A Brief History On December 15, 1978, US President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would no longer recognize the government of the Republic of China (based on the island of Taiwan) as the legitimate government of China, and instead would recognize the Red Chinese government, The Peoples Republic of China. This agreement went into effect January 1, 1979, and from this time the US has referred to “Taiwan” instead of the “Republic of China.” Digging Deeper During the 1930’s and 1940’s the people of China had fought a long civil war between the forces of Nationalist Chinese leader…
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A Brief History On December 14, 835, Emperor Wenzong of the Chinese Tang Dynasty was given the news that “sweet dew” had formed on a pomegranate tree outside a military headquarters, a sign of divine favor for the Emperor. It was suggested that the Emperor and his court travel to the lucky tree to observe the blessed event for themselves, which was readily agreed to. In reality, this story and movement of the officials was all a ruse to get the powerful court Eunuchs (castrated public officials dedicated to a life of government service) to a place where they could…
A Brief History On December 13, 1945, Irma Ida Ilse Grese, age 22, was executed in accordance with her sentence of death for the crime of committing War Crimes (Crimes Against Humanity) for her service as a concentration camp guard at Ravensbruck and Auschwitz Nazi death camps during World War II. Digging Deeper The apparently attractive young lady thus became the youngest female executed by British authorities during the 20th Century. Irma was born in 1923 to a dairy working family in Germany, but her mother committed suicide by drinking acid in 1936, after finding out her husband was having…
A Brief History On December 12, 884, the King of West Francia, Carloman II, son of Louis the Stammerer (Louis II), died in a hunting accident. Carloman was only 18 years old at the time, which goes to show you being King is no guarantee of a long happy life. Digging Deeper In the convoluted manner of the time (no convenient DNA tests back then) the succession to the throne was contested in 879 when the Stammering old King died. Carloman and his brother, Louis III, ended up both being elected King despite disputed paternity, and split the throne of…
A Brief History On December 11, 629, the Prophet of Allah and founder of the Muslim religion, Muhammad, led an army of 10,000 converts to Islam into Mecca and conquered the city with minimal casualties. Digging Deeper As often takes place today when adherents to one religion take over an area previously shared by other faiths, critics of Islam allege that the Muslims destroyed all traces of Arabian, Jewish, and Christian statuary, paintings, and other objects of non-Islamic religious significance, although some accounts claim Muhammad spared depictions of Jesus and Mary. Many modern Muslims dispute these claims altogether, arguing that…