This article shows major events that occurred on this day in history (to select another date use the menu to find events that occurred on that day).
On This Day
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- 1903
In 1903 George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair.
George Orwell became one of the 20th century’s most influential writers.
His parents were civil servants working in Bihar, India for The British Empire when Eric was born. His family was fairly wealthy and he considered them to be lower-upper middle class. When Eric was one his mother took him and his older sister Marjorie to live in England while his father stayed in India.
In 1945 ‘Animal Farm’ was published and made Orwell famous. It is the story of farm animals that overthrow the oppression of the farmer and form a society where all the animals are equal although governed by the intelligent pigs. As time goes on it becomes apparent that although “all animals are equal, some are more equal than others”. The story is a depiction of Stalin’s Russian Revolution and the novel is considered one of the best books to come out of the twentieth century along with another book by Orwell ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’. Written in 1948 it is the story of a totalitarian future, where the oppression of the population resembles that of the people under Stalin and Franco’s regimes but to a greater extent. This work has given the English language many additional words and phrases including Room 101, Thought Police, Big Brother, doublethink and thoughtcrime. It has been seen as a warning as to what can happen in a society without freedom of speech and with the oppression of people's ideas or points of view.
- 1950
In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea triggering the Korean War.
South Korea was invaded by the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) on the 25th of June 1950, but after UN intervention they were forced back into their own country pursued by UN Forces. When the NKPA’s defeat seemed certain the Chinese Communist Forces (CFF) joined the North Korean forces for this counter-strike. UN forces regained control of Seoul in March 1951. After many failed attempts at peace talks, a demilitarised zone was set up between the two countries which still exists today. The country was split after World War II. When the Japanese left Korea the north was occupied by the USSR while the south was occupied by the US.
