Today In History; December 3

On this day, a civil war breaks out in Athens as communist guerillas battle democratic forces for control of a liberated Greece. Germany had occupied Greece to bail out Italy after Italy’s failed invasion threatened to leave Greece open to Allied occupation. When Germany arrived, various Greek resistance forces gave battle, but two stood out as particularly important: a communist-backed resistance movement called the National Liberation Front, and a liberal, democratic movement called the Greek Democratic National Army. While both of these factions operated from different ideological frameworks, they nevertheless occasionally cooperated in fighting the common German enemy. By early 1944 though, the communist-backed National Liberation Front had taken to the hills to create a provisional government, rejecting the legitimacy of both the Greek king and his government-in-exile. It also disregarded the one remaining rival for ultimate political supremacy in Greece—the Democratic National Army.

When Germany was forced to withdraw from Greece in October 1944, victorious British forces brought together the communist and democratic factions in order to establish a coalition government. But this government collapsed after the communist Liberation Front refused to disband its guerrilla forces. So, on December 3 war broke out between the communists and the democrats—with the National Liberation Front taking control of most of Greece, with the exception of the capital and Salonika.

The British fought against the communists with the Democratic National Army, which began to move more and more to the right politically as it struggled for survival and support. By February 1945, the National Liberation Front was forced to surrender and disband its guerilla army. One month later, a general election was held, and the democrats, now also royalists, won control of the government. The communists refrained from voting altogether, preferring to bide their time. When a plebiscite elected the Greek king back to his throne in September of the same year, the communists emerged from underground-and civil war broke out again. By this time, Britain, fed up and exhausted, left the negotiation for peace to the United States, which employed the Truman Doctrine of giving massive amounts of foreign aid to governments pledged to democracy in order to keep them out of the communist/Soviet orbit. It took time, but eventually the rejuvenated—and well-funded—Greek democrats were victorious.

Other Memorable Or Interesting Events Occurring On This Day In History:

741 – St Zachary begins reign as Catholic Pope succeeding Gregory III;

1557 – 1st covenant of Scottish protestants form;

1586 – Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia;

1621 – Galileo invents the telescope;

1685 – Charles II bars Jews from settling in Stockholm Sweden;

1775 – 1st official U.S. Flag raising, (aboard naval vessel Alfred);

1776 – Washington arrives at the banks of the Delaware River;

1818 – Illinois becomes the 21st state;

1833 – 1st true co-educational school of higher learning, Oberlin College, began holding classes in Ohio;

1910 – NEON Lights 1st publicly seen at the Paris Auto Show;

1912 – 1st Balkan War ends;

1922 – 1st ‘Technicolor’ movie is shown in New York City;

1931 – Alka Seltzer goes on sale for the 1st time;

1944 – Hungarian death march of Jews ends;

1947 – Tennessee Williams’ ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ opens on Broadway;

1948 – 1st U.S. woman army officer, (not in the medical corps), is sworn into the U.S. Army;

1950 – Paul Harvey begins his National Radio Broadcast;

1952 – 1st TV broadcast in Hawaii;

1964 – Police arrest 800 sit-in protestors at University of California at Berkeley;

1967 – 53-year-old Lewis Washkansk receives 1st human heart transplant at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town South Africa;

1979 – Last AMC Pacer rolls off the assembly line; it was hailed as the car of the future in 1975 but is now considered one of the worst cars of all time;

1979 – 11 people killed in a crush of fans at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum during a concert by ‘The Who’;

1980 – Bernadine Dohm, former leader of the radical ‘Weather Underground’, surrendered to authorities in Chicago after more than a decade as a fugitive;

1984 – Sudden explosion kills 2,000 at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India;

1982 – 1st ever ‘TEXT’ message sent by British engineer Neil Papworth, who transmitted the greeting “MERRY CHRISTMAS” from his work computer in Newbury Berkshire, England to Vodafone executive Richard Javis’ mobile phone;

1989 – President George Bush (1st) & Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev issue statements strongly suggesting that long-standing animosities of the ‘cold war’ were coming to an end; many call it the actual day the war ended;

2008 – President-elect Barack Obama selected New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson as his commerce secretary; Richardson withdrew one month later due to a grand jury investigation concerning state contracts issued to political donors.

Today’s Thought:

“Great minds have purposes; others have wishes.”  – Washington Irving

Today’s Inspiration:

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”  – Mother Teresa

Today’s Silly Advice:

Don’t clap your hands alone; someone might throw you a fish !

Today’s Funny Question:

Can a bicycle stand alone, or is it two tired ?

Today’s Quote:

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.”  – Elbert Hubbard

Today’s Funny:

If you’re too open-minded, will your brains fall out?

Today’s Inspirational Picture:

Today’s Funny Doggie:

Until Tomorrow – God Bless To All !!!