Modern History: India and World Events

The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk in Auckland harbour, New Zealand, on July 10, 1985, by French intelligence agents. The ship was preparing to protest French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll. This act of state-sponsored terrorism killed photographer Fernando Pereira and caused international outrage.

Tunisia gained independence from France in 1956 after being a French protectorate since 1881. This was part of the decolonization movement in North Africa following World War II. France controlled Tunisia as part of its colonial empire in the region. Algeria was also under French rule, Spain had territories in Morocco, and Great Britain controlled Egypt but not Tunisia.

Edward J. Smith was the Captain of the RMS Titanic during its ill-fated maiden voyage in 1912. He was a highly experienced White Star Line captain who went down with the ship. William M. Murdoch was the First Officer, Henry Wilde was the Chief Officer, and Thomas Andrews was the ship's designer who was aboard but not in command.

Dwight D. Eisenhower served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. He was the World War II general who became president as a Republican. Harry S. Truman was his predecessor (1945-1953), while Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) and Gerald R. Ford (1974-1977) served later in the 1960s and 1970s respectively.

Baron Manfred von Richthofen was a German fighter pilot in World War I who was famously known as 'The Red Baron' due to his red-painted aircraft. He was the ace of aces with 80 confirmed kills and remains one of history's most famous aviators. The other options are fictional characters - Baron Greenback (from Danger Mouse), Lord Flashheart (from Blackadder), and Biggles (from W.E. Johns' novels).

Sukha and Jinda assassinated General (Retd.) Arun Shankar Vaidya on August 10, 1986, in Pune. Vaidya was the Chief of Army Staff who had ordered Operation Bluestar in 1984, making him a prime target for Sikh militants seeking revenge. They were sentenced to death and executed in 1992. The Air India bombing from Montreal was by Talwinder Singh Parmar and others, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, and the Indian Airlines attempt was a different plot.

In the 2005 Air India trial, both Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted by the British Columbia Supreme Court, not sentenced to death. The prosecution failed to prove their involvement beyond reasonable doubt. No one was ever sentenced to death for the Air India bombing - the only conviction was Inderjit Singh Reyat, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter for building the bombs and received a 5-year sentence.

General Yahya Khan was the military ruler of Pakistan when the Bangladesh Liberation War began in 1971. He refused to hand over power to Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman after the 1970 elections, which led to the crisis and eventual independence of Bangladesh.

The Shimla Agreement was signed on July 2, 1972, between Indira Gandhi and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the 1971 Indo-Pak war. This peace pact was signed in Shimla (also known as Simla), India, and aimed to normalize relations between the two countries.

Lal Bahadur Shastri died in Tashkent (now in Uzbekistan) on January 11, 1966, shortly after signing the Tashkent Agreement with Pakistan. He had gone there for peace talks mediated by the Soviet Union and passed away from a heart attack.

The United States supplied Patton tanks to Pakistan during the 1971 war. These were M47 and M48 Patton tanks, which became a significant component of Pakistan's armored divisions. The term Pattern likely refers to Patton (possibly a transliteration or OCR error).