Kaala Prayanam

  Benito Mussolini, on 3rd January 1925, suspended the Italian Parliament and declared himself the Dictator of Italy, taking the title "Il Duce" (the leader). Mussolini founded the Italian Fascist Party and was called 'Il Duce' (the leader). As Il Duce, he ruled Italy from 1922 till his dismissal in 1943 following Italy's collapse in World War II. Mussolini organized the March on Rome in 1922 and was appointed prime minister, the youngest in history until Matteo Renzi's appointment in 2014. Following this, he destroyed the opposition forces. Aspiring to create a totalitarian state, he established dictatorial authority by legal and extraordinary means. In strong alliance with Hitler's Nazi Germany, Mussolini sought to establish his own empire. He annexed Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and joined the war on the side of Germany in 1940, just before the Fall of France. Italy did not have the military capability to conduct a lengthy war with the US and the British Empire...

  Logo of the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Soviet Union was formally proclaimed with six republics on 30th September 1922.  The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established on 30.12.1922 by the representatives of the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian Republics at the First All-Union Congress of Soviets in Moscow. This declaration emphasized voluntary union, equal rights among republics, and the right to secede, with centralized control over foreign policy, defense, finance, and communications. It framed the USSR as a step toward global socialism. The treaty accompanying the declaration outlined federal structures, with the All-Union Congress of Soviets as the highest body. This foundation influenced the 1924 USSR Constitution.

  Dutch colonial authorities arrested the prominent leader of the Indonesian national movement, Sukarno, and other key communist party leaders in Java on 29th December 1929. Sukarno was a leader of Indonesia's nationalist movement. He spent a decade in Dutch detention. Released by the invading Japanese forces, Sukarno and other nationalists supported the Japanese war. On the Japanese surrender, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared Indonesia independent on 17.8.1945. Sukarno was appointed the state's first president. He resisted Dutch re-colonization. The Dutch acknowledged Indonesian independence in 1949. After a chaotic parliamentary democracy, Sukarno established an autocratic system called "Guided Democracy" in 1957. It ended the instability and rebellions. In the early 1960s, Sukarno moved leftwards, supporting the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). With anti-imperialism, he got aid from the Soviet Union and China. Sukarno lost Western support. The 30 Sept Movement ...

  Thomas Paine in Luxembourg jail, sitting in a dimly lit cell. His face was illuminated by light streaming through a barred window, with scattered papers around him, representing his continued intellectual resistance. Paine, an English American revolutionary author, who influenced many like Jyotirao Phule, was arrested for treason on 28th December 1793.  Thomas Paine was arrested in France on 28.12.1793, charged with treason during the Reign of Terror. Paine, an English-born American revolutionary author of Common Sense, moved to France to support the French Revolution. He was elected to the National Convention. His opposition to the execution (instead of exile) of King Louis XVI and association with the moderate Girondin faction turned radicals like the Montagnards against him. He was tried in absentia on 26.12.1793, by a revolutionary tribunal, then arrested two days later at his Paris home by order of the Committee of General Security's president, Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vad...

  Benazir Bhutto, the first woman Prime Minister of the Muslim dominated nation Pakistan, was assassinated on 27th December 2007. Benazir Bhutto, as Pakistan's PM, advanced women's rights in a Muslim nation. Challenged patriarchal norms and led to greater female participation in politics, public life, and employment. She established the Ministry of Women's Development and reserved 5% quota for women in public sector jobs. Bhutto introduced land reforms, granting ownership to landless women farmers in Sindh, and launched loan schemes for women. She encouraged women to study, work, and in sports, promoted family planning and childcare. Bhutto opened all-female police stations and appointed women judges to family courts, enhancing safety and judicial access despite resistance from conservative laws. Her efforts countered Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization policies that suppressed women, with discriminatory laws like those from the Zari Sarfaraz Commission. She fostered gender equal...

  The Decembrist Square, the symbol of the first Russian Revolution, the Decembrist Revolt of 1825, formerly known as Peter's Senate Square, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Decembrist uprising was a failed military revolt against Tsar Nicholas I in Russia on December 14, 1825 (Old Style; Dec 26 New Style). Liberal army officers and nobles sought to end autocracy, abolish serfdom, and establish a constitutional government. The revolt stemmed from secret Northern and Southern Societies, formed by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, influenced by Enlightenment ideas and Western constitutions. Confusion over succession after Alexander I's death in 1825—between brothers Constantine and Nicholas—provided the spark, as rebels initially swore loyalty to Constantine, who renounced the throne. 3,000 troops gathered in St. Petersburg's Senate Square, refusing to oath to Nicholas and demanding reforms, but poor leadership and hesitation doomed them. Loyalist forces under Nicholas used arti...