November 30: Today's date commemorates the enactment of penal reform that the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo of Hapsburg-Lorraine who was the first ruler to abolish the death penalty or capital punishment, on November 30, 1786.

Emperor Leopold II in the regalia of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Cesare Beccaria’s book “Of Crimes and Punishment”, 1764, wrote against the death penalty, during the Italian enlightenment. Therefore, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was the first territory in which death penalty was abolished as of November 30, 1786.

Cities for Life Day Badge

Consequently, November 30 became considered as the day of the "Cities for Life", in the world named "Cities for Life Day".

Cities for life day: International day against death penalty

Later at the time, the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna, Austria, under the name of Leopold II.

No-death-penalty button

November 29: On this day in 1850 the Treaty of Olmütz (Moravia today) was signed whereby Prussia left the Erfurt Union and accepted the revival of the German Confederation under the leadership of Austria, seat of the Holy Roman Empire.

This treaty went down in history as “The Punctation of Olmütz” better known as the "humiliation of Olmütz" for the Prussians. The problem was who should continue to lead the Germanic States.

The restoration of Austrian power in Hungary and northern Italy encouraged Hanover and Saxony to abandon their alliance with Prussia. Undeterred, the Prussians pushed ahead with the creation of the Erfurt Union, successfully drawing most of the smaller German states into a new federation under Prussian leadership.

In 1848, Nationalism and liberalism expanded throughout Europe with desires for freedom. The building itself was a Prussian nation need.

The Constitution of Frankfurt (Paulskirchenverfassung) or Constitution of the Church of San Pablo, was an unsuccessful attempt to found a nation and a German State.

The Zollverein consisted of 17 states and represented a population of about 26 million people-

The King of Prussia, Frederick II signed the Treaty to dissolve the German Union that came presiding Prussia, and restoring the German Confederation, led by Austria, under the Holy Roman Empire. The Confederation Germanic rulers gathered States. Prussia and Austria wanted to dominate not allowed to take the lead for the moment.

The Prussians had a more disciplined, austere army, and competent than that Spartan that made the history of Greece. Frederick "the Great" had started the Prussian military modernization 100 years earlier. Therefore, Prussia felt with the ability to lead all the German states. Having capitulated in favor of Austria was a humiliation for the Prussians.

November 28: Today we remember the story the day Panama declared its independence from Spain and joined the Gran Colombia, in 1821.

                                      Panama declared its independence from Spain.

New Granada won its independence from Spain in 1819. Panama weighed his options to join Peru, or the nations of Central America, in a federation.

Simon Bolivar convinced Panamanians joined to form the Great Colombia.

The previous August 30, had held the Constitution of Cucuta under which the Republic of Colombia made up the unification of Venezuela and Colombia with Ecuador and Peru extended was created.

                                                     Map of Gran Colombia

November 27: Today is the anniversary of the declaration of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095.

Map of the First Crusade 1095-1099

In 1095, the Normans, French, Provencal and Germans responded to the call of Pope Urban II to recover the Holy Land in the hands of Muslims. The campaign ended in 1099 with the conquest of Jerusalem.

The Crusades, Christendom's attempts to win back the Holy Land and Jerusalem, began in 1095 with the First Crusade. The Muslims had taken Jerusalem in 1076.

The Crusade began the following year as a Christian pilgrimage mainly of French and members of Germanic tribes but ended up as an European military expedition in order to regain the holy lands held by Muslims.

The First Crusade had a very difficult journey getting to the Middle East.

The Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos, came the Pontiff Urbano to request military help from Christian volunteers in order to repel the Seleucid invasion from Anatolia (now Turkey).

Islamophobia, the First Crusade and the Expansion of Christendom to Islamic World.

The Seleucid empire was the state that prevailed in the Middle East after the death of Alexander the Great, its center was modern Turkey.

Pope Urban II

The First Crusade began on November 27, 1095 and ended with the recapture of the holy city of Jerusalem in 1099. Of the eight crusades against Islam, the first was the only one that succeeded.

November 26: Today is the anniversary of the "Thanksgiving Day" in United States of America. "Thanksgiving Day", on the recommendation of then-President George Washington and approved by Congress on November 26, 1789.

The First Day of Thanksgiving. Oil painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1899

The "Day of Thanksgiving" is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday of November. That is, today is the anniversary of institutionalization, but held only on Thursday.

Painting on the first Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth, Massachusetts, by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe, 1914. Pillgrim Hall Museum, Mass.

This beautiful custom of giving thanks to God has been an annual tradition of Americans since 1621, when the "Pilgrims" who arrived from Europe in the ship "Mayflower" and celebrated their first harvest at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Thanksgiving day symbols.

The Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day for families and friends to gather for a special meal. The food often includes a turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, pumpkin pie and vegetables. Thanksgiving Day is a time for many people to give thanks for what they have.

History Thanksgiving Day

Some cities celebrate with parades through seventeenth century costumes representative and include carnival costumes and the city of New York.

Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York

There are claims that the first Thanksgiving Day was held in the city of El Paso, Texas, in 1598. Another event was held in early 1619 in the colony of Virginia. Many people trace the origins of modern day Thanksgiving harvest celebration of the pilgrims held in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621. But his first real Thanksgiving was in 1623, when they gave thanks for a rain that ended a long drought. These early thanksgivings took the form of a special church service, rather than a party.

Thanksgiving Proclamation

In the second half of the 1600s, Thanksgiving after the harvest became more common and began to become an annual event. However, it is celebrated on different days in different communities and in some places there was more than one Thanksgiving each year. George Washington, the first President of the United States, proclaimed the first day of national Thanksgiving in 1789.

November 25: Stanislaw August Poniatowski was the last king of independent Poland, but was forced to abdicate on November 25, 1795, during the Third Partition of Poland. Estanislao was exiled to Russia.

Stanisław II August in coronation clothes.

The Polish division of territory subdivisions exercised by the Russian, Austrian and Prussian military powers took place during the second half of the eighteenth century. These dealings ended the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and ended the Polish sovereignty for 123 years.

First Partition: In 1764 Catherine dictated the election of her former favorite, Stanislaw August Poniatowski, as king of PolandLithuania.

The first partition of Poland was decided on August 5, 1772. Two decades later, the Russian and Prussian troops entered the Commonwealth again and the second partition was signed on 23 January 1793. Austria did not participate in the second partition.

Second Partition: Poland was not annihilated by the First Partition.

The third partition of Poland took place on October 24, 1795, in reaction to the unsuccessful Polish Kosciuszko uprising, a year earlier. With this third partition, the Community ceased to exist.

In the wake of the insurrection of 1794, Russia, Prussia, and Austria carried out the third and final partition of Poland-Lithuania in 1795, erasing the Commonwealth of Two Nations from the map and pledging never to let it return. Much of Europe condemned the dismemberment as an international crime without historical parallel. Amid the distractions of the French Revolution and its attendant wars, however, no state actively opposed the annexations.

Kościuszko Uprising (Polish: insurekcja kościuszkowska) was a violent uprising against the Russians and Prussians in Poland in 1794. The leader of the insurrection was Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

Andrew Thaddeus Bonaventure Kościuszko.

November 24: Today is the anniversary of the "Evolution Day" because Charles Darwin published his book "On the Origin of Species" in 1859.

The title page of the first (1859) edition of "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life".

Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" was established in a work of literature and foundation of evolutionary biology. The work was released and immediately sold out. Actually, the full title of the book is: "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". However, the publication of the sixth edition in 1872 came printed with the title "On the Origin of Species".

The book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted great interest from publication. As Darwin was an eminent scientist, his findings were taken seriously and evidence presented generated scientific, philosophical and religious debate.

The Origin of Species: Charles Darwin.

Darwin's book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over generations through a process of natural selection. A body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution is presented.

Charles Darwin is best known for his work as a naturalist, developing a theory of evolution to explain biological change.

Darwin included evidence that he had participated in the Beagle expedition in the 1830s, and subsequent research findings, correspondence, and experimentation. Darwin's theories challenged the biblical arguments about the creation of man and the world.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) in his latest year.

November 23: Today is the anniversary of three important female recent achievements in three different years:

First Women to the South Pole.

1990: The first female expedition to Antarctica, at the South Pole, composed of twelve Russians, three Americans and one Japanese. Paseo 70 days and 1287 kilometers skiing.

Whitechapel Gallery x Rachel Whiteread From the series First Women by Anita Corbin.

1993: The British Rachel Witheread wins two important prizes in the world of art of sculpture. First win £ 20,000 Turner Prize as the best artist of modern art in Britain. £ 40,000 prize awarded by the K Foundation art award, considering the worst artist of the year after winning!

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter hosts an honor cordon for Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf at the Pentagon Feb. 27, 2015. (DoD photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sean Hurt/Released)

2005: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected president of Liberia (Earth free slavery) and became the first African woman to enter the top leadership of a country in Africa.

November 22: On this day in 1963 at 12:30 pm, was assassinated US President John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas.

Picture of President Kennedy in the limousine in Dallas, Texas, on Main Street, minutes before the assassination. Also in the presidential limousine are Jackie Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and his wife, Nellie.

President Kennedy in the presidential limo was traveling with his wife Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, who was seriously injured, while his wife and the president's wife were unharmed during the presidential motorcade.

The Presidential limousine just minutes before the assassination.

The police officer J.D. Tippit also fell killed by sniper bullets. The suspect was quickly captured and murderer by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald who allegedly acted alone and on his own initiative.

JFK Assassination.

The truth was never known because two days later, another murderer named Jack Ruby shot Oswald, by the police being guarded, and killed him.

Kennedy Assassination.

Ruby was the manager of a nightclub involved with organized crime in Dallas. From there came many speculations that have fed detective stories, to yellow journalism and fiction filmmaking.

November 21: Today is the anniversary of the bloody seizure of Port Arthur in Manchuria by the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War from August 1, 1894 until April 17, 1895.

A Western newspaper's depiction of Japanese soldiers mutilating bodies.

On November 21st, 1894, the Japanese city of Lüshunkou (better known in the West as Port Arthur) was taken. The Japanese army raped women and then massacred all the inhabitants in such a brutal event that goes by the name of "The Slaughter of Port Arthur."

First Sino-Japanese War, major battles and troop movements.

The war was fought between Chinese Qing Dynasty and Japanese Meiji over the control of the Korean peninsula.

Satirical drawing in the magazine Punch (29 September 1894), showing the victory of "small" Japan over "large" China.

The war seems to have been a clear indication of the failure of the Chinese Qing Dynasty to modernize its military forces.

Itō Sukeyuki was the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese combined fleet.

The defeat to Chinese and Japanese expansionism over Korea and Manchuria in northern China, showed that a confrontation with Russia was only a matter of time.

The Battle of the Yalu River. 

The success of the so-called Meiji Restoration was found with the first Japanese domination over East Asia. That defeat led to a series of revolutions and political changes in China, led by doctor Sun Yat-Sen and Kang-Youwei, which lead to the 1911 Revolution.

An illustration of Japanese soldiers beheading 38 Chinese soldiers as a warning to others by Utagawa Kokunimasa.

November 20: Today is the anniversary of the end of the most dangerous crisis faced by mankind and animals: the missile crisis in Cuba began on October 14, 1962.

Newspaper headline Cuban Missile Crisis ends.

The Soviet Union withdrew its missiles from Cuba in exchange for ending the US military quarantine of the Caribbean and respect Cuban territorial sovereignty.

Front page of The Washington Post, 29 October 1962, announcing the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Following withdrawal of Russian missiles in Cuba, at 6:45 pm on November 20, 1962, the crisis ended formally. The Soviet Union demanded the US to withdraw missiles in Turkey which were aiming to Moscow.

Both powers decided to create the "red phone" in order to expedite the talks between both sides during any possible crisis in the coming future.