563 The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was re-dedicated after being destroyed by earthquakes. We have been there and seen that remarkable building and learned something of its history.
1851 A fire at the Library of Congress destroyed about two-thirds of its 55,000 volumes, including most of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library which founded the Library. I have been there more than once and felt honoured each time to enter this temple of knowledge. There are posts about my experiences there elsewhere on this blog.
1865 In Pulaski Tennessee the Ku Klux Klan was founded as a self-help society for Confederate Army veterans, many of them maimed by the war and nearly all of whom were dispossessed. The name was derived from the Greek word kyklos, meaning “circle,” and the Scottish-Gaelic word “clan.” Its first leader was one-time General Nathan Forrest. After less than two years he objected to the violent racism of Klan members and tried to disband it. Later sitting president U.S. Grant also tried to disband it. Neither succeeded. Today its members and fellow travellers support President Tiny.
1974 Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, destroying more than 70 percent of the city’s buildings, including 80 percent of its houses. It was a colossal storm. On one of our visits to a Darwin museum we spend five minutes in a replica of a storm cellar as the sound effects blasted and wall shook. That was enough for us. The real storm went on for hours. It nearly obliterated Darwin.
1979 The Soviet Union sent three army divisions with air support into Afghanistan to install a government aligned to the USSR to head off an American attempt to do the same through Pakistan. Tribal infighting in Kabul had produced instability which made such foreign intervention tempting. So begin a decade of war that left at least 15,000 red grunts dead and an untold number of locals. It became one of the hottest points in the Cold War.
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