Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!
Oct 16, 1793: Marie-Antoinette is beheaded
Nine months after the execution of her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, Marie-Antoinette follows him to the guillotine. The daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, she married Louis in 1770 to strengthen the French-Austrian alliance. At a time of economic turmoil in France, she lived extravagantly and encouraged her husband to resist reform of the monarchy. In one episode, she allegedly responded to news that the French peasantry had no bread to eat by callously replying, "Let them eat cake." The increasing revolutionary uproar convinced the king and queen to attempt an escape to Austria in 1791, but they were captured by revolutionary forces and carried back to Paris. In 1792, the French monarchy was abolished, and Louis and Marie-Antoinette were condemned for treason.
Oct 16, 1916: British soldier Henry Farr executed for cowardice
At dawn on October 16, 1916, Private Henry Farr of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) is executed for cowardice after he refused to go forward into the front-line trenches on the Western Front during World War I.
After joining the BEF in 1914, Farr was sent to the front in France; the following May, he collapsed, shaking, and was sent to a hospital for treatment. He returned to the battlefield and participated in the Somme Offensive. In mid-September 1916, however, Farr refused to go ahead into the trenches with the rest of his squadron; after being dragged forward, struggling, he broke away and ran back. He was subsequently court-martialed for cowardice and given a death sentence, which was carried out on October 16.
Farr was one of 306 soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth who were executed for cowardice during the Great War. According to his descendants, who have fought a long battle to clear his name, Farr suffered from severe shell-shock, a condition that was just being recognized at the time, and had been damaged both physically and psychologically by his experience of combat, especially the repeated heavy bombardments to which he and his comrades at the front had been subjected. The symptoms of "shell-shock"—a term first used in 1917 by a medical officer named Charles Myers—included debilitating anxiety, persistent nightmares and physical afflictions ranging from diarrhea to loss of sight. By the end of World War I, the British army had been forced to deal with 80,000 cases of this affliction, including among soldiers who had never experienced a direct bombardment. Despite undergoing treatment, only one-fifth of the men affected ever resumed military duty. Several successive governments rejected pleas from Farr’s family and others for their loved ones to be pardoned and honored alongside the rest of those soldiers killed in World War I. Finally, in August 2006, after a 14-year struggle, the British High Court granted a pardon to Farr; hours after informing Farr’s family of its verdict, the government announced it would seek Parliament’s approval to pardon all 306 soldiers executed for cowardice during World War I.
Oct 16, 1946: Nazi war criminals executed
At Nuremberg, Germany, 10 high-ranking Nazi officials are executed by hanging for their crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and war crimes during World War II.
Two weeks earlier, the 10 were found guilty by the International War Crimes Tribunal and sentenced to death along with two other Nazi officials. Among those condemned to die by hanging were Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi minister of foreign affairs; Hermann Goering, founder of the Gestapo and chief of the German air force; and Wilhelm Frick, minister of the interior. Seven others, including Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler's former deputy, were given prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life. Three others were acquitted.
The trial, which had lasted nearly 10 months, was conducted by an international tribunal made up of representatives from the United States, the USSR, France, and Great Britain. It was the first trial of its kind in history, and the defendants faced charges ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes of war and crimes against humanity. On October 16, 10 of the architects of Nazi policy were hanged one by one. Hermann Goering, who at sentencing was called the "leading war aggressor and creator of the oppressive program against the Jews," committed suicide by poison on the eve of his scheduled execution. Nazi Party leader Martin Bormann was condemned to death in absentia; he is now known to have died in Berlin at the end of the war.
Oct 16, 1854: Lincoln speaks out against slavery
On this day in 1854, an obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Congress had passed five months earlier. In his speech, the future president denounced the act and outlined his views on slavery, which he called "immoral."
Under the terms of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, two new territories—Kansas and Nebraska—would be allowed into the Union and each territory's citizens would be given the power to determine whether slavery would be allowed within the territory's borders. It was believed that the act would set a precedent for determining the legality of slavery in other new territories. Controversy over the act influenced political races across the country that fall. Abolitionists, like Lincoln, hoped to convince lawmakers in the new territories to reject slavery.
Lincoln, who was practicing law at the time, campaigned on behalf of abolitionist Republicans in Illinois and attacked the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He denounced members of the Democratic Party for backing a law that "assumes there can be moral right in the enslaving of one man by another." He believed that the law went against the founding American principle that "all men are created equal." Lincoln was an abolitionist at heart, but he realized that the outlawing of slavery in states where it already existed might lead to civil war. Instead, he advocated outlawing the spread of slavery to new states. He hoped this plan would preserve the Union and slowly eliminate slavery by confining it to the South, where, he believed, "it would surely die a slow death."
Lincoln and his fellow abolitionists were dismayed when Kansans voted a pro-slavery candidate into Congress in November. As Lincoln's political career picked up momentum over the next several years, he continually referred to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the seeming inevitability that Kansas should become a slave state as "a violence...it was conceived in violence, passed in violence, is maintained in violence, and is being executed in violence."
Lincoln continued to actively campaign against slavery in Kansas and helped to raise money to support anti-slavery candidates in that state. Meanwhile he continued his law practice and ran for the U.S. Senate in 1859. Although he lost to Democrat Stephen Douglas, Lincoln began to make a name for himself in national politics and earned increasing support from the North and abolitionists across the nation. It was this constituency that helped him win the presidency in 1860.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
456 - Magister militum Ricimer defeats the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and becomes master of the western Roman Empire.
1311 - Council of Vienne (15th ecumenical council) opens
1384 - Jadwiga is crowned King of Poland, although a woman.
1492 - Columbus' fleet anchors at "Fernandina" (Long Island, Bahamas)
1502 - Storm ravages Friese coast
1551 - English Edward Seymour duke of Somerset re-arrested
1600 - Olivier van Noorts ships reach Philippines
1674 - Emperor Leopold I fires chancellor Furst Wenzel Lobkowitz
1710 - British troops occupies Port Royal, Nova Scotia
1757 - Austrian troops occupy Berlin
1775 - Portland, Maine burned by British
1780 - Royalton, Vermont and Tunbridge, Vermont last major raid of the American Revolutionary War.
1781 - Washington takes Yorktown
1793 - Battle of Wattignies.
1795 - M von Böhms "Oorlogscantate" premieres
1813 - Battle at Leipzig (Napoleon vs Prussia, Austria & Russia)
1829 - Tremont Hotel, 1st US modern hotel opens (Boston)
1834 - Much of the ancient structures of the Palace of Westminster (parliament) in London is burnt down.
1841 - Queens University in Kingston is chartered
Explorer of the New World Christopher ColumbusExplorer of the New World Christopher Columbus 1843 - Sir William Rowan Hamilton comes up with the idea of quaternions, a non-commutative extension of complex numbers.
1846 - Dentist William T Morton demonstrates effectiveness of ether
1847 - Charlotte Bronte's book "Jane Eyre" published
1848 - 1st US homeopathic medical college opens in Pennsylvania
1849 - Avery College establishes in Allegheny, Pennsylvania
1849 - British seize Tigre Island in Gulf of Fonseca from Honduras
1852 - Dutch government recognize Catholics right to organize
1859 - John Brown leads 21 in raid on federal arsenal, Harper's Ferry, Va
1861 - Confederacy starts selling postage stamps
1863 - Grant is given command of Union forces in West
1867 - Alaska adopts Gregorian calendar, crosses intl date line
1869 - Hotel in Boston becomes 1st to have indoor plumbing
1875 - 1st Quebec vs Ontario football game, Ontario wins
1875 - Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
1876 - Race riot at Cainhoy SC (5 whites & 1 black killed)
Abolitionist John BrownAbolitionist John Brown 1882 - The Nickel Plate Railroad opens for business.
1900 - Queen Wilhelmina leaves duke Heinrich "Henry" von Mecklenburg-Schwerin
1903 - Homel, 1st Jewish self defense organization founded in Russia
1904 - Russian Baltic fleet departs to Port Arthur
1905 - The Partition of Bengal (India) occurred.
1907 - Belasco Theater opens at 111 W 44th St NYC
1907 - David Belasco's "Grand Army Man," premieres in NYC
1908 - Edmonton Rugby Foot-ball Club re-organizes as Esquimoux
1909 - Jack Johnson KOs Stanley Ketchel in 12 for heavyweight boxing title
1909 - Pirates beat Tigers 4 games to 3 in 6th World Series
1912 - Arnold Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire," premieres
1912 - Boston beats NY Giants, 4 games to 3 with a tie in 9th World Series
1913 - Booth Theater opens at 222 W 44th St NYC
1915 - Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria
1916 - Dodger manager Wilbert Robinson given $5,000 bonus
Nurse Margaret SangerNurse Margaret Sanger 1916 - Margaret Sanger opens 1st birth control clinic (46 Amboy St, Bkln)
1916 - T E Lawrence (of Arabia) meets with Fasal Hoessein
1921 - Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel, & Bill Piercy defy Landis ban on World Series
1921 - Jim Conzelman takes over as coach of Rock Island Independents from Frank Coughlin-only mid-game coaching change in NFL history
1923 - Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio founded
1923 - John Harwood patents self-winding watch (Switzerland)
1925 - Peace accord of Locarno signed (Rhine Pact)
1925 - Texas School Board prohibits teaching of evolution
1926 - Mohammed Nadir Khan begins coup in Afghanistan, 1200 killed
1926 - Troop ship sinks in Yangtze River, killing 1,200
1928 - Mickey Cochrane wins AL MVP honors, edging Heinie Manush by 2 points
1931 - Trunk murderess Winnie Ruth Judd chops 1st
1934 - Mao Tse-tung & 25,000 troops begin 6,000 mile Long March
1936 - Lou Gehrig, is voted AL MVP by BBWAA
1939 - Sugar rationing begins in Netherlands
Chinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-TungChinese Communist Revolutionary and Politician Mao Tse-Tung 1940 - Benjamin Oliver Davis Sr named 1st black general in regular army
1940 - Lottery for 1st US WW II draftees held; #158 drawn 1st
1940 - Warsaw Ghetto forms
1941 - "Gordo" comic strip (by Gus Arriola) 1st appears in newspapers
1941 - Germany advances within 60 miles (96 K) of Moscow
1941 - Romanian Legionnaires enter Odessa Russia
1942 - Aaron Copland/de Milles ballet "Rodeo," premieres in NYC
1942 - Cyclone in Bay of Bengal kills some 40,000 south of Calcutta India
1942 - Natl Boxing Association freezes titles of those serving in armed services
1943 - Anti Jewish riot in Rome
1943 - Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly opens city's new subway system
1943 - Jewish quarter of Rome surrounded by Nazis, they are sent to Auschwitz
1943 - US 1st Army establishes headquarter in Bristol
1944 - Hungary: Horthy government falls/nazi count Szalasi becomes premier
1945 - UN's Food & Agriculture Organization comes into existence
1946 - 10 Nazi leaders hanged as war criminals after Nuremberg trials
1948 - "Red Mill" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 831 performances
1948 - Demonstration by Moscow Jews honoring Israeli ambassador Golda Meir
1949 - WDAF TV channel 4 in Kansas City, MO (NBC) begins broadcasting
1951 - The first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, is assassinated in Rawalpindi.
1952 - Pakistan's 1st Test starts, v India at Delhi
1952 - Woolworth's at Powell & Market (SF) opens
Cuban President Fidel CastroCuban President Fidel Castro 1953 - Fidel Castro sentenced to 15 years (Havana)
1956 - "Love Me Tender" with Elvis Presley premieres
1956 - William J Brennan Jr becomes a Supreme Court Justice
1957 - Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip visits Williamsburg Virginia
1957 - USAF sends 2 aluminium bullets into space
1958 - Benjamin Britten's "Nocturne," premieres
1958 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1960 - NL votes to admit Houston & NY to league
1962 - Byron R White becomes a Supreme Court Justice
1962 - Cuban missile crisis began as JFK becomes aware of missiles in Cuba
1962 - KTXT TV channel 5 in Lubbock, TX (PBS) begins broadcasting
1962 - Yanks (20th championship) beat SF Giants 4 games to 3 in World Series
1962 - NY Yankees appear in 12 & win 9 of last 14 World Series
1963 - 2 secret US military satellites launched from Cape Canaveral
1963 - NY newspaper "Mirror" last edition
US President John F. KennedyUS President John F. Kennedy 1964 - China becomes world's 5th nuclear power
1964 - Harold Wilson's Labour party wins British election
1964 - Indians' directors vote to keep franchise in Cleveland, rejecting bids by Seattle, Oakland & Dallas
1965 - "Drat! - The Cat!" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 8 perfs
1966 - Joean Baez & 123 other ani-draft protestors arrested in Oakland
1967 - WETK TV channel 33 in Burlington, VT (PBS) begins broadcasting
1967 - WGNO TV channel 26 in New Orleans, LA (ABC) begins broadcasting
1968 - China reports removal of president Li Sjao-tji
1968 - Czechoslovakia & Russian "accord" rules allies Soviet forces
1968 - During Olympics Tommie Smith & John Carlos give black power salute
1968 - Milwaukee Bucks play their 1st game losing 89-84 to Chicago Bulls
1968 - Jim Dorey sets Toronto Maple Leaf penalty records (48 mins on 9 penalties in a game & 44 minutes on 7 penalties in a period)
1969 - 100-1 shot NY Mets beat Orioles 5-3 & win 66th World Series in 5
1969 - Soyuz 6 returns to Earth
1969 - Met Cleon Jones awarded 1st base when shoe polish on ball proves he is hit by a pitch, he scores on a HR in World Series
1970 - Anwar Sadat elected president of Egypt, succeeding Gamal Abdel Nasser
1971 - Amphitheater in McLaren Park is dedicated in SF
1972 - "Pacific Paradise" opens at Palace Theater NYC for 5 performances
1972 - Creedence Clearwater Revival breaks up
1973 - Israeli tanks under Gen Sharon move through Suez Canal
1973 - Kissinger & Le Duc Tho jointly awarded Nobel peace prize
1973 - Maynard Jackson elected 1st black mayor of Atlanta
1973 - Monks Heng Yo & Heng Ju, start 1000 mile SF to Seattle pilgrimage
1974 - A's Ken Holtzman, who hasn't batted all season, belts 3rd inning home run in Game 4 & gets the win, 5-2
1976 - Soyuz 23 returns to Earth
1976 - Toronto Maple Leaf Lanny McDonald scores a hat trick in 2 min 54 sec
1978 - Nobel prize for economy awarded to Herbert A Simon
264th Pope John Paul II264th Pope John Paul II 1978 - Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla elected supreme pontiff John Paul II
1978 - Test debut of Kapil Dev, India v Pakistan at Faisalabad
1980 - "Brigadoon" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 133 performances
1980 - China PR performs nuclear test at Lop Nor PRC
1981 - 2nd Dutch government of Van Agt resigns
1981 - Harvey Fierstein's "Torch Song Trilogy," premieres in NYC
1982 - Devils 1st road victory 6-5 over Penguins
1982 - Mt Palomar Observatory 1st to detect Halley's comet on 13th return
1982 - Shultz warns US will withdraw from UN if they vote to exclude Israel
1982 - USSR performs underground nuclear test
1983 - "Zorba" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 362 performances
1983 - 25th Ryder Cup: US, 14½-13½ at PGA National Golf Club (Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, US)
1983 - Balt Orioles beat Philadelphia Phillies, 4 games to 3 in 80th World Series
1984 - Baboon heart transplanted into a 15-day-old baby girl
1984 - Desmond Tutu, black Anglican Bishop, wins Nobel Peace Prize
1985 - Challenger vehicle moves to launch pad for STS 61A mission
1985 - Intel introduces 32-bit 80386 microcomputer chip
1985 - KC Royals & St Louis Cardinals win their league championships
1985 - Nobel prize for chemistry awarded to Herbert Hauptman & Jerome Karle
1986 - "Raggedy Ann" opens at Nederlander Theater NYC for 5 performances
1986 - Armand Hammer returns to US with Jewish refusenik David Goldfarb
1986 - US government closes down due to budget problems
1986 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1987 - 175-kph winds cause blackout in London, much of southern England
1987 - 338,500,000 shares traded on NY stock exchange (record)
1987 - Dow Jones for 1st time falls more than 100 pts (108.35)
1987 - Jessica McClure rescued 58 hrs after falling 22' into a well shaft
Heavyweight Boxing Champion Mike TysonHeavyweight Boxing Champion Mike Tyson 1987 - Mike Tyson TKOs Tyrell Biggs in 7 for heavyweight boxing title
1987 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1987 - Great Storm of 1987: hurricane force winds to hit much of the South of England killing 23 people.
1988 - "Smile Jamaica" concert for Hurricane Gilbert victims held in London
1988 - Orel Hirsheiser, 1st to pitch shutout in playoff & World Series
1989 - Bikenibau Paeniu installed as premier of Tuvalu
1989 - Jan Syse becomes premier of Norway
1990 - "Stand Up Tragedy" closes at Criterion Theater NYC after 13 perfs
1990 - Reds Eric Davis is 22nd player to homer in his 1st World Series at bat
1990 - Reds beat A's 7-0, ending Oakland's 10-game post-season winning streak
1990 - US forces reach 200,000 in Persian Gulf
1991 - George Jo Hennard, 35, kills 23 & himself & wounds 20 in Texas
1991 - US Supreme Court begins to hear Joseph Doherty case
1991 - Dallas Mavericks Roy Tarpley becomes 7th to be banned from NBA for life under the league's anti-drug agreement
1991 - Jharkhand Chhatra Yuva Morcha is founded at a conference in Ranchi, India.
Comedian David LettermanComedian David Letterman 1992 - 1,700th David Letterman Show
1992 - 1964 "Gilligan's Island" TV pilot 1st shown on TV (TBS)
1993 - General Omar al-Bashir appointed Sudan president
1993 - IRA bomb attack on fish & chips restaurant in Belfast, 10 killed
1993 - Anti-Nazi riot breaks out in Welling in Kent, after police stop protesters approaching British National Party headquarters
1994 - Raul Julia, actor (Addams Family), suffers a stroke
1995 - Allan Donald takes 8-71 as South Africa defeat Zimbabwe
1995 - Brian Lara scores 169 in Sharjah ODI versus Sri Lanka
1995 - Million Man March held in Wash DC (over 800,000 black men attend)
1995 - ODI in Sharjah WI 7-333 in 50 overs beat Sri Lanka 329 all out
1996 - Eighty-four people are killed and more than 180 injured as 47,000 football fans attempt to squeeze into the 36,000-seat Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City.
1997 - "Side Show," opens at Richard Rodgers Theater NYC for 91 performances
1998 - Former Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet is arrested in London on a warrant from Spain requesting his extradition on murder charges.
2002 - Bibliotheca Alexandrina in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, is officially inaugurated.
2012 - Conflict in Maiduguri, Nigeria, leads to 24 militant deaths and several structures set ablaze
1701 - The Collegiate School was founded in Killingworth, CT. The school moved to New Haven in 1745 and changed its name to Yale College. 1829 - In Boston, MA, the first modern hotel in America opened. The Tremont Hotel had 170 rooms that rented for $2 a day and included four meals. 1859 - Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on Harper's Ferry, VA (now located in West Virginia). 1869 - A hotel in Boston became the first in the U.S. to install indoor plumbing. 1916 - Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic in New York City, NY. 1923 - Walt Disney contracted with M.J. Winkler to distribute the Alice Comedies. This event is recognized as the start of the Disney Company. Disney movies, music and books 1928 - Marvin Pipkin received a patent for the frosted electric light bulb. 1939 - "Right To Happiness" debuted on the NBC-Blue network. 1939 - "The Man Who Came to Dinner" opened on Broadway. 1941 - The Nazis advanced to within 60 miles of Moscow. Romanians entered Odessa, USSR, and began exterminating 150,000 Jews. 1942 - The ballet "Rodeo" premiered in New York City. 1943 - Chicago's new subway system was officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony. 1944 - "The Robe," by Lloyd Douglas, was published for the first time. 1945 - "His Honor the Barber" debuted on NBC Radio. 1955 - Mrs. Jules Lederer replaced Ruth Crowley in newspapers using the name Ann Landers. 1962 - U.S. President Kennedy was informed that there were missile bases in Cuba, beginning the Cuban missile crisis. 1964 - China detonated its first atomic bomb becoming the world's fifth nuclear power. 1967 - NATO headquarters opened in Brussels. 1970 - Anwar Sadat was elected president of Egypt to succeed Gamal Abdel Nassar. 1973 - Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho were named winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Vietnamese official declined the award. 1982 - China announced that it had successfully fired a ballistic missile from a submarine. 1987 - Rescuers freed Jessica McClure from the abandoned well that she had fallen into in Midland, TX. The was trapped for 58 hours. 1989 - U.S. President George H.W. Bush signed the Gramm-Rudman budget reduction law that ordered federal programs be cut by $16.1 billion. 1990 - Comedian Steve Martin and his wife Victoria Tennant visited U.S. soldiers in Saudi Arabia. 1993 - The U.N. Security Council approved the deployment of U.S. warships to enforce a blockade on Haiti to increase pressure on the controlling military leaders. 1994 - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was re-elected to a fourth term. 1995 - The "Million Man March" took place in Washington, DC. 1997 - Charles M. Schulz and his wife Jeannie announced that they would give $1 million toward the construction of a D-Day memorial to be placed in Virginia. 2000 - It was announced that Chevron Corp. would be buying Texaco Inc. for $35 billion. The combined company was called Chevron Texaco Corp. and became the 4th largest oil company in the world. 2002 - It was reported that North Korea had told the U.S. that it had a secret nuclear weapons program in violation of an 1994 agreement with the U.S. 2002 - The Arthur Andersen accounting firm was sentenced to five years probation and fined $500,000 for obstructing a federeal investigation of the energy company Enron. 2008 - The iTunes Music Store reached 200 billion television episodes sold.
1793 French queen Marie Antoinette was guillotined for treason. 1859 Abolitionist John Brown his men captured the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. 1916 Margaret Sanger opened the first birth-control clinic in New York City. 1962 The Cuban Missile Crisis began. 1964 China detonated its first atomic bomb. 1978 John Paul II was elected pope. 1995 Hundreds of thousands of black men gathered in Washington for the "Million Man March" led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. 2001 Twelve Senate offices were closed when a letter to Sen. Tom Daschle was found to contain anthrax. 2002 The White House announced that North Korea had disclosed the existence of a secret nuclear weapons program.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
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