1929 Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Union

Lev Davidovich Bronstein (1879-1940), better known to the world by the name he borrowed from one of his prison guards, “Leon Trotsky”, was a highly-influential thinker and activist during the Russian Revolution.

Trotsky became a Marxist and involved in radical politics in his late teens. He spent years in political prisons and was exiled to Siberia where he became convinced that revolution was necessary in the Russian Empire. He escaped from Siberia in 1902 and moved to London where he joined himself to the Russian Communist Party whose leadership had gone either underground or into exile. Trotsky sided with the Menshevik minority against V.I. Lenin’s Bolsheviks who wanted a small conspiratorial party to guide the workers into rebellion.

Trotsky returned home to play a large role in the unsuccessful 1905 Revolution and helped form the first “soviets” but he was arrested and sentenced again to Siberian imprisonment. Again, he escaped and again fled to England and then to Austria where he edited the Pravda newspaper.

When World War I broke out, Trotsky was forced into a series of moves, from France, to Spain, to the U.S., to a prison camp in Canada, and finally back to Russia in 1917 where he found that the Romanov dynasty had been overthrown and a provisional democratic government was in power. He joined with Lenin and the Bolsheviks in bringing down that democracy; in the Civil War which followed he achieved fame and party  prominence by forming the Red Army and achieving a victory that resulted in the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. He was an architect of the Red Terror and its wartime atrocities.

Trotsky’s rapid rise made him enemies in high places. After the death of Lenin, he was constantly outmaneuvered in party politics by Joseph Stalin who was more concerned with building “Socialism in One Country” than Trotsky’s insistence that the Communist revolution had to be spread internationally. In 1929 Trotsky was expelled to Turkey. He would live out the rest of his life in exile, fulminating against Stalinism and forming a Trotskyist opposition movement. Stalin would systematically murder his family and supporters inside the USSR and send hit squads out to assassinate him. One finally succeeded: in 1940 Trotsky was murdered in his Mexican refuge.

1703

The 47 Ronin avenge their master

The era of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan which spanned 250 years from the early 1600s was a time of rigid social distinctions and iron-clad custom. Sometimes strong moral impulses clashed and produced epic stories such as that of the 47 Ronin which intrigues even today.

The story begins with a dispute between a rural daimyo (feudal lord) named Asano and a high-ranking official of the shogunate, Kira Kozuke-no-Suke Yoshinaka. Kira, angry because he had not been sufficiently bribed, offended Asano, provoking the daimyo into attacking his superior with a knife. This was a serious matter as it occurred on the grounds of the ruler’s palace: Asano was ordered to kill himself; his holdings were to be seized, his family disgraced, and his retainers were to be made “ronin” – outcasts, masterless men. Moreover, the government ruled that no revenge was to be taken against Kira for having started this catastrophe.

Dozens of Asano’s men, however, vowed to avenge their master as their samurai code demanded, but they knew that Kira would be watching for such a move. Therefore, they split up and appeared to accept their fate; they took regular employment, knowing that they would be regarded as spiritless and cowardly for doing so. Their leader Oishi, acted particularly boorishly, becoming a drunkard and consorting with prostitutes, reviled by those who knew him for being such a loser.

When almost two years had passed, and Kira’s guard was relaxed, the ronin reconvened with a plan to attack their enemy’s castle. They had gathered arms in secret and obtained plans of the fortifications; on the night of January 30, 1703 in the middle of a snow storm, the 47 samurai stormed the castle from the front and rear. The immediate neighbours had been alerted that what was taking place was legitimate vengeance so that they would not interfere. Once inside, the attackers went from room to room, searching for Kira and killing those who opposed them. Kira was located hiding in a woodshed. He refused to kill himself so Oishi cut off his head and the ronin left to turn themselves over to the authorities, after first laying Kira’s head on their master’s tomb.

Their actions placed the government in a moral quandary. On the one hand, they had broken the shogun’s command that no revenge should be taken; on the other hand they had honourably avenged their master as samurai should. Moreover, the ronins’ deed was widely approved of by those who had learned of it. The solution: instead of being executed, the ronin would be given the opportunity to ritually kill themselves. Their graves immediately became the site of pilgrimage and respect and their story has been celebrated in art, drama, literature and film ever since.

1936

First elections to the Baseball of Fame

These are the five members of the Hall’s first class:

Ty Cobb, centre field, Detroit Tigers, the “Georgia Peach”, notoriously aggressive player. Averaged .367, 4,191 hits, 117 HR (“dead ball” era), 1,938 RBI, 897 stolen bases.

Babe Ruth, right field, New York Yankees; the “Bambino”, the “Sultan of Swat”; began as an excellent pitcher for the Red Sox, twice won 23 games, a 94-46 record with 2.28 ERA. Legendary home run hitter, .342 average, 2,873 hits, 714 HR, 2,213 RBI.

Walter Johnson, pitcher, Washington Senators, the “Big Train”. 417-279, 2.17 ERA, 3,508 strike-outs, 110 shut-outs.

Christy Mathewson, pitcher, New York Giants; the “Christian Gentleman” who never pitched on Sunday. 373-188 record, 2.13 ERA, 2,502 strike-outs.

Honus Wagner, shortstop, Pittsburgh Pirates; the “Flying Dutchman”, the greatest fielder of his generation and a superb base runner and hitter. Batted .329, with 3, 430 hits, 101 home runs (in the “dead ball” era), 1,732 RBI, and 722 stolen bases.

1393

Bal des ardente; The Dance of the Burning Men

Charles VI of France (1368-1422) was nicknamed “The Well-Beloved” but he had other names as well, such as “Charles the Mad”. In 1392, while on a military expedition, Charles suddenly went berserk, striking out at his attendants, killing four of his knights and pages before he was overcome and sank into a coma. For years after he would claim he was St George or that he was made of glass, that people were trying to kill him; he refused to bathe or change his clothes for months. He was removed from power and, on his doctor’s advice, kept constantly amused.

On January 28, 1393 his wife, Isabelle of Bavaria, held a masque for the king’s entertainment. Charles and six of his nobles were clothed as Wild Men of the Forest with shaggy costumes made of highly inflammable material. Careful instruction was given that there be no torches about as the men whirled, roared and capered. Midway though this performance, the king’s brother Louis, Duke of Orleans, entered, drunk and holding a torch. He either maliciously threw the flaming brand at the dancers or carelessly used it to peer closely at the dancers, but in any event, the Wild Men caught fire. The king was seized by his aunt who smothered the flames with her voluminous gown, another threw himself into a vat of wine, but the five others perished hideously.

This tragedy did much to discredit the court, especially the Duke of Orleans who was forced into a humiliating public procession of confession.

750 Battle of the Zab River

After the death of Muhammed in 632, the Islamic world was ruled by a series of caliphs, or successors, in whom were invested both secular and religious power. In 661 the governor of Syria, Muawiyah, declared himself caliph and established a dynasty, the Umayyads, who ruled from Damascus. The Umayyads continued the Islamic project of conquest, pressing east into central Asia and into Europe, conquering Spain, creating an empire that contains almost 30% of the world’s population and millions of square miles.

By 750 the dynasty had grown corrupt and unpopular; its provincial governors were rebellious and felt little loyalty to the regime in Syria. A faction, the Abbasids who claimed descent from the family of Muhammed, led an uprising and at the Battle of the Zab River in what is now Iraq, defeated the Umayyad army. A new dynasty was established with its capital in Baghdad and remaining members of the previous regime were hunted down and killed. One Umayyad prince, however, survived and made his way to Spain where his followers would establish a rival caliphate at Cordoba.

Culturally the Abbasid rule was the high point of Islamic civilization. Its destruction in 1250 by the Mongols led to an intellectual and artistic decline in the Islamic world.

 

1977

Massacre of Atocha

Democracy in Spain had ended in the 1930s with the triumph of the Right in the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of the rule of General Francisco Franco. When Franco died in 1975 the country entered a period of transition led by the king of the restored monarchy, Juan Carlos, who hoped to work within the existing Francoist structures to bring about a democratic state. During this era of uncertainty, far-left groups which had long been banned began to re-emerge and far-right groups pondered what to do when they would no longer be favoured.

On January 24, 1977 a group of gunmen entered the Madrid offices of a radical trade union allied with the outlawed Communist Party and shot nine men and women, all left-wing lawyers. Five of these died. The killers were members of a neofascist group, Alianza Apostolic Anticommunist (Apostolic Anticommunist Alliance) who were clearly expecting to be protected by their allies in government because they did not flee and were soon arrested. They were sentenced to long periods of imprisonment but most did not serve their full terms, again leading to suspicions that wires in the judicial system were being pulled on their behalf.

As is so often the case, the massacre had unintended consequences. Sympathy grew for left-wing groups and the government decided that it was safe to end the ban on the Spanish Communist Party. The transition to democracy continued.

January 23 produced a fair number of human entrances and exits.

On this date in 1828, Saigo Takamori, aka “the last samurai” was born. Saigo led an army of sword-wielding samurai against the new Japanese imperial government that favoured opening up the country to foreign, modern innovations. He committed suicide after losing the Battle of Shiroyama in 1877.

This is also the birthday of Winnipeg-born William Stephenson, perhaps the most influential Canadian ever to have lived, outside of Frederick Banting, the inventor of insulin. World War I flying ace, failed hardware salesman, and spy extraordinaire, his efforts helped bring the neutral USA into World War II, uncover Nazi spy rings, and direct much of British wartime intelligence. He is said to be the model for Ian Fleming’s James Bond, 007.

Checking out on this date in 1516 was Ferdinand II, “the Catholic”, of Aragon. Husband of Isabella of Castile, Ferdinand united Spain, oversaw the creation of a world-wide empire, added the Kingdom of Naples to his holdings, and ordered the expulsion of Spain’s Jews.

Saying farewell on this date in 2004 was Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo and the original Clarabell the Clown on Howdy Doody. He served as the grandfatherly Captain from 1955 to 1984.

1887 Birth of the “Chicoutimi Cucumber”

Georges Vézina was the greatest hockey goalie of his generation. Growing up poor, he did not play on skates until he was sixteen and went unrecognized by scouts because his community was in remote northern Quebec. It was not until 1910 when Georges was already 23 that he came to the attention of the Montreal Canadiens who were beaten by Vézina’s Chicoutimi squad. He eventually accepted a contract from the impressed Canadiens and in his rookie season lead the league in fewest goals allowed, a feat he would repeat another 6 times.

In 1916 Vézina and the Canadiens played the champions of the Pacific Coast League, the Portland Rosebuds, for the Stanley Cup, which they won 3 games to two. In honour of this triumph Vézina named his newborn son Marcel Stanley. The “Chicoutimi Cucumber”, so-named because of his coolness in the net, would win another Stanley Cup and play stellar goal until the first game of the 1925-26 season when he collapsed on the ice. He died shortly thereafter of tuberculosis.

When the Hockey Hall of Fame held its inaugural vote in 1945, Vézina was one of 9 players selected. The NHL trophy for best goal-tender is named after him.

1942 The Wannsee Conference

The National Socialist government of Adolf Hitler had always followed an anti-Jewish policy consistent with the Nazi belief that the world was engaged in a racial war for purity of  blood. On first taking office, Hitler encouraged German Jews to flee the country by barring them from a number of professions, stripping them of their citizenship, and passing a series of discriminatory laws. The possibility of moving the Jewish population to Madagascar or Palestine was discussed. Later, Jews were banned from emigrating and, when World War II broke out in September 1939, their fate became even more precarious. The occupation of Poland brought millions more Jews under Nazi control and even more fell under their sway with the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. By then a policy of extermination was clearly in place, with German forces murdering tens of thousands of Jews as their armies advanced.

But all of this killing was ad hoc, locally organized, and brutally personal. In January 1942, a meeting of high-ranking SS and government officials took place in a mansion in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. It met to agree on a Final Solution to the Jewish Problem with a definition of who qualified as racially unfit, the mass deportation of Jews to eastern camps, their extermination (either through immediate execution or being worked to death) and which areas would be given priority in racial cleansing. Within 90 minutes these men had decided on policies that would bring death to millions.

Of those attending, few escaped punishment. The conference leader Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated by Czech partisans; Judge Roland Freisler was killed in an Allied bombing raid; Josef Bühler was executed by the Polish government; Alfred Meyer committed suicide; Rudolf Lange died in battle; Karl Schöngarth was executed by the British; Heinrich Müller disappeared in the last days of the war; Otto Hofmann was sentenced to 25 years in jail; while Georg Leibbrandt and several of the smaller fry were arrested and released. Adolf Eichmann escaped to Argentina, where he was kidnapped by Israeli agents, put on trial in Jerusalem and executed.

 

The first Zeppelin raid on Britain

A morale-boosting British poster of World War I

The German Empire had a bad reputation for ruthlessness before it entered World War I in 1914. Kaiser Wilhelm II had urged German troops dispatched to quell the Boxer Rebellion in China to behave as the Huns had 1500 years earlier and German colonialism in Africa was marked by atrocities amounting to genocide. During World War I that nation won an even worse name by its treatment of Belgian civilians and by pioneering new and nasty methods of warfare.

The first of these deadly innovations was aerial bombardment of enemy cities. Air raids on Antwerp and Paris began in the early months of the war and, though these were primitive and ineffectual, they marked a willingness to kill civilians in order to weaken Allied resolve. They were also violations of the Hague convention on the rules of war which forbade the shelling of undefended towns.

On the night of January 19, 1915 the first attack by airships was made on Great Britain. The Kaiser had initially banned bombing London because of the presence of his royal cousins, so the dirigibles dropped their loads on the seaside towns of Great Yarmouth, Sheringham, and King’s Lynn, killing four and wounding 16. Later imperial orders allowed Zeppelins to attack the capital.

These raids shocked the civilized world; the 500 deaths the balloons caused over the course of the whole war seemed somehow more horrid than the loss of 10,000 soldiers in a single afternoon on the Somme. For Germans, however, it was the subject of a merry song:

Zeppelin, flieg,     Fly Zeppelin,

Hilf uns in Krieg,     Help us in war,

Fliege nach England,     Fly to England,

England wird abgebrannt,     England will burn,

Zeppelin, flieg!     Fly Zeppelin!

Other military novelties pioneered by the Germans included the use of poison gas and unrestricted submarine warfare which resulted in the sinking of the unarmed liner Lusitania, which had sailed from New York, off the coast of Ireland killing 1,198 civilians. All three of these moves occurred within weeks of each other in 1915 and changed the shape of war, for the worse, for ever.

Though the world protested these atrocities — anti-German rioting in Victoria B.C. was so bad that the city had to be placed under martial law — the Kaiser was delighted when von Falkenhayn told him the results of the first poison gas attack. He embraced the general three times and promised pink champagne.