This Week in History: John Adams, Balfour Declaration, Luther, Daniel Boone, Guy Fawkes, Battle of Britain, Keats, Chiang Kai-Shek, & More

One of the greatest problems plaguing and tearing apart our society now is ignorance of or deliberate rewriting of history. As we learn the truth about the people and nations who came before us, we are equipped to fight the lies of the terrorists, Marxists, and would-be tyrants today. Here are some of the most important events that happened this week in world history.

October 30

1340 – “Battle of Rio Salado (or Tarifa): King Afonso IV of Portugal and King Alfonso XI of Castile defeat Sultan Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali of Morocco and Yusuf I of Granada, last Marīnids invasion of Iberian Peninsula [Spain/Portugal].” It was a victory for Christianity against Islam.

1735 – Founding Father and second U.S. President John Adams is born in Braintree, Massachusetts. Adams, a member of the Continental Congress, was a major moving force behind the writing of the Declaration of Independence and America’s break away from Great Britain. He was also the first U.S. VP and second President.

October 31

1517 – Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses onto the door of Wittenburg’s cathedral, beginning the Protestant Revolt. Luther was the founder of Protestantism, a form of Christianity which has since splintered into tens of thousands of different denominations, some inventing teachings which had no precedent or scarcely any precedent in Christian history (such as denying Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist or “The Rapture”) and some renewing old heresies (such as iconoclasm, or the destruction of sacred images). Luther himself admitted that he changed his thinking on the Mass and the papacy based on what Satan told him. He also removed large sections of the Bible that contradicted his theology.

1541 – The unveiling of Michelangelo’s magnificent painting of “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel.

1795 – English Romantic poet John Keats is born.

1887 – Chiang Kai-shek is born in China. He was the leader of the KMT or Nationalist forces against Mao.

1892 – Adventures of Sherlock Holmes published.

1940 – “The Battle of Britain concluded.”

1941 – Mt. Rushmore National Memorial is completed.

November 1

1776 – The Spanish Catholic mission of San Juan Capistrano is founded by Franciscan missionary St. Junipero Serra.

1963 – South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother are assassinated during a U.S.-backed military coup.

November 2

1734 – Frontiersman and American legend Daniel Boone is born in Pennsylvania. “Daniel Boone was an early American frontiersman who gained fame for his hunting and trailblazing expeditions through the Cumberland Gap, a natural pass through the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. Boone achieved folk hero status during his lifetime.”

1755 – Austrian royal and future Queen of France Marie Antoinette is born.

1917 – Marks the issuance of the “Balfour Declaration” from the British government, approving “the establishment…of a national home for the Jewish people.” It will eventually lead to the founding of the modern nation of Israel, in the same area as the ancient Biblical Israel.

November 3

644 – The second Muslim caliph, Umar I, under whom Arab Muslims conquered Syria and Mesopotamia, dies after being attacked by a Persian Christian slave (Umar had begun the Arab conquest of Persia; the early Muslim Arabs were religiously intolerant rulers of Persians).

1534 – British Parliament passes the first Act of Supremacy, declaring heretic King Henry VIII the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Henry VIII would also institute a persecution of Catholics faithful to the Church.

1839 – The beginning military clash of the First Opium War.

1957 – The Soviets’ dog Laika becomes the world’s first astronaut.

November 4

1576 – The Spanish capture Antwerp during the Eighty Years’ War, beginning the bloody Sack of Antwerp.

1922 – Howard Carter’s team discovers and begins to excavate the ancient Egyptian tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun (“King Tut”) in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt.

1942 – The Nazis retreat from victorious British forces after a long battle at El Alamein in Egypt during WWII.

1980 – Reagan beats Carter.

November 5

1556 – Second Battle of Panipat.

1605 – The discovery of the idiotic “Gunpowder Plot” of a small group of upper-class Catholics (including Guy Fawkes), who were seemingly driven to insanity by the persecution of Catholicism in England at the time and foolishly planned to blow up Parliament. The plot was unfortunately weaponized for a crackdown on Catholics.

1775 – George Washington bans the celebration of “Guy Fawkes Day” in the American Revolutionary Army for its anti-Catholicism.