DECEMBER 28 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

DECEMBER 28

169 B.C.

Miracle of Light:  After two hundred years of foreign tyranny and religious persecution, the Jewish people lit the sacred menorah on December 28, 169 B.C., to rededicate the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. The lights of the menorah remained lit for eight days, though there was not enough oil. It was the birth of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah. Every night throughout the 8 day holiday, a candle or oil-based light is lit. The number of lights lit is increased by one each night.  An extra light called a shamash, meaning "attendant"  is also lit each night, and is given a distinct location, usually higher than the others.  In 2018 Hanukah began on December 2 and ended on December 10.  Hanukkah begins at the 25th day of Kislev and concludes on the 2nd or 3rd day of Tevet (Kislev can have 29 or 30 days). The Jewish day begins at sunset. In the year 2019 Hanuka will begin at Sunset, on December 22, 2019 until nightfall on December 30, 2019  After the lights have been kindled, there is a blessing of the candles (translation) "Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah light[s]." a Hebrew hymn is sung, translated, "We kindle these lights for the miracles and the wonders, for the redemption and the battles that you made for our forefathers, in those days at this season, through your holy priests. During all eight days of Hanukkah these lights are sacred, and we are not permitted to make ordinary use of them except for to look at them in order to express thanks and praise to Your great Name for Your miracles, Your wonders and Your salvations."

1832

First U.S. Vice-President Resigned. John C. Calhoun held office as Vice President from March 4, 1825 to  December 28, 1832 during two Presidential administrations (of John Quincy Adams and of Andrew Jackson.) Calhoun is remembered for his strong support for the practice of slavery and for advancing the concept of minority party rights in politics. His objective was to protect the interests of the white South.  His political career was based on the ideologies of nationalism, states' rights, limited government, nullification, and opposition to high tariffs.  Calhoun was despised by Jackson and his supporters for his alleged attempts to subvert the unity of the nation for his own political gain. On his deathbed, Jackson regretted that he had not had Calhoun executed for treason. "My country," he declared, "would have sustained me in the act, and his fate would have been a warning to traitors in all time to come." Even after his death, Calhoun's reputation among Jacksonians remained poor. They disparaged him by portraying him as a man thirsty for power, who when he failed to attain it, sought to tear down his country with him.

1918

First Woman MP in British House of Commons:  On December 28, 1918, Constance Georgine Markievicz became the first woman elected to the British House of Commons, however she did not take her seat. She was also the first woman in the world to hold a cabinet position as Minister for Labour from 1919 to 1922.   She was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician, a fervent revolutionary, nationalist, suffragette and socialist. She served as a Teachta Dála for the Dublin South constituency from 1921 to 1922 and 1923 to 1927. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Dublin St Patrick's from 1918 to 1922.   In 1909 Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson founded Fianna Éireann, a para-military nationalist scouting organisation that instructed teenage boys in the use of firearms.  On August 16, 1909, at its first meeting in Camden Street, Dublin, she was almost expelled because women were forbidden to join any physical force movement. But Hobson supported her, and she was elected to the committee. In 1911 at an Irish Republican Brotherhood demonstration attended by 30,000 supporters, she was arrested and jailed for the first time. They were protesting against King George V's visit to Ireland.  Markievicz died on July 15, 1917 at the age of 59, due to complications related to appendicitis. She had given away the last of her wealth, and died in a public ward "among the poor where she wanted to be".  One of the doctors attending her was her revolutionary colleague, Kathleen Lynn. Also at her bedside were Casimir and Stanislas Markievicz, Éamon de Valera and Hanna Sheehy-Skeffington.  Refused a state funeral by the Free State government, she was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin, and de Valera gave the funeral oration.

DECEMBER 27 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

DECEMBER 27

1918

Polish Uprising:  On this day in 1918, the Uprising began after a stirring patriotic speech by Ignacy Paderewski. (He was a famous pianist who would become in the following year the Polish Prime Minister.) The Polish people hoped for a free and sovereign Poland. They saw their opportunity to make serious plans for an uprising when Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on November 9, 1918. (This marked the end of the German monarchy and empire, and would be replaced by the Weimar Republic.) By evening, Polish insurgents began shooting in front of Poznań's Police Headquarters and succeeded in capturing the main train station, main post office and part of city fortifications. Simultaneously, Polish uits fought in other towns and captured Szamotuły, Środa Wielkopolska, Pniewy, Opalenica, Buk, Trzemeszno, Września and Gniezno.   The Uprising had a significant effect on the Treaty of Versailles, which granted a reconstituted Second Polish Republic. Previously the nation had been partitioned and  was occupied under the yoke of foreign tyranny by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, for 126 years.

1944

Soviets Disbanded the special Polish forces:  When the Soviet Red Army occupied Poland after the end of the Warsaw Uprising, they discontinued the Ciechociemni (the Polish underground command fighting forces).  The Ciechociemni was an independent division of the British British SOE (Special Operations Executive). The Poles selected their own men (and women) to conduct covert operations throughout Nazi-occupied Europe. More than 300 Polish special forces and 28 emissaries successfully parachuted into Poland to fight in the Warsaw Uprising. They also conducted missions in Albania, Greece, Italy and Yugoslavia. They parachuted into France to organize an underground resistance movement among the half million Polish minority.  Among the famous members of the unit was Krystyna Skarbek, a beautiful young Polish spy working with the SOE. She was highly celebrated for her daring exploits in intelligence and dangerous missions in Nazi-occupied Poland and France.  The identities of the many other Polish agents are still unknown. The oldest was 54 years old, the youngest was 20.  Of 316 Ciechociemni, 103 perished during the war: in combat with the Germans, executed by the Gestapo, or in crashes. Nine were executed after the war by the Soviet controlled Polish People's Republic.  The Ciechociemni took part in a total of 91 operatives in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

1983

Pope John Paul II forgave his would-be assassin.   On this day, Pope John Paul II visited Mehmet Ali Agca at Rebibbia jail, a high-security prison in Rome.  He entered Agca's cell and the two spoke quietly for about twenty minutes. Their conversation was so hushed and inaudible as to seem as though it were a confessional.  When the Pope left the cell, Agca went down on one knee and kissed the Pope's hand (Following Agca's capture in the 1981 assassination attempt, he declared that he shot the Pope because he was a symbol of Christianity.) 

DECEMBER 26 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

DECEMBER 26

1943

British Navy Sank Nazi German Battleship:  On December 26, 1943, off the coast of North Cape, Norway, the British vessel HMS Duke of York accompanied by its escorting ships intercepted, attacked and sunk the German battleship, the Scharnhorst as it was headed towards an allied convoy.  The Scharnhorst ranked as a capital ship in the Kriegsmarine, and took part in operations raiding British merchant shipping in north Atlantic routes. They battled the HMS Rawalpindi in a short engagement (November 1939). and joined by the Gneisenau took part in Operation Weserübung (April–June 1940), the German invasion of Norway, and sank the British aircraft carrier, as well as the HMS Glorious and her escort destroyers, the Acasta and the Ardent.  (In the latter engagement, the Scharnhorst achieved one of the longest-range naval gunfire hits in history.)  Only 36 men were rescued from the Scharnhorst, out of a crew of 1,968.

1944

American Army Broke the Siege on Bastogne:   The Siege of Bastogne was part of the Battle of the Bulge fought between American and German forces  (from December 20 to 27, 1944).  Elements of General George Patton's Third Army succeeded in reaching Bastogne from the southwest, arriving from the direction of Assenois. The spearhead reached the lines of the 326th Engineers on the day after the Christmas attack at about 16:50. The 101st's ground communications with the American supply dumps were restored on December, 27 and the wounded were evacuated to the rear. Gen. Taylor reached Bastogne with the 4th Armored Division and resumed command.  With the encirclement, the troops of the 101st expected to be relieved, but were given orders to resume the offensive

1991

End of the Cold War:   The dissolution of the USSR officially took place on December 26, 1991, thereby granting sovereignty and independence to its satellites states.  The Declaration, number 142-Н enacted by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union acknowledged the independence of the former Soviet republics and created the Commonwealth of Independent States (although five of the signatories ratified it much later or did not do so at all.)  On the previous day, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the eighth and final leader of the Soviet Union, resigned and declared his office extinct. Gorbachev handed over his powers, including control of the Soviet nuclear missile launching codes to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. At 7:32 p.m., the Soviet flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag.  The repercussions following the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in living standards in post-Soviet states and the former Eastern Bloc. It was worse than the Great Depression.  Between 1988–1989 and 1993–1995 poverty and economic inequality skyrocketed.   According to a 2014 poll, 57 percent of Russian citizens regretted the collapse of the Soviet Union, while 30 percent said they did not.