January 15

in History

Rome, Roman EmpireClassical

Otho Seizes Rome

A three-month emperor grabs the throne

In the chaos of the Year of the Four Emperors, Otho launched a brazen coup in the streets of Rome, proclaiming himself emperor after orchestrating the murder of Galba. His audacious power grab shocked even a city accustomed to political violence. But Otho's reign was destined to be among the shortest in Roman history, lasting a mere three months before he was defeated by the forces of Vitellius and chose suicide over surrender.

69 AD

Thessaloniki, Ottoman EmpireEarly 20th Century

1902

Nazim Hikmet Was Born

A romantic revolutionary who wrote in chains

Nazim Hikmet was born in the Ottoman Empire, a poet who would become the lyrical voice of Turkish revolution. His verses, flowing with passionate imagery and political fire, earned him imprisonment, exile, and eventually worldwide acclaim. Translated into more than fifty languages, his poetry gave voice to the oppressed and celebrated the beauty of resistance. Hikmet remains one of the twentieth century's most powerful literary figures, a romantic communist whose words outlived every cage.

1902 AD

Ilse Koch — Ilse Koch, wife of Karl-Otto Koch, the Nazi commander of the Buchenwald and Majdanek concentration camps, was.

German war criminal (1906–1967)Late 20th Century

1951

Ilse Koch

Ilse Koch, wife of Karl-Otto Koch, the Nazi commander of the Buchenwald and Majdanek concentration camps, was.

Margarete Ilse Koch was a German war criminal who committed atrocities while her husband Karl-Otto Koch was the commandant at Buchenwald. Though Ilse Koch had no official position in Nazi Germany, she became one of the most infamous Nazi figures at the war's end and was referred to as the "Kommandeuse of Buchenwald".

1951 AD