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Highlights for May 16
1770 Louis marries Marie Antoinette
At Versailles, Louis, the French dauphin, marries Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Austrian Archduchess Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. France hoped their marriage would strengthen its alliance with Austria, its longtime enemy. In 1774, with the death of King Louis XV, Louis and Marie were crowned king and queen of France.
From the start, Louis was unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems he had inherited from his grandfather, King Louis XV. In addition, his queen fell under criticism for her extravagance, her devotion to the interests of Austria, and her opposition to reform of the monarchy. Marie exerted a growing influence over her husband, and under their reign the monarchy became dangerously alienated from the French people. In a legendary episode, Marie allegedly responded to the news that the impoverished French peasantry had no bread to eat by declaring "Let them eat cake."
At the outbreak of the French Revolution, Marie and Louis resisted the advice of constitutional monarchists who sought to reform the monarchy in order to save it, and by 1791 opposition to the royal pair had become so fierce that the two were forced to attempt an escape to Austria. During their trip, Marie and Louis were apprehended by revolutionary forces at Varennes, France, and carried back to Paris. There, Louis was forced to accept the constitution of 1791, which reduced him to a mere figurehead.
In August 1792, the royal couple was arrested by the sansculottes and imprisoned, and in September the monarchy was abolished by the National Convention. In November, evidence of Louis' counterrevolutionary intrigues with Austria and other foreign nations was discovered, and he was put on trial for treason by the National Convention. The following January, Louis was convicted and condemned to death by a narrow majority. On January 21, he walked steadfastly to the guillotine and was executed. Nine months later, Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason by a tribunal in which prosecutors claim she sexually abused her son and financially abused the French Monarchy. On October 16, clad in rags, her once-dazzling locks shorn by the executioner's assistant, Antoinette bore herself with a regal indifference as she followed her husband to the guillotine.
1863 Battle of Champion's Hill, Mississippi
The Union army seals the fate of Vicksburg by defeating the Confederates at the Battle of Champion's Hill. General Ulysses S. Grant had successfully run the Confederate gauntlet at Vicksburg and placed the Army of the Tennessee south of the stronghold, the Rebels' last significant holding on the Mississippi River. But he did not move directly on Vicksburg because he knew Joseph Johnston was assembling a Confederate force in Jackson, 40 miles east of Vicksburg.
Instead, Grant advanced toward Jackson and prevented Johnston from uniting with the Vicksburg garrison, headed by John C. Pemberton. After boldly attacking and defeating the Confederates at Jackson, Grant left William T. Sherman's corps to hold Johnston at bay. The Confederates were divided not only by Grant's army, but also by conflicting strategy. Johnston wanted Pemberton to head into northern Mississippi to join forces with his own army. But Pemberton insisted on sticking close to Vicksburg and defending the city.
Grant sent his other two corps, commanded by James McPherson and John McClernand, to take on Pemberton. They found the Confederates on Champion's Hill, about halfway between Jackson and Vicksburg. There, some 30,000 Union troops attacked 20,000 Confederates. The battle swayed back and forth, but the Federals eventually gained the upper hand. Pemberton's men were forced to retreat, and one division was completely cut off from the rest of the army.
Although McClernand's timidity kept the rout from being complete, the engagement was still the decisive action of the Vicksburg campaign. Pemberton fell back into Vicksburg, where Grant followed and soon bottled the Confederates. A six-week siege ensued, and Vicksburg fell on July 4.
More on the American Civil War
In Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising comes to an end as Nazi soldiers gain control of Warsaw's Jewish ghetto, blowing up the last remaining synagogue and beginning the mass deportation of the ghetto's remaining dwellers to the Treblinka extermination camp.
Shortly after the German occupation of Poland began, the Nazis forced the city's Jewish citizens into a "ghetto" surrounded by barbed wire and armed SS guards. The Warsaw Ghetto had an area of only 840 acres but soon held almost 500,000 Jews in deplorable conditions. Disease and starvation killed thousands every month, and beginning in July 1942, 6,000 Jews a day were transferred to the Treblinka concentration camp. Although the Nazis assured the remaining Jews that their relatives and friends were being sent to work camps, word soon reached the ghetto that deportation to the camp meant extermination. An underground resistance group was established in the ghetto--the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB)--and limited arms were acquired at great cost.
On January 18, 1943, when the Nazis entered the ghetto to prepare a group for transfer, a ZOB unit ambushed them. Fighting lasted for several days, and a number of Germans soldiers were killed before they withdrew. On April 19, Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler announced that the ghetto was to be cleared out in honor of Hitler's birthday the following day, and more than 1,000 SS soldiers entered the confines with tanks and heavy artillery. Although many of the ghetto's remaining 60,000 Jewish dwellers attempted to hide themselves in secret bunkers, more than 1,000 ZOB members met the Germans with gunfire and homemade bombs. Suffering moderate casualties, the Germans initially withdrew but soon returned, and on April 24 they launched an all-out attack against the Warsaw Jews. Thousands were slaughtered as the Germans systematically moved down the ghetto, blowing up buildings one by one. The ZOB took to the sewers to continue the fight, but on May 8 their command bunker fell to the Germans, and their resistant leaders committed suicide. By May 16, the ghetto was firmly under Nazi control, and mass deportation of the last Warsaw Jews to Treblinka began.
During the uprising, some 300 hundred German soldiers were killed to the thousands of Warsaw Jews who perished. Virtually all the former ghetto residents who survived to reach Treblinka were dead by the end of the war.
Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphillis in the Negro Male
In 1932, the Tuskegee Institute, along with the U.S. Public Heath Service, began an experiment. It promised poor blackmen, who were inflicted with syphilis, free health treatment and a proper burial. This seemed like a good idea to the afflicted, however, the men who were mostly poor sharecroppers, were never told that they would become part of an experiment, which would track the disease throughout their life.
They were never given any treatment for the disease, even after Penicillin was discovered in the 1940's. The officials just watched them, kept charts, and documented the progression of their disease until they died. After their demise, the doctors conducted autopsies on the men and then compared their condition to that of two hundred healthy black men. They were, for all practical purposes, used as guinea pigs.
This went on for forty years. In that time, over 400 men had participated without their knowledge in the experiment. In 1972, an investigative reporter named Jean Heller broke the story for the Washington Star. Officials at first tried to deny the allegations or sought to justify their participation on the basis that these racist views were prevalent at the time. It is a classic example of institutional racism and its effects. The public was now outraged. Neither contrite nor apologetic, the senior physicians continued to offer morally offensive justifications for their acts. Finally, after much public outcry, the government appointed a panel to investigate the forty-year program.
The study was closed in October of 1972 and a class action suit was now filed on behalf of the men who were involved with the experiment. The case was settled out of court for the amount of 12 million dollars. The survivors received $37,000 a piece. Others who were involved were given lesser amounts. When you think of the damage done, it is a paltry amount of money. Sexual partners of the disease were not told; as a result many black children were born with congenital syphilis.
This led to charges that the government program was an act of genocide. Was it? Certainly it fits the definition and the government had used such tactics towards Native-Americans throughout the years. There has been much discussion within the black community about how the government has been responsible for the introduction and spread of aids among African-Americans. This, when coupled with accusations against the CIA for the spread of crack, has led many in the established media to attack as delusional those who raise these questions. Are they delusional? The record and past indicate that they are justified in their skepticism
If you have other Birthdays or events to add for this day please E-Mail me.
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