Under Sunday, January 16, the book of history records, among other things:
27 v. Chr.: Octavian receives the honorary title of Augustus (Exalted) from the Roman Senate.
1362: Storm surges on the North Sea coast lead to large losses of land and the formation of the dollart.
1547: Ivan IV “the Terrible” is proclaimed the first crowned Tsar of the Muscovite Empire.
1777: Vermont declares its independence from New York.
1892: The French composer Erik Satie founds the “Confraternity of the Poor Knights of the Holy City” (Congrégation des Pauvres chevaliers de la Sainte Cité).
1932: The group of young actors premieres the play “The Mother” by Bertolt Brecht based on Maxim Gorki at the Komödienhaus Berlin.
1932: A boycott of Japanese goods in Shanghai leads to a Japanese military intervention involving 70,000 troops. The Chinese troops initially withstood the attack near the coast, but were forced to retreat in the weeks that followed.
1942: Japanese troops cross Burma’s borders.
1947: Vincent Auriol becomes the new French President.
1957: The Cavern Club opens its doors in Liverpool. It is considered the cradle of British beat music.
1967: The number of unemployed in Germany is over 500,000 for the first time.
1977: 49 US soldiers drown in the port of Barcelona after their launch collided with a freighter.
1987: The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Hu Yaobang, resigns, the incumbent party leader becomes Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang.
1987: Frenchman Michel Camdessus becomes director of the IMF (International Monetary Fund).
1992: President Alfredo Cristiani and representatives of the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) sign a peace treaty in Mexico City. The agreement ends the civil war in El Salvador that has been going on for twelve years.
1997: Yahya AJJ Jammeh becomes President of The Gambia.
2007: Alfred Gusenbauer’s first government statement in the National Council: One of his announcements was that he would personally give underprivileged young people private tuition.
2007: Bloodbath at Baghdad University: 65 students and teachers are killed and almost 140 others injured in a devastating terrorist attack.
birthdays: Friedrich Julius Stahl, German philos./polit. (1802-1861); Edward Gordon Craig, British set designer (1872-1966); Franz Tumler, Austria writer (1912-1998); Heinrich Drimmel, Austria publicist/pol. (1912-1991); Dian Fossey, US zoologist (1932-1985); Nicole Fontaine, French politician (1942-2018).
days of death: Barthold Hinrich Brockes, German poet (1680-1747); Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (1867-1957); Marie Majerová, Czech writer (1882-1967); Ivan Meštrović, Yugoslav. sculptor (1883-1962); Emanuel Stickelberger, Switzerland. Author (1884-1962); Georg Heym, German poet (1887-1912); Ilse Langner, German dramatist (1899-1987); Rudolf Oetker, German entrepreneur (1916-2007); Gisela Uhlen, German actress (1919-2007).
name days: Marcellus, Dietbald, Roland, Theobald, Honoratus, Thusnelda, Till, Ulrich, Heinrich, Otto.