Historical calendar/ What happened on October 3?

2023-10-03 08:42:00, Blog CNA

Historical calendar/ What happened on October 3?

Illustrative photo

1990 - East and West Germany reunite after 45 years

In less than a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany reunite on what is celebrated annually as "Unity Day".

Since 1945, when Soviet troops occupied East Germany, the United States and other allied forces occupied the western half of the nation at the end of World War II, divided Germany has become one of the most enduring symbols of the Cold War.

Some of the most dramatic episodes of the Cold War took place right there. The Berlin Blockade (June 1948 – May 1949), during which the Soviet Union blocked all land transport in West Berlin, and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, were perhaps the most famous events.

With the gradual decline of Soviet power in the late 1980s, the Communist Party in East Germany began to lose its grip on power. Tens of thousands of East Germans began to flee, and in late 1989 the Berlin Wall came down.

Shortly after this act, talks began between East and West German officials, joined by officials from the United States of America, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, where the possibility of reunification was considered.

Two months after reunification, parliamentary elections were held and Helmut Kohl became the first chancellor of the reunified Germany.

Historical calendar/ What happened on October 3?

Although this process took place more than a year before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, for many observers the reunification of Germany effectively also marked the end of the Cold War.

Other important events:

1739 - The Russian Empire signs a treaty with the Ottoman Empire, ending a 3-year conflict between them.

1863 - US President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as the National Day of Thanksgiving. It is still today the most popular holiday in the USA.

1908 - Leon Trotsky, Adolf Jofe, Matvei Skobelev and other Russian immigrants in Vienna found the newspaper "Pravda" (Truth), which would be the official organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union for many decades.

1929 - The Yugoslav Kingdom or "Land of the South Slavs" is founded. It included the regions of Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia. It was formerly known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, established on December 1, 1918.

1942 – The Nazi military in Germany successfully launches a V-2/A4 rocket from its test center at Pinemunde. The rocket was the first man-made object to reach space.

1952 - After the US and the Soviet Union, Great Britain becomes the third country to test its first nuclear bomb. Operation codenamed "Hurricane" took place near the Montebello Islands in Western Australia.

1989 - In Panama, a military coup led by Manuel Noriega fails.

1993 - The Battle of Mogadishu takes place, during which 18 American soldiers and about 1,000 Somalis are killed while trying to capture the leader of the rebel forces, Muhammad Farrah./ Adapted by CNA