Historical Drops # 012: Your weekly dose of History here at Mega!
This week in the Historic Drops column, you bestow the coronation of King Henry VIII of England, a monarch famous for having married six times and broken with the Roman Church by founding his own, the Anglican. Speaking of England, we also have the coronation of Queen Victoria, nicknamed the "grandmother of Europe", since she married her children and grandchildren with several nobles from other European countries.
You will also learn a little about important personalities of the Portuguese language: Machado de Assis, one of the greatest writers in Brazilian history; José Saramago, Portuguese writer who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature; and Chico Buarque de Holanda, one of the biggest names in Brazilian Popular Music (MPB).
June 18th
1815: Waterloo's defeat causes Napoleon Bonaparte to abdicate the throne of France for the second time.
The Battle of Waterloo was fought near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. A French army under Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by the British and Prussian army. The battle marked the end of the "Napoleonic Wars" between France and the other powers of Europe, which lasted more than 23 years.
Died on this day ...
2010: José Saramago, Portuguese writer
José de Sousa Saramago was a Portuguese writer, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature. His works commonly present subversive perspectives on historical events, emphasizing the "theopoietic" human factor. More than 2 million copies of Saramago's books have been sold in Portugal alone, and his work has been translated into over 25 languages.
June 19th
Born on this day ...
1944: Chico Buarque, Brazilian Musician
Besides musician, Chico Buarque de Holanda is a composer, guitarist, playwright, writer and poet. He is known for being one of the biggest names in Brazilian popular music (MPB) and also for the lyrics of his songs, which often address Brazilian social, economic and cultural problems. He was one of the most active artists in political criticism and the struggle for redemocratization during the military dictatorship.
June 20th
1837: Victory becomes Queen of the United Kingdom after the death of William IV
His reign lasted 63 years, the second longest in British history, dubbed the “Victorian Era”, a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific and military change. This phase was also marked by the expansion of the British Empire.
Victory has become a national icon and model of rigorous values and personal morals. In addition, nine children and 26 of his 42 grandchildren married other royals and noble families from the European continent, earning him the nickname “grandmother of Europe”.
June 21th
2004: Initial flight of the first spacecraft built by a private company
SpaceShipOne was launched from California's Mojave Desert, guided by Mike Melvill, a self-taught civil test pilot. The craft reached an altitude of 100 km, positioning itself in the suborbital space.
The main purpose of the SpaceShipOne flight was to demonstrate that a privately funded spacecraft could be viably sent to space, which means in other words that the heavens would henceforth be open for commercial exploration.
Born on this day ...
1839: Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer
It is considered by many critics to be one of the greatest if not the greatest name in Brazilian literature. He was also a journalist, short story writer, chronicler, novelist, poet and theatrologist, and founder of chair 23 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
He was president of GLA for over 10 years, an institution that was also called Casa de Machado de Assis. A descendant of Africans, Assisi witnessed the abolition of slavery and Brazilian political change when the Republic replaced the Empire.
Died on this day ...
1527: Nicholas Machiavelli, Italian historian and political scientist
He was an Italian humanist thinker of the Renaissance era. In addition to being a theorist of politics and history, he was a poet and playwright and, for 14 years, an official of the Florentine Republic - for which he carried out various diplomatic missions, especially to the papacy and the French court.
During all this time he closely observed the mechanics of power and the play of ambitions among competing forces. Machiavelli is, with Thucydides, one of the founders of the realistic current of international politics. Two important books ensured the Florentine's fame: "The Prince" and "Discourses on the First Decade of Livy."
June 22
1633: Galileo Galilei is forced to deny the idea that the sun, not the earth, is the center of the universe.
Galilei is one of the most famous astronomers in history. His discoveries contributed decisively to the vision of heliocentrism, beyond the scientific method, at a time when science was based on an Aristotelian methodology.
From 1610, Galileo was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Inquisition for defending the idea that the sun was the center of the universe - not the earth. In 1633 he was charged with heresy, sentenced to indefinite imprisonment and kept under house arrest until his death in 1642.
1940: Armistice signed between France and Nazi Germany during World War II
The armistice established the German occupation in France, which was divided into two major areas: a occupied zone under German control and another called a "free zone" under the command of Marshal Philippe Pétain, baptized France of Vichy.
1941: Adolf Hitler orders invasion of Soviet Union without formal declaration of war
The invasion plan, called Operation Barbarossa, was designed to achieve Nazi Germany's ideological goals of conquering the Soviet Union so that it could be repopulated by the Germans.
The Axis Powers also intended to harness the Caucasus oil reserves and agricultural resources of the Soviet territories, as well as to use the Slavs, especially the Poles, as a slave labor force.
No less than 4 million German soldiers were used in the operation, the largest invasion force in the history of wars. Initially, the troops achieved great victories, occupying large areas of the Soviet Union, but the winter counteroffensive made them retreat. The failure of the operation marked the beginning of the defeat of the third Reich.
June 23
1894: Foundation of the International Olympic Committee
The IOC was created that day by Pierre de Coubertin, Demetrios Vikelas being its first president. It is a private Swiss non-governmental organization based in Lauseanne, responsible for the Modern Age Olympic Games. The first edition of the Summer Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, in 1896, and the first edition of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924.
June 24th
1509: Coronation of Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII is credited with founding the Anglican Church, the result of the English Reformation, a series of events in the 16th century through which the Church of England broke with the authority of the Pope and the Roman Church. However, Henry continued to believe in the main Catholic teachings, even after his excommunication.
1947: First report on a UFO is released by Kenneth Arnold
It was on this day that private pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed to have seen a row of "nine bright objects" flying above Mount Rainier in the United States at speeds he estimated at at least 1, 000 miles per hour.
Several other UFO sightings were reported in the coming weeks, which, according to some experts, marked the beginning of modern Ufology. It was around this time that the press coined the term "flying saucer" to describe an unidentified space object.
2016: In historic referendum, the UK decides to leave the European Union
Brexit, as the event came to be called, is the UK withdrawal process from the European Union. The dramatic referendum split the country, and 51.9% of voters voted to leave the European body. The United Kingdom is expected to officially withdraw on March 29, 2019.
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