Here's your Today in History -
Today is the birthday of Grand Duke Ivan III of Moscow, better known as Ivan the Great.
He was born in 1440 and became Grand Duke of Moscow in 1462. Although Moscow was a lot of fun, it was not yet Russia. Ivan was determined to remedy that shortcoming as quickly as possible: he had tsars in his eyes.
To enlarge his dominions he began nibbling at his smaller neighbors, paying an annual tribute to the
Golden Horde of Tatars to keep them from nibbling at him. Having eventually swallowed most of his surroundings, Ivan decided in 1480 that it was time to stop paying the Golden Horde.
The Golden Horde reminded him that it was time for their annual tribute. Ivan ignored them.
The Golden Horde sent him polite reminders in the mail, but he ignored these also.
They sent reminders on brightly colored stationery embossed with the words PAYMENT PAST DUE, but Ivan, alas, remained indifferent.
Finally the Golden Horde marched against Ivan and he marched his own troops out to meet them. The two armies met, faced off, and simultaneously retreated.
This was a victory for Ivan, in that neither he nor his descendants ever paid tribute to the Golden Horde again. But it was also a defeat for Ivan, who was therefore denied the rank of tsar.
(The first real tsar of Russia was his grandson, Ivan IV, "the shooting tsar.")
January 22, 1521 -
The Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V commenced the imperial Diet of Worms, on this date, to address the issues Martin Luther brought up in his 95 Theses. While worms in general are quite unpleasant to consume, most people were afraid to contridict the Emperor, so many people in Europe became Protestant.
It was on this date in 1807 that U.S. President Thomas Jefferson exposed a plot by his former vice-president, Aaron Burr, to establish an empire in the southwestern part of the continent. Burr was eventually acquitted as a result of Chief Justice Marshall's "tree-falling-in-forest" ruling that treason wasn't treason unless someone was there to see it—along with someone else who saw the same thing. The vice-presidency was never the same.
From that date forward, retiring vice-presidents have been compelled to either retire into the political obsolescence of private life, where we can safely ignore them, or into the presidency, where we can keep an eye on them.
January 22, 1905
In 1905, thousands of demonstrating Russian workers were fired on by Imperial army troops in St. Petersburg on what became known as "Red Sunday" or "Bloody Sunday". 96 people were killed, and over 300 were wounded. This incident marks the beginning of the so-called 1905 revolution.
January 22, 1918
Manitoba, Canada film censor board decides to ban comedies, on the grounds that they make audiences "too frivolous". Canada does not fully recover their true "frivolousness" until the broadcasting of SCTV in the early 80's.
January 22, 1949
Red Communists enter Peking (as opposed to the pink, fuscha or flesh colored communists).
January 22, 1951
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's baseball career is ended after he is thrown out of a winter league game, during the tryouts for the Washington Senators. He soon hears about a position as dictator for life and applies.
Jan 22 1972
In an interview with Melody Maker, musician David Bowie announces that he is gay. Actually he is bisexual, and his wife Angela did catch him in bed with Mick Jagger. Remember the famous quote about Cary Grant, (e-mail me if you forgot it.)
And so it goes.
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