Friday October 31, 2014 the 302nd day and 43rd week of 2014, there are 63 days and 9 weeks left in the year. Highlights of today in world history...1917 Third Battle of GazaEarly on the morning of October 31, 1917, Allied forces under General Edmund Allenby launched an attack on Turkish positions at Beersheba, in Palestine, beginning the Third Battle of Gaza.After two earlier attacks at Gaza failed amid heavy Allied casualties, the British brought in Allenby from the Western Front in June 1917 to replace Sir Archibald Murray as commander of Allied forces in Egypt. Reinforcements were also called in, including Italian and French troops, to support a renewed offensive against the Gaza-Beersheba line, which stood formidably between the Allies and the all-important city of Jerusalem. By the fall of 1917, the Turkish forces along the line were presided over by the recently arrived Erich von Falkenhayn, the former chief of staff of the German army.After moving his headquarters from a Cairo hotel to the front line in a symbolic move aimed at boosting Allied morale, Allenby prepared to launch the attack, concentrating first on amassing enough men, artillery and tanks to make victory as certain as possible. By mid-October, seven infantry divisions had been assembled, plus a cavalry unit with both horses and camels, for a combined total of some 88,000 men. Facing Allenbys troops along a 40-kilometer-long front were the Turkish 7th and 8th Armies, numbering just 35,000 men.For nearly a week before the attack, three artillery divisions with over 200 guns bombarded the Turks in order to trick the latter into believing that a full frontal attacksimilar to the first two Allied offensives at Gazawould follow. The bombardment was the heaviest artillery attack of the war outside Europe, featuring as many heavy guns per yard of front as during the Battle of the Somme, with aerial support from above that ensured the artillery fire hit its marks. Instead of a frontal attack, however, Allenbys men launched a surprise attack in the dawn hours of October 31, sending some 40,000 troops against the damaged Turkish lines. Beersheba and its crucially important water supply (previous Allied attacks on Gaza had failed partially due to lack of sufficient water in the hot desert climate) were captured that same day, as Falkenhayn was forced to pull his Turkish troops back into the hills north of Jerusalem. On the heels of their victory at Gaza, Allenbys forces would enter that holy city on December 9, meeting with little resistance1926 Houdini is deadHarry Houdini, the most celebrated magician and escape artist of the 20th century, died of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital. Twelve days before, Houdini had been talking to a group of students after a lecture in Montreal when he commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. Suddenly, one of the students punched Houdini twice in the stomach. The magician hadn't had time to prepare, and the blows ruptured his appendix. He fell ill on the train to Detroit, and, after performing one last time, was hospitalized. Doctors operated on him, but to no avail. The burst appendix poisoned his system, and on October 31 he died.Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874, the son of a rabbi. At a young age, he immigrated with his family to Appleton, Wisconsin, and soon demonstrated a natural acrobatic ability and an extraordinary skill at picking locks. When he was nine, he joined a traveling circus and toured the country as a contortionist and trapeze performer. He soon was specializing in escape acts and gained fame for his reported ability to escape from any manacle. He went on his first international tour in 1900 and performed all over Europe to great acclaim. In executing his escapes, he relied on strength, dexterity, and concentrationnot trickeryand was a great showman.In 1908, Houdini began performing more dangerous and dramatic escapes. In a favorite act, he was bound and then locked in an ironbound chest that was dropped into a water tank or thrown off a boat. In another, he was heavily bound and then suspended upside down in a glass-walled water tank. Other acts featured Houdini being hung from a skyscraper in a straitjacket, or bound and buriedwithout a coffinunder six feet of dirt.In his later years, Houdini campaigned against mediums, mind readers, fakirs, and others who claimed supernatural talents but depended on tricks. At the same time, he was deeply interested in spiritualism and made a pact with his wife and friends that the first to die was to try and communicate with the world of reality from the spirit world. Several of these friends died, but Houdini never received a sign from them. Then, on Halloween1926, Houdini himself passed on at the age of 52. His wife waited for a communiqu from the spirit world but it never came; she declared the experiment a failure shortly before her death in 1943.1957 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. opens in HollywoodOn October 31, 1957, the Japanese car company Toyota established its U.S. headquarters in an old Rambler dealership in Hollywood, California. Toyota executives hoped to saturate the American second-car market with their small and relatively inexpensive Toyopet Crown sedans. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. sold its first Toyopet at the beginning of 1958; by the end of the year, it had sold 286 more, along with one behemoth Land Cruiser. Toyota cars were slow to catch on in the United Statesit took until the mid-1960sfor the company to gain a respectable chunk of the American marketbut when they did, they did so with a bang. In 1972, thanks in large part to its success in the United States, Toyota sold its 1 millionth car, and three years later Toyota became the best-selling import brand in the United States.In the mid-1950s, there were very few small cars on the road in America. People had plenty of disposable income for the first time in decades; gas was cheap; and American car companies were churning out enormous, elaborately be-finned models like the Ford Thunderbird and the Plymouth Fury. But those cars were not that easy to drive or park (especially, some people believed, for women, many of whom were learning to drive for the first time) and buying more than one tended to be too expensive for an ordinary middle-class family. As a result, foreign small-car manufacturers saw an opportunity. Volkswagen, for instance, exported more than 100,000 of its small, efficient Beetles to the United States in 1956 and the next year Toyota brought the Toyopet to Hollywood.Though the car had been an overnight sensation in Japan, particularly among taxi drivers, it was a flop in the United States: It could barely meet California's standards for roadworthiness, it guzzled extraordinary amounts of gas and oil and when it traveled on the freeway, it tended to shake violently, overheat and stall without much warning. Meanwhile, most Americans were simply too big to fit comfortably in its tiny cabin.In 1961, Toyota dealers stopped selling the car in the United States. Four years later, the company introduced the Corona, a sedan designed especially for American drivers that was even more affordable than the Toyopet but featured luxuries like air-conditioning, automatic transmissions, carpeting, sun visors, arm rests, tinted windows and glove compartments. The Corona was a huge hit and it set the stage for another Toyota home run: the Corolla, introduced in 1968. The Corolla went on to become the best-selling passenger car in history.1961 Stalin's body removed from Lenin's tombFive years after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalinism and the "personality cult" of Soviet rulers at the 20th Party Congress, Joseph Stalin's embalmed body was removed from Lenin's tomb in Moscow's Red Square.When Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, the leader of Russia's Bolshevik revolution was embalmed and placed in a special mausoleum before the Kremlin wall. Featuring glass casing, the tomb made the father of Soviet Russia visible for all posterity.Lenin was succeeded as Soviet leader by Joseph Stalin, who ruled over the USSR with an iron fist for three decades, executing or working to death millions of Soviets who stood in the way of his ruthless political and economic plans. However, Stalin also led his country to a hard-won victory over German invaders during World War II, and when died in 1953 he joined Lenin in his tomb. Within a few years of Stalin's death, however, Soviet authorities uniformly condemned the brutal leader. In October 1961, his body was removed from public display in Red Square and shunted off to a nearby tomb.1984 The prime minister of India is assassinatedIndira Gandhi, the prime minister of India, was assassinated in New Delhi by two of her own bodyguards. Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, both Sikhs, emptied their guns into Gandhi as she walked to her office from an adjoining bungalow. Although the two assailants immediately surrendered, they were both shot in a subsequent scuffle, and Beant died. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, attempted to forge a unified nation out of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural factions that existed under British rule until 1949. His daughter, Indira Gandhi (no relation to Mohandas Gandhi), rose to power in 1966, fighting many of the same problems as her father had. Her own political career was a roller coaster, from the highs following India's victory over Pakistan in 1971 to the lows of being thrown out of office in 1977 after declaring a state of emergency in 1975, during which time she suspended civil liberties and jailed her political opponents. Although many criticized her for being authoritarian, the majority of the population supported her because of her extensive social programs.In 1980, Gandhi became prime minister again, enjoying fairly widespread popularity. However, in June 1984, she ordered an army raid on a Sikh temple in Punjab to flush out armed Sikh extremists, setting off a series of death threats. Due to the fear of assassination, Beant Singh, her longtime bodyguard, was to be transferred because he was a Sikh. However, Gandhi personally rescinded the transfer order because she trusted him after his many years of service. Obviously, this was a fatal mistake for both of them.Satwant Singh, who survived to stand trial, was convicted in 1986 and executed in 1989.Following Gandhi's assassination, riots broke out in New Delhi. More than 1,000 innocent Sikhs were killed in indiscriminate attacks over the course of two days. Gandhi's son, Rajiv, succeeded her as prime minister.1983 River Phoenix diesOn this day in 1993, the 23-year-old actor River Phoenix, who appeared in such films as Stand by Me and My Own Private Idaho, dies of a drug overdose outside a Hollywood nightclub. At the time of his death, Phoenix was considered one of the most promising actors of his generation and had received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance in 1988s Running on Empty.Phoenix, who was born River Jude Bottom on August 23, 1970, had an unconventional childhood. His parents were members of a religious cult and worked as missionaries in South America. Phoenix began acting professionally as a teenager and made his big-screen debut, along with Ethan Hawke, in 1985s Explorers. Phoenix gained fame in 1986s Stand by Me. Based on a Stephen King novel, the film was directed by Rob Reiner and co-starred Jerry OConnell, Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton. Phoenix went on to appear in such movies as The Mosquito Coast (1986), which co-starred Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren; A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (1988), in which he played the title role; and Little Nikita (1988), with Sidney Poitier. Also in 1988, Phoenix appeared in Running on Empty, about a family on the run from the FBI for an anti-war bombing the parents had participated in years earlier. The movie was directed by Sidney Lumet and co-starred Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti. Phoenix, who played the couples teenage son, lost the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award to Kevin Kline for A Fish Called Wanda.Phoenix played the young Indy in 1989s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and later starred in the acclaimed independent films My Own Private Idaho (1990), which was directed by Gus Van Sant and co-starred Keanu Reeves, and Dogfight (1991), with Lili Taylor. Phoenix also appeared in the 1992 thriller Sneakers with Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier. In the early hours of October 31, 1993, Phoenix collapsed from a drug overdose outside the Viper Room, a night club partially owned at the time by the actor Johnny Depp and located on the Sunset Strip.Phoenixs younger brother Joaquin is also an Academy Award-nominated actor; his movie credits include Gladiator (2000), Walk the Line (2005) and We Own the Night (2007).2000 President Clinton stumps for his wifeOn this day in 2000, lame-duck President Bill Clinton campaigned in New Yorkon behalf of his wife, Hillary, who was running for a seat in the U.S. Senate. This was the first time a first lady actively campaigned for a Senate seat.Bill gave the speech at a dinner, sponsored by a group of Irish-Americans, which both he and Hillary attended at the Fitzpatrick Hotel in New York City. His speech included references to his success in brokering peace talks between feuding sides in Northern Ireland, but the real focus of his address was to urge the group to support Hillary's upcoming Senate bid. The couple had just purchased a home in New York and planned to make the state their official residence when his presidential term ended in January 2001. Clinton admitted that he was "highly prejudiced" about the upcoming Senate race and gave Hillary high praise, saying that he had known many politicians over the years, but "of all the people I've known, she has the best combination of brains, compassion, determination and ability to get people together and get things done. She will be a fabulous senator." He went on to extol his wife's involvement in social issues, particularly her contribution to the Irish peace process. As a member of a women's group called Vital Voices, Hillary had visited Northern Ireland in 1995 to help find a solution to the sectarian violence there. Bill recounted how she had told him, "If we can just get all these [Irish] women together, they'd figure out a way to get over this problem." Clinton joked to the Irish-American crowd that Hillary was one of those "troublesome women going around upsetting apple cars everywhere [who] don't like it when troglodyte males keep wars going on."In November 2000, despite allegations of carpet-bagging, Hillary Clintonwho had never resided in New York prior to her Senate bidbecame the first woman ever elected to the Senate from New York.
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