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Potsdamer Platz, Berlin: Berliners and tourists gather in disbelief at the new opening in the "Wall of Shame". (source: Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1989 Germans began to tear down the Berlin Wall. The 155 km (96 mile) wall had split East and West Germany in two through Berlin since 1961. Prior to the…
Theodore Roosevelt at rest. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1906 Theodore Roosevelt made a trip to visit the construction site of the Panama Canal. The Canal, an 82 km (51 mile) long shipping waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, was an important part of US foreign policy and is still an integral…
NSDAP agitators in what we now consider "classic Nazi" attire during the failed uprising at the Marienplatz. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1923 members of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Worker's Party, or Nazis) staged the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. Inspired by Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini's successful march on Rome, Nazi leader…
"Russia Go Home!" written on a shop window in Budapest. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On November 1st, 1956 the Hungarian Revolution turned hot when revolutionary leader Imre Nagy announced his plan to withdraw the country from the Warsaw Pact and distance itself from the Soviet Union. Hungary, like most of Eastern Europe at the time, was…
Bolshevik, a 1920 work by Boris Kustodiev. The imagery embodies the Bolshevik idea that the masses had to be lead effectively in order to channel their energies into productive action. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On November 7th, 1917 the October Revolution began in Petrograd, Russia. An armed uprising lead by the Bolshevik Party helped kick off…
War elephants as used by the Hindu forces. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On November 5th, 1556, The 2nd Battle of Panipat took place. Forces of the Mughal Empire (founded in 1526 by Babur of modern-day Uzbekistan) faced off against Hemu Chandra Vikramaditya's Hindu forces in the north of India. The Mughals had recently lost land near…
A drawing of the Gatling Gun showing its multiple barrels and old-fashioned design. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1862 Dr Richard J. Gatling patented the Gatling gun. The Gatling, a multi-barreled hand-cranked firearm, was one of the first machine guns and the deadliest rapid-firing weapon of its kind up to that point. The…
Luther at the Diet of Worms, 1521. The assembly declared Luther an outcast of the Holy Roman Empire. (source: Wikimedia Commons) On this day in 1517 Martin Luther, a German theology professor, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church. The document, known as the "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy…
A Mongolian Air Mail stamp depicting Laika. (source: Flickr) On this day in 1957 the Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 (or, Elementary Satellite 2) spacecraft was launched by the USSR. Sputnik 2 sent Laika, a stray dog from Moscow, into outer space. Laika became the first living being to orbit the earth; tragically, the samoyed-husky mix died from exposure to…
You're short on time. You need (or want, maybe) to understand a historical concept or event. You've spent hours at the library, or in class, or online, skimming through old books with old ideas. That essay deadline is coming up, and nothing makes sense. You may hate history as a subject, or maybe you even…
ASAP History 