Category Archives: History

History

On this day May 9

Today in History

  • 2012 The brand-new Sukhoi Superjet 100 plane crashes

    The regional jet was the first airliner produced in Russia since the end of the USSR in 1991. The doomed flight was a demonstration tour carrying potential customers. All 45 people on board perished in the crash, which was caused by pilot error.

  • 1997 Pete Peterson becomes the first U.S. ambassador to visit Vietnam after the end of the war

    Peterson, a Vietnam veteran, devoted himself to promoting reconciliation between the two countries. About 2.5 million Vietnamese, most of them civilians, were killed during the war.

  • 1979 Iranian Jewish businessman Habib Elghanian is executed

    An Islamic revolutionary tribunal had convicted him of “contacts with Israel and Zionism” and “friendship with the enemies of God”. His execution triggered a Jewish mass exodus from Iran.

  • 1969 Carlos Lamarca begins his fight against Brazil’s military dictatorship

    Lamarca was a member of the communist organization Vanguardia Popular Revolucionária (VPR) and is well known for his urban guerilla actions. Brazilian forces killed him in 1971.

  • 1960 The first birth control pill is approved

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it would add birth control as a new indication for the drug “Enovid”.

History

On this day in history – May 6

 

On This Day – May 6

  • 2004 The final episode of Friends is aired

    The immensely popular sitcom about Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler, and Ross had been produced since 1994. The final episode “The Last One” was watched by 52 million viewers.

  • 1994 The Channel Tunnel linking the United Kingdom with France is opened

    Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand inaugurated the “Chunnel”. It measures just over 50 km (31 mi) and is the tunnel with the world’s longest undersea portion.

  • 1976 A massive earthquake hits northeast Italy

    939 people died and 157,000 were left homeless in Italy’s worst earthquake, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale.

  • 1954 Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes

    The British athlete took 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds to cover 1609 meters. The current record by Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj stands at 3:43.13 (as at February 2014).

  • 1937 The Hindenburg zeppelin filled with hydrogen goes up in flames

    The footage showing a colossal fireball engulfing the German airship during a landing attempt in Lakehurst, NJ, has become iconic for the end of the zeppelin era. 35 lives were lost in the crash.

 

History

On this day May 1

 

Today in History

  • 1978 Naomi Uemura becomes of the first person to reach the North Pole alone

    The Japanese adventurer is also credited with the first solo ascent of Mount McKinley and the first solo rafting of the Amazon river. He disappeared in 1984 during a winter ascent of Mount McKinley.

  • 1961 Fidel Castro declares Cuba a socialist nation and bans elections

    A month after Cuban troops had fought off a U.S. backed military invasion at the Bay of Pigs, Castro announces that “The revolution has no time for elections.”

  • 1945 Adolf Hitler’s death is announced on German radio

    As the Soviet flag is raised over the Reich Chancellery, the German people are informed that “our leader, Adolf Hitler, has fallen for Germany, fighting to his last breath against Bolshevism.”

  • 1925 The world’s largest trade union is founded

    The All-China Federation of Trade Unions has more than 300 million members.

  • 1840 The world’s first adhesive postage stamp is issued in the United Kingdom

    The Penny Black shows a portrait of Queen Victoria. Despite its historical significance, the stamp can be bought for around £25 as over 68 million copied

 

History

On this day April 29

Today in History

  • 1997 The Chemical Weapons Convention becomes effective

    The arms control treaty prohibits the production, storage, and use of chemical weapons. It has so far been ratified by some 190 countries.

  • 1992 Deadly riots erupt in Los Angeles

    53 people died in the riots, which started after the acquittal of the 4 Los Angeles police officers accused of the brutal beating of Rodney King.

  • 1975 Hubert van Es takes the famous picture of a helicopter airlift from a Saigon rooftop

    The image shows South Vietnamese civilians employed by the U.S. trying to escape Saigon on the day before the city’s fall. It came to symbolize the American defeat in Vietnam.

  • 1968 The musical Hair goes to Broadway

    As a portrait of the 1960s hippie counterculture and sexual revolution, it was highly controversial at the time. Some of the musical’s songs became anthems of the peace movement during the Vietnam War.

  • 1945 A day before committing suicide, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun marry

    On the same day, U.S. troops liberated the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.