Portal:History/Featured article/2006
This is the archive of articles featured on the History portal in 2006 (and one in 2005).
2005[edit]
- December
Gaius Julius Cæsar (Classical Latin: IMP·C·IVLIVS·CAESAR·DIVVS) (b. July 13, 100 BC; d. March 15, 44 BC) was a Roman military and political leader. He played an important part in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. His conquest of Gaul extended the Roman world all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, with the first Roman invasion of Britain in 55 BC. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest military geniuses of all time — as well as a brilliant politician — and one of the ancient world's strongest leaders along with Alexander the Great. Caesar fought and won a Civil War which left him undisputed master of the Roman world, and began extensive reforms of Roman society and government.
2006[edit]
- January
The Anschluss was the 1938 incorporation of Austria in "Greater Germany" under the Nazi regime. The events of March 12, 1938 were the first major step in Adolf Hitler's long-desired expansion of the Third Reich, preceding the inclusion of the Sudetenland later in 1938 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, and finally leading to World War II with the assault on Poland. Although the Wehrmacht entered into Austria to enforce the Anschluss, no fighting took place, in part because of prior political pressure exerted by Germany, but primarily because of the well-planned internal overthrow by the Austrian Nazi Party of Austria's state institutions in Vienna on March 11, the day before German troops marched across the border. The international response to the Anschluss was moderate: the United Kingdom held to its policy of appeasement and did not enforce the Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I and specifically prohibited any attachment of Germany and Austria. Austria ceased to exist as an independent nation until a preliminary Austrian government was finally reinstated on April 27, 1945, and was legally recognized by the Allies in the following months.
- February
the man Attila the Hun (Old Norse: Atle, Atli; German: Etzel; ca. 406–453 AD) was the last and most powerful king of the Huns. He reigned over what was then Europe's largest empire, from 434 until his death. His empire stretched from Central Europe to the Black Sea and from the Danube River to the Baltic. During his rule he was among the direst enemies of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires: he invaded the Balkans twice and encircled Constantinople in the second invasion. He marched through France as far as Orleans before being turned back at Chalons; and he drove the western emperor Valentinian III from his capital at Ravenna in 452. Though his empire died with him, and he left no remarkable legacy, he has become a legendary figure in the history of Europe. In much of Western Europe, he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. In contrast, some histories lionize him as a great and noble king, and he plays major roles in three Norse sagas.
- March
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (also known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre), were a series of student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the People's Republic of China, between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989. The protest, denouncing China's economic instability and political corruption, was violently suppressed by armed soldiers ordered into Beijing by the PRC government. Although student protests had been occurring for over a year, the famous protest began in the mid-April 1989. It was triggered by the death of Hu Yaobang, respected among students and intellectuals, the general secretary of the CCP between 1981 and 1987, and who was forced to resign by Deng Xiaoping. The protests began on a relatively small scale, in the form of mourning for the late Hu, and demands that the party revise their official view of him. The protests grew larger after news of confrontation between students and police spread, and a stand-off between demonstrators and the Chinese Communist Party intensified. After several weeks, Party officials decided to forcibly remove the protesters through military force, and an estimated 2,600 people died in the ensuing conflict.
- April
The Space Race was the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union roughly from 1957 to 1975, involving their efforts to explore space with satellites and to eventually land a human on the Moon and return him to Earth. Although its roots lie in early rocket technology and in the international tensions following World War II, the Space Race effectively began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957. The term was coined as an analogy to the arms race. The Space Race became an important part of the cultural and technological rivalry between the USSR and the U.S. during the Cold War. Space technology was a particularly important arena in this conflict, both because of its military applications and due to the psychological benefit of raising morale. The space race launched a concerted effort in the United States to improve technical education.
- May
Yagan was a Noongar warrior who played a key part in early indigenous Australian resistance to European settlement and rule in the area of Perth, Western Australia. After he led a series of attacks in which white settlers were murdered, a bounty was offered for his capture dead or alive, and he was shot dead by a young settler. Yagan's death has passed into Western Australian folklore as a symbol of the unjust and sometimes brutal treatment of the indigenous peoples of Australia by colonial settlers. Yagan's head was removed and taken to Britain, where it was exhibited as an "anthropological curiosity". It spent over a century in storage at a museum before being buried in an unmarked grave in 1964. In 1993 its location was identified, and four years later it was exhumed and repatriated to Australia. Since then, the issue of its proper reburial has become a source of great controversy and conflict amongst the indigenous people of the Perth area. To date, the head remains unburied.
- June
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three members of the expedition perished. [[mr.opra
Andrée|S. A. Andrée]], the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass, with luck, straight over the North Pole on the way. After Andrée lifted off from Svalbard with Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel in July 1897, the balloon lost hydrogen quickly and crashed on the pack ice after only two days. The explorers were unhurt but faced a grueling trek back south across the drifting icescape. Inadequately clothed, equipped, and prepared, and shocked by the difficulty of the terrain, they did not make it to safety. As the Arctic winter closed in on them in October, the group ended up exhausted on the deserted Kvitøya island in Svalbard and died there, not to be found until 33 years later. The main causes of the tragedy are commonly considered to be S. A. Andrée's unlimited optimism, faith in the power of technology, and disregard for the forces of nature. (read more...)
- July
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three members of the expedition perished. S. A. Andrée, the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass, with luck, straight over the North Pole on the way. After Andrée lifted off from Svalbard with Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel in July 1897, the balloon lost hydrogen quickly and crashed on the pack ice after only two days. The explorers were unhurt but faced a grueling trek back south across the drifting icescape. Inadequately clothed, equipped, and prepared, and shocked by the difficulty of the terrain, they did not make it to safety. As the Arctic winter closed in on them in October, the group ended up exhausted on the deserted Kvitøya island in Svalbard and died there, not to be found until 33 years later. The main causes of the tragedy are commonly considered to be S. A. Andrée's unlimited optimism, faith in the power of technology, and disregard for the forces of nature. (read more...)
- August
S. A. Andrée's Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 was an ill-fated effort to reach the North Pole in which all three members of the expedition perished. S. A. Andrée, the first Swedish balloonist, proposed a voyage by hydrogen balloon from Svalbard to either Russia or Canada, which was to pass, with luck, straight over the North Pole on the way. After Andrée lifted off from Svalbard with Nils Strindberg and Knut Frænkel in July 1897, the balloon lost hydrogen quickly and crashed on the pack ice after only two days. The explorers were unhurt but faced a grueling trek back south across the drifting icescape. Inadequately clothed, equipped, and prepared, and shocked by the difficulty of the terrain, they did not make it to safety. As the Arctic winter closed in on them in October, the group ended up exhausted on the deserted Kvitøya island in Svalbard and died there, not to be found until 33 years later. The main causes of the tragedy are commonly considered to be S. A. Andrée's unlimited optimism, faith in the power of technology, and disregard for the forces of nature. (read more...)
- September
The history of Louisville, Kentucky spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area's unique geography and location. Although Kentucky was inhabited by Native Americans in prehistoric times, when white explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in the mid-1700s, there were no permanent Native American settlements in the region. Instead, the country was used as hunting grounds by Shawnees from the north and Cherokees from the south. The area was first visited by Europeans in 1669 by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, from France. He explored areas of the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys from the Gulf of Mexico up to modern-day Canada, claiming much of this land for France. In 1751, Christopher Gist explored areas along the Ohio River. Following the French and Indian War, France relinquished control of the area of Kentucky to England. In 1769, Daniel Boone created a trail from North Carolina to Tennessee, and then spent the next two years exploring Kentucky. In 1773, Captain Thomas Bullitt led the first exploring party into Jefferson County, surveying the land on behalf of Virginians who had been awarded land grants for service in the French and Indian War. In 1774, James Harrod began constructing Fort Harrod in Kentucky. However, battles with the native American tribes established in the area forced these new settlers to retreat. They returned the following year, as Daniel Boone built the Wilderness Road and established Fort Boonesborough at the site near Boonesborough, Kentucky. The Native Americans allocated a tract of land between the Ohio River and the Cumberland River for the Transylvania Land Company. In 1776, the colony of Virginia declared the Transylvania Land Company illegal and created the county of Kentucky in Virginia from the land involved.
- October
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (August 1, 10 BC – October 13, AD 54) (Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus before his accession) was the fourth Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from January 24, AD 41 to his death in AD 54. Born in Lugdunum in Gaul (modern-day Lyon, France), to Drusus and Antonia Minor, he was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy.
Claudius was considered a rather unlikely man to become emperor. He was reportedly afflicted with some type of disability, and his family had virtually excluded him from public office until his consulship with his nephew Caligula in AD 37. This infirmity may have saved him from the fate of many other Roman nobles during the purges of Tiberius' and Caligula's reigns. His very survival led to his being declared emperor after Caligula's assassination, at which point he was the last adult male of his family. Despite his lack of political experience, Claudius proved to be an able administrator and a great builder of public works. His reign saw an expansion of the empire, including the conquest of Britain. He took a personal interest in the law, presided at public trials, and issued up to twenty edicts a day. However, he was seen as vulnerable throughout his rule, particularly by the nobility. Claudius was constantly forced to shore up his position—resulting in the deaths of many senators. He also suffered tragic setbacks in his personal life, one of which led to his murder. These events damaged his reputation among the ancient writers. More recent historians have revised this opinion.