Historic Days in History

In the distance, the rumble of guns could be heard from fighting that broke out between Jews and Arabs immediately following the British army withdrawal earlier that day.

On May 14, Britain withdrew with the expiration of its mandate, and the State of Israel was proclaimed. The next day, forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq invaded.

Without direct intervention by the western Allies on the Continent—an intervention that would centre on the commitment of a large American army—Hitler could count on prolonging his military dominance for years to come.

Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord or D-Day, the Allied invasion of western Europe, which was launched on June 6, 1944, with the simultaneous landing of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five separate beachheads in Normandy, France.

On this day in 1969, the Eagle lunar landing module, carrying U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin (“Buzz”) Aldrin, landed on the Moon, and several hours later Armstrong became the first person to set foot on its surface.

On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930-) became the first humans ever to land on the moon.

Even before the New York Stock Exchange opened on that fateful Thursday in 1929, investors were already panicking.

The 81 Communist deputies were either arrested or excluded. The support of the Nationalists and of the Centre Party (73 seats) was obtained by assurances and promises, and the Social Democrats who alone opposed the bill were outvoted 441 to 94.

Gagarin's flight came at a time when the United States and the Soviet Union were competing for technological supremacy in space. The Soviet Union had already sent the first artificial satellite, called Sputnik, into space in October 1957.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Alexejewitsch Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, completed the spectacular space flight on the Vostok 1 spaceship, which made him the first human in space.

The Polish Independence Run (Bieg Niepodległości) is a race commemorating Poland’s resurgence as an independent state. It has been held for over 30 years in major Polish cities, and in 2018 the idea was brought to the United States.

November 11th was announced a national holiday in 1937. However, it was removed as an official holiday from 1939 to 1989. The holiday was restored in 1989 and has since been a national public holiday.

The war ended with an armistice, an agreement in which both sides agree to stop fighting, rather than a surrender. For both sides, an armistice was the fastest way to end the war's misery and carnage.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the incessant boom of artillery abruptly went silent along the Western Front in France.

None of the defeated nations had any say in shaping the treaty, and even the associated Allied powers played only a minor role. The German delegates were presented with a fait accompli.

Treaty of Versailles, peace document signed at the end of World War I by the Allied and associated powers and by Germany in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, France, on June 28, 1919; it took force on January 10, 1920.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress a day after the crushing attack on Pearl Harbor.

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

The death or 'Dormition' of Mary is not recorded in the Christian canonical scriptures.

In 1637, King Louis XIII wanted an heir, so he asked his subjects to make a procession on August 15 in every parish, so that his prayer would be granted. Because his request was granted the following year, this holiday on took on special importance.

December 1870, the Reichstag voted to offer the Emperor's title to the Prussian king. In addition, the country was to be renamed "German Reich".

The Day of the founding of the German Empire, January 18, became a day of celebration, marking when the Prussian King William I was proclaimed German Emperor in Versailles.

The decision to kill all the Jews in Kyiv was made by the military governor Generalmajor Kurt Eberhard, the Police Commander for Army Group South, SS-Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, and the Einsatzgruppe C Commander Otto Rasch.

According to the Einsatzgruppe's Operational Situation Report, 33,771 Jews from Kyiv and its suburbs were systematically shot dead by machine-gun fire at Babi Yar on 29 and 30 September 1941.