On this day, the United States became a colonial power when Spain ceded them the ownership of the Philippines. This was done through the so-called Treaty of Paris, by which the U.S. won all former Spanish colonial possessions in Asia and the Caribbea...
The status of the state of Kentucky during the American Civil War was particularly interesting. Namely, that federal state was located right on the border between North and South, so it was a question with which side it will go along in the war. Pres...
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the world’s most translated document. The Declaration was adopted on this day in the year 1948 by a unanimous decision of the UN General Assembly at its session i...
On this day, British King Edward VIII abdicated so he could marry the 40-year-old American woman Wallis Simpson. Edward was king not only of Britain, but also the whole of the British colonial empire and the Emperor of India. By renouncing the throne...
The famous Alfred Nobel died of a stroke on this day in San Remo. In his last will and testament, he left most of his property, which would today be worth around 150 million euros, to the foundation which would, starting from 1901, pay rewards to des...
The famous Soviet (later Russian) MiG aircraft are named after the designers Mikoyan and Gurevich, who led a design bureau producing fighter aircraft. The bureau was initially called “Mikoyan and Gurevich” (short MiG), but was in 1970 renamed simply...
On this day in 1917, a Christian army occupied Jerusalem for the first time after it had been in Muslim hands for 673 years. Namely, the last time Jerusalem was a Christian city was back in 1244, when it was ruled by the Crusaders. The Christian army...
On this day in 1979, a group of prominent scientists announced to the world the eradication of the smallpox (variola) disease. It is the first and so far the only human infectious disease humanity has managed to completely eradicate. It is a virus th...
A famous American actor of Croatian, Scottish, and German origin – John Malkovich – celebrates his birthday today. He was born in the small town of Christopher in the U.S. state of Illinois, but his father was a native Croat from Ozalj. Malkovich’s m...
The trial of German doctors from the World War II, who were accused of experimenting on humans and mass murder under the guise of euthanasia, began on this day. Among the defendants was Hitler’s personal physician Karl Brandt. The infamous Josef Meng...
On this day during the French Revolution, Madame du Barry – the famous mistress of the French King Louis XV – was guillotined. She was born as the daughter of a poor provincial seamstresses. In fact, she was an illegitimate daughter and it is not kno...
The young and beautiful Marie-Anne de Mailly-Nesle, the mistress of French King Louis XV, died on this day. Interestingly, as many as four of the Mailly-Nesle sisters were mistresses of the king, which was one of the strangest love affairs in the Fre...
On this day the 25-year-old Mark David Chapman killed John Lennon in New York. The murder took place in front of the famous Dakota apartment building, where Lennon and Yoko Ono lived, and which is located next to Central Park. Chapman had mental heal...
Interestingly, the flag of the European Union was not originally designed for that organization, but the Council of Europe. It adopted a flag with 12 yellow stars on a blue background on this day in 1955. There were many design proposals for the flag...
On this day singer Jim Morrison, of parents of Irish and Scottish descent, was born in Florida. Interestingly, his father was an admiral in the U.S. Navy, who commanded the naval forces during the escalation of the Vietnam War. As the son of a naval...
On this day Apollo 17 was launched, the last manned mission sent to the moon. It is almost unbelievable that since then, for more than 40 years, people have not set foot on the lunar surface. To someone from the 60s or 70s, it would probably seem unt...
Marshal Michel Ney was one of Napoleon’s closest associates. Napoleon declared him marshal in 1804, simultaneously with the declaration of the French Empire. On that occasion, the first 18 French generals were promoted to the highest rank (French: Ma...
The first execution in the United States using the new method – lethal injection – was performed on this day. It happened in Texas when Charles Brooks, convicted of murder that he committed together with Woody Loudres, was executed. It is not known w...
On this day, just one day before the end of the Second Vatican Council, the bilateral abolition of excommunication between the Pope and Patriarch of Constantinople was announced. Just to recall, these excommunications were in force since 1054, when t...
In the early morning hours on this day in 1941, Japanese planes attacked the U.S. naval port on the Pacific – Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This was supposedly done before Japan declared war on the United States. Interestingly, the Japanese commander Admir...
On this day in 1921, Irish and British politicians signed the Treaty on the independence of Ireland. This Anglo-Irish Treaty concluded the Irish War of Independence and led to the establishment of the Irish Free State, which was formed exactly one ye...
On this day died Pope Clement VI, born Pierre Roger. This pope was a Frenchman by nationality, and it is interesting that he did not rule from Rome, but from Avignon, a city which was the papal seat at that time. Namely, Clement VI was the fourth Avi...
On this day, a 25-year-old Canadian of Algerian origin shot 28 people before taking his own life. His born name was Gamil Rodrigue Liass Gharbi, but he later changed it to Marc Lépine, giving his hatred of his father as the reason. It seems that his...
On this day one of the biggest explosions in history occured, when 2,300,000 kilograms of explosives were detonate daboard a French ship, after a fire broke out aboard it. It was the time of World War I and the ship was carrying explosives intended f...
This day is known among Christians as the day of St. Nicholas the saint who, in the fourth century, died a martyr’s death in a dungeon after severe torture. St. Nicholas was a bishop in Myra (now Demre in Turkey). He had a reputation for secret gift-...
The world’s most famous auction house, Christie's, opened on this day back in 1766, when its founder – James Christie – conducted the first auction sale. James Christie was British, and the first sale was held at a London address in the famous stree...
On this day the thickest smog in history blanketed London causing the death of, according to some estimates, up to 12,000 people. An anticyclone settled over London, which led to a lack of wind, so a layer of cold air saturated with smog was left tra...
On this day is the anniversary of Walt Disney’s birth. He was born in Chicago to an Irish father. It is interesting that the surname Disney comes from the French d’Isigny, after the town Isigny in Normandy, from where Disney’s distant ancestor moved...
On this day, at 1:00 am, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died under mysterious circumstances, at the age of only 35 years. A short time before his death, Mozart was suffering from an unknown illness. Till the very end, he tried to complete his last work – Re...
The currently reigning king of Thailand – Bhumibol Adulyadej – was born on this day in 1927. He is also, according to the Forbes magazine, the richest monarch in the world today. His wealth reportedly reaches a value of about 30 billion dollars. Thai...
