A bank robbery was committed by Bolsheviks on 26 June 1907 in the city
of Tiflis, Russian Empire, what is now Georgia's capital, Tbilisi.
Planned by Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Maxim Litvinov, Leonid Krasin,
and Alexander Bogdanov, it was carried out by revolutionaries led by
Stalin's early associate Kamo. The attack killed forty people and
injured fifty others; the robbers escaped with 341,000 rubles. The
Bolsheviks were unable to use most of the large banknotes they had
stolen because the serial numbers were known to the police. Lenin
thought of a plan to have the notes cashed simultaneously throughout
Europe, but this strategy failed. Kamo was imprisoned for this and other
crimes, but was released after the Russian Revolution; no other major
conspirator was ever tried. After his death, Kamo was buried under a
monument constructed near the robbery site, but the grave and monument
have since been removed.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_Tiflis_bank_robbery>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1889:
Bangui (city centre pictured), the capital and largest city of
the Central African Republic, was founded in French Congo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangui>
1906:
The 1906 French Grand Prix, the first Grand Prix motor racing
competition, was held outside Le Mans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_French_Grand_Prix>
1936:
The first prototype of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first fully
controllable helicopter, made its maiden flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_61>
2013:
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act,
granting federal recognition to same-sex marriage; furthermore, it
struck down Proposition 8, legalizing same-sex marriage in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollingsworth_v._Perry>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
indri:
One of the largest living lemurs, Indri indri, which is native to
Madagascar.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/indri>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally
found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things.
--Chesty Puller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chesty_Puller>