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Workers and technicians celebrate China's first nuclear explosion ๐Ÿ’ฅ in 1964 @facethenation

Mao Zedong, Chinese communist leader, officially authorized the atomic bomb project in January 15, 1955: โ˜๏ธ โ€œWe need the atom bomb. If our nation does not want to be intimidated, we have to have this thingโ€.

China exploded an atom bomb at 15:00 hours on October 16, 1964, joining the United States, Soviet Union, Britain and France as the only nuclear powers at the time.
๐Ÿค Marshal of France Philippe Petain shaking hands with Adolf Hitler, in occupied France on October 24, 1940 @facethenation

โ“ Why do people say that the French always surrender?

๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท France had one of the most powerful ๐Ÿ’ช armies in the world in 1940. They boasted more than 1 million soldiers in their ranks, including World War I veterans and experienced generals.

But the troops did not have leadership worthy of them. ๐Ÿฅด French politicians were bogged down in appeasement wishful thinking.

โšก๏ธ In just over 6 weeks (May 10 - June 25, 1940), German armed captured Paris, and forced the surrender of the French government. The glory of France has been ground underfoot by German armies.
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Indian space scientists carrying part of a rocket cone to the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, 1963 @facethenation

๐Ÿ’ก From bicycle to a billion dreams

Back then, even rocket parts and payloads were transported by bullock carts and bicycle to the launch pad ๐Ÿšฒ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ”ฌ๐Ÿš€. It was in these unassuming settings that India staged its first launch.

On November 21, 1963 at 18:25, the world was watching as the rocket streaked away into the gathering dusk. Minutes later, a sodium vapour cloud had emerged in the sky high above, tinted orange by the setting sun ๐ŸŒ…. India had successfully put its first signature on space.
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ American President Bill Clinton, ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ Russian President Boris Yeltsin, ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma sign the Budapest Memorandum on December 5, 1994 @facethenation

โ“ Well, so what does it mean?

At the end of the Cold War, ๐Ÿ’ช the third largest nuclear power on earth was not Britain, France or China. It was Ukraine. Only Russia and the US had more weapons.

Ukraine demanded that, in exchange for nuclear disarmament, it would need ironclad security guarantees. That was the heart of the agreement signed in Budapest in 1994 by Russia, Ukraine and the US.

Budapest Memorandum promised that none of the nations would use force or threats against Ukraine and all would respect its sovereignty and existing borders ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ•Š.

In May 1996, Ukraine saw the last of its nuclear arms transported to Russia.

๐Ÿคฏ After Russian troops invaded Crimea in early 2014 and stepped up a proxy war in eastern Ukraine, Russian government dismissed the Budapest accord as null and void.
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง Britain's prime minister Winston Churchill riding a white horse in 1946 @facethenation

Winston Churchillโ€™s life was shaped by horses ๐ŸŽ. On leaving school at 18, he joined the British cavalry. While at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Churchill had learnt to play polo.

Churchill rode more extensively than any prime minister before or since ๐Ÿ˜ณ. He was in the saddle in England, Ireland, France, Spain, India, Pakistan, Canada, USA, Sudan and South Africa.

Churchill played his last game of polo ๐Ÿ‡ at 52, despite having a weak right shoulder (injured in a fall when disembarking from the ship in India).

โ˜๏ธ โ€œNo hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle,โ€ he wrote.
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท Tabriz defenders in the days before the Iranian city fall @facethenation

โš ๏ธ Russians invaded Iran in 1911

On November 29, the Russian government presented the Persian government with an ultimatum ๐Ÿ‘Š. Most important demand was to fire the newly employed American lawyer Morgan Shuster. Upon the Persian parliament's refusal to fire Shuster, the shah dissolved the Majlis and agreed to the Russian ultimatum.

The ultimatum nevertheless created unrest ๐Ÿ˜ก in Tabriz. On December 21, fedayeen attacked the Russian troops, inflicting severe casualties.

In response, a brigade of the Russian Imperial Army was dispatched to Tabriz under General Voropanov. After about three days, the defense of the city's residents broke. The Russians shelled Tabriz with artillery ๐Ÿ’ฃ๐Ÿ’ฅ and entered the city on December 31.

The Russians executed the fedayeen, their families and many civilians of Tabriz as well. The total number of executions is estimated to have been about 1200.

The Russian forces remained in the city until February, 1918
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โ›น๐Ÿฟโ€โ™‚ Michael Jordan's 1988 contest winning dunk @facethenation

The iconic free throw line dunk ๐Ÿ€ remains one of the greatest in the eventโ€™s history.

Michael Jordan in the 1980s was undoubtedly one of the most athletic players to have ever laced up to take to an NBA game ๐Ÿ™Œ.
๐Ÿ‘ฎ A West Berlin police officer stands in front of the concrete wall dividing East and West Berlin at Bernauer Strasse as East Berlin workers add blocks to increase the height of the East German barrier October 7, 1961 @facethenation

โ“Why was the Berlin Wall built?

After the Second World War, the Allied forces (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union) occupied Germany and its capital, Berlin ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช.

When the Soviet Union imposed the Berlin Blockade in 1948, major tensions between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union came to light. Fear of the Communist regime led increasing numbers of East Germans to emigrate ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธ to West Germany.

The Soviet Union decided to build a physical barrier between East and West Berlin. Work began in the early hours of August 13, 1961.

The Berlin Wall became the symbol of the Cold War and a tangible manifestation of the worldโ€™s separation into two distinct ideological blocs.
โšก๏ธโšก๏ธโšก๏ธTo Ukrainians around the globe:

February 24, 2022. Today โ€ผ๏ธRussia has attacked Ukraine. Army, diplomats, everyone is working. Ukraine fights. Ukraine will defend itself. Ukraine will win.

Share the truth about Putinโ€™s invasion in your countries and call on governments to act immediately.

Pray for Ukraine! ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™
ะกะปะฐะฒะฐ ะฃะบั€ะฐั—ะฝั–! ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ
1940 โ€” London, United Kingdom โ€” People sheltering on the platform of Elephant and Castle Underground station during an air raid World War II.

2022 โ€” Kharkiv, Ukraine โ€” Hundreds of people flocked to the underground station to seek shelter from Russiaโ€™s full-scale invasion. Thousands of Kharkiv residents spent last 3 months in the underground.

๐Ÿ”ด 2022 - Russiaโ€™s War in Ukraine, in Context

@facethenation
1940 โ€” A boy points out his bedroom to his friends after his home had been wrecked during a random bombing raid in an eastern suburb of London.

2022 โ€” A child walks in front of a damaged school as Russian fascist forces shelled the city of Zhytomyr, Ukraine

๐Ÿ”ด 2022 - Russiaโ€™s War in Ukraine, in Context

@facethenation