28 June 2014
calumny
[kal-uhm-nee]
noun, plural cal·um·nies.
1. a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something: The speech was considered a calumny of the administration.
2. the act of uttering calumnies; slander; defamation.
Origin:
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin calumnia, equivalent to calumn-, perhaps originally a middle participle of calvī to deceive + -ia -y3 )
Synonyms
2. libel, vilification, calumniation, derogation.
Anagram
clan yum
Today’s aphorism
I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.
– Alexander the Great
On this day
28 June 1914 – Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, while in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, was one of 16 Bosnian Serbs found guilty of the incident. The assassination led to World War I as European countries took sides in the subsequent retaliation. The world’s major powers aligned into two opposing alliances: the Allies (UK, Russia, France, USA, Italy and Japan) and the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary (later joined by the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria). More than 70 million military personnel were mobilised. By 1918, when the war ended, there were more than 9 million combatants and more than 7 million civilians dead. However, prior to this, following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the new communist government withdrew Russia from the war. The Allies took exception to this and invaded Russia as part of the White Armies (counter-revolutionary, anti-communist forces made up of British, French, Japanese and US Armies, as well as Russian conscripts) that waged war against the communist Red Army in what became known as the Russian Civil War. Both sides massacred civilians (the Red Terror and the White Terror). The war caused massive famine. By the time the war ended in 1922, around 8 million were dead (5 million from famine) and the Red Army was victorious.
28 June 1919 – World War I officially ends as Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles. The armistice had been agreed to on 11 November 1918, but it took until June 1919 to formalise the peace treaty. The treaty forced Germany and her allies to take responsibility for the war, to disarm, to make signficant territorial concessions and to make financial reparations to a number of countries. The Treaty of Versailles was one of the motivators behind Hitler’s rise to power and subsequently World War II that resulted in the deaths of between 50 million and 80 million people.
28 June 1997 – World heavyweight champion boxer, Mike Tyson, bit Evander Holyfield’s ear during the third round of a world title rematch. Tyson was initially disqualified and then allowed to continue the fight, however, Tyson then bit off a part of Holyfield’s other ear which was later found on the floor of the ring. Tyson was disqualified and later fined $3 million. His boxing licence was rescinded, but reinstated in 1998.