A pretty dumb day: I could chose to feature Johnny Rotten leaving the
Sex Pistols, some arcane scientific discovery on how to delay cell
apopotosis, the premiere of Tosca or last year's Huygens probe landing
in Titan. While Titan is truly fascinating and the success of the
landing was a great impulse for European space exploration, I finally
decided to feature the Treaty of Kiel, signed today in 1814, one of the
post-Napoleonic agreements that transfered Norway, traditionally united
with Denmark, to Sweden, a country that had fought against Napoleon. In
exchange, Denmark would get the Swedish outposts in Pomerania.
Yet the treaty never came into force as such: Norway declared its
independence in May 17th, electing the Danish king, Christian-Frederick
as theirs; while Prussia incorporated the ex-Swedish Pomerania. The
Norwegian independence caused a short war with Sweden, that allowed
Karl XIII of Sweden to regain the throne of Norway as a personal union
by which Norway retained its own sovereignity and legislatve autonomy.
This Union was stabilished by the Convetion of Moss in August 14th and
by the Norwegian constitutional reform of November 4th.
Charels XIII, first king of the Union of Sweden and Norway
The Union lasted for 90 years: in 1905 though, dissatisfied Norwegians
repealed it by unanimous parlamentary vote. After some war threats by
Sweden an an also quasi-unanimous plebiscite, Norway and Sweden agreed
to demobilization and mutual recognition. Danish prince Carl was placed
on the Norwegian throne as Haakon VII.
The Peace monument of Karlstadt was erected to conmemorate the dissolution of the Union
One particularly significant provision of the Treaty of Kiel was that
the former Norwegian posesions of Faeroe, Iceland and Greenland
remained under Danish control, which has remained, with the exception
of Iceland, until today.
Some other things that happened today:
- 1690 - the clarinet is invented in Nremberg, Bavaria
- 1724 - King Philip V of Spain, the first Bourbon king of that
country, abdicates in favor of his son Louis. When this one died of
smallpox, Philip V recovered the throne
King Felipe V of Spain
- 1900 - Giacomo Pucinin's famous opera, Tosca, premieres in Rome
- 1939 - Norway lays claim to Queen Maud's Land in Antarctica
Map of Antarctica, showing the various claims. Queen Maud's Land is on top, near the Atlantic Ocean
- 1943 - US President Roosevelt and UK Prime Minister Churchill
start the Conference of Casablanca to discuss the evolution of WWII.
This was the first occasion that a US President travelled abroad in
airplane
- 1978 - John Lyndon, aka Johnny Rotten, quits the Sex Pistols after a US tour. Punk may not be dead but the Pistols died there
Johnny Rotten
- 1994 - Kremlin Accords: Ruassian and USA presidents, Boris
Yeltsin and Bill Clinton, agree that nuclear missiles would not remain
pre-programmed anymore to point against any country
- 1998 - Texan researches present findings about a enzyme that delays cell death (apoptosis)
- 2005 - ESA Huygens probe lands on the surface of Titan, Saturns largest moon, amidst worldwide expectation
Some of the images transmitted by Huygens on the misterious moon
Full list:
Wikipedia