Opinion - The Korea Times

TUESDAY, Nov. 4, 2025

1576-Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, the Spanish defeat the Walloons and capture Antwerp 1841-The first wagon train arrives in California after a five-and-a-half-month, 1,730-mile journey over the Sierra Nevada from Missouri 1845-First nationally observed uniform election day in the United States, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 1862-American inventor Richard Jordan Gatling patents the hand-cranked Gatling machine gun in Indianapolis 1879-African American inventor Thomas Elkins patents the Refrigerating Apparatus 1922-Howard Carter rediscovers the intact tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in Egypt 1979- A total of 500 Iranian students loyal to Ayatollah Khomeini seize the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 90 hostages for 444 days 2008-Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be elected President of the United States, defeating Republican candidate John McCain

Nov 3, 2025

MONDAY, Nov. 3, 2025

644-The second Muslim caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab, is injured in an assassination attempt in Medina by Lu'lu, an enslaved Persian captive; the caliph dies four days later 1534-English parliament passes the Act of Supremacy making Henry VIII and all subsequent monarchs the Head of the Church of England 1620-Great Patent granted to Plymouth Colony 1640-English Long Parliament forms 1906-International Radiotelegraph Conference in Berlin selects the "SOS" (· · · – – – · · ·) distress signal as the worldwide standard for help 1935 — Korean runner Sohn Kee-chung sets new men’s marathon world record, 2:26:42 in Tokyo, Japan 1957-Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard, a mostly Siberian Husky, the first animal in space 1970-U.S. President Richard Nixon promises gradual troop removal of Vietnam 1992-Dianne Feinstein is elected to the U.S. Senate, goes on to become longest serving female there, serving until her death in 2023

Nov 2, 2025

FRIDAY, Oct. 31, 2025

1517-Copy of Martin Luther's 95 theses, the publication of which began the Protestant Reformation in EuropeThe Protestant Reformation 1517-Martin Luther sends his Ninety-five Theses to Albert of Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, precipitating the Protestant Reformation 1541-Michelangelo finishes painting "The Last Judgment" on the altar wall of the Sistine Chape in Vatican City [1] 1876-Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 ravages British India (modern-day Bangladesh), killing over 200,000 1918-The Spanish flu kills 21,000 people in the US in a single week 1984-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh at her home in New Delhi 2011-The world population reaches 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nations

Oct 30, 2025

THURSDAY, Oct. 30, 2025

1340-Battle of Rio Salado (or Tarifa): King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile defeat Sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali of Morocco and Yusuf I of Granada in the last Marinid invasion of the Iberian Peninsula 1899-Battle of Ladysmith: Boers defeat the British, leading to the Siege of Ladysmith in Natal 1905-Russian Tsar Nicholas II grants civil liberties and accepts the first Duma (Parliament) in the "October Manifesto" 1917-British government gives final approval to the Balfour Declaration 1968-Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Lars Onsager (thermodynamics) 1973-The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus for the first time 1974-Muhammad Ali KOs George Foreman in the 8th round in "The Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire, regaining the world heavyweight boxing title with the famous "rope-a-dope" tactic 1997-Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona announces his retirement from football on his 37th birthday

Oct 29, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 29, 2025

539-B.C. King Cyrus "the Great" of Persia marches into Babylon, freeing Jewish captives and allowing them to return home 1268-Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the German Hohenstaufen dynasty of Kings and Holy Roman Emperors, is executed with Frederick I, Margrave of Baden by Charles I of Sicily 1665-Battle of Mbwila [Ambuila]: Portuguese forces defeat the Kingdom of Kongo and decapitate King António I of Kongo, also known as Nvita a Nkanga 1922-Italian King Victor Emmanuell III appoints Benito Mussolini (Il Duce) as Prime Minister of Italy 1929-Stock market crash on Wall Street, known as "Black Tuesday," triggers the Great Depression 1954-Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser disbands the Muslim Brotherhood 1966-National Organization of Women (NOW) officially established at an organizing conference in Washington D.C.; Betty Friedan is elected as President 1999-Deadliest Indian Ocean tropical super cyclone hits Odisha, India, death toll 9,885, wind speed of 300 mph 2015-China announces the end of its one-child policy after 35 years 2022-Crowd surge at Halloween festivities in Seoul, South Kore

Oct 28, 2025

MONDAY, Oct. 27, 2025

312-Roman Emperor Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross 1913-In a speech in Mobile, Alabama, President Woodrow Wilson vows the US will "will never again seek one additional foot of territory by conquest" 1920-League of Nations moves headquarters in Geneva 1931-Chuhei Numbu of Japan, sets then long jump record at 26' 2½" 1938-DuPont announces its new synthetic polyamide fiber will be called “nylon” 1958-General Ayub Khan succeeds Iskander Mirza as President of Pakistan 1962-Black Saturday during the Cuban Missile Crisis: An American spy plane is shot down over Cuba and the navy drops warning depth charges on Soviet submarines 1982-China announces its population has reached over 1 billion people 1987-South Korean voters overwhelmingly approved a new constitution 1998-Helmut Kohl resigns as Chancellor of Germany after 16 years, following a landslide defeat in elections 2023-Alliance of rebel armies begin Operation 1027, an offensive against the ruling military junta in Myanmar

Oct 26, 2025

TUESDAY, Oct. 28, 2025

1492-Christopher Columbus sights Cuba and claims it for Spain under the name "Juana" 1538-The first university in the New World, the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established on Hispaniola 1746-The Peruvian cities of Lima and Callao are demolished by an earthquake, killing 18,000 1831-Michael Faraday demonstrates his dynamo invention, an electric generator 1886-Statue of Liberty is dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, celebrated with the first confetti (ticker tape) parade in New York City 1919-Volstead Act is passed by Congress, establishing prohibition despite President Woodrow Wilson's veto 1924-Miner M. de Bruin discovers the infant fossil skull, "Taung child," in a lime quarry in Taung, South Africa; paleoanthropologist Raymond Dart identifies the fossil as a new hominin species, Australopithecus africanus

Oct 26, 2025

FRIDAY, Oct. 24, 2025

1648-Treaty of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire; Switzerland's independence is recognized 1923-General Otto von Lossow calls Reichswehr to Berlin to form a dictatorship 1924-Christian General Feng Joe Siang occupies Beijing 1945-Charter of United Nations comes into effect 1954-Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States' support to South Vietnam 1962-Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis 1995-Total solar eclipse in SW/S Asia (2m09s) 2017-Albert Einstein's "Theory of Happiness," written as a note for a bellboy instead of a tip in Tokyo in 1922, sells for $1.56 million

Oct 23, 2025

THURSDAY, Oct. 23, 2025

1641-Outbreak of the Irish Rebellion of 1641 - Catholic uprising in Ulster 1731-Library of manuscript collector Robert Cotton is badly damaged in a fire in London, lost are one of only two surviving copies of King John's Magna Carta (1215) and Asser's biography of King Alfred [1] 1814-One of the first modern plastic surgeries in the West is performed by Joseph Carpue on a soldier's nose in England using Indian techniques 1854-English newspaper "The Times" gives precise British positions in Crimea during Crimean War 1943-First Jewish transport out of Rome reaches extermination camp Birkenau 1944-Battle of Gulf of Leyte begins - largest naval battle of WWII near the Philippines 1954-Britain, France & US agree to end occupation of Germany 1992-Emperor Akihito becomes the first Emperor of Japan to stand on Chinese soil 2018-Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejects Saudi claim journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed accidentally, says it was premeditated murder

Oct 22, 2025

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22, 2025

794-Japanese Emperor Kanmu relocates the capital from Nara to Heian-kyo (now Kyoto) 1879-Thomas Edison perfects the carbonized cotton filament light bulb 1948-First Arab–Israeli War: Israeli Navy sinks Egyptian Navy flagship 'King Farouk' using explosive-laden motorboat in the Mediterranean Sea near Gaza 1951-Earthquake hits Formosa, 100 killed 1953-Laos gains full independence from France 1954-West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1962-U.S. President John F. Kennedy makes a live television address about Soviet missile bases in Cuba and imposes a naval blockade on Cuba, beginning the Cuban Missile Crisis 1964-French philosopher and author Jean-Paul Sartre refuses the Nobel Prize for Literature, saying he doesn't want to be "institutionalized" 1958-FirstJapanese anime feature film in color "The Tale of the White Serpent" released, produced by Toei Doga Company 1961-75,000 Flemings demand equal rights & Flemish language in Belgium 2004-Discovery and isolation of new wonder material Graphene announced in paper by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov (Nobel Prize 2010). Incredibly

Oct 21, 2025

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