The Finnish Civil War (27 January – 15 May 1918) marked the transition from the Grand Duchy of Finland, part of the Russian Empire, to an independent state. Arising during World War I, it was fought between the Reds, led by the Social Democratic Party, and the Whites, led by the conservative Senate. In February 1918, the Reds carried out an unsuccessful offensive, supplied with weapons by Soviet Russia. A counteroffensive by the Whites began in March, reinforced by the German Empire's military detachments in April. The decisive engagements were the battles of Tampere and Vyborg, won by the Whites, and the battles of Helsinki and Lahti, won by German troops, leading to overall victory for the Whites and the German forces. The 39,000 casualties included political terror deaths. Although the Senate and Parliament were initially pressured into accepting the brother-in-law of German Emperor William II as the King of Finland, the country emerged within a few months as an independent, democratic republic. The war would divide the nation for decades.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

98:

Trajan (bust pictured) succeeded his adoptive father Nerva as Roman emperor; under his rule the Roman Empire reached its maximum extent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajan

1343:

Pope Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the pope and the use of indulgences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_VI

1974:

The Brisbane River, which runs through the heart of Brisbane, broke its banks and flooded the surrounding areas. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Brisbane_flood

1980:

With the assistance of Canadian government officials, six American diplomats who had avoided capture in the Iran hostage crisis escaped to Zürich, Switzerland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Caper

2010:

Porfirio Lobo Sosa became the new President of Honduras, ending the constitutional crisis that had begun in 2009 when Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from office. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Honduran_constitutional_crisis

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

community: 1. (countable) A group sharing a common understanding, and often the same language, law, manners, and/or tradition. 2. (countable) A residential or religious collective; a commune. 3. (countable, ecology) A group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other. 4. (countable, Internet) A group of people interacting by electronic means for educational, professional, social, or other purposes; a virtual community. 5. (uncountable) The condition of having certain attitudes and interests in common. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/community

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

To call the world nuclear situation dire is to understate the danger — and its immediacy. … Beyond the nuclear and climate domains, technological change is disrupting democracies around the world as states seek and exploit opportunities to use information technologies as weapons, among them internet-based deception campaigns aimed at undermining elections and popular confidence in institutions essential to free thought and global security. … International diplomacy has been reduced to name-calling, giving it a surreal sense of unreality that makes the world security situation ever more threatening. Because of the extraordinary danger of the current moment, the Science and Security Board today moves the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to catastrophe. It is now two minutes to midnight — the closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday, and as close as it was in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.   --Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bulletin_of_the_Atomic_Scientists