March 26 โ Some Important Events on this day
127 ๐๐ผ Greek astronomer and mathematician Ptolemy begins his observations of the heavens (until 141 AD) โจ
1027 ๐๐ผ Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II Holy Roman Emperor, founder of the Salian dynasty.
1726 ๐๐ผ one the most grisly murder cases in the annals of English criminal history.
โ๏ธ Read the article!
1812 ๐๐ผ Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela and kills an estimated 15,000โ20,000 people.
The Caracas earthquake occurred at 4:37 p.m. Two major shocks struck the city and that of La Guaira, Barquisimeto, San Felipe, and Mรฉrida.
The damage was so widespread it was suggested that the capital Caracas be re-located at one point. The quake occurred in the midst of the Republican Revolution war and deep in Patriot territory. It was also Holy Sunday and thousands died inside churches as they collapsed around them.
1871 ๐๐ผ Municipal elections bring revolutionaries to power in Paris to form Commune government.
1886 ๐๐ผ 1st cremation in England ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ฅ๓ ฎ๓ ง๓ ฟ
1909 ๐๐ผ In support of Mohammed Ali Shahโs coup dโetat against the constitutional government in Persia, a Russian military force invades northern Persia to relieve the siege of Tabriz.
1942 ๐๐ผ First โEichmann transportโ to Auschwitz & Birkenau concentration camps.
Toward the end of World War II, SS officer Adolf Eichmann said โI will leap into my grave laughing because the feeling that I have five million human beings on my conscience is for me a source of extraordinary satisfactionโ.
Eichmann was one of the primary organizers of the Holocaust. Tasked by Reinhard Heydrich with managing the logistics of the Final Solution, Eichmann was a participant in the infamous Wannsee Conference where the decision exterminate the Jews was made. He and his staff were responsible for organizing the deportations to death camps.
After Germanyโs defeat Eichmann fled to Argentina. One of the most wanted Nazis, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad located him in 1960. After extensive surveillance, on 11 May 1960 a team of Mossad agents launched a successful and audacious operation to abduct him and fly him to Israel to stand trial.
During his trial, reporter Hannah Arendt coined the phrase โthe banality of evilโ to describe Eichmann, who appeared stiff and lackluster in comparison to the enormity of his crimes. Sentenced to death, Eichmann was executed by hanging two years later, on 1 June 1962.
1953 ๐๐ผ Dr Jonas Salk announces vaccine to prevent polio ๐
1958 ๐๐ผ 30th Academy Awards-โThe Bridge on the River Kwaiโ wins Best Picture, Joanne Woodward & Alec Guinness win Best Actress and Best Actor, respectively.
Winner of seven Academy Awards including โBest Pictureโ, the 1957 film was a joint British American film set in a prisoner of war camp in Burma during WWII. It was based on the novel โLe Pont de la Riviรจre Kwaรฏโ written in 1952 by Pierre Boulle.
The film was directed by British director David Lean and starred William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness, and Sessue Hayakawa. Alec Guinness won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson. The filmโs reputation has endured and it is often included on British and American best film lists.
1966 ๐๐ผ Large-scale anti-Vietnam War protests take place in the United States, including in New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago
1971 ๐๐ผ Bangladesh (East Pakistan) under Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declares its independence from Pakistan ๐ง๐ฉ
1985 ๐๐ผ Pope John Paul II proclaims first ever World Youth Day
1989 ๐๐ผ 1st free elections in USSR. 190 million votes cast and Boris Yeltsin wins
2015 ๐๐ผ Richard III of England (1452-1485) is reburied at Leicester Cathedral in England, after being discovered under a carpark in Leicester in 2012.