Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 January 27

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From today's featured article

Tampere's civilian buildings destroyed in the Civil War

The Finnish Civil War (27 January – 15 May 1918) marked the transition from the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire, to an independent state. Arising during World War I, it was fought between the Reds, led by the Social Democratic Party, and the Whites, led by the conservative Senate. In February 1918, the Reds carried out an unsuccessful offensive, supplied with weapons by Soviet Russia. A counteroffensive by the Whites began in March, reinforced by the German Empire's military detachments in April. The decisive engagements were the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, won by the Whites, and the battles of Helsinki and Lahti, won by German troops, leading to overall victory for the Whites and the German forces. The 39,000 casualties included political terror deaths. Although the Senate and Parliament were initially pressured into accepting the brother-in-law of German Emperor William II as the King of Finland, the country emerged within a few months as an independent, democratic republic. The war would divide the nation for decades. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Falls on the West Kill

... that the watershed of the West Kill (Diamond Notch Falls pictured) has the steepest slopes and highest overall elevation of any subbasin of New York's Schoharie Creek?
... that the RAF pushed to introduce IFF Mark III after a Short Stirling was shot down by a Bristol Beaufighter, which was in turn shot down by another Beaufighter?
... that Colette Lorand made her debut as Gounod's Marguerite in 1945, created Reimann's Regan in 1978, and retired as Janáček's Emilia Marty in 1983?
... that Ninian Park, the home stadium of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years, was built on the site of a former rubbish tip?
... that the 2017 film Dunkirk was conceived in the mid-1990s when writer and director Christopher Nolan sailed with Emma Thomas across the English Channel, as did many small boats during the Dunkirk evacuation?
... that Nana Otuo Siriboe II, a Ghanaian electrical engineer and paramount chief, is the chairman of the advisory council to the President of Ghana?
... that the authors of the 1940 Frisch–Peierls memorandum were assigned to research nuclear weapons because, as enemy aliens, they could not work on secret military projects?

In the news

The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul

In Miryang, South Korea, a hospital fire kills 37 people and injures more than 130 others.
Chinese scientists announce the creation of two identical monkeys, the first primates to be cloned using the SCNT technique.
The former team doctor for USA Gymnastics, Larry Nassar, is sentenced to at least 40 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 150 gymnasts.
Rocket Lab's Electron becomes the first rocket to reach orbit using an electric pump-fed engine.
An attack on a hotel (pictured) in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills at least 18 people and injures more than 20 others.

On this day...

January 27

Bust of Trajan

98 – Trajan (bust pictured) succeeded his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire reached its maximum extent.
1343 – Pope Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences.
1974 – The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of Brisbane, broke its banks and flooded the surrounding areas.
1980 – With the assistance of Canadian government officials, six American diplomats who had avoided capture in the Iran hostage crisis escaped to Zürich, Switzerland.
2010 – Porfirio Lobo Sosa became the new President of Honduras, ending the constitutional crisis that had begun in 2009 when Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from office.

Angela Merici (d. 1540) · John Perkins (d. 1812) · Mohamed Al-Fayed (b. 1929)

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Today's featured picture

Masked lovers during the 2010 Carnival of Venice, an annual festival held in Venice, Italy, which ends on Shrove Tuesday. Although it traces its roots to the 12th century, the current festival only began in 1979, when the Italian government used the Carnival as the centerpiece of its efforts to bring back the history and culture of Venice. Elaborate masks such as those shown here play a central role in the festival, and have become part of popular culture.

Photograph: Frank Kovalchek

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