Hundred Years’ War: In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured by Burgundians near Compiègne, France. That afternoon, she had led a sortie and twice repelled the Burgundians but was eventually outflanked by English reinforcements and compelled to retreat. Remaining until the last to protect the rear guard while they crossed the Oise River, she was unhorsed and could not remount. She gave herself up and, with her brother Pierre and Jean d’Aulon, was taken to Margny, where the
Duke of Burgundy came to see her. In telling the people of Reims of Joan’s capture, Renaud de Chartres accused her of rejecting all counsel and acting willfully. Charles, who was working toward a truce with the Duke of Burgundy, made no attempts to save her.

English: Arms of the Duke of Burgundy Français : Blason Duc de Bourgogne (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 1618, the Defenestration of Prague occurred in response to religious persecution, helping set the stage for the Thirty Years’ War. In 1617, Roman Catholic officials in Bohemia closed Protestant chapels that were being constructed by citizens of the towns of Broumov and Hrob, thus violating the guarantees of religious liberty laid down in the Letter of Majesty (Majestätsbrief) of Emperor Rudolf II (1609). In response, the defensors, appointed under the Letter of Majesty to safeguard Protestant rights, called an assembly of Protestants at Prague, where the imperial regents, William Slavata and Jaroslav Martinic, were tried and found guilty of violating the Letter of Majesty and, with their secretary, Fabricius, were thrown from the windows of the council room of Hradčany (Prague Castle) on May 23.
In 1701, (Captain) William Kidd was hanged in London after he was convicted of piracy and murder. Some of his treasure was recovered from Gardiners Island off Long Island. Proceeds from his effects and goods taken from the
Antonio were donated to charity. In years that followed, the name of Captain Kidd has become inseparable from the romanticized concept of the swashbuckling pirate of Western fiction. Among other stories concerning caches of treasure he supposedly buried is
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Gold Bug.”

English: Hanging of William Kidd (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 1945, Heinrich Himmler committed suicide while imprisoned in Luneburg, Germany, before he could be tried for war crimes. Himmler was a highly effective administrator and a ruthless and adroit power seeker who was slavishly devoted to Hitler until the final weeks of the war. He combined a penchant for philosophical mysticism with a cold-blooded, fanatical adherence to Nazi racist ideology in his role as the prime architect of the Holocaust. More than any other individual, Himmler was the man who created the network of state terror by which the Third Reich suppressed its opposition, eliminated its internal enemies, and compelled obedience from the German citizenry.

From left to right: Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, Karl Wolff and an unidentified assistant at the Obersalzberg, May 1939 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was established after all the Länder except Bavaria had ratified the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), as the constitution was called to underline the provisional nature of the new state. Indeed, this document specified that it was designed only for temporary use until a constitution had been freely adopted by the German people as a whole.
In 1951, China formally annexed Tibet as an autonomous region, giving rise to a Tibetan independence movement—led by the Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize—that continued into the early 21st century. Before the 1950s Tibet was a unique entity that sought isolation from the rest of the world. It constituted a cultural and religious whole, marked by the Tibetan language and Tibetan Buddhism. Little effort was made to facilitate communication with other countries, and economic development was minimal. After its incorporation into China, fitful efforts at development took place in Tibet, disrupted by ethnic tension between the Han (Chinese) and Tibetans and Tibetan resistance to the imposition of Marxist values.
Regards, Roger Mickelson
Source material includes Associated Press International and Encyclopædia Britannica.
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