Tag: anniversary
Happy Sunday everybody, and welcome to the last Sunday Smack of 2014! This is going to be sort of a holiday edition, since most of my favorite bloggers were off this week too. I am still planning at least one end of the year post, but in the meantime, here’s what I’ve read this week. Thawing of US-Cuba Relations: What to Expect Next? A really great overview of what’s possible to come in the bilateral and international context of the new US-Cuba policy. Why 2015 Will Be a Huge Year for Humanity 2015 indeed will be a very exciting year for…
Today we celebrate the 66th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year’s slogan is ‘Human Rights 365’, meaning human rights shouldn’t just be cherished and talked about on December 10 every year, but every single day of every single year. Read Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s message for Human Rights Day 2014 here. Visit the UN’s official website here. Let’s celebrate human rights today and every day!
ourpresidents: The Fall of the Berlin Wall – Twenty Five Years Ago this Weekend Following World War II, tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union intensified. In 1949 Great Britain, France, and the United States unified their individual occupied zones of Germany into the Democratic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). The fourth portion remained under the Soviet Union’s control and became known as the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After years of contention the Soviet Union began constructing a permanent wall on August 13, 1961 which split East from West Germany, therefore dividing the city of Berlin in…
UN Day marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the UN Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being. 24 October has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly recommended that the day be observed by Member States as a public holiday. Click the picture to learn more.
United Nations along with European Film Gateway published this great three minute video with scenes from World War I. The fact itself that we are watching 100-year-old footage makes it special, while the tragedy and sadness of the first global war vividly comes through.
tinytimetravel: “Serb Student Assassinates Archduke and his Duchess”, from the Washington [DC] “Times”, 6/28/1914 [p.1]. And so World War One began 100 years ago today with an assassination in Sarajevo. This account, from an evening edition, is noticeably short on details and incorrect on one important point: the bomb was not thrown by the “Servian student”, but by another would-be assassin earlier in the day. Gavrilo Princip, the young man who actually shot the couple, was the second assassin after the bomb-thrower, and if, later in the day, the Archduke hadn’t decided to visit victims of the bombing, Princip wouldn’t…
usnatarchives: Today is the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, these images show the moments before and after the landing operations onto Omaha Beach. Almost immediately after France fell to the Nazis in 1940, the Allies planned a cross-Channel assault on the German occupying forces, ultimately code-named Operation Overlord. By May 1944, 2,876,000 Allied troops were amassed in southern England. The largest armada in history, made up of more than 4,000 American, British, and Canadian ships, lay in wait, and more that 1,200 planes stood ready. Against a tense backdrop of uncertain weather forecasts, disagreements in strategy, and related timing dilemmas, Eisenhower…
NATO turns 65 today! Watch this great video timeline: statedept: On April 4, 1949, #SecState Dean Acheson signed the most successful military-political treaty in the world. This treaty has been protecting citizens and keeping peace around the world ever since. Happy Birthday, #NATO! #throwbackthursday #NATOat65
eretzyisrael: Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. January 27 marks the 69th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. In 2005, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as International Holocaust Remembrance Day (IHRD), an annual day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Nazi era. From 1940 to 1945, more than 1.1 million men, women and children were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp. 90% of them were Jews. All were innocent. Today, we remember Never Again.
Centennial Celebration: Peace Palace 100 Years Today! August 28th marks the centennial anniversary of the Peace Palace in The Hague. Visit the official site to learn more about its history and the celebrations.
