Avatar Posted by duke 81 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Heligoland is a small German archipelago located in the North Sea. It consists of two islands: the populated main island of Hauptinsel and the smaller island of Düne. Hauptinsel is commonly divided into three geographic sections, the last of which came into being in 1947, when the Royal Navy detonated 6,800 metric tons of explosives on the island, actually changing its shape. The "British Bang" was the biggest non-nuclear single detonation in history. Why did the British bomb the island?
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Avatar Posted by duke 82 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
When Mary Surratt was hanged for conspiring to assassinate President Lincoln, she became the first woman executed by the US federal government. Surratt allegedly delivered items to the Surrattsville tavern that were later used to aid John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, in his escape. When prosecuted, Surratt maintained her innocence, said she knew nothing of Booth's plans, and claimed that her trips to Surrattsville were unrelated to the murder plot. What has become of the tavern?
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Avatar Posted by duke 83 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
In 1911, Harriet Quimby earned the first US pilot's license issued to a woman. Less than a year later, Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. She continued piloting aircrafts until her tragic death in 1912, when she was tossed from her airplane after it unexpectedly pitched forward. Despite the importance of her flight over the English Channel, the event barely made the newspapers at the time because it was eclipsed by what major event?
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Avatar Posted by duke 84 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
The Titanic was a massive ocean liner that was thought to be virtually unsinkable. She was on her maiden voyage and carrying more than 2,200 passengers and crew when she struck an iceberg on April 14, 1912, and sank early the next morning. More than 1,500 lives were lost in the disaster. In 1985, a team led by Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel located the Titanic's wreck on the ocean floor. The team made a discovery that shed light on how the ship sank; what was it?
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Avatar Posted by duke 85 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
When Booth, an American actor and Confederate sympathizer, learned that President Lincoln planned to attend a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theater, he plotted to assassinate the president. Shortly after 10 PM, he entered the presidential box unobserved, shot Lincoln in the head, and vaulted to the stage, breaking his leg in the process. According to witnesses, he then shouted "Sic semper tyrannis," Virginia's state motto. What does this Latin phrase mean?
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Avatar Posted by duke 86 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Eldrick "Tiger" Woods is an American-born golfer who is considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. In 2000, Woods won the US and British opens and the PGA Championship, setting or tying several records in the process and becoming the youngest of only 5 golfers to achieve a career Grand Slam. His victory at the Masters in 2001 made him the first golfer to win all 4 major professional championships in a row. Woods coined the term “Cablinasian” to describe his ethnicity, which is what?
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Avatar Posted by duke 87 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Following the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, the American vice president and second in command, succeeded to the presidency. Truman's presidency saw a number of major events in world affairs: the Allied victory in Europe, the atomic bombings in Japan, the end of WWII, the founding of the UN, the Truman Doctrine to contain Communism, the beginning of the Cold War, the creation of NATO, and the Korean War. What oft-quoted phrases did Truman popularize?
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Avatar Posted by duke 88 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
In the early 1980s, south London's Brixton neighborhood was plagued by deep social and economic problems, including high rates of unemployment and crime and poor housing conditions. In 1981, in an effort to reduce street crime, police began stopping and searching anyone they deemed suspicious, a policy that many residents of the predominantly black community found discriminatory and heavy-handed. Eventually, the angry residents rioted. How many people were injured during the clash?
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