Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 November 11

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From today's featured article

Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), highlighted on a map of Africa

Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence was adopted by the mostly white minority government of Prime Minister Ian Smith on 11 November 1965. It announced that the British colony of Rhodesia, self-governed since 1923, regarded itself as a sovereign state. The culmination of a protracted dispute between the British and Rhodesian governments, it was the first unilateral breakaway by a British colony since the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was largely motivated by the perception among white Rhodesians that they were due independence following four decades of self-government and that Britain was betraying them by insisting on majority rule as a condition; the white minority of about 5% was loath to transfer power to black nationalists because of racial tensions and reservations about the country's stability. Britain, the Commonwealth and the United Nations deemed Rhodesia's declaration illegal, and economic sanctions, the first in the UN's history, were imposed on the breakaway colony. Rhodesia continued as an unrecognised state until the Lancaster House Agreement of 1979, and became Zimbabwe in 1980. (Full article...)

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Helmut Schmidt

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Ongoing events:
- Metrojet Flight 9268
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On this day...

November 11: Diwali (Hinduism, Sikhism and Jainism, 2015); Armistice Day in Belgium, France, New Zealand and Serbia; Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth; Independence Day in Angola (1975) and Poland (1918); Veterans Day in the United States

The Mayflower Compact 1620 by JLG Ferris

1620 – The Mayflower Compact, the first governing document of the Plymouth Colony, was signed by 41 of the Mayflower‍ 's passengers (pictured) while the ship was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor.
1805 – War of the Third Coalition: French, Austrian and Russian units all suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Dürenstein.
1926 – The plan for the United States Numbered Highway System was approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials.
1940 – World War II: The German auxiliary cruiser Atlantis captured top secret documents from SS Automedon that would later influence Japan's decision to enter the war.
1960 – A coup attempt by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam against President Ngo Dinh Diem was crushed after Diem falsely promised reform, allowing loyalists to rescue him.

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Today's featured picture

A World War I recruitment poster released in Ireland in 1915. Ireland entered the war in August 1914 as part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, which was one of the Entente Powers. At the outbreak of the war, most Irish people supported the war effort, and both nationalist and unionist leaders initially backed it. In 1916, supporters of Irish independence took the opportunity to proclaim Ireland a republic and to defend it in an armed rebellion against British rule in Dublin. Britain's intention to impose conscription in Ireland in 1918 provoked widespread resistance.

Over 200,000 Irishmen fought in the war, in several theatres. The number of Irish soldiers killed is estimated as 49,400, of whom 30,000 were serving in the British forces.

Poster: Hely's Limited; restoration: Adam Cuerden

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