Crusaders Capture Jerusalem: First Crusade Ends in Blood

The Chinese government deployed approximately 300,000 troops to Beijing on June 3-4, 1989, to forcibly clear Tiananmen Square and surrounding streets of pro-democracy protesters who had occupied the area for seven weeks. The protests had begun in mid-April after the death of Hu Yaobang, a reformist Communist Party leader whose dismissal in 1987 had angered students and intellectuals. What started as a mourning observance escalated into the largest political demonstrations in China since the Cultural Revolution. At their peak, the protests drew over a million participants in Beijing alone, with sympathetic demonstrations erupting in hundreds of cities across China. The students demanded democratic reforms, freedom of the press, and accountability for government corruption. The movement included workers, teachers, civil servants, and even some party members. Martial law was declared on May 20 but initially unenforced as army units entering Beijing were blocked by citizens who surrounded military vehicles and appealed to soldiers not to attack. The crackdown on the night of June 3-4 was carried out by units from outside the Beijing military region, troops less likely to have personal connections to the protesters. Soldiers used live ammunition against civilians along the approaches to the square and in surrounding neighborhoods. The exact death toll remains unknown and is officially suppressed by the Chinese government. Estimates range from several hundred to several thousand killed. The Chinese Red Cross initially reported 2,600 dead before retracting the figure under government pressure. The image of a lone man standing before a column of tanks, captured by multiple photographers on June 5, became one of the most iconic photographs of the twentieth century. International condemnation was immediate and widespread.