This Day That Year

January 13

in History

Octavian Becomes Augustus — A republic transforms into an empire
Rome, Roman EmpireAncient
27

Octavian Becomes Augustus

A republic transforms into an empire

In a carefully orchestrated political performance, Octavian transferred control of the Roman state back to the Senate and people, only to receive vast provinces and sweeping authority in return. It was a masterful illusion of republican restoration that masked the birth of autocracy. The Senate's grateful bestowal of Spain, Gaul, and Syria upon Octavian marked the moment when the Roman Republic quietly died and the Roman Empire began its centuries-long reign.

27 BC
German Imposed on Army — Language becomes a weapon against nationalism
Vienna, Austria-HungaryEarly 20th Century
1900

German Imposed on Army

Language becomes a weapon against nationalism

Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary issued a decree mandating German as the sole language of the Austro-Hungarian Armed Forces, a direct strike against the rising tide of Czech nationalism. In the multilingual patchwork of the empire, language was identity, and identity was political dynamite. This linguistic imposition deepened the ethnic tensions that would ultimately tear the Habsburg Empire apart in the cataclysm of the First World War.

1900 AD
1963 Togolese coup d'état — Coup d'état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.
Coup that assassinated President Sylvanus OlympioLate 20th Century
1963

1963 Togolese coup d'état

Coup d'état in Togo results in the assassination of president Sylvanus Olympio.

The 1963 Togolese coup d'état was a military coup that occurred in the West African country of Togo on 13 January 1963. The coup leaders — notably Emmanuel Bodjollé, Étienne Eyadéma and Kléber Dadjo — took over government buildings, arrested most of the cabinet, and French Commander PAUC assassinated Togo's first president, Sylvanus Olympio, outside the American embassy in Lomé.

1963 AD