Kevin Gerard Barry was the first Irish republican to be executed by the British since the leaders of the Easter Rising. He was a 18-year-old medical student who had won a merit-based scholarship given annually by Dublin Corporation, which allowed him to become a student of medicine at UCD. Born on Fleet Street, Dublin, the […]
The Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, connecting the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus for the first time. The bridge extends between Ortaköy (in Europe) and Beylerbeyi (in Asia). Upon its completion in 1973, the Bosphorus Bridge had the fourth-longest suspension bridge span in the world, and the longest outside the […]
Due to the massive imbalance in their demographics, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party announced the decision to relax the one-child policy. Under the new policy, families could have two children if one parent, rather than both parents, was an only child. Apart from the violence endured by many Chinese women who were […]
United Nations votes to expel the Chinese Nationalist ruled Taiwan and admit the Communist People’s Republic of China #gript Photo: Chinese deputy foreign minister Qiao Guanhua (L) and Huang Hua (R), laugh at the news that the UN General Assembly had passed Resolution 2758, recognising Chinese mainland as the only Chinese representative in the UN, […]
“If I die I know the fruit will exceed the cost a thousand fold. The thought of it makes me happy. I thank God for it. Ah, Cathal, the pain of Easter week is properly dead at last.” Terence MacSwiney wrote these words in a letter to Cathal Brugha on September 30, 1920, the 39th […]
Phelim Roe O’Neill or Féilim Rua Ó Néill – was an Irish leader, from the famous O’Neill family, who led the Irish Rebellion of 1641 in Ulster on 23 October when the Irish rebels attacked Protestant plantation settlements and took garrison towns held by the Irish Army. The Plantation of Ulster was the organised colonisation […]
It was founded at the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar; Charles Stewart Parnell was elected president of the league. Andrew Kettle, Michael Davitt, and Thomas Brennan were appointed as honorary secretaries. This united practically all the different strands of land agitation and tenant rights movements under a single organisation. Michael Davitt – Mícheál Mac Dáibhéid […]
It is one of the lesser known of Germany’s monstrous crimes in World War Two, but today, nonetheless, is the 79th anniversary of the massacre at Kragujavac. Two thousand, seven hundred and seventy eight Serbian men and boys were shot, in cold blood, at point blank range by German soldiers, having first been made dig […]
After serving 15 years in prison, the “Guildford Four” – Gerard Conlon, Patrick Armstrong, Carole Richardson and Paul Hill – are released for the wrongful conviction of the Guildford pub bombings in 1974. It is considered to be one of the biggest-ever miscarriages of justice in Britain. During the trial of the “Balcombe Street […]
King Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen Isabella I of Castille on this day, October 19th, 1469. The marriage unified the two Kingdoms into one, creating the Kingdom of Spain, which exists to this day. As you can see in the map above, at the time of the the marriage, modern Spain was divided in […]
ON THIS DAY: 18TH OCTOBER 1899: Death of Eoghan Ó Gramhnaigh (Fr. Eugene O’Growney) He was an Irish priest and scholar, and a key figure in the Gaelic revival of the late 19th century. As a young boy he was very interested in the Irish language and after being ordained a priest, became an editor […]
The Plan of Campaign was adopted in Ireland between 1886 and 1891, organised by John Dillon and others in the Irish National League, for the benefit of tenant farmers, against mainly absentee and rack-rent landlords and the tyrannical regime of enforced massive rents and evictions. Dillon was among those who organised a campaign whereby tenants […]