The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climactic battle of the First Indochina War between French Union forces and Viet Minh communist revolutionary forces. The battle occurred between March and May 1954, and culminated in a massive French defeat that effectively ended the war. The French undertook to create an air-supplied base at Dien Bien Phu, deep in the hills of Vietnam, in order to cut off Viet Minh supply lines into the neighboring French protectorate of Laos. The Viet Minh, under General Vo Nguyen Giap, surrounded and besieged the French, who were unaware of the Viet Minh's possession of heavy artillery. The Viet Minh occupied the highlands around Dien Bien Phu, and were able to fire down accurately onto French positions. Tenacious fighting on the ground ensued, reminiscent of the trench warfare of World War I. The French repeatedly repulsed Viet Minh assaults on their positions. Supplies and reinforcements were delivered by air, although as the French positions were overrun and the anti-aircraft fire took its toll, fewer and fewer of those supplies reached them. After a two month siege, the garrison was overrun and most French surrendered. Shortly after the battle, the war ended with the 1954 Geneva accords, under which France agreed to withdraw from its former Indochinese colonies.

When he reached the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, became the sole European survivor of a party of over 4,500 military personnel and over 10,000 civilian camp followers retreating from Kabul, excluding a few prisoners released later.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brydon)

The Paris newspaper L'Aurore published "J'accuse...!", an open letter by French writer Émile Zola to French President Félix Faure exposing the Dreyfus affair.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Zola)

American singer Johnny Cash recorded his landmark album At Folsom Prison live at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Folsom_Prison)

A month-long violent struggle began in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of President Ali Nasir Muhammad and his predecessor Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Democratic_Republic_of_Yemen)

The January Events: Soviet troops attacked Lithuanian independence supporters at the TV Tower in Vilnius, killing 14 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Events)

go the extra mile (v) (idiomatic) To make an extra effort; to do a particularly good job.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/go_the_extra_mile)

The explorers of the past were great men and we should honour them. But let us not forget that their spirit lives on. It is still not hard to find a man who will adventure for the sake of a dream or one who will search, for the pleasure of searching, not for what he may find. --Sir Edmund Hillary