Napoleon Bonaparte's Death Anniversary

Napoleon Bonaparte, who passed away on 5 May 1821, aged 51, was a French Emperor.

One of the most controversial, influential and celebrated figures in human history, Napoleon seized upon the opportunities created by the outbreak of the French Revolution in1789 and became a general at age 29.

After the French Directory gave him control of the armed forces, his early military victories established him as a national hero, and he engineered a coup in 1799 that made him First Consul of the Republic. He went further and declared himself Emperor of the French in 1804.

Napoleon's stunning military victories over his European enemies - at Austerlitz in 1805, Friedland in 1807 and Wagram in 1809 - solidified his dominance of virtually the entire continent, and confirmed the rapid spread of his empire.

After launching the Peninsular War in Spain, Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, which ended in disaster and the collapse of his Grand Army. A Sixth Coalition defeated him at Leipzig, invaded France and forced him to abdicate in 1814. He was exiled to Elba, where he escaped and took control of France. He was finally defeated by a Seventh Coalition at Waterloo and exiled to St Helena in the South Atlantic where he died in 1821.

Napoleon's foreign and domestic achievements, particularly the Napoleonic Code, greatly influenced the foundations of most of the modern Western world.

Karl Marx' Birth Anniversary

 

Karl Marx, born on 5 May 1818, was a German philosopher and revolutionary is of the most influential figures in modern human history.

In 1848 he published with Friedrich Engels "The Communist Manifesto" in Brussels describing how in the class struggle the workers could seize power from the elites. His many writings continued to build upon his ideas, most notably "Das Kapital" published in 1867, detailing his theory of capitalism and its self-destructive tendencies.

As a result of Marx's ideas revolutionary socialist governments espousing Marxist concepts took power in a variety of countries in the 20th century, leading to the formation of states such as the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.

Giani Zail Singh's Birth Anniversary

Giani Zail Singh, born on 5 May 1916, in Sandhwan, India, was an Indian politician who was the first Sikh to serve as president of India (1982–87). He was an impotent bystander in 1984 when government troops stormed the complex of the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in Amritsar, the Sikhs’ holiest shrine, in an effort to apprehend militants who had been demanding autonomy for the northwestern Indian state of Punjab.

Singh was raised in a village near Ludhiana, in what is now in Punjab state, India. When he was barely 15 years old, he became active in the politics of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Supreme Akali Party), the principal political organization that championed Sikh causes and that had joined with the Indian National Congress (Congress Party) in opposing British rule in India. He pursued traditional studies in Sikh holy books and earned the title Giani (“Learned Man”) for his scholarly mastery of the scriptures. In 1938 he established the Praja Mandal, a political organization allied to the Congress Party, in his home district of Faridkot. That insurrectionary act earned him a five-year jail sentence. During his incarceration he took the name Zail Singh.

After India became independent in 1947, Singh served in the Rajya Sabha (upper chamber of the Indian parliament) in 1956–62 and was chief minister (head of government) of Punjab in 1972–77. When Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was voted out of power in 1977, Singh continued to support her. Singh won a seat in the 1980 elections to the Lok Sabha (lower chamber of the parliament), as did Gandhi, who again became prime minister. She acknowledged Singh’s loyalty to her by naming him minister of home affairs. He held the post until 1982, when he became the Congress (I) Party’s presidential candidate.

Singh overwhelmingly won election to the largely ceremonial office. There was much speculation, however, that Gandhi had selected him in order to mollify Sikh extremists in Punjab, who had since mid-1982 become increasingly militant in that state. The June 1984 assault on the Harmandir Sahib complex by government troops, which killed hundreds, put Singh in a difficult situation with the Sikh community—made worse by the violence against Sikhs that erupted following Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards four months later. Singh named Gandhi’s son, Rajiv, to succeed her, but he soon fell out of favour with the new prime minister. Singh further inflamed the government by refusing to sign into law a 1987 bill permitting official censorship of private mail. Singh died in late 1994 following a car crash.

 

International Day of the Midwife

 

The International Day of the Midwife is annually celebrated on 5 May, and was established in 1992 by the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) to celebrate and raise awareness about the midwifery profession.

This day is observed to honour midwives’ work and promote awareness about their importance in providing crucial care to mothers and their newborns. In addition, it is a chance for us to recognize their efforts towards making the world a better place.

Themes for the day have included healthy families, newborn babies, partnerships between midwives and mothers, and leading the way with quality care.