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Channel about World's History All questions: @cobbl or @otchebuch
Today in 1972, a Japanese soldier from WWII is discovered hiding on Guam. Sgt Shoichi Yokoi, 57, is eventually repatriated. "It is with much embarrassment that I return," he says upon returning home. Other holdouts will be found in the Philippines and Indonesia as late as 1974.
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Today in 1915, Royal Navy warships led by five battlecruisers surprise a German squadron near the Dogger Bank and destroy the armoured cruiser Blücher. The ambush is made possible after the Admiralty's cryptanalysis section, Room 40, intercepts and decodes the enemy's signals.
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📕 A Byzantine book cover with an ivory icon of the crucifixion. Gilded silver with crystal, glass and sapphire cabochons. Constantinople, 11th century.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
📷 Photo ©️ by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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🚨🇮🇷 BREAKING: IRAN SHUTS DOWN ITS AIRSPACE
Tehran has issued a NOTAM suspending all commercial flights, allowing only select international operations with prior clearance.
When a nation grounds its skies, it signals either anticipation of incoming threats or an effort to prevent departures.
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Beneath Las Vegas lies an underground world few ever see. Nearly 200 miles of flood tunnels run below the city, and within them lives a hidden community of almost 1,000 unhoused people surviving in the Strip’s dark underbelly.
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During the Battle of the Bulge, soldiers of the 106th Infantry Division Prepare their 105mm howitzer for action, in hopes of stemming the German tide through the Ardennes Forest. 🪖
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On this day in 1968, communist forces surround and lay siege to the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. The standoff, which continues for 170 days, sees some of the heaviest fighting of America's war in South East Asia.
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On this day in 1879, 20,000 Zulu warriors wipe out an 1,800-man British column at Isandlwana, South Africa. Less than 10 miles away, 150 troops defending an outpost at Rorke's Drift hold off 4,000 attackers. Victoria Crosses will be awarded to 11 of the survivors.
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On this day in 1812, 10,000 British and Portuguese troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) storm the French-occupied stronghold of Ciudad Rodrigo after a 10-day siege. The victory opens a route for an Anglo-Portuguese invasion of Spain.
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On this day in 1940, the Three Stooges' "You Nazty Spy" is released in the U.S. The 18-minute slapstick comedy is the first American movie to openly lampoon Adolf Hitler, appearing nine months before Chaplin's satirical classic "The Great Dictator."
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Today in 1793, France's King Louis XVI is executed by guillotine before a Paris mob. "I pardon those who have occasioned my death," he says before the blade falls. The revolution has ridded France of its monarchy, or so many think — in 11 years, Napoleon crowns himself emperor.
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In January of 1945, soldiers of the 75th Infantry Division look to engage the enemy in the snowy terrain near Amonines, Belgium. 🪖
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During the Battle of the Bulge, Easy Company’s Popeye Wynn and Hank Zimmerman on the line in Bastogne. 🪖
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On this day in 1649, England's King Charles I is tried before the Rump Parliament's newly established High Court of Justice for "high crimes" including treason. Ten days later, Charles will be executed.
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On this day in 1812, 10,000 British and Portuguese troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) storm the French-occupied stronghold of Ciudad Rodrigo after a 10-day siege. The victory opens a route for an Anglo-Portuguese invasion of Spain.
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On this day in 1965, Winston Churchill, 90, dies of complications from a stroke. "The great figure who embodied man's will to resist tyranny passed into history this morning," reports the New York Times.
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👑 On this day in 1901: Queen Victoria dies shortly after a stroke at her holiday retreat, Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.
Queen Victoria of Great Britain (r. 1837-1901) was one of the most loved of all Britain's monarchs. Her longevity, devotion to her role as figurehead of an empire, and recovery from the death of her beloved husband Prince Albert won her a unique status as the ever-present symbol of 19th-century Britain, an era of tremendous political, industrial, and social changes.
The last of the British Hanoverian monarchs, Victoria reigned for 63 years. She weathered the storms of life – outliving three of her children – and survived assassination attempts, family scandals, gossip over her relationship with her beloved servant John Brown, and reformers who wanted to topple the Crown.
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• U.S. President Donald Trump has canceled meetings with Iranian officials and told protesters that “help is on its way” amid Tehran’s violent crackdown. At least 1,850 protesters have been killed in more than two weeks of demonstrations, according to a U.S.-based human rights group.
• Trump is scheduled to meet with his senior national security team later today to discuss options on Iran, following his announcement that countries doing business with Iran will face a 25% tariff. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he believes the Iranian regime may be entering its “final days or weeks.”
• Some landline and mobile phone users in Iran have been able to place international calls for the first time in over four days after the government shut down communications. However, internet access remains largely cut off.
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According to HRANA, executions continued in Iran on January 14 the very day President Trump publicly stated that all executions had been stopped. At least five prisoners were executed across multiple prisons, directly contradicting the information he shared.
This stark discrepancy raises serious questions. Either the president was misinformed, or the information he relied on was not independently verified. While public statements suggested a halt, the reality on the ground told a different story one documented by human rights monitors inside the country.
HRANA reports the executions of Dariush Bozorgi (Mahabad Prison); Mostafa Azizi and Arman Mohammadian (Kashmar Prison); Yaser Akbari (Shahrekord Prison); and Khosrow Abdi (Sabzevar Prison). Further details, including the identification of seven additional prisoners, remain under review.
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In January of 1945, Privates John Mincek and Luther Jack of the 87th Infantry Division man a machine gun as they protect a 3rd Army CP (tent in background) near the front lines in St. Hubert Forest, Belgium. 🪖
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81 years ago today, T/5 Glenn Kappelman writes home with good news of winter clothing from the front lines of the Bulge:
“We are now getting big, fur-lined, white overcoats. They also have a big hood and are really warm too.” 🪖
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Today in 1905, Russian troops fire into crowd of peaceful protesters in front of the Tsar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, killing more than 100. Known as "Bloody Sunday," the massacre only intensifies the calls for revolution that will eventually topple Russia's monarchy.
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On this day in 1946, the U.S. occupation force in Tokyo establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE). The Allies eventually indict more than 5,700 Japanese for war crimes; 920 are executed.
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On this day in 1915, German zeppelins bomb the British towns of Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn. The raids mark the emergence of a terrifying new feature of modern war: the targeting of civilian populations from the air.
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Today in 1942, 15 Nazi officials meet at a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to map out the "final solution to the Jewish question in Europe"
"They minced no words," recalled Adolf Eichmann. "They spoke about methods of killing, about liquidation, about extermination"
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6 years ago today, the first known case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States.
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Muhammad Ali and his brother Rahman Ali, walk with their great-grandmother Betsy Jane Greathouse, who was 99 when this picture was taken in Louisville, Kentucky, circa 1963.
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Happy MLK Day ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏻
Today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his lifelong fight for justice, equality, and dignity for all.
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In 1944, American soldiers man a .50 caliber MG at a field CP near Malmedy, Belgium. 🪖
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An 83-year-old retired Marine kept the promise he made to his friend while in a bunker in Vietnam, and stood guard one last time.
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