This day in history

[Mister D]

20 years ago, the Movie Titanic was released.

lol

[Peter1469]

Jan. 13, 1128

Pope recognizes Knights Templar

On this day in 1128, Pope Honorius II grants a papal sanction to the military order known as the Knights Templar, declaring it to be an army of God.

Led by the Frenchman Hughes de Payens, the Knights Templar organization was founded in 1118. Its self-imposed mission was to protect Christian pilgrims on their way to and from the Holy Land during the Crusades, the series of military expeditions aimed at defeating Muslims in Palestine. For a while, the Templars had only nine members, mostly due to their rigid rules. In addition to having noble birth, the knights were required to take strict vows of poverty, obedience and chastity. In 1127, new promotional efforts convinced many more noblemen to join the order, gradually increasing its size and influence.


By the time the Crusades ended unsuccessfully in the early 14th century, the order had grown extremely wealthy, provoking the jealousy of both religious and secular powers. In 1307, King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V combined to take down the Knights Templar, arresting the grand master, Jacques de Molay, on charges of heresy, sacrilege and Satanism. Under torture, Molay and other leading Templars confessed and were eventually burned at the stake. Clement dissolved the Templars in 1312.


The modern-day Catholic Church has admitted that the persecution of the Knights Templar was unjustified and claimed that Pope Clement was pressured by secular rulers to dissolve the order. Over the centuries, myths and legends about the Templars have grown, including the belief that they may have discovered holy relics at Temple Mount, including the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant or parts of the cross from Christ’s crucifixion. The imagined secrets of the Templars have inspired various books and movies, including the blockbuster novel and film The Da Vinci Code.

[Peter1469]

January 14, 1784

Continental Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris

On this day in 1784, the Continental Congress ratifies the Second Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence.

In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was also the name of the agreement that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Britain officially agreed to recognize the independence of its 13 former colonies as the new United States of America.


In addition, the treaty settled the boundaries between the United States and what remained of British North America. U.S. fishermen won the right to fish in the Grand Banks, off the Newfoundland coast, and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Both sides agreed to ensure payment to creditors in the other nation of debts incurred during the war and to release all prisoners of war. The United States promised to return land confiscated during the war to its British owners, to stop any further confiscation of British property and to honor the property left by the British army on U.S. shores, including $#@!es or slaves. Both countries assumed perpetual rights to access the Mississippi River.

[Peter1469]

January 20, 1981

Reagan (Maximus) ends the Iran hostage crisis

Minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States, the 52 U.S. captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran, are released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the ousted shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical treatment, seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran. The Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s political and religious leader, took over the hostage situation, refusing all appeals to release the hostages, even after the U.N. Security Council demanded an end to the crisis in an unanimous vote. However, two weeks after the storming of the embassy, the Ayatollah began to release all non-U.S. captives, and all female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the government of the United States. The remaining 52 captives remained at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months.


President Jimmy Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and on April 24, 1980, he ordered a disastrous rescue mission in which eight U.S. military personnel were killed and no hostages rescued. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November 1980, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan. Soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began between the United States and Iran. On the day of Reagan’s inauguration, the United States freed almost $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and the hostages were released after 444 days. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet the Americans on their way home.

[rcfieldz]

Today is like any other day. Better or worse. You choose.

[DGUtley]

On this date in legal history: John Marshall declared federal judicial supremacy over states. On February 20, 1809, US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in United States v. Peters that the legal power of the federal judiciary is greater than that of any individual state: "If the legislatures of the several states may, at will, annul the judgments of the courts of the United States, and destroy rights acquired under those judgments, the constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery; and the nation is deprived of the means of enforcing its laws by the instrumentality of its own tribunals."

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/fed.../115/case.html

[DGUtley]

On this date in legal history: Former Nixon AG John Mitchell Nixon, Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman and domestic adviser John Ehrlichman were sentenced to prison terms of 2 1/2 to 8 years for obstructing justice in the Watergate affair.

[Mister D]

The Battle of Verdun began this morning with an intense German artillery bombardment. It would last nearly a year and cost the lives of at least 300,000 men.

While Verdun seems to capture all the horror of the First World War the campaigns of 1914 were by far the worst in terms of human cost. In reality, "digging in" saved countless lives.

https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-...ttle-of-verdun

At 4am on 21 February 1916 the battle began, with a massive artillery bombardment and a steady advance by troops of the German Fifth Army under Crown Prince Wilhelm. Five days into the battle, German forces captured Fort Douaumont, the largest and highest of the 19 forts protecting Verdun. The battle appeared to be going Falkenhayn's way. French military leaders declared Verdun could not be held if the east bank of the Meuse was lost and that French national morale would not survive the loss of the city. At this point, however, Crown Prince Wilhelm and his staff stopped following Falkenhayn's strategic concept and committed the Fifth Army to greater offensive action. The seizure of ground became the priority and by the end of February, German losses at Verdun were similar to the French casualties.

[Peter1469]

Operation Desert Storm – The Ground War

Although the ground war didn't officially start until February 24th, my unit went in on February 23rd, 1991. We were 35 miles inside Iraq and had engaged a large Iraqi unit to create a gap for follow on forces.

On February 24, 1991, after 39 days of a devastating air campaign, the U.S. led coalition began to liberate Kuwait and systematically destroy most of Saddam Hussein and Iraq’s army, the 4th largest army in the world. 100 hours was all it took. Four days of a stunning display of speed and technology.


On January 17, 1991, U.N. Resolution had expired for Saddam Hussein to leave Kuwait. The next 5 weeks saw an air campaign destroy the capability of Iraqi forces to conduct combat operations that the ground war was almost over before it began. Two other key factors would play a huge role in the ground war: Night Vision and G.P.S.

[Mister D]

Not a contest.