HistoryPod

The Battle of the Coral Sea, the first naval battle in which the participating ships never came in sight of each other, ...

William traveled to the court of the Great Khan of the Mongols, and wrote about his experiences in a report for Louis IX that is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of medieval travel ...

Alongside the establishment of the bicameral State Duma, the constitution granted citizens freedom of speech, assembly, and association, and provided for the protection of private ...

The flight lasted for 15 minutes and 22 seconds and reached a maximum altitude of 116 miles before returning to earth for splashdown in the Atlantic ...

Essential services such as transportation, utilities, and communication networks were severely disrupted by the General Strike and the Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, was forced to declare a state of emergency and mobilise troops to maintain order and provide essential ...

Thuerk later revealed that around 40 people came to the demonstrations the email was advertising, and estimated that this led to more than $12 million in ...

By the time the authorities re-established control on the morning of 4 May, two prison officers and three perpetrators lay ...

The Penny Black allowed letters weighing up to half an ounce (14 grams) to be delivered for one penny, regardless of the distance travelled. This made sending mail more accessible and affordable, leading to a significant increase in postal traffic and the growth of the postal ...

Washington's inauguration was conducted on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street, with thousands of spectators gathered below to witness the historic ...

David Lloyd George, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, introduced the People’s Budget to address social inequality and poverty by redistributing wealth through taxation and welfare ...

Eight Irish rail-layers of the Central Pacific Railroad were supported by hundreds of Chinese laborers to lay a record 10 miles 56 feet of ...

By the time the armistice was signed on 27 July, the money for Operation Moolah was still untouched as no pilot had brought their MiG-15 to South ...

The Gestapo operated with broad authority and virtually unlimited power, employing a network of informants and spies to monitor and report on suspected dissidents and political ...

Congress didn’t formally declare war until 25 April, although the declaration recognized that a state of war had existed since Spain’s declaration four days ...

The money allowed for the purchase of approximately 3,000 volumes from England that were housed in the north wing of the Capitol ...

Membership of the Order of the Garter is highly prestigious and is often reserved for members of the English nobility and royalty. Over the centuries, the Order of the Garter has evolved into a ceremonial institution, with its members participating in various official events and ...

An estimated 50,000 hopeful settlers gathered along the borders of the Oklahoma Territory prior to the gunshot that gave the signal for them to chaotically race into the territory on foot, horseback, and in wagons to stake their ...

The sensational defection of Stalin’s only surviving child made international news and four days later, at a press conference in the Plaza Hotel, she denounced the Soviet Communist regime and her father’s ...

The French declaration of war was part of a broader strategy by the revolutionary government to pre-empt foreign intervention and unite the French people behind the revolutionary ...

An overwhelmingly positive reaction in season one meant that Simpsons shorts were featured in every episode of the next two seasons before being spun off into a standalone half-hour series in ...

Whether Revere referred to the approaching army as ‘regulars’ or ‘Redcoats’ is unclear, but his cry had the intended consequence of signalling the march of troops towards the Massachusetts village of ...

This surge in immigration was primarily driven by economic opportunities in the United States, which was at the height of the industrial revolution. This combined with a desire among some to escape growing political instability in Europe, while ethnic and religious violence led Jews from the Russian Empire in particular to seek a new life[...]

Tally's Electric Theatre in Los Angeles proved incredibly popular with the public, and sparked a revolution in cinema history. Visit the excellent https://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com/2019/02/electric-theatre.html for more detailed ...

Ninety-six Liverpool Football Club fans died and hundreds more were injured in a crush at Hillsborough Stadium in ...

The Black Sunday dust storm brought a massive wall of dust estimated to be over 2 miles high that engulfed entire communities in darkness and choking dust, reducing visibility to just a few ...

The resulting emergency led to the calm announcement by the crew of, ‘Houston we’ve had a ...

After suffering significant damage during the battle from more than 3,000 artillery rounds over 34 hours, at 2:30 p.m the following day Major Anderson and his men formally surrendered, and the Confederate forces took control of Fort ...

The Act made it illegal to discriminate regarding the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on race, religion, or national ...

The explosion was estimated to be four times more powerful than the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, making it the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded ...

Lee’s surrender to Grant encouraged other Confederate forces across the south to do the same and marked the beginning of the end of the American Civil ...

Great Western’s maiden voyage crossed the Atlantic in a record time of 15 days and five ...

Eisenhower likened the spread of communism in Southeast Asia to a row of dominoes quickly collapsing after the first one ...

The National Convention established the Committee of Public Safety with the primary objectives of maintaining public order, managing the war effort against foreign powers, and rooting out perceived enemies of the ...

The first sighting coincided with Easter Sunday, so Roggeveen and his crew agreed to name the landmass Easter ...

The Nazi Party founded a paramilitary organisation that became the Schutzstaffel, better known as the ...

Walpole was appointed First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons. This made him the de facto Prime Minister and, while the title was not officially recognized at the time, Walpole wielded considerable power and ...

With the cry of ‘bread or blood!’ the women marched to the city’s market district where they broke into government storehouses and nearby ...

While flying over France, the formations experienced high winds that blew them dramatically off ...

WrestleMania grossed a reported $12 million and, although reviews of the first event were mixed, it marked the start of the longest-running professional wrestling competition in ...

Evans’ excavation of the Linear B tablets at Knossos shed light on the complex and sophisticated nature of the Minoan ...

The Cumberland Road quickly became a vital artery for trade and transport, facilitating the movement of people, goods, and ideas between the eastern seaboard and the western ...

The incident at Three Mile Island heralded a dramatic shift in public attitudes towards nuclear power and the second reactor never returned to ...

The colossal earthquake, registering a magnitude of 9.2, struck Southcentral Alaska and is the most powerful on record in North America and the second-largest ...

Although the event was of little military importance overall, the chivalric nature of the battle was celebrated by chroniclers, balladeers, and artists, while survivors of the Thirty were held in held ...

The marchers arrived in Montgomery on 25 March, where King made his ‘How Long, Not Long’ speech to a crowd of more than 25,000 ...

Exxon Valdez had only recently departed the Valdez Marine Terminal when the captain, Joseph Hazelwood, left Third Mate Gregory Cousins in charge of steering the vessel while he retired to his ...

Elisha Otis was an American mechanic who invented the safety elevator, which featured a mechanism to prevent the platform from falling if the hoisting cable ...

The surprise attack was launched against English settlers by the the Powhatan Confederacy, led by Chief ...

By the time the concert began at 10pm on 21 March there were thousands of people outside the arena unable to get in who resorted to breaking through the ...

The party quickly built support and by 1856 it proved to be the dominant political force in the North when John C. Fremont, the first Republican presidential candidate, won 11 of the 16 Northern ...

The heist was masterminded by James Honeyman and James Murray entered the bank late at night on 19 March where they raided the vault and safe deposit boxes. Together they left with approximately $245,000 in bank notes and coins, which is the equivalent of more than $50 million ...

Despite a reward of $10 million, and extensive investigations by the FBI, none of the works have ever been recovered and nobody has ever been arrested for the ...

Irish soldiers serving in the British Army led the first recorded Saint Patrick's Day parade which, due to the high number of Irish immigrants in New York, quickly became an annual ...

The dissolution of the Long Parliament signalled the end of the republican experiment initiated by the Civil War and cleared the way for Charles II to return to England as king, marking the beginning of the Restoration ...

By January 1917 he was still no closer to being caught, and Pershing’s forces were ordered to withdraw and return to the United ...

The creation of the First Slovak Republic represented a long-standing aspiration for Slovak autonomy, but came under the shadow of Nazi influence and ...

Although her rating was only temporary, it marked in important step towards the Army-Navy Nurse Act of 1947 that made such appointments ...

In a program that won broad support, America committed to providing $400 million in assistance to Greece and ...

By providing substantial military assistance to Allied nations through the Lend-Lease Act, the United States played a crucial role in bolstering their ability to resist Axis aggression and played a major role in the Allied victory in the Second World ...

The economic bubble that is also referred to as the ‘dot-com boom’ was the result of investors speculatively pouring money into the numerous internet companies that were founded in the mid- to ...

The publication of "The Wealth of Nations" had a profound impact on economic thought and policy, laying the foundation for classical economics and providing justification for the rise of free-market ...

The match went all the way to the 15th round before Frazier was declared the winner by unanimous ...

Daniel Webster’s "Seventh of March" speech saw the prominent senator from Massachusetts, who was a staunch defender of the Union, deliver an address endorsing the compromise measures as a means to preserve national unity and avert a possible civil ...

Dred Scott was a slave owned by John Emerson, an army surgeon from the slave state of ...

Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers, chief test pilot for Vickers, performed a series of exercises to evaluate the Spitfire’s handling characteristics and performance capabilities, and found that the aircraft demonstrated remarkable ...

Johnson’s drunkenness during his inaugural address was widely reported in the press and was a source of embarrassment for Lincoln, who was seated ...

When the two-day sale ended on 3 March, 429 slaves had been ...

Despite being driven north towards Ravenna by Emperor Justinian's forces, the Ostrogoths were determined to reclaim Rome and reassert their dominance over ...

The massacre at Vassy exacerbated religious tensions that had been simmering for years, serving as a rallying cry for both Catholics and Protestants, each side seeing the incident as justification for their cause. Within just a few weeks of the massacre, violence erupted across the ...

The Jay Treaty, named after John Jay, the chief negotiator on behalf of the United States, sought to resolve several key disputes in the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War and the subsequent Treaty of Paris in ...

On February 28, 1849, SS California steamed into San Francisco carrying around 400 passengers seeking their fortune. The city's population, which had been around a thousand in 1848, skyrocketed to tens of thousands within a ...

Approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and members of the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee, South Dakota, for 71 ...

The resulting record was released in May, and went on to sell hundreds of thousands of ...

After intense debate Senators voted 48 to 8 to seat Revels as the first African-American in the United States ...

Hitler announced that the DAP had officially become the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), known colloquially as the Nazi Party. Alongside the name change, he also introduced the 25 Point Programme, a set of ideological principles outlining the party’s ...

Having received few reinforcements by the time the Mexicans attacked on 6 March, the Alamo’s defenders suffered a decisive defeat that is believed to have killed every soldier in the ...

The Long Telegram emphasized that the Soviet Union was inherently expansionist and ideologically driven, and advocated for the restriction of Soviet influence rather than direct ...

The 555-foot tall Washington Monument was dedicated at a ceremony featuring President Chester Arthur alongside fellow politicians, engineers and ...

On February 20, 1939, at an event that arguably marked the height of the German American Bund, Fritz Julius Kuhn addressed approximately 20,000 people at a rally at New York City’s Madison Square ...

Pedro Lascuráin began the shortest presidential term in history when he became President of Mexico for less than an ...

On February 4, 1915, Admiral Hugo von Pohl of the German High Seas Fleet warned that ‘every enemy merchant vessel’ in British waters would be targeted and that ‘it may not always be possible to prevent attacks on enemy ships from harming neutral ...

Referred to by Wilson as a ‘pocket symphony’, the modular process used for ‘Good Vibrations’ involved the recording and re-recording of individual sections of the song using the Wall of Sound formula that had been developed by record producer Phil ...

During the presidential campaign, 11-year-old Grace Bedell had written a letter to Abraham Lincoln in which she suggested that he would look more distinguished, and garner more votes, if he grew a ...

ENIAC was soon put to use running calculations to help build a hydrogen bomb, and continued to operate until ...

Bismarck was the first of two of the largest battleships ever built by Germany. Ordered for Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine, the ship was a testament to Nazi Germany’s ambitions to build a powerful and modern ...

The explosion wiped out services for thousands of residents, while the stench from the open sewers was ...

George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was performed for the first time at a concert by Paul Whiteman and his Palais Royal Orchestra called An Experiment in Modern ...

Although committed to democratic principles, the Weimar Republic and President Ebert faced persistent challenges from both the left and the right amidst the daunting task of guiding Germany through economic turmoil, political polarization, and the drafting of a new ...

Powers had been sentenced to 10 years’ confinement in the USSR but, amidst concerns that he might reveal any remaining secrets to the Soviet authorities, the U.S. government agreed to exchange Powers and imprisoned student Frederic Pryor in return for Soviet Colonel Rudolf ...

In his address to the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club, McCarthy claimed to possess a list of 205 State Department employees with Communist affiliations. This assertion marked the start of what became known as McCarthyism or the Second Red ...

Although the organization’s numbers have fallen in recent years, it still has an estimated 2.2 million ...

The film was an immediate success, and audiences were quick to recognize the arrival of a new and unique talent. Reviewers at the time identified Chaplin as ‘a born screen ...

France and the United States signed the first two treaties ever negotiated by the American government, and which formally recognised the independence of the United ...

The commercial success of Bakelite extended beyond its utility as its distinctive appearance, became a hallmark of the Art Deco era and added another layer to Bakelite’s rapid and widespread ...

John Rogers became the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I after he was burnt at the ...

Approximately 4,000 people perished in the blizzard, where the worst affected areas were buried in up to 8 metres (26 feet) of snow that would have covered a two and half story ...

Marooned alone on Más a Tierra Island in the uninhabited Juan Fernández archipelago, Selkirk survived for more than four years, foraging for food and hunting wild goats, while using the limited tools available to him to construct huts for ...

Elected representatives assembled in Austin on January 28, 1861, and four days later on 1 February the convention voted 166 to 8 in favour of secession. The decision was confirmed through a state-wide referendum on 23 ...

It was sent to the states for ratification the next day, a process that was concluded on 6 December after the necessary three-quarters of states approved ...

Would-be assassin Richard Lawrence was found ‘not guilty by reason of insanity’ and was committed to an ...

The phrase 'axis of evil' soon became a hallmark of Bush’s foreign ...

Arnold faced three additional charges of using a locomotive without a horse, having fewer than three people in charge of the vehicle and for not having his name and address on the vehicle. The local magistrates found him guilty on all counts and placed a fine of £4 7s, of which one shilling plus costs,[...]

The Military Service Act made all single men and childless widowers between the ages of 18 and 41 liable to be called up. It received royal assent on 27 January but was met with a protest demonstration of approximately 200,000 people in London’s Trafalgar Square, while by July almost 30% of those called up to[...]

General Gordon’s pleas for reinforcements for the besieged city fell on deaf ears in the British government, and the city’s plight became a symbol of imperial overreach and strategic ...

International Winter Sports Week was an incredible success, and the following year the IOC retroactively designated it as the first Winter ...

Canned beer was an immediate success and the Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company saw sales skyrocket. Other brewers soon began to adopt the new packaging, and by the end of the year over 200 million cans of beer had sold in the United ...

Blackwell graduated first in her class and became the first woman to achieve a medical degree in the United ...

Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority opinion that the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution gives women in the United States the ‘fundamental’ freedom choice in family matters, including whether or not to have an ...

Nuclear propulsion enabled Nautilus to smash numerous records including those for both submerged speed and distance, and became the first submarine to transit the North Pole in August ...

President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law on 2 November ...

The organization now boasts more than 1.2 million members and continues to provide legal support where individual rights and liberties are ...

Following a brief flight, Ely executed a successful landing on USS Pennsylvania in a Curtiss Model D 'Pusher', despite being caught off-guard by the sudden updraft that struck the aircraft as he reached the temporary wooden landing ...

The B-52 bomber was taking part in Operation Chrome Dome when it collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker and broke apart, resulting in the deaths of 8 airmen and dropping 4 thermonuclear bombs onto the Spanish fishing village of ...

Nationwide prohibition began on 17 January the following year, and existed until its repeal by the Twenty-first Amendment in ...

On 15 January, 1892, Naismith published his original list of thirteen rules in the Springfield College school newspaper, The Triangle. According to documents found after his death, these were inspired by a game he played as child called ‘duck on a rock’ and he was nervous about whether the game would catch on since he[...]

The Human Be-In was conceived by Visionary artist Michael Bowen as a "Gathering of the Tribes" to unite various counterculture factions, from the emerging hippie movement to activists advocating for social ...

The broadcast included performances of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci featuring acclaimed Italian tenor Enrico ...

Beginning in Sicily, revolutions quickly spread across the continent and by the end of the year a series of uncoordinated uprisings had broken out in dozens of countries including France, Germany, and the Austrian ...

The report drew three main conclusions focused on the effect of smoking on the functioning of the respiratory ...

The 47-page pamphlet is credited with having a dramatic impact on public opinion in the colonies, and helped to consolidate the idea of independent ...

As Star of the West approached Fort Sumter on the morning of 9 January it was met with cannon shots from cadet George E. Haynsworth on nearby Morris ...

The presidential election of 1828 served as the catalyst for the Democratic Party’s formation as Andrew Jackson secured a resounding victory at the forefront of a movement with a clear ...

The bank played a pivotal role in stabilizing the nation’s finances in the early years of new republic, contributing to the establishment of credit that laid the groundwork for a more organized and sophisticated financial ...

Wegener’s continental drift hypothesis laid the groundwork for the concept of plate tectonics, which became increasingly accepted by the ...

Ross later achieved another ‘first’ in 1933 when she was appointed Director of the U.S. Mint by President Franklin D. ...

After being fed carrots laced with potassium cyanide, she was subjected to 6,600 volts of AC electricity that brought her to the ground. At this point, steam winches pulled nooses tight around her ...

The police officers in charge sought permission from the Home Secretary, Winston Churchill, to bring in Scots Guards from the nearby Tower of London to ...

Luna 1, also known as Mechta (Russian for "Dream"), was planned to crash into the Moon before which its range of instruments and communication were intended to study cosmic rays, solar wind, magnetic fields, and ionizing ...

The fact that Bouvet island, with a total area of just 19 square miles, lies almost 1,000 miles from the nearest uninhabited land makes the chance discovery even more ...

Formally titled "The Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading into the East Indies," the East India Company was established to capitalise on the lucrative spice ...

On the night of 29 December, 1916, Rasputin was invited to the home of Prince Felix Yusupov. The exact details of what transpired are shrouded in legend and mystery, but the most commonly-accepted version of events is based on Yusupov’s own ...

The 1937 Constitution of Ireland was born out of a desire to fully assert Irish independence following the Statute of Westminster 1931, which granted parliamentary autonomy to the six British ...

The game of American football was the first to be decided in sudden-death ...

Manifest Destiny was a belief that the United States had a divinely-inspired right to expand across North America, and that this expansion was ...

The Decembrists were driven by ideals of constitutionalism, liberal reforms, and a desire for a more participatory government but were defeated when Nicholas I ordered a cavalry charge and subsequent artillery attack using ...

As night fell amidst a harsh winter storm, Washington and approximately 2,400 soldiers began the treacherous river crossing at McConkey’s ...

‘Silent Night’ is based on a six-stanza poem written by Joseph Mohr, a young priest who arrived at the Nikolauskirche in the small Austrian town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg the previous ...

Facing the inevitability of conflict amidst diminishing support following the invasion by William of Orange, James II made the decision to flee to France where he found refuge under the protection of his cousin, Louis ...

80 red, white, and blue walnut-sized glass light bulbs were hand-wired and placed around a large Christmas tree in the home of Edward H. Johnson's New York home on Fifth ...

Haden Edwards, believing that the Mexican government had unjustly annulled his an empresario contract to establish a colony in East Texas, led a group of settlers to declare the independent Republic of ...

Other states soon followed South Carolina’s lead, setting the stage for the American Civil ...

It has since been adapted into numerous formats and is still printed in more than 40 ...

German forces under the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm had begun the Battle of Verdun with the objective of "bleeding France white" by forcing the French army into a protracted, resource-draining defence of the historic fortress of ...

Project Blue Book began in 1952 to systematically assess and analyse reports of UFOs, and accumulated data from 12,618 ...

The Ardennes Counteroffensive marked a desperate attempt by the Nazis to turn the tide of the war in their favour and was conceived by Hitler ...

The significance of the Bill of Rights lies not only in its immediate impact on the legal framework of the United States but also in its enduring ...

As Cernan prepared to climb the ladder of the lunar module at the end of the final moonwalk, he paused to deliver the words, "We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all ...

Some modern-day Massachusetts National Guard regiments are able to trace their history back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony of ...

In a momentous decision the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, effectively halted the ongoing manual recount in Florida and handed Florida's electoral votes to George W. Bush. This secured his victory in the state and, consequently, the ...

Approximately six hours after Germany’s declaration of war, the United States declared war on ...

The charges against Culpeper and Dereham were grave – accusations of treasonous affairs with the queen that threatened the very foundation of the Tudor monarchy. The evidence, combined with the political expediency of eliminating potential threats to the crown, led to their convictions for treason on 1 ...

The signal stood 6 metres (20 feet) high at the junction of Great George Street and Bridge Street, and was manually operated by a policeman stationed at the ...

While the Council itself did not trigger the First World War, historians have seen its deliberations as emblematic of the geopolitical tensions that would eventually erupt with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in ...

The defeat marked the end of the armed phase of the Upper Canada Rebellion but, while the rebels’ immediate objectives were not achieved, resistance continued until 1838 and contributed to the eventual establishment of responsible government in ...

England’s only recorded military coup d'état resulted in the removal of 140 moderate and Royalist Members of Parliament who backed a negotiated settlement with Charles, of which 45 were ...

Polk’s speech was intended to warn Congress about the risks of inflation, labor shortages, and the potential for disorder on the West Coast, but only served to fuel the Gold ...

The burning Montreux Casino was to leave an indelible mark on music history thanks to Deep Purple, who watched from their hotel as the smoke from the fire spread over Lake ...

Also known as the Continental Colors, the Grand Union Flag remained in use until the Flag Resolution of 14 June ...

The vast Moravian plains near the town of Austerlitz became the battleground for one of Napoleon’s finest ...

After a short campaign in which she won the election with 51.9% of the vote she entered the House of Commons on December 1, 1919, as a Unionist or Tory Member of ...

The expedition systematically infected orphaned boys with cowpox throughout the duration of the voyage so that the live vaccine survived all the way to the ...

The four-man crew boarded a Ford Trimotor airplane, and at 1am on 29 November reached the South Pole where they flew beyond and to the left and right in case of any navigational ...

The Grand Ole Opry moved to its current home at the 4,000-seater Grand Ole Opry House in ...

White was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter after pleading a state of mental diminished capacity, and the lenient sentence sparked the White Night riots of 21 May ...

Public celebrations were held throughout the country, while President George Washington gave thanks in New York ...

Cannons fired as the British departed, acting as a signal for General George Washington to ride into the city with Governor George ...

The General Council passed an ordinance that created three companies of 56 Rangers, each commanded by a captain, first and second lieutenants, and with a major in ...

Tweed's corrupt practices were exposed by investigative journalists such as those at The New York Times and he was regularly attacked by Thomas Nast, the political cartoonist for Harper's Weekly whose cartoons helped to identify Tweed in ...

Alongside senior military leaders, the meeting brought together President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Chairman of the Chinese National Government Chiang Kai-shek of ...

The use of fluorine dating revealed that the skull and jawbone, which were once believed to be a crucial 'missing piece' in the study of human evolution, did not belong to the same individual and were far younger than previously ...

Madero's “Plan of San Luis Potosí” called for an uprising on November 20, 1910, and laid out a vision for a democratic ...

Lodge and Senate Republicans proposed amendments and, on November 19, 1919 the Senate voted down the Treaty of Versailles by 55 in favour to 39, falling short of the required two-thirds ...

Anthony and fourteen other women successfully cast their votes despite it being illegal under federal ...

13 million people tuned in, securing it the second-highest audience share, but the film garnered an almost universally-negative ...

Roosevelt announced the establishment of formal diplomatic relations with the USSR on 16 November, and appointed William C. Bullitt as the first Ambassador to the Soviet ...

Sherman’s March to the Sea is remembered for brutal tactics that confiscated or destroyed food, livestock, and supplies. Railroads were dismantled, and industry disrupted. The devastation was widespread, and not only limited to military targets. Homes, farms, and civilian infrastructure became casualties of the ...

Officially known as C/1680 V1, Kirch's discovery soon became known as the Great Comet of 1680 and was visible for many weeks, growing to become the brightest object in the night sky and one of the brightest comets of the seventeenth ...

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was designed by a 21-year-old architecture student, Maya Lin, following a national competition. Her minimalist design featured two black granite walls set into the ground, forming a ...

The Oregon State Highway Division blew up a dead whale that had washed up on a ...

Nat Turner was supported by a group of more than seventy enslaved and free Blacks who sought to liberate enslaved people while brutally killing around 60 white individuals, including men, women, and ...

Bill Gates publicly announced Windows 1.0 on November 10, 1983, at a reception in New York ...

When news of the incident reached the Soviet Union, party leader Leonid Brezhnev wrote to Carter condemning the ‘tremendous danger’ caused by the ...

When news of the interception of a neutral ship reached Britain at the end of November, the government responded ...

The raids were ruthless in their execution and consisted of numerous warrantless searches and arrests across 12 cities, often targeting immigrants and prominent leftist ...

Despite the absence of regulation and structured plays, the match turned out to be fiercely competitive. While the scoring was different from modern football, Rutgers won ...

The circumstances of Sidney Reilly's execution and the location of his remains have remained a mystery although it is known he was ensnared in an elaborate counter-espionage deception by the ...

The construction of the railway presented numerous engineering challenges including the need to tunnel under the River Thames, but it was achieved using the ‘Greathead Shield’ which allowed workers to dig and line the tunnel ...

Running against Caleb S. Hunt, Menard secured approximately 64 percent of the vote, and on 3 November 1868 became the first African-American person to be elected to the United States ...

By the time the Morris Worm attack was brought under control over the next few days, between 2,000 and 6,000 major systems had been ...

The Stamp Act levied a direct tax on American colonists without ...

The Lincoln Highway connected New York City on the East Coast to San Francisco on the West Coast, traversing 13 states along the ...

A British party of Lieutenant Francis Fasson, Able Seaman Colin Grazier, and canteen assistant Tommy Brown, boarded the slowly-sinking submarine after it had been damaged by depth charges and retrieved the Enigma codebooks and all the current settings for the U-boat ...

‘Murf the Surf’ and two accomplices committed the biggest jewel heist in New York’s history when they stole priceless gems from the American Museum of Natural ...

Mussolini and up to 30,000 supporters from across the country, the Blackshirts, embarked on a calculated and audacious march to Rome to seize ...

While preparing for the decisive Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Constantine reportedly witnessed a Christian cross which may have been accompanied by a Latin inscription which roughly translates as ‘In this sign, you will ...

On February 6, 1778, France formally allied with the American colonies when they signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance that brought much-needed military aid including troops, naval support, and ...

Due to miscommunication and a lack of clear orders Lord Cardigan led the Light Brigade, a cavalry unit consisting of approximately 670 horsemen, in a frontal assault against a fortified Russian artillery position at the end of the ...

The Peace of Westphalia confirmed the autonomy of states with the Holy Roman Empire and redefined the borders and sovereignty of numerous European ...

She continued making exhibition flights until 1916, earning her the nickname the ‘Tomboy of the ...

The Greenwich Meridian became the international standard for zero degrees longitude, ensuring continuity with most existing nautical ...

In October 1921 Harding travelled to Alabama. Here he expressed his support for anti-lynching laws that would hold counties responsible for the illegal hangings, and lodge federal murder cases against the ...

Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backing singer Cassie Gaines were all killed in the ...

Set in the distant future where books are outlawed, the story focuses on Guy Montag whose job as a fireman sees him burn houses that are found to contain ...

Although ridiculed shortly afterwards as ‘Seward’s Folly’, the Alaska Purchase has since been reinterpreted as one of President Andrew Johnson’s greatest ...

The Open was initially restricted to professional golfers, with a prize of a red Moroccan leather belt with a silver buckle awaiting the ...

The light cruiser HMS Southampton and the destroyer Mohawk were damaged, while sixteen Royal Navy sailors died and 44 were ...

In the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, and the killing of unarmed black teen Matthew Johnson by police the following year, the two men established the Black Panther Party for ...

Flying at 45,000 feet, Yeager reached Mach 1.06 or approximately 700 miles per hour over the Rogers Dry Lake of the Mojave Desert in ...

As she was accompanied through the Members’ Lobby, Travers Symons broke away from her escort and burst into the chamber where MPs were debating a bill regarding issues related to ...

An iron lung respirator was used for the first time at Boston Children’s ...

As property was pillaged and buildings were burned, at least 1,500 people died while twice that number were taken ...

At around 6am on 10 October the hurricane made landfall at Barbados in the Lesser Antilles, where it unleashed its full fury as it moved through the ...

As the series progressed the Reds unexpectedly gained the upper hand, which puzzled fans and raised suspicions that some members of the White Sox team had deliberately thrown the games in exchange for financial rewards from ...

The Peshtigo Fire killed up to 2,500 people in the deadliest wildfire in recorded ...

The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III, banning settlement west of the Appalachian ...

Launched on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Egyptian forces went on to cross the Suez Canal and establish a bridgehead, while Syrian troops launched an offensive in the Golan ...

With 80% of all American television households watching at least one PBS program each year, it has been consistently rated the most-trusted national institution in the United States according to Roper Opinion Research ...

Washington’s face was the first to be completed, seven years after work began. In July 1939 Roosevelt was the final likeness to be ...

During the operation, two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down and 19 Americans lost their lives, while at least 200 Somali militiamen were killed as well as hundreds of ...

The era name Chongzhen means ‘honourable and auspicious’ but his reign, and the Ming Dynasty, were to end with his suicide in the face of widespread ...

The first printed note to feature ‘In God We Trust’ was the updated one-dollar silver certificate that entered circulation on 1 October ...

The Hoover Dam was known as the Boulder Dam at the ...

The Allies’ continuous advances, coupled with internal unrest and food shortages, left Germany with limited options and the Supreme Army Command demanded that the government seek a ceasefire ...

The Siege of Yorktown was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North ...

The Continental Congress convened for an official session in Lancaster’s County Courthouse, marking the one and only day the city held the title of the capital of the United ...

Nuclear war was avoided when Russian officer Stanislav Petrov rejected early warning system reports of incoming ballistic missiles as a false ...

The Battle of Stamford Bridge saw both sides suffer heavy casualties but, with Harald Hardrada slain in battle, the English emerged ...

Pete Harman of Salt Lake City, Utah, agreed to pay four cents on each chicken sold in return for using Sanders’ recipe and method and advertising using his name and ...

‘The eventual development of this new force by other nations was to be expected. This probability has always been taken into account by ...

Hale volunteered to gather intelligence on British troop movements and strategies but was captured, swiftly subjected to a trial by British authorities, found guilty of spying, and condemned to death as an illegal ...

After consultations with the Bank of England, the Treasury issued a statement announcing its intention to suspend the gold standard on Sunday 20 September, and parliament approved the Bill the next ...

Female tennis player Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs, a former World No. 1 men’s player, in the ‘Battle of the ...

The German forces reached the outskirts of the French capital on 15 September and General Helmuth von Moltke, the commander of the Prussian army, gave the order to begin surrounding the ...

On September 18, five days after it began, the fire was finally brought under control thanks to calmer winds and a fortuitously timed rain shower that helped the troops working to extinguish the ...

More than 1,100 people worked at the Arsenal, 78 of whom died while many more were injured.More than 1,100 people worked at the Arsenal, 78 of whom died while many more were ...

38 people died and hundreds more were wounded in the Wall Street bombing in New ...

The Negro Convention Movement, sometimes referred to as the Colored Conventions Movement, developed during the antebellum period in the north American ...

In the wake of the flight of the Earls, the lands and titles left behind were confiscated by the English crown, which accelerated the process of English colonisation over the next ...

Henry Hale Bliss, a Manhattan real estate salesman, was helping a female companion name as Miss Lee disembark a southbound 8th Avenue trolley car at West 74th Street and Central Park West in New York ...

American electrical engineer Jack Kilby demonstrated the world’s first integrated circuit while working at Texas ...

General Pinochet soon emerged as the permanent head of the ruling junta and set about imposing a new era of authoritarianism and political repression. He ruled Chile until ...

The Austrian delegation to Paris was led by the Social Democrat minister Karl Renner who had little choice but to agree to the redrawing of national borders that saw the emergence of several independent nations and the reduction of Austrian ...

The new name for the former Thirteen Colonies represented a cohesive identity that united them under a common ...

The first episode of American science fiction television series Star Trek was broadcast at 8.30pm on ...

The United States apparently gained the nickname ‘Uncle Sam’ when it was featured in a local newspaper ...