News of the #FrenchRevolution reached its #Caribbean colonies, leading to a major uprising in 1791. An official was sent in 1793 to investigate, which led to the revolutionary legislature abolishing #slavery on #ThisDayInHistory in 1794. (It was restored in 1802 under #Napoléon.)

The #ProvisionalIRA, seeking Irish unity, triggered a bomb hidden in the luggage locker of a bus carrying British military personnel on #ThisDayInHistory in 1974. The #M62CoachBombing in #Yorkshire, England, killed nine soldiers & three family members, injuring another 38 aboard.

The #AngolanWarOfIndependence began in 1961 on #ThisDayInHistory. Leftist/nationalist forces from #MPLA, #UNITA & #FNLA fought until 1974 (~70k people were killed), when a military coup in #Portugal toppled the #EstadoNovo dictatorship and announced the colonies would be freed.

The #Philippines declared independence in June 1898, but in the terms of the peace deal with #Spain the US ignored the declaration and claimed colonial control. So on #ThisDayInHistory in 1899, the #PhilippineAmericanWar began. By its end, ~250,000 Filipinos lay dead at US hands.

On #ThisDayInHistory in 1964, a massive #NYC #SchoolStrike of 450,000 Black & Puerto Rican students marched with parents & teachers. The event is little known because #liberals pretend #segregation is a #Southern problem. NYC schools remain among the most segregated in the US.

Frustration with tour buses led #BuddyHolly to charter a 'plane. #WaylonJennings lost his seat to #TheBigBopper (J.P. Richardson) & #RitchieValens won a seat in a coin toss. All three & the pilot died soon after take-off in a crash at #ClearLake, IA, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1959.

Best known as #GrandpaMunster on #TheMunsters, Jewish actor #AlLewis was a lifelong #socialist and #DirectAction radical during the #GreatDepression. He died on #ThisDayInHistory in 2006, aged 82, never losing his commitment to the cause even as the US moved ever further right.

A #BlueRiband winner in 1876, the #WhiteStarLine #OceanLiner #SSBritannic was launched on #ThisDayInHistory in 1874. Her single-screw propulsion was augmented with auxiliary sails in a four-masted barque configuration and her career on the #NorthAtlantic was nearly 30 years long.

#SSDorchester was a coastal liner requisitioned as a troop ship, and then torpedoed and sunk in the #LabradorSea on #ThisDayInHistory in 1943. Altogether 675 of 904 aboard perished, including the #FourChaplains (1 rabbi, 1 priest, 2 ministers) who gave their life vests to others.

US military arrogance was on full display in 1998 on #ThisDayInHistory, when a #USMarines #EA6BProwler flew low (~300') & fast (470 kt) through a valley in northern #Italy, causing a #CavaleseCableCarDisaster. It struck a mountain cable car line, and 20 civilians were killed.

During the 17th c. #DutchGoldenAge, the #Netherlands had the highest per-capita income and pioneered many of #capitalism's features. #TulipMania, the first major #FinancialBubble, popped on #ThisDayInHistory in 1637, but had little effect on the economy unlike many later bubbles.

#OperationThunderclap was on #ThisDayInHistory in 1945 -- 1000 #B17s of the US #EighthAirForce raided #Berlin, killing about 3000 and making about 120,000 people homeless. In all during #WWII, ~70,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the city and half its population was displaced.

#AdolfHitler announced on #ThisDayInHistory in 1933 that #Lebensraum ('living space') & #genocide was his party's objective in eastern Europe. One sad thing about this policy is just how absurd it was, given the German birthrate had collapsed and was well below replacement level.

The #Forros of #SãoTomé descend from Portuguese men and enslaved African women, and were long a free underclass there. On #ThisDayInHistory in 1953, when they refused forced plantation labour, the gov. blamed a fake communist conspiracy and killed hundreds in the #BatepáMassacre.

#BartolomeuDias of #Portugal took two caravels and a supply ship to explore, hoping to find #PresterJohn's Christian kingdom in #Africa. On #ThisDayInHistory in 1488 he landed in #MosselBay, around the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.

Good News in History, February 3

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/events070203/

Good News in History, February 2

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/events070202/

The #FBI's #Abscam operation was revealed on #ThisDayInHistory in 1980. Dozens of politicians were caught accepting bribes, with seven members of Congress convicted. Later administrations have chosen largely to ignore or legalize a vast architecture of #corruption via #lobbyists.

A cynical American war of conquest against #Mexico ended on #ThisDayInHistory in 1848 with the signing of the #TreatyOfGuadalupeHidalgo. To end the unprovoked aggression of the #MexicanAmericanWar, our southern neighbour had to cede 55% of its territory to feed #ManifestDestiny.

The #LDS move into #Utah involved a number of acts of great violence against #Indigenous Americans, like one on #ThisDayInHistory in 1850. 90 #Mormon militia surrounded a #Timpanogos camp and killed up to 100 men in the #ProvoRiverMassacre while losing just one of their own men.