years.
1913 Britain outlaws the sending of arms to Ireland.
1916 WW1: David Lloyd George replaces Herbert Henry Asquith as the British prime minister.
1920 A plebiscite restores Constantine I to the Greek throne.
1921 The British reach an accord with the Irish revolutionary group Sinn Fein; Ireland is to become a free state. Note: This marks the end of the United Kingdom. (Bradley)
1922 Death: Samuel Muller Fzn, Dutch historian, archivist.
1925 Death: Wilhelmina E. Drucker [Lensing], Dutch feminist, at 78.
1925 Birth: Anastasio 'Tachito' Somoza Debayle, President of Nicaragua (1967-79).
1926 Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin debuts.
1927 Birth: Rama IX (Bhumibol Adulyadej), in Massachusetts, king of Thailand (1946- ).
1928 M.W. Miklas is elected President of Austria.
1929 The American League for Physical Culture (nudists) is barely organized this day in New York City.
1932 German physicist Albert Einstein is granted a US visa.
1933 America today toasts farewell to 14 dry years when Utah becomes the last of 36 states to ratify the 21st Amendment to the US Constitution, thus repealing the 18th Amendment, which had prohibited all alcohol. Prohibition had been widely evaded with 'bootlegging' falling under criminal control. This had led to gang warfare particularly in Chicago. FDR urges the nation to practice moderation. (5.32pm EST). (Bradley)
1933 Nazi Eugenics: Regulations for the enforcement of the German sterilization law are issued. Persons suffering from hereditary diseases can be exempted from sterilization if they have committed themselves or are already confined in an institution. Physicians objecting on grounds of conscience are not obligated to conduct or assist in sterilization's. (Lewy)
1934 Birth: Joan Didion, author, writer, essayist, novelist, journalist; Salvador, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play it as it Lays, The White Album.
1934 Italian and Ethiopian troops clash at the Ualual on the disputed Somali-Ethiopian border.
1935 The first commercial hydroponics operation is established, Montebello, California.
1936 Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR and Kirghiz SSR become constituent republics of the Soviet Union. The New Soviet Constitution in the Union promises universal suffrage, but the Communist Party remains the only legal political party.
1936 Edward VIII abdicates, but it won't be announced until 10 December. A popular carol this Christmas will be 'Hark the Herald Angels sing, Mrs Simpson's got our King.'
1937 The Lindberghs arrive in New York on a holiday visit after a two-year voluntary exile.
1937 Spanish Loyalists (Socialists) begin a last-ditch counteroffensive in the civil war. (Edelheit)
1938 Holocaust: The seventh ordinance of the Reich Citizenship Act orders a reduction in pensions for compulsorily retired Jewish officials.
1939 WW2: The Soviet Seventh Army reaches the Mannerheim Line, the main Finnish defenses.
1939 The Secret Diary of Anti-Hitler Conspirator Ulrich von Hassel: "I let Goerdeler know that I was coming to Berlin and would be glad to let him have further information concerning his Bosch business in the North. Hardly had I arrived at the Adlon when he entered my room. Although normally a man of great initiative, he was in utter despair. Incidentally, he often reminds me of Kapp. By his account, all opposition to the German invasion of Western Europe has collapsed on the part of the military leaders; even though Brauchitsch and Halder, just as all others, are convinced that the results will be disastrous. He said that they nevertheless believed they must obey orders. Goering, he informed me, was against it, as he always had been, but could not induce himself to offer any other resistance than a sort of sabotage based on the weather, which is causing widespread flooding in northern and certain Germany. The worst of it is that there is not the slightest cooperation between Brauchitsch and Goering. Goering dislikes Brauchitsch, and he, in turn, as most of the generals, is mistrustful of Goering's character in the highest degree. On the other hand, Brauchitsch, it seems, as many others, is under Hitler's spell. Goerdeler told me that Halder had presented the following reasons for obeying orders: [1] Ludendorff, too, acted in desperation in 1918, without in any way detracting from his historical reputation. One cannot believe one's ears. What has a general's historical reputation got to do with us? In any case this action stained his reputation, and most importantly - it proved wrong! [2] We need a great man. Such a man can only become known as result of his actions, and if he is not there, there is nothing to be done. That is no reason to commit a crime that will precipitate Germany into disaster. For even if we do win, it will necessarily be a Pyhric victory, even leaving out of account the internal destruction and demoralization to which a limit finally must be set, and the inconceivable atrocities in Poland, which are covering the German name with disgrace, and for which the army shares the responsibility. Keitel believes, however, that if we did invade Holland and Belgium, Italy would loin us. Pariani, who has been sacked, seems to have written him something to that effect. I do not believe it, especially now that the Russians, with our consent, have attacked (November 29, 1939) the Finland we once helped to liberate from them. Now we stand before the world in this brotherhood as a band of robbers. [3] Hitler should, after all, be given this last chance to free the German people from their helotry to English capitalism. It can be seen what an effect propaganda has had on the unsuspecting Germans. Now they are supposed to be practical politicians (Realpolitiker), because they were too emotional as politicians (Gefuehlspolitiker) before. Just in the same way as the officer who left the army in 1918 became a businessman, and, although up till then he had never misappropriated as much as a pin, felt obliged to practice deception. So we now think that practical politics means that we are to set ourselves above all obligations and principles, not noticing that in doing so we are cutting the ground from under our own feet. [4] When one is face to face with the enemy one cannot revolt. In the age of total warfare it is not the army that is face to face with the enemy, but the whole nation, and the question is whether it is to perish or not. [5] The atmosphere is not yet right. Incidentally it is interesting that the leaders of the army always take this line of argument. There is some truth in this. But can we wait for it when the whole thing is at stake? Naturally, it would be better in theory to wait a little, but in practice it is impossible. [6] They are not sure of the young officers. That may to some extent be true, but if the generals are in agreement and speak in the right language, the army and the people will fall into line. The question I discussed with Goerdeler, then in the evening with Wilmowsky, is (1) whether something can still be done to influence the generals. (2) How, without prejudicing Germany's tactical position, the generals could be given a measure of assurance that, now, we could still bring about a reasonable peace, but not after the invasion. Goerdeler was, as I have said, rather pessimistic. It seems that Hitler addressed the generals (Thursday, November 25) with wild, lawyer-like eloquence for three full hours. This impressed the harmless soldiers, but the more intelligent among them gained the impression of a raging Ghengis Khan. Hitler said, in so many words, that humanity was an invention of the 19th Century. Neutrality, he said, was nothing, and if he were to meet his ruin in the enterprise, Germany would have to accompany him into the abyss."
1939 Birth: Horst Bastian, writer.
1939 Birth: John Berendt, author.
1941 Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis is approved.
1941 The US aircraft carrier Lexington and 5 heavy cruisers get underway from Pearl Harbor.
1941 Barbarossa: Hitler abandons the attack on Moscow. Zhukov begins a counterattack, utilizing Siberian troops no longer needed against Japan since the April Neutrality Pact with Japan. (Clark II)
1942 Church and Reich: Weizsäcker reports to the Foreign Ministry that he has informed Papal Nuncio Orsenigo that the Vatican has so far conducted itself "very cleverly" concerning the "rumors" of mass shootings and deportations of the Jews. The Nuncio "pointed out that he had not really touched this topic and that he had no desire to touch it." (Hilberg; Lewy)
1942 Holocaust: The first Jews are transported to Chelmno (Kulmhof) extermination camp. (Days)
1943 WW2: Monte Camino is the site of heavy action as both sides fight for possession of the summit.
1943 Church and Reich: Catholic Provost Bernhard Lichtenberg dies while in transport to Dachau concentration camp. He had been seized by the Gestapo immediately after his release from prison in October. (Lewy)
1943 Church and Reich: German theologian and Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes in a letter: 'It is only when one loves life and the earth so much that without them everything seems to be over that one may believe in the resurrection and a new world'.
1944 WW2: German troops liberate all the silver coins in Utrecht.
1945 Volkishness: After a brief stay at his old family home in Salzburg, Karl Maria Weisthor (Wiligut) and his housekeeper, Elsa Baltrush, travel to Arolsen, Germany, home of the Baltrush family. The journey proves too much for the old man and he is hospitalized upon arrival.
1945 At 2.10pm, five US Navy Avenger torpedo-bombers comprising Flight 19 take off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routine three-hour training mission. Flight 19 is scheduled to take them due east for 120 miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that will return them to the naval base. They never return. Two hours after the flight begins, the leader of the squadron, who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reports that his compass and back-up compass have failed and that his position is unknown. The other planes apparently experience similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities on land are contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none are successful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, a distorted radio transmission from the squadron leader is heard at 6.20pm, apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneously because of lack of fuel. By this time, several land radar stations have finally determined that Flight 19 is somewhere north of the Bahamas and east of the Florida coast, and at 7.27pm a search and rescue Mariner aircraft takes off with a 13-man crew. Three minutes later, the Mariner aircraft radios to its home base that its mission is underway. The Mariner is never heard from again. Later, there is a report from a tanker cruising off the coast of Florida of a visible explosion seen at 7.50pm. The disappearance of the 14 men of Flight 19 and the 13 men of the Mariner led to one of the largest air and seas searches to that date, and hundreds of ships and aircraft comb thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and remote locations within the interior of Florida. No trace of the bodies or aircraft have ever been found. Although naval officials maintain that the remains of the six aircraft and 27 men are not found because stormy weather has destroyed the evidence, the story of the 'Lost Squadron' will help cement the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, an area of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and aircraft are said to disappear without a trace. The Bermuda Triangle is said to stretch from the southern US coast across to Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Cuba and Santo Domingo. (Bradley)
1946 The British Home Secretary announces that Prince Philip will get priority in becoming British because of his war record.
1946 President Harry Truman creates the Committee on Civil Rights by Executive Order #9808.
1950 Korea: Pyongyang falls to the invading Chinese army.
1950 Sikkim becomes a protectorate of India.
1951 American missionary martyr Jim Elliot writes in his journal: 'How sadly and how slowly I am learning that loud preaching and long preaching are not substitutes for inspired preaching.'
1953 Italy and Yugoslavia agree to pull troops out of the disputed Trieste border.
1954 Birth: Hanif Kureishi, novelist.
1955 The AFL and CIO merge, after 20 years of rivalry, with George Meany as president.
1955 In one of the early civil rights actions in the South, blacks declare a boycott of city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, demanding seating on an equal basis with whites. The boycott, prompted by the 1 December 1955 arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, will last until 20 December 1956, when a US Supreme Court ruling is implemented, integrating the city's public transit system.
1957 The Indonesian government orders the expulsion of all Dutch nationals.
1957 New York City becomes the first city to legislate against racial or religious discrimination in the housing market by passing the Fair Housing Practices Law.
1958 The Preston By-Pass, Britain's first section of modern motorway, is opened officially by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
1958 Death: Ferdinand Bruckner, writer, at 67.
1960 Ghana breaks off diplomatic relations with Belgium.
1965 General Charles De Gaulle fails to obtain a clear majority in French presidential elections, winning just 44 percent of the vote.
1966 Comedian and political activist Dick Gregory heads for Hanoi, North Vietnam, despite federal warnings against it.
1967 Benjamin Spock and Allen Ginsberg are arrested for protesting against the Vietnam war.
1972 The Australia Labour party wins the parliamentary election.
1977 Bophuthatswana in South Africa is created as the Tswana tribal homeland, covering some 13,500 square miles.
1977 Egypt severs relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen, all opponents of its peace moves with Israel.
1978 The Soviet Union signs a 20-year friendship pact with Afghanistan.
1978 The European Union establishes the EMS, European Monetary System.
1979 Jack Lynch resigns as Prime Minister of Ireland; Charles Haughey succeeds him.
1980 The Bank of Canada opens the Canadian Currency Museum.
1982 Seattle University Baptist Church is declared a sanctuary for Central American refugees.
1982 The USSR performs a nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk, USSR.
1983 12 are killed by a car bomb when it shatters a 9-story building in west Beirut.
1985 Death: Walter Pleate, Americas oldest military veteran (Spanish-American War-1898), at 108.
1985 Britain announces it will withdraw from UNESCO on 31 December, claiming it has an anti-Western bias and accusing it of financial extravagance. (Bradley)
1988 Shuttle Atlantis, breaking 20 some years of sensible arms control agreements, launches the world's first nuclear-war-fighting satellite.
1990 British author Salman Rushdie, who had been in hiding since Iran ordered his death for blasphemy, appears in public for the first time in nearly two years.
1990 Desert Shield: The US State Department says that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has accepted the idea of direct high-level US-Iraqi talks to resolve the Gulf crisis.
1990 Former Noriega aide Luis del Cid pleads guilty.
1993 Death: Arthur Staal, Dutch architect (Shell Tower Amsterdam), at 86.
1993 Venezuelans elect Rafael Caldera Rodriguez president for the second time in 25 years.
1993 Astronauts continue the on-site repair (probably the last) of the Hubble telescope.
1995 Spanish Foreign Minister Javier Solana is formally appointed secretary-general of NATO, the first Spaniard to lead the Western alliance.
2001 Afghan tanks supported by American bombers begin an offensive strike on Osama bin Laden's suspected mountaintop stronghold in Tora Bora. Friendly fire from the strikes near the Tora Bora caves kills three US soldiers and five Pashtun tribal fighters.
2001 US President Bush declares, "I, along with the rest of America, grieve for the loss of life in Afghanistan. I want the families to know that they died for a noble and just cause."
2001 The UN announces from Bonn that Hamid Karzai, a western-educated Pashtun who is leading 4,0000 troops in the assault on Kandahar, will assume control of the provisional Afghan government on December 22nd. Karzai says, "My priority will be peace and stability." Karzai also discloses that the Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Muhammad Omar, has agreed to surrender Kandahar if he and other senior leaders are granted amnesty.
2001 Canadian Defence Department officials announce that members of the Canadian army's secretive antiterrorist unit JTF2 are heading to an undisclosed location to join US and British special forces. Canadian officials also say that the Canadian frigate HMCS Toronto will depart for the Arabian Sea and join five other Canadian warships and 2,000 Canadian troops already committed to the war on terror.
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