On this day in 1959, facing a popular revolution spearheaded by Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista flees the island nation. Amid celebration and chaos in the Cuban capitol of Havana, the U.S. debated how best to deal with the radical Castro and the ominous rumblings of anti-Americanism in Cuba.
The U.S. government had supported Batista, a former soldier and Cuban dictator from 1933 to 1944, who seized power for...
Kamis, 31 Desember 2015
Daily Quiz for December 31, 2015
This Russian ruler was the first to hold the title of tsar (czar)...
Italy’s Alps, 1702: A Grand Theater of War
In this elaborate engraving, a confident Prince Eugene of Savoy commands forces of the Holy Roman Empire as they move into the Alps during the War of the Spanish Succession. The 13-year conflict, sparked by the death of the childless Charles II of Spain, pitted the French Bourbons against a Grand Alliance formed by England, ...
Rabu, 30 Desember 2015
December 31, 1999: Panama Canal turned over to Panama
On this day in 1999, the United States, in accordance with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, officially hands over control of the Panama Canal, putting the strategic waterway into Panamanian hands for the first time. Crowds of Panamanians celebrated the transfer of the 50-mile canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and officially opened when the SS Arcon sailed through on August 15, 1914. Since then, over 922,000 ships have used the canal.
Interest...
Reading List: Lemmy
An Avid reader and militaria collector, Ian Frazier “Lemmy” Kilmister, best known to fans by his nickname alone, was Lead singer, bassist, and founder of the British rock band Motorhead. Earlier, Lemmy played with Hawkwind and others. His resume includes a stint as a member of Jimi Hendrix’s road crew. Bomber Winter: A Berlin Family 1899-1945 ...
March 2016 Table of Contents
The March 2016 issue features a cover story about the tragic Crimean War charge of the British Light Brigad...
The Man and the Legend
Pierre Ortiz served honorably in the French Foreign Legion and U.S. Marine Corps but entered into legend as a European operative of the Office of Strategic Service...
Dan Snow, the History Guy
The BBC personality reads, writes, researches, tweets, Facebooks, films, records and speaks about histor...
MaxxPro MRAP
Navistar's counter to the improvised explosive device is this 19-ton behemoth, designed to deflect blasts and keep on truckin...
Book Review: Marcus Agrippa
Lindsay Powell has written the definitive book on one of ancient Rome's greatest, if forgotten, military figure...
Book Review: First to Fly
Charles Bracelen Flood celebrates the U.S. pilots who flew for France before the United States entered World War ...
Book Review: Marie von Clausewitz
Vanya Eftimova Bellinger highlights military theorist Carl von Clausewitz's wife and editor, Mari...
Selasa, 29 Desember 2015
December 30, 1922: USSR established
In post-revolutionary Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation (divided in 1936 into the Georgian, Azerbaijan, and Armenian republics). Also known as the Soviet Union, the new communist state was the successor to the Russian Empire and the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism.
During the Russian Revolution...
Book Review: Sudden Justice
Chris Woods considers the controversial though seemingly effective use of drones in present-day warfar...
Book Review: Nine Divisions in Champagne
Patrick Takle looks at the little-known but key role of British divisions during the 1918 Marne campaig...
Book Review: Sparta
Godfrey Hutchinson examines the causes behind Sparta's rapid decline as the dominant power in the Mediterranea...
March 2016 Readers’ Letters
A reader and historian David Zabecki debate whether Erwin Rommel deserved his vaunted reputatio...
Daily Quiz for December 29, 2015
This was the first sport for which information was disseminated live during a game...
Senin, 28 Desember 2015
December 29, 1890: U.S. Army massacres Indians at Wounded Knee
On this day in 1890, in the final chapter of America’s long Indian wars, the U.S. Cavalry kills 146 Sioux at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.
Throughout 1890, the U.S. government worried about the increasing influence at Pine Ridge of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement, which taught that Indians had been defeated and confined to reservations because they had angered the gods by abandoning their traditional customs. Many...
Minggu, 27 Desember 2015
December 28, 1895: First commercial movie screened
On this day in 1895, the world’s first commercial movie screening takes place at the Grand Cafe in Paris. The film was made by Louis and Auguste Lumiere, two French brothers who developed a camera-projector called the Cinematographe. The Lumiere brothers unveiled their invention to the public in March 1895 with a brief film showing workers leaving the Lumiere factory. On December 28, the entrepreneurial siblings screened a series of short scenes...
Daily Quiz for December 27, 2015
Under French law, this group was officially excluded from early New Orleans...
Sabtu, 26 Desember 2015
December 27, 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens
At the height of the Great Depression, thousands turn out for the opening of Radio City Music Hall, a magnificent Art Deco theater in New York City. Radio City Music Hall was designed as a palace for the people, a place of beauty where ordinary people could see high-quality entertainment. Since its 1932 opening, more than 300 million people have gone to Radio City to enjoy movies, stage shows, concerts, and special events.
Radio City Music Hall was...
Daily Quiz for December 26, 2015
This was the first recoding made by Thomas Alva Edison while working on developing the phonograph...
Jumat, 25 Desember 2015
December 26, 1946: Bugsy Siegel opens Flamingo Hotel
On December 26, 1946, in Las Vegas, Nevada, mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel opens The Pink Flamingo Hotel & Casino at a total cost of $6 million. The 40-acre facility wasn’t complete and Siegel was hoping to raise some revenue with the grand opening.
Well-known singer and comedian Jimmy Durante headlined the entertainment, with music by Cuban band leader Xavier Cugat. Some of Siegel’s Hollywood friends, including actors George Raft, George Sanders,...
Daily Quiz for December 25, 2015
This was the first American fighter to fly over Berlin in World War II...
Kamis, 24 Desember 2015
December 25, 1914: The Christmas Truce
Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied...
Rabu, 23 Desember 2015
December 24, 1979: Soviet tanks roll into Afghanistan
On December 24, 1979, the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan, under the pretext of upholding the Soviet-Afghan Friendship Treaty of 1978.
As midnight approached, the Soviets organized a massive military airlift into Kabul, involving an estimated 280 transport aircraft and three divisions of almost 8,500 men each. Within a few days, the Soviets had secured Kabul, deploying a special assault unit against Tajberg Palace. Elements of the Afghan army loyal...
Daily Quiz for December 24, 2015
The first deliberate bombing raid on Berlin in World War II occurred on this date...
Daily Quiz for December 23, 2015
This was the first US state in which a town elected an African American mayor...
Selasa, 22 Desember 2015
December 23, 1888: Van Gogh chops off ear
On this day in 1888, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, suffering from severe depression, cuts off the lower part of his left ear with a razor while staying in Arles, France.He later documented the event in a painting titled Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. Today, Van Gogh is regarded as an artistic genius and his masterpieces sell for record-breaking prices; however, during his lifetime, he was a poster boy for tortured starving artists and sold only...
Daily Quiz for December 22, 2015
He was the first African American elected mayor of a major American city...
Senin, 21 Desember 2015
December 22, 1956: First gorilla born in captivity
On this day in 1956, a baby gorilla named Colo enters the world at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio, becoming the first-ever gorilla born in captivity. Weighing in at approximately 4 pounds, Colo, a western lowland gorilla whose name was a combination of Columbus and Ohio, was the daughter of Millie and Mac, two gorillas captured in French Cameroon, Africa, who were brought to the Columbus Zoo in 1951. Before Colo’s birth, gorillas found at zoos were caught...
Mystery Ship, March 2016
Britain’s first fixed-wing vertical takeoff and landing airplane, the Short SC.1 was built in response to the Ministry of Supply’s Specification ER.143, issued in September 1953 for a VTOL research aircraft. Two of these tailless deltas were built at Short Brothers’ Belfast factory, each having four Rolls-Royce RB108 turbojet engines mounted vertically in a central ...
Building a Falklands SHAR
The 1/48th-scale Airfix Sea Harrier FRS.1 (SHAR) has been around for quite a while. Although there have been some stellar new releases—and I would love to see a retooled kit!—for now I’ve concentrated on adding a little after-market detail to Airfix’s kit. Scratch-building skills also come in handy in this project. I replaced the stock ...
Daily Quiz for December 21, 2015
This pilot holds more international speed, distance and altitude records than any other pilot...
Minggu, 20 Desember 2015
December 21, 1988: Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over Scotland
On this day in 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York explodes in midair over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members aboard, as well as 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground. A bomb hidden inside an audio cassette player detonated in the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. The disaster, which became the subject of Britain’s largest criminal investigation, was believed to be an attack against...
Daily Quiz for December 20, 2015
This was the last significant battle between fleets entirely comprised of wooden vessels...
Sabtu, 19 Desember 2015
December 20, 1957: Elvis Presley is drafted
On this day in 1957, while spending the Christmas holidays at Graceland, his newly purchased Tennessee mansion, rock-and-roll star Elvis Presley receives his draft notice for the United States Army.
With a suggestive style–one writer called him “Elvis the Pelvis”–a hit movie, Love Me Tender, and a string of gold records including “Heartbreak Hotel,” “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Hound Dog” and “Don’t Be Cruel,” Presley had become a national icon, and the...
Jumat, 18 Desember 2015
December 19, 1998: President Clinton impeached
After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term.
In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern. Over the course of a year and a half, the president...
Daily Quiz for December 18, 2015
In 1862, the first shipment of this commodity arrived in Europe from the US...
Kamis, 17 Desember 2015
December 18, 1620: Mayflower docks at Plymouth Harbor
On December 18, 1620, the British ship Mayflower docked at modern-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, and its passengers prepared to begin their new settlement, Plymouth Colony.
The famous Mayflower story began in 1606, when a group of reform-minded Puritans in Nottinghamshire, England, founded their own church, separate from the state-sanctioned Church of England. Accused of treason, they were forced to leave the country and settle in the more tolerant...
American Samurai
As the men of the Lost Battalion fought for their lives, a gutsy group of Japanese American GIs fought to save them...
American History: The First Real Two-Party U.S. Presidential Election in 1796
When George Washington announced that he would retire from office, he set the stage for the nation's first two-party presidential campaign...
The Arab-Israeli War of 1973: Honor, Oil, and Blood
One of the most violent clashes of modern times led to the Middle East's most enduring peac...
Rabu, 16 Desember 2015
December 17, 1903: First airplane flies
Near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful flight in history of a self-propelled, heavier-than-air aircraft. Orville piloted the gasoline-powered, propeller-driven biplane, which stayed aloft for 12 seconds and covered 120 feet on its inaugural flight.
Orville and Wilbur Wright grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and developed an interest in aviation after learning of the glider flights of the German engineer Otto Lilienthal...
Daily Quiz for December 16, 2015
In 1558, France retook this last English possession on French soil...
Selasa, 15 Desember 2015
December 16, 1773: The Boston Tea Party
In Boston Harbor, a group of Massachusetts colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians board three British tea ships and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor.
The midnight raid, popularly known as the “Boston Tea Party,” was in protest of the British Parliament’s Tea Act of 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. The low tax allowed the...
U.S. Air Force Band Surprises Commuters with Christmas Flash Mob
Dressed in period costumes, the U.S. Air Force Band sang and danced to holiday tunes for travelers at DC’s Union Statio...
Senin, 14 Desember 2015
December 15, 2001: Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens
On this day in 2001, Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens after a team of experts spent 11 years and $27 million to fortify the tower without eliminating its famous lean.
In the 12th century, construction began on the bell tower for the cathedral of Pisa, a busy trade center on the Arno River in western Italy, some 50 miles from Florence. While construction was still in progress, the tower’s foundation began to sink into the soft, marshy ground,...
Minggu, 13 Desember 2015
December 14, 1911: Amundsen reaches South Pole
Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole, beating his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott.
Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, was one of the great figures in polar exploration. In 1897, he was first mate on a Belgian expedition that was the first ever to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903, he guided the 47-ton sloop Gjöa through the Northwest Passage and around the Canadian coast, the first navigator to accomplish...
Daily Quiz for December 13, 2015
A nationwide 55-miles-per-hour speed limit was enacted in this year...
Sabtu, 12 Desember 2015
13 Desember 2000: Al Gore mengakui pemilihan presiden
Wakil Presiden Al Gore enggan mengakui kekalahan ke Texas Gubernur George W. Bush dalam upayanya untuk presiden, setelah minggu pertempuran hukum atas menceritakan dari orang di Florida, pada hari ini pada tahun 2000.
Dalam pidato yang disiarkan televisi dari kantor seremonial berikutnya ke Gedung Putih, Gore mengatakan bahwa sementara dia sangat kecewa dan tajam tidak setuju dengan putusan Mahkamah Agung yang berakhir kampanyenya, "dendam partisan...
1980 Notebook da Vinci dijual seharga lebih dari 5 juta $
Pada hari ini di tahun 1980, taipan minyak Amerika Armand Hammer membayar $ 5.126.000 di lelang untuk notebook yang berisi tulisan-tulisan oleh seniman legendaris Leonardo da Vinci.
Naskah yang ditulis sekitar 1508, adalah salah satu dari sekitar 30 buku yang sama da Vinci yang dihasilkan selama masa hidupnya pada berbagai mata pelajaran. Isinya 72 halaman longgar menampilkan sekitar 300 catatan dan gambar rinci, semua yang berkaitan dengan tema...