This Day in History: DECEMBER 09, 1992 : U.S MARINES STORM MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

On this day in 1992, 1,800 United States Marines arrive in Mogadishu, Somalia, to spearhead a multinational force aimed at restoring order in the conflict-ridden country.

Following centuries of colonial rule by countries including Portugal, Britain and Italy, Mogadishu became the capital of an independent Somalia in 1960. Less than 10 years later, a military group led by Major General Muhammad Siad Barre seized power and declared Somalia a socialist state. A drought in the mid-1970s combined with an unsuccessful rebellion by ethnic Somalis in a neighboring province of Ethiopia to deprive many of food and shelter. By 1981, close to 2 million of the country’s inhabitants were homeless. Though a peace accord was signed with Ethiopia in 1988, fighting increased between rival clans within Somalia, and in January 1991 Barre was forced to flee the capital. Over the next 23 months, Somalia’s civil war killed some 50,000 people; another 300,000 died of starvation as United Nations peacekeeping forces struggled in vain to restore order and provide relief amid the chaos of war.

In early December 1992, outgoing U.S. President George H.W. Bush sent the contingent of Marines to Mogadishu as part of a mission dubbed Operation Restore Hope. Backed by the U.S. troops, international aid workers were soon able to restore food distribution and other humanitarian aid operations. Sporadic violence continued, including the murder of 24 U.N. soldiers from Pakistan in 1993. As a result, the U.N. authorized the arrest of General Mohammed Farah Aidid, leader of one of the rebel clans. On October 3, 1993, during an attempt to make the arrest, rebels shot down two of the U.S. Army’s Black Hawk helicopters and killed 18 American soldiers.

As horrified TV viewers watched images of the bloodshed—-including footage of Aidid’s supporters dragging the body of one dead soldier through the streets of Mogadishu, cheering—-President Bill Clinton immediately gave the order for all American soldiers to withdraw from Somalia by March 31, 1994. Other Western nations followed suit. When the last U.N. peacekeepers left in 1995, ending a mission that had cost more than $2 billion, Mogadishu still lacked a functioning government. A ceasefire accord signed in Kenya in 2002 failed to put a stop to the violence, and though a new parliament was convened in 2004, rival factions in various regions of Somalia continue to struggle for control of the troubled nation.

Article Details:

December 09, 1992 : U.S Marines storm Mogadishu, Somalia

• Author

  History.com Staff

• Website Name

  History.com

• Year Published

  2009

• Title

  December 09, 1992 : U.S Marines storm Mogadishu, Somalia

• URL

  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-marines-storm-mogadishu-somalia

• Access Date

  December 09, 2016

• Publisher

  A+E Networks

This Day in History: DECEMBER 07, 1988 : EARTHQUAKES WREAK HAVOC IN ARMENIA

Two earthquakes hit Armenia on this day in 1988, killing 60,000 people and destroying nearly half a million buildings. The two tremors, only minutes apart, were measured at 6.9 and 5.8 in magnitude and were felt as far away as Georgia, Turkey and Iran.

It was 11:41 a.m. when the first, more powerful, earthquake hit three miles from Spitak, a city of about 30,000, and 20 miles northwest of Kirovakan. The epicenter was not far below the surface, which accounts in part for the terrible destruction. Also, only four minutes later, the 5.8-magnitude tremor struck nearby, collapsing buildings that had barely managed to hold during the first quake. An eight-mile rupture of the earth—several feet wide in spots—was later found to have been caused by the quakes.

Spitak experienced near total destruction. Most of the structures in the city were either cheaply constructed or had brick or stone roofs and nearly all collapsed from the shaking. In Leninakan, Armenia’s second largest city with close to 300,000 residents, about 80 percent of the buildings failed to stand. The sheer scale of destruction overwhelmed the country’s ability to respond. Worse still, officials (controlled by the Soviet government at the time) delayed giving permission for rescuers and relief workers to enter the area. In fact, 10 days after the quakes, all foreigners were ordered out.

Those rescuers who were able to enter worked for over a week trying to find survivors. The last survivor was pulled out from under rubble on December 15. Many experts believe that the death toll may have far exceeded the initial 60,000 estimate in part because thousands of people experienced crushing injuries during the quake. These victims often experienced kidney problems following the trauma and died when local health officials were not equipped to treat them.

When rebuilding began in subsequent years, more attention was paid to using appropriate construction materials and putting height limits on buildings.

Article Details:

December 07, 1988 : Earthquakes wreak havoc in Armenia

• Author

  History.com Staff

• Website Name

  History.com

• Year Published

  2009

• Title

  December 07, 1988 : Earthquakes wreak havoc in Armenia

• URL

  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquakes-wreak-havoc-in-armenia

• Access Date

  December 08, 2016

• Publisher

  A+E Networks

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This Day in History: DECEMBER 06, 1884 : WASHINGTON MONUMENT COMPLETED

On this day in 1884, in Washington, D.C., workers place a nine-inch aluminum pyramid atop a tower of white marble, completing the construction of an impressive monument to the city’s namesake and the nation’s first president, George Washington. As early as 1783, the infant U.S. Congress decided that a statue of George Washington, the great Revolutionary War general, should be placed near the site of the new Congressional building, wherever it might be. After then-President Washington asked him to lay out a new federal capital on the Potomac River in 1791, architect Pierre L’Enfant left a place for the statue at the western end of the sweeping National Mall (near the monument’s present location).

It wasn’t until 1832, however–33 years after Washington’s death–that anyone really did anything about the monument. That year, a private Washington National Monument Society was formed. After holding a design competition and choosing an elaborate Greek temple-like design by architect Robert Mills, the society began a fundraising drive to raise money for the statue’s construction. These efforts–including appeals to the nation’s schoolchildren–raised some $230,000, far short of the $1 million needed. Construction began anyway, on July 4, 1848, as representatives of the society laid the cornerstone of the monument: a 24,500-pound block of pure white marble.

Six years later, with funds running low, construction was halted. Around the time the Civil War began in 1861, author Mark Twain described the unfinished monument as looking like a “hollow, oversized chimney.” No further progress was made until 1876–the centennial of American independence–when President Ulysses S. Grant authorized construction to be completed.

Made of some 36,000 blocks of marble and granite stacked 555 feet in the air, the monument was the tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion in December 1884. In the six months following the dedication ceremony, over 10,000 people climbed the nearly 900 steps to the top of the Washington Monument. Today, an elevator makes the trip far easier, and more than 800,000 people visit the monument each year. A city law passed in 1910 restricted the height of new buildings to ensure that the monument will remain the tallest structure in Washington, D.C.–a fitting tribute to the man known as the “Father of His Country.”

Article Details:

December 06, 1884 : Washington Monument completed

• Author

  History.com Staff

• Website Name

  History.com

• Year Published

  2009

• Title

  December 06, 1884 : Washington Monument completed

• URL

  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/washington-monument-completed

• Access Date

  December 06, 2016

• Publisher

  A+E Networks