Hitler takes personal command of the army high command (1941), and Gorbachev releases Andrei Sakharov from exile in Gorky (1986). Born on this day: Edith Piaf, Leonid Brezhnev and A.A. Michelson. Died: Emily Brontë, Robert Millikan and Marcello Mastroianni.
35 events, 73 births and 55 deaths on this date.
Hitler named himself head of the Oberkommando des Heeres, the German army's high command, giving him direct control over army operations on the Eastern Front. The move came weeks after he had sacked his senior generals, and it tightened his hold over military decisions during the war.
Unknown author Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 deSoviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ended the internal exile of physicist turned dissident Andrei Sakharov and his wife, who had been held in Gorky for almost seven years. Their release was a sign of the openness Gorbachev was pursuing under glasnost.
Leo Medvedev/Лев Леонидович Медведев · CC BY-SA 4.0
Thieves took the original Jules Rimet Trophy from the Brazilian football federation's headquarters in Rio, the cup named after the FIFA president who championed the tournament. It was the first prize contested for the World Cup, and its disappearance left a lasting gap in football history.
The French singer and lyricist, later famed for "La Vie en rose" and her cabaret chanson, was born Édith Giovanna Gassion. She went on to become one of France's most celebrated performers, singing of love, loss and sorrow.
Studio Harcourt · Public domain
James Cameron's epic romance reached American cinemas, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as lovers from different social classes on the doomed liner. Critics singled out its visual effects and the performances of DiCaprio, Winslet and Gloria Stuart.
Paine opened the first of his American Crisis pamphlets with a line saying hard times reveal true commitment. The series, which ran until 1783, was meant to keep the patriot cause alive.
Auguste Millière / After George Romney / After William Sharp · Public domain
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French singer and lyricist whose songs of love, loss and sorrow made her France's most popular entertainer after the Second World War. She is remembered for "La Vie en rose", which she wrote herself, and for the cabaret and chanson style she made famous.
Studio Harcourt · Public domain
Leonid Brezhnev led the Soviet Union for nearly two decades, first as Communist Party General Secretary from 1964. His tenure lasted longer than any Soviet leader apart from Stalin, and he is remembered for a period of stability that later gave way to stagnation.
Vladimir Musaelyan · CC0
He was the first American to win a Nobel Prize in a science, awarded in 1907 for his work with optical instruments. Best remembered for the Michelson–Morley experiment, he also spent years refining how fast light travels.
The original uploader was Bunzil at English Wikipedia . · Public domain
Emily Brontë was an English novelist and poet, remembered for Wuthering Heights, a novel that was little admired when it appeared but is now regarded as a classic of English literature. She died at 30, a year after its publication.
Branwell Brontë · Public domain
Robert Millikan was an American experimental physicist who measured the elementary electric charge with his oil-drop experiment. He won the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physics and helped build Caltech into a leading research institution.
Unknown (Mondadori Publishers) · Public domain
Mastroianni was an Italian actor who became an international star through Federico Fellini's films, especially La Dolce Vita and 8½. He also formed a celebrated on-screen partnership with Sophia Loren across eleven films.
Gorup de Besanez · CC BY-SA 3.0
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