VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

This is RRI World Service -VOI with Today in History.

I’ll begin with October 23, 1956 when the Hungarian people's revolution against the Soviet Union started.

On October 23, 1953, the Hungarian Communist Party was dissolved by Imre Nagy, the nationalist Prime Minister of Hungary. Then, an independent and separate military government from the Soviet Union was formed.However, the Hungarian communist group with the help of the Soviet Union military and fund crushed the struggle of the people of this country and hundreds of people were killed. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 could be crushed, but the struggle of the people of this country was still ongoing. Finally, in 1989, Hungary won its independence and became a member of NATO.

I’ll turn to October 23, 1983 when two major explosions occurred in the US military barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.

A high-powered bomb explosion on October 23, 1983 killed 220 marines, 18 sailors and 3 soldiers. All of them were part of a multi-national force that was trying to end the civil war in Lebanon. This incident began when two trucks were deliberately crashed into the US military headquarters in Beirut. The two trucks are known to carry 1.4 tons of explosives. The collision immediately triggered a super large explosion which destroyed the US military headquarters. Both truck drivers, Abu Mazen and Abu Sijaan were immediately killed on the scene. This was also believed to be a suicide bombing. Less than an hour after the attack on the American base, other terrorists detonated a bomb outside French barracks in Lebanon, killing 58 paratroopers. According to BBC, Mazan and Sijaan were part of the Islamic Revolution movement of Lebanese Radical Shiites based in Eastern Lebanon. Shortly after the incident, US Defense Minister, Caspar Weinberger said that Iran, Syria and the Soviet Union were behind the attacks.

This edition of Today in History ends with October 23, 2002 when there was hostage taking at the Moscow Theater by Chechen rebels.

October 23, 2002 was the most gripping day in the Moscow Theater, Russia. Around 850 people from various countries, who enjoyed a grand music concert performance, Nord Ost, were suddenly shocked by the arrival of dozens of terrorists in black uniforms and wearing masks. The attackers, led by Movsar Barayev, claimed that they were from an Islamist separatist movement in Chechnya. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya and ended the Second Chechen War. At that time, 129 hostages and 41 Chechen guerrillas were killed. Most of the hostages were killed by gas fired by Russian troops at the Chechen rebels.

That was Today in History