BORN TODAY: in Lachine, Quebec, Canada – Saul Bellow, Pulitzer and Nobel winner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Bellow
Africa: At the second battle of Garua, British and French troops defeat a defending force to take control of the German colony of Kamerun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Garua
BORN TODAY: Three knights and two aces:
~ In Haynau in eastern Germany (now Chojnów in western Poland) – Hans Karl Bunzel, Oberleutnant and Knights Cross of the Iron Cross.
~ In Rehhof in East Prussia (now Ryjewo in northern Poland) – Paul Brandt, Luftwaffe Ace and Knights Cross of the Iron Cross.
~ In Altenburg, in the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg (now part of Thuringia in Germany) – Heinrich-Wilhelm Ahnert, Luftwaffe Ace and Knights Cross of the Iron Cross.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Brandt_(pilot)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Bunzel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich-Wilhelm_Ahnert
War from the air: Just before midnight the German Zeppelin LZ.38 crosses the Suffolk coast of eastern England, bombing the towns of Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds during the early of hours of April 30th.
http://www.iancastlezeppelin.co.uk/29th30th-april/4585768340
West Africa: From Kamerun a German force raids the town of Gurin just over the border in British Nigeria.
BORN TODAY: in Los Angeles – Uncle Fester.
http://www.historyorb.com/people/jackie-coogan
In Africa: in German Kamerun (now independent Cameroon), British and French forces successfully eject the German garrison from the town of Edea in the “first battle of Edea”.
wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Edea
Crime and punishment: In Sarajevo, the group who plotted successfully to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28th June are found guilty. Those over the age of 20 are sentenced to death, and the younger perpetrators, including the actual assassin, Gavrilo Princip, are given twenty year sentences. [Burg and Purcell]
Fashion: In London, the Guardian newspaper reports on the impact of the war on high fashion:
“One is decidedly struck with the tendency to adopt – or rather adapt – several military styles of coats and capes. The cavalier cape of the summer has become more ample and closely fitting round the throat, while the loose military coat, slightly double-breasted and buttoning close to the neck, with a band collar or edging of narrow fur, is both extremely becoming and useful. These are usually made of a heavy face-cloth or velour, and must, of course, be lined with a silk of contrasting colour. An adaptation of the Russian soldier coat is another favourite. This is cut on somewhat straighter lines than the former and has a sash or girdle of heavy cord and tassel round the waist, tied loosely to the front or side.” [The Guardian, 26th October 1914].
http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/oct/23/first-world-war-military-fashion-1914
Leisure: In New Zealand, farmer George is studying the geology of the USA in his free time.
BORN TODAY: in Faizabad, in British India – Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, also known as Begum Akhtar, classical Indian vocalist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begum_Akhtar
In Africa: At the Battle of Jabassi in German Kamerun, British forces under the command of Brigadier General Edmund Howard Gorges sail up the River Wuri with 4 field guns. Their first assault on the German entrenchments is repelled by intense machine gun fire. Four Europeans are killed. It is not clear whether the Nigerian casualties in the British contingent were counted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jabassi
Propaganda: an English clergyman informs the Manchester Geographical Society “You will hear only one-hundredth part of the actual atrocities this war has produced. The civilized world could not stand the truth. There are, up and down England to-day, scores – I am under-stating the number – of Belgian girls who have had their hands cut off.” Despite an offer from a press baron of 200 British pounds for an authentic photograph of a mutiliated civilian, no proof is ever forthcoming.
http://www.worldwar1postcards.com/4-mutilated-children.php
BORN TODAY: In Accra on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) – Jacob Hackenburg Griffiths-Randolph, Ghanaian Commissioner of Income Tax; political exile; Speaker of Parliament of Ghana; and father-in-law of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the contemporary Ghanaian politician and contender for the 2016 Presidential election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Hackenburg_Griffiths-Randolph
Western Front: German, French and British troops clash on the first day of the Battle of the Marne. In the stuff of legends, and at a crucial stage on this first day, the Parisian authorities send an additional 6000 troops who are de-training in Paris back to the front in Parisian taxis.
[Tuchman – the Guns of August]
West Africa: At the Battle of Nsanakong in Kamerun, German forces successfully expel a British invasion force, pushing it back into Nigeria one week after the original incursion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nsanakong
Eastern Front: Writing from the small spa resort of Trenčianske Teplice (now in in Western Slovakia) Žiga, a Hungarian or Slovenian soldier writes to his wife:
“I wrote you a letter in the morning, but I don’t know if you’ll get it. I received your postcard, but not a closed letter. After 24 hours of travelling we arrived to Trenčianske Teplice at noon. We’ll have lunch here and then move on. Don’t write until I send you an address. I won’t receive your letters. Staying yours faithful husband,
Žiga.
They just brought 2000 Russians; I have seen a Russian soldier”
http://www.pokarh-mb.si/en/s/82/hrepenenje-izza-okopov-6-pismo.html
BORN TODAY: in Tipperary, Ireland – George Moulson, professional footballer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Moulson
Serbia declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia
In Belgium, the German Zeppelin airship L-Z drops thirteen bombs on the City of Liege, killing 9 people.
The Battle of the Frontiers opens when German troops cross from Luxembourg into France and take the town of Longwy.
In Britain, 80,000 troops, 30,000 horses and over 315 field guns are assembling on the south coast for the British Expeditionary Force crossing of the Channel / La Manche.
In West Africa: In Togoland and Cameroon, French forces seize German territory and outposts.
(sources: Almanac of World War 1; The Guns of August)
Shipping News: The SS Rohilla, (“named after Afghan tribes who had sought refuge in India during the 18th Century. They were annihilated by the Nawab of Oudh, with the unauthorised help of British troops”), is requisitioned as a hospital ship and renamed the HMHS Rohiila.
http://www.titanicandco.com/rohilla.html
Thirty-one year old diarist Franz Kafka is having a bad day:“I am an empty vessel… Full of lies, hate and envy. Full of incompetence, stupidity, thickheadedness. Full of laziness, weakness and helplessness.”
BORN TODAY:
~ in Chicago, Illinois – Carl Hammer, computer promoter who “probably spoke at more professional meetings and delivered more lectures than any member of his generation. He was fellow of the IEEE, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), American Association for the Advancement of Science, New York Academy of Science, and the World Organization of General Systems and Cybernetics. He received distinguished service awards from ACM and the American Federation of Information Processing Societies, the Chester Morrill Memorial Award from Association for Systems Management, and was named the 1973 Man of the Year by the Data Processing Management Association”. [www.computer.org]
http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2006/02/man2006020081.html
~ in the village of Khaira-Chhota in Patiala, in British India – Chaudhary Kumbharam Arya, “freedom fighter, parliamentarian and popular leader of farmers in Rajasthan” and “radical thinker” [Wikipedia]
http://www.jatland.com/home/Kumbha_Ram_Arya
~ at Dorridge, in Warwickshire, England – John Basil Goodey, Ph.D, “the leading British authority for the identification and classification of plant and soil nematodes… [who] assisted in a complete course [on nematology] at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi in 1964 under the aegis of the Rockefeller Foundation”.
http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/nguyen/FLNEM/HISTORY/basilgoodey.htm
World Affairs:
~ in the French “Protectorate” of Morocco, a french foreign legion force under General Baumgarten successfully takes and enters the Berber stronghold of Taza, between the RIf and Middle-Atlas mountain ranges.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taza
~ In German governed Cameroon, Rudolf Douala Manga Bell and Ngoso Din are arrested during a mutiny against German rule and accused of high treason. They will be tried on 7th August, at a time of high tension after European war has been declared, and hanged on August 8th.
http://afrolegends.com/2013/11/25/rudolf-douala-manga-bell/
Society and Culture: V.I. Lenin publishes “Corrupting the Workers with Refined Nationalism” in Pravda.
BORN TODAY: in Skipton, Yorkshire, England, of Scottish parents – Iain Norman McLeod, Cambridge educated Royal Fusilier and professional bridge player who became (from 1959 to 1961) one of Britain’s last Colonial Secretaries (the Government minister responsible for the Colonies), overseeing the decolonisation of Nigeria, British Somaliland, Tanganyika, Sierra Leone, Kuwait and British Cameroon, before moving on to become Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) in 1970, a post in which he died from a heart-attack almost immediately after taking office. Perhaps he had seen the writing on the wall at Number 11 Downing Street.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Macleod
World Affairs – in Athens, Greece, the governments of Greece and Turkey sign a peace treaty which finally brings to an end the Second Balkan war, restores diplomatic relations and attempts to resolve some of the issues of nationality facing the large numbers of muslim turks in Greece and orthodox greeks in European Turkey and Turkish Asia Minor (Anatolia).
http://www.pollitecon.com/html/treaties/The_Treaty_Of_Peace_Between_Turkey_And_Greece.htm
Labour Relations: In Wellington, New Zealand, George Adkin seems to be enjoying his strike breaking duties. He records in his dairy:
“…Had hot pies + cakes en route. City very quiet + I think our job was to keep the strikers off the Chinamen who were buying fruit from the steamers discharging. At 2 pm fed + watered horses + had an excellent meal in a building off Waterloo Quay provided by some very nice ladies belonging to Red Cross Society. Spent rest of afternoon reading, resting + smoking (free cigarettes + fruit provided by local shopkeepers)…Left for camp soon after 5 pm – refreshing shower-bath before tea. At 7 pm foot parade + roll-call in Buckle St. At 8 at kinomataograph entertainment was given in Garrison interspersed by songs + other items by Wellington gentlemen.” [Museum of New Zealand].
BORN TODAY: in Rijeka on the Kvarner in Austria-Hungary (now Croatia) – Guido Nonveiller, Croatian entomologist. Officer in the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, captured by Franco’s forces, later a member of the French Resistance movement during WW2. Founder and director of the Federal Institute for Plant Protection in Yugoslavia, then a plant protection officer in Tunisia and, later still, Cameroon. Prolific author in German, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Serbo-Croat.
Arms Race: at the Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson shipyard in Wallsend, UK – the British Royal Navy launches the destroyer HMS Sarpedon (later Laertes).
Society and Culture: In London, the Ambassadors Theatre opens for the business of pleasure.
At London’s Albert Hall, a Grand Gala Ball is held as a charity benefit in aid of the The Incorporated Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Help Society. The theme for the evening is the “Procession of Courts”, a lavish costume event where each “court” occupies a separate section of the hall and is hosted by a high society hostess. For example: The “Court of France” is organised by Lady Paget; “Portugal” by the Marchioness of Donegal; “Turkey” by the Countess Fitzwilliam; “Holy Roman Empire” by the Countess of Drogheda; and so on. A romantic evocation of a civilised and harmonious Europe which – if it ever existed – has slipped quietly away somewhere in the late nineteenth century.
In Robeson County, North Carolina, Pembroke Mayor McInnis reports that Town Council have made it clear that the new Railroad Station must have THREE waiting rooms in order to accommodate the three races in Pembroke: “the White, the Negro and the Cherokee Indian”, observing of the Cherokee that “there are some of the Indians who are very nice and good people and there is a large majority of them who are otherwise”. [http://www.learnnc.org/]
Science and technology: The journal “Nature” reports on the recent work of the (US) Eugenics Record Office, including a “series of quarto memoirs, beautifully printed at the expense of Mr. Rockefeller” which includes a study of the “Hill Folk” of New England. Recording that 700 individuals had descended from 2 individuals it comments that “Feeblemindedness, alcoholism and the evils which spring from each or both in combination are terribly prevalent among them, and their distribution within the families is clearly shown in the extensive pedigree charts which embellish the memoir”.
(The Eugenics Record Office in New York State was opened in 1910. Over the years it advocated laws that led to forced sterilisation before it was eventually closed in 1944).
BORN TODAY, in Schrimm, Posen (then in Germany – now Srem, Poznan, in Poland) – Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke, World War 2 fighter ace, shot down and killed in May 1944 after being credited with shooting down 162 enemy aircraft, 137 of which were on the Eastern Front.
World Affairs: Under the “Anglo-German Agreement of 11th March 1913”, these two countries agree the frontiers of Cameroon and Nigeria (the boundary was still in dispute in October 2002).
News reaches Australia, via London, that the empress Taitu, consort and widow of the Emperor Menelek of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), aged 69, has been released after being interned in the imperial palace for three years. The “Barrier Miner” of Broken Hill, NSW, describes her as having “married Menelek in 1883. She was a princess of Tigre and had already been married four times previously…a woman of great influence”.
Music and entertainment: Luigi Russolo publishes “The Art of Noises” an avant garde exploration of electronic music.
onehundredyearsagotoday 