Voltaire Network

Voltaire Network

Historical Landmark

Everyday an important historical fact that cannot be found in history books.

July 9, 1917

Trial of anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman

9 July 2005

After declaring war to Germany in 1917, US President Woodrow Wilson inaugurated compulsory military recruitment and service. These measures were not unanimously supported by the public opinion and pacifist movements began to spread. Anarchist activists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were (...)

July 7, 1456

Joan of Arc Burned Alive and Then Rehabilitated

7 July 2005

France kings’war was getting on to a hundred years. They represented a centralizing system, and on the other hand the dukes of Burgundy and the kings of England supported a feudal autonomy. Joan of Arc, who, in the name of God, defended king Charles VII of France, was captured by the followers (...)

July 5, 1941

The Blue Division goes to the Russian Front

5 July 2005

Once Russia was invaded by Germany on June 22nd, 1941, General Franco and his government decided to thank the Reich for his decisive support during the bloody Spanish Civil War, especially when the city of Guernica was bombed by the planes of the Condor Legion, an action that took the lives of (...)

July 4, 1987

Klaus Barbie is convicted

4 July 2005

After two months of hearings, Klaus Barbie was sentenced to a life term for committing crimes against humanity by the Court of Rodano. Accused of torture, executions and deportations, the former Gestapo boss, executor of Jean Moulin, had had the support of the United States for several decades (...)

July 3, 1995

Mayavati: an untouchable leads an Indian state

3 July 2005

Absorbing all foreign human groups, one after the other and without assimilating them in a dominant model, the Indian society separated them in castes and ranks. The individuals excluded from their own caste became “untouchable”, like their children. This system, supported by mahatma Gandhi (...)

July 2, 1966

Mururoa : The Atoll of Radioactivity

2 July 2005

On July 2nd , 1966, France performed its first atmospheric nuclear test in French Polynesia, on the Mururoa atoll. Those tests had been previously performed in the Algerian Sahara, even after Algeria’s independence, in conformity with a secret clause of the Evian Agreements. In 2005, an (...)

June 30, 1520

The "Noche Triste" Episode

30 June 2005

Fearing an insurrection, the Spanish colonizers massacred 600 noble Aztecs and high-ranking personalities during an important celebration. The Aztecs immediately organized a response surrounding the Spanish and imposing a long and terrible siege on them. Hernán Cortés - who was absent during (...)

June 27, 1844

Joseph Smith’s lynching

27 June 2005

Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint and ex presidential candidate of the United States, is murdered by an angry crowd on June 27, 1844 while being imprisoned in Carthage (Illinois) for hindering the freedom of the press. He had actually closed a newspaper (...)

June 27, 1980

The case of Ustica Island

27 June 2005

An Itavia Airlines DC-9 plane exploded near the small island of Ustica with 93 civilian passengers on board. Many experts referred to a controversial thesis of a military error as some NATO fighter jets were then chasing Libyan planes flying over Italian territory. The discovery of a Libyan (...)

June 25, 1991

Croatia and Slovenia Separate from Yugoslavia

25 June 2005

After the collapse of power in East and Central Europe, 83% of the Slovenians voted in favor of the independence of their republic during a referendum. In the meantime, 94% of the Croatians approved a more subtle resolution to strengthen their autonomy. Both republics drew their own (...)

June 24, 1793

The Constitution of Year I

24 June 2005

The Constitution of Year I (according to the revolutionary calendar) was the first republican French constitution that acknowledged the abolition of the monarchy passed during the Convention of 1792. Approved by the Convention on June 24, 1792, the Constitution of Year I included objectives (...)

June 22, 1633

Galileo Sentenced

22 June 2005

For the Holy See, Florentine sage Galileo represented a double threat. He taught heliocentricity, which would demolish the pillars of Roman theology that placed Earth and man in the center of the Divine Creation. Besides that, Galileo was the preceptor of the medicos, whose ambition of Italy (...)

June 21, 1908

500 000 Suffragettes in the Streets

21 June 2005

Founded in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst, the Women’s Political and Social Union channeled in England the different feminist demands of the time, mainly their demand for equal opportunities and rights. The suffragettes, who inherited a long revolutionary tradition, fought violently to obtain the (...)

June 21, 1964

Edgar Ray Killen: Trapped By History

21 June 2005

On June 21, 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were driving their car near Philadelphia, Mississippi, when suddenly the Ku Klux Klan forced them to stop. They were badly beaten up and then brutally murdered. Their dead bodies were only found 44 days later. James Chaney (...)

June 20, 1936

Salary Earners Obtain Paid Vacation

20 June 2005

Impatient and waiting for social reforms, the voters of the Popular Front launched massive strikes across France. The president of the Council, Leon Blum, who gave many guarantees to the right before he was elected, was rather in a position of arbitrator than leader. The powerful company (...)

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