On this day in 1794, Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 “enemies of the Revolution”. He was executed the following day without trial.
He was a French lawyer and statesman, widely recognized as one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution. Robespierre fervently campaigned for the voting rights of all men. Additionally, he advocated the right to petition, the right to bear arms in self-defense, and the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade.
A radical Jacobin leader, Robespierre was elected as a deputy to the National Convention in September 1792, and in July 1793, he was appointed a member of the Committee of Public Safety. Robespierre faced growing disillusionment with other revolutionaries which led him to argue for the harsh measures of the Reign of Terror.
A deeply divisive figure during his lifetime, Robespierre’s views and policies continue to evoke controversy. His legacy has been heavily influenced by his actual and perceived participation in repression of the Revolution’s opponents, but he is notable for his progressive views for the time.
Terracotta bust of Robespierre by Deseine, 1791 (Musée de la Révolution française)
So true…
Amish win the lottery…
Fortune cookie…
Today is the birthday, in 1944, of Bobbie Gentry, US singer, songwriter, notable as one of the first female country artists to compose and produce her own material. Gentry rose to international fame with her intriguing Southern Gothic narrative ‘Ode to Billie Joe’ in 1967. The track spent four weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold over three million copies all over the world. Her album Fancy brought her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv33eaygVDQ
On this day in 1847, Brigham Young led 148 Mormon settlers into Salt Lake Valley, leading to the establishment of Salt Lake City. Once settled in Utah, he ordered the construction of numerous temples, including the Salt Lake Temple. He also formalized the prohibition of black men attaining priesthood.
After arriving in Utah, Young established the State of Deseret before being appointed Utah’s first territorial governor by President Millard Fillmore in 1850. As governor, Young allowed polygamy, supported slavery and its expansion into Utah, and led the efforts to legalize and regulate slavery in the 1852 Act in Relation to Service, based on his beliefs on slavery. He exerted considerable power over the territory through his theocratic political system, theodemocracy.
A polygamist, Young had 56 wives and 57 children. His teachings are contained in the 19 volumes of transcribed and edited sermons in the Journal of Discourses. His legacy and impact are seen throughout the American West, including numerous memorials, temples, and schools named in his honor. In 2016, Young was estimated to have around 30,000 descendants.
Today is the birthday, in 1892, of Haile Selassie I (born Ras Tafari Makonnen or Lij Tafari. He was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (Enderase) under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930.
Widely considered to be a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, he is accorded divine importance in Rastafari, a religion that emerged in the 1930s. A few years before he began his reign over the Ethiopian Empire, Selassie defeated Ethiopian army commander Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul, nephew of Empress Taytu Betul, at the Battle of Anchem. He belonged to the Solomonic dynasty, founded by Emperor Yekuno Amlak in 1270.
As an internationalist, Selassie led Ethiopia’s accession to the United Nations. In 1963, he presided over the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor of the African Union, and served as its first chairman. Among adherents of Rastafari, Selassie is called the returned Jesus, although he was an adherent of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church himself.
Selassie in 1970
Today is the birthday, in 1971, of Alison Krauss, bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She released her first solo album in 1987 and then was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station. Winner of 1996 Rolling Stone’s critic’s choice best country artist. Krauss recorded Raising Sand with Robert Plant in 2007 which was nominated for and won 5 Grammys at the 51st Grammy Awards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94h2L9oBOHM
On this day in 1921, The Battle of Annual was fought at Annual, in northeastern Morocco, between the Spanish Army and Riffian Berbers during the Rif War. The Spanish suffered a major military defeat, which is almost always referred to by the Spanish as the Disaster of Annual and is widely considered to be the worst defeat ever suffered by the modern Spanish Army.
It resulted in major political crises, the fall of several governments, a military dictatorship led by Miguel Primo de Rivera, the abdication of King Alfonso XIII and a complete reassessment of the Spanish colonial policy toward the Rif as the entire Spanish colonial enterprise was at one point threatened. The Spaniards may have lost up to 22,000 soldiers at Annual and in the subsequent fighting.
Berbers carrying captured rifles. A Spanish Mauser and a French Berthier Carbine
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year in order to be able to increase dividends to stockholders. It was the first strike that spread across multiple states in the U.S. The strike ended 52 days later, after it was put down by unofficial militias, the National Guard, and federal troops. Because of economic problems and pressure on wages by the railroads, workers in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois and Missouri, also went on strike. An estimated 126 to 160 people were killed in the unrest across the country.
West Virginia Governor Henry M. Mathews sent in militia forces to move the trains. One militiaman was shot by a striker while trying to operate a switch; the militiaman returned fire. Both were wounded, and the striker died. In the end, the militia failed to get the trains moving again, as strikebreakers were unwilling to operate them.
In Baltimore, the Fifth (“Dandy Fifth”) and Sixth Regiments of the former state militia, reorganized after the Civil War as the Maryland National Guard, were called up by Maryland Governor John Lee Carroll, at the request of the railroad. The Sixth assembled at its armory at East Fayette and North Front Streets and headed to Camden. It had to fight its way west through sympathetic Baltimore citizens, rioters and striking workers. The march erupted into bloodshed along Baltimore Street. It was a horrible scene, reminiscent of the worst of the bloody “Pratt Street Riots” of the Civil War era. When the outnumbered troops of the 6th Regiment finally fired volleys on an attacking crowd, they killed 10 civilians and wounded 25. The rioters injured several members of the National Guard, damaged B&O engines and train cars, and burned portions of the train station at South Howard and West Camden Streets. The National Guard was trapped in the Camden Yards and besieged by armed rioters. Hayes sent 2,000 federal troops and 600 U.S. Marines to Baltimore to restore order.
Pittsburgh became the site of the worst violence of the related strikes. Thomas Alexander Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad, described as one of the first robber barons, suggested that the strikers should be given “a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread”. On July 21, National Guard members bayoneted and fired on rock-throwing strikers, killing 20 people and wounding 29. Instead of calming the strikers, these actions made them even angrier which led them to fight back and force the National Guard to retreat into a railroad roundhouse. The strikers then set fires that burned down 39 buildings and destroyed equipment, including 104 locomotives and 1,245 freight and passenger cars. On July 22, the National Guard mounted an assault on the strikers, shooting their way out of the roundhouse and killing 20 more people on their way out of the city. After more than a month of rioting and bloodshed in Pittsburgh, Hayes sent in federal troops to end the strikes.
Maryland National Guard’s Sixth Regiment fighting its way west along main downtown commercial thoroughfare Baltimore Street through Baltimore, Maryland, July 20, 1877
Houseboat:
Umm…
Today is the birthday, in 1948, of Cat Stevens, singer, songwriter, who had the 1967 UK No.2 single ‘Matthew And Son’, and the 1972 UK No.9 & US No.6 single, ‘Morning Has Broken’. He wrote ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ covered by many artists including PP Arnold, Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow. Stevens converted to the Muslim religion in 1977 changing his name to Yusef Islam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmAOBosGlHY
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