Voltaire: writer, philosopher and…..rebel
As he lay dying on this day, May 30, 1778, the great French writer Voltaire noticed that the lamp next to his bed was violently flickering and flaring up. “What? […]
#TodayInHistory – May 30
May 30 – Some important events on this day. 1431 👉🏼 Hundred Years’ War: 19 year old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal in […]
#TodayInHistory – May 29
May 29 – Some important events on this day. 1176 👉🏼 Battle at Legnano: Lombard League beats Frederick Barbarossa and the Holy Roman Empire 1453 👉🏼 Constantinople, capital of the […]
The history of Volkswagen, the “People’s Car”
Germany’s Volkswagen is the largest car maker in the world, after Toyota. Its 590,000 employees produce around the world nearly 41,000 vehicles daily. It currently owns 12 subsidiaries including Volkswagen […]
#TodayInHistory – May 28
May 28 – Some important events on this day. 585 BC 👉🏼 Solar eclipse, as predicted by Greek philosopher Thales, while Lydians at war with the Medes leads to a […]
#TodayInHistory – May 27
May 27 – Some important events on this day. 1679 👉🏼 Habeaus Corpus Act (strengthening person’s right to challenge unlawful arrest & imprisonment) passes in England1703 👉🏼 Saint Petersburg (Leningrad) […]
#TodayInHistory – May 26
May 26 – Some important events on this day. 451 👉🏼 The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place. The Armenians are defeated militarily but […]
#May 25, 1904: The revenge of the witch of Yazoo
Urban legends are fascinating bits of history that often contain at least some kernel of truth. In Yazoo, located north of Jackson, in the western part of Mississippi, there’s a […]
#TodayInHistory – May 25
May 25 – Some important events on this day 1720 👉🏼 The Ship “Le Grand St Antoine” reaches Marseille, bringing Europe’s last major plague outbreak. Kills around 100,000 🚢 1810 […]
#TodayInHistory – May 24
May 24 – Some important events on this day 1595 👉🏼 Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library 📚 1738 👉🏼 Co-founder of […]
#TodayInHistory – May 23
May 23 – Some important events on this day 1568 👉🏼 The Netherlands declares independence from Spain 1618 👉🏼 Second Defenestration of Prague: Two Catholic Lords Regent and their secretary […]
#TodayInHistory – May 22
May 22 – Some important events on this day 334 BC 👉🏼 The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus. […]
#TodayInHistory – May 21
May 21 – Some important events on this day 1792 👉🏼 Mount Unzen on Japan’s Shimabara Peninsula, erupts creating a tsunami, killing about 15,000. It was Japan’s deadliest volcanic eruption […]
#TodayInHistory – May 20
May 20 – Some important events on this day 1293 👉🏼 Earthquake strikes Kamakura Japan, 30,000 killed 1310 👉🏼 Shoes were made for both right & left feet 👞 1498 […]
#TodayInHistory – May 19
May 19 – Some important events on this day 1182 👉🏼 The high altar of Paris cathedral Notre Dame is consecrated by Cardinal Henri de Château-Marçay and Maurice de Sully […]
#TodayInHistory – May 18
May 18 – Some important events on this day 1291 👉🏼 After 100 years of Crusader control, Acre is the last Crusader stronghold reconquered and destroyed by the Mamluks under […]
#TodayInHistory – May 17
May 17 – Some important events on this day 218 👉🏼 7th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet ☄️ 1527 👉🏼 Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with […]
#TodayInHistory – May 16
May 16 – Some important events on this day 1204 👉🏼 Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders, is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople 1571 👉🏼 […]
#TodayInHistory – May 15
May 15 – Some important events on this day 1252 👉🏼 Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in […]
May 14, 1948: the three-year-old’s brutal murder that begins an unusual investigation.
Three-year-old June Devaney, recovering from pneumonia at Queen’s Park Hospital in Blackburn, England, is kidnapped from her bed on this day, May 14 1948. Nurses discovered her missing at 1:20 […]
#TodayInHistory – May 14
May 14 – Some important events on this day 1607 👉🏼 English colonists establish the 1st permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown. Unknown to them they have landed amidst […]
How Australia was born
Back in the the 1770s and 1780s, living conditions in the United Kingdom were literally catastrophic. The Industrial Revolution meant that many workers had been replaced by machines, and small […]
#TodayInHistory – May 13
May 13 – Some important events on this day 1637 👉🏼 Cardinal Richelieu of France reputedly creates the table knife 🔪 1643 👉🏼 Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile, killing 1/3 […]
#TodayInHistory – May 12
May 12 – Some important events on this day 1215 👉🏼 English barons serve ultimatum on King John which eventually leads to the creation and signing of the Magna Carta. […]
#TodayInHistory – May 11
May 11 – Some important events on this day 330 👉🏼 Constantinople (Byzantium) becomes the capital of the Roman Empire 868 👉🏼 The Diamond Sutra, the world’s oldest surviving, dated, […]
#TodayInHistory – May 10
May 10 – Some important events on this day 1497 👉🏼 Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World 🗺 1503 👉🏼 Christopher Columbus discovers […]
#May 9, 1971: Irish adventurer “Captain Blood” steals crown jewels
Thomas Blood tried to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London on this day, May 9, 1671. He failed, but remains the only would-be thief to attempt such […]
#TodayInHistory – May 9
May 9 – Some important events on this day 1386 👉🏼 Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England (oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in force) 1502 👉🏼 Christopher […]
Sarah Ann Henley: the suicide girl who fluttered to safety
The beautiful England’s Clifton Suspension Bridge, originally designed by the great Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, stands 101 metres above the River Avon and spans a 400-metre wide gorge. Located […]