In 1974 Second Lieutenant in the Japanese Imperial Army, Hiroo Onoda, was discovered in the Philippines by Japanese explorer Norio Suzuki. Onoda was still following his orders from World War II which stated that he had to remain in the Philippines attacking the enemy and was under no circumstances allowed to surrender or commit suicide. Onoda’s presence on the island had been known by authorities due to attacks by him and two other soldiers under his command. Many attempts had been made to inform him of the end to the Second World War but Onoda believed this to be propaganda. In 1954 one of his soldiers, Corporal Shōichi Shimada was shot dead and in 1959 during a shoot out Private Yūichi Akatsu was also killed leaving only Onoda. At this point authorities had believed all the men had been killed and Onoda went into hiding. It took Onoda’s commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, to travel to the Philippines and give Onoda the order before Onoda surrender. One more Japanese soldier, Private Teruo Nakamura would be discovered in December 1974.
In 1973 Results are in from a referendum held in Northern Ireland on whether they should remain part of the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. 591,280 people (or 57% of the electorate) voted to remain part of the United Kingdom while 6,463 people (or 2% of the electorate) voted to become part of a united Ireland. The remaining 41% of the electorate didn’t vote, mainly due to a boycott by the Roman Catholic population. A proposal by the UK government to allow for a power sharing assembly in Northern Ireland created the ‘Northern Ireland Assembly’ which held its first meeting on the 20th of July 1973. An attempt to create a ‘Council of Ireland’ giving the Republic more say in the affairs in the province was met with strong opposition by the Unionists and this led to the collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly (NIA). Without the NIA the United Kingdom imposed direct rule for the following 25 years until in 1998 (under the Belfast Agreement) it was re-introduced as the modern Northern Ireland Assembly. It was again suspended on the 14th of October 2002 until the 7th of May 2007.
In 1916 Germany declares War on Portugal in retaliation for its support of the United Kingdom. Portugal made Alliance with Great Britain in the hopes that it would increase support of its new Government. In 1910 Portugal became a republic after a revolution removed the king and in 1911 a new constitution began with the election of their first President, Manuel Jose de Arraiaga. Portugal joined the side of the Allies and had mainly a naval role in the War. Early in 1916 they seized German ships that were anchored at Lisbon’s Harbour.
