This week in history #52

Last week's photos:
1846 Anesthesia
1972 Germany
1993 KGB
1947 Transistor

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #52

December 26, ____ - An estimated 230,000 persons died and 1.5 million left homeless when a magnitude 9.3 earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused a series of giant tsunami waves that decimated parts of a dozen countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and Somalia. 

December 30, ____ - The United States purchased the territory of Louisiana from France for approximately $15 million. 

December 30, ____ - The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] was established. 

December 31, ____ - Thomas Edison conducted the first public demonstration of his electric incandescent lamp.

This week in history #51

Last week's photos:
1901 Marconi
1991 Korea
1911 Amundsen
1962 Mariner II

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #51

December 21, ____ - Anesthesia was used for the first time in Britain. 

December 21, ____ - East and West Germany established diplomatic ties, ending two decades of Cold War hostility. 

December 21, ____ - The KGB (Soviet Secret Police) was abolished by Russian President Boris Yeltsin. 

December 23, ____ - The transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories, sparking a worldwide revolution in electronics.

This week in history #50

This week in history #50

Last week's photos:
1865 13th Amendment
1787 US Constitution
1941 Pearl Harbor
1948 Human Rights

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #50

December 11, ____ - Marconi transmitted the first transatlantic radio signal from England to Newfoundland. 

December 13, ____ - North and South Korea signed a treaty of reconciliation and nonaggression, formally ending the Korean War, although actual fighting had stopped in 1953. 

December 14, ____ - Roald Amundsen became the first person to reach the South Pole. 

December 14, ____ - The Mariner II space probe sent back information from the planet Venus.

This week in history #49

Last week's photos:
1929 South Pole
1640 Portugal
1918 Iceland
1955 Rosa Parks

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #49

December 6, ____ - The 13th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified, abolishing slavery in the US.

December 7, ____ - Delaware became the first state to adopt the US constitution.

December 7, ____ - The US Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was attacked by nearly 200 Japanese aircraft.

December 10, ____ - The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This week in history #48

Last week's photos:
1963 Kennedy
1859 Darwin
1992 Czech & Slovak
1789 Thanksgiving

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #48

November 29, ____ - American explorers Richard Byrd and Bernt Balchen completed the first airplane flight to the South Pole.

December 1, ____ - Portugal gained independence from Spain.

December 1, ____ - Iceland gained independence from Denmark.

December 1, ____ - Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white man and move to the back of a bus.

This week in history #47

Last week's photos:
1927 Holland Tunnel
1994 Channel Tunnel
1869 Suez Canal
1863 Gettysburg Address

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #47

November 22, ____ - In downtown Dallas, President John F. Kennedy was shot in the back and head.

November 24, ____ - Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was first published.

November 25, ____ - The Czechoslovakian parliament voted to divide the country into separate Czech and Slovak republics.

November 26, ____ - President George Washington proclaimed Thanksgiving Day, a day of prayer and public thanksgiving.

This week in history #46

Last week's photos:
1885 Canada Railway
1895 X-Rays
1965 Northeast Blackout
1989 Berlin Wall

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #46

November 13, ____ - The Holland Tunnel was opened to traffic. The tunnel runs under the Hudson River between New York City and Jersey City.

November 14, ____ - The first paying passengers traveled through the Channel Tunnel linking England and France.

November 17, ____ - The Suez Canal opened after more than 10 years of construction.

November 19, ____ - President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. Edward Everett of Massachusetts preceded Lincoln and spoke for two hours. Lincoln then delivered his address in less than two minutes.

This week in history #45

Last week's photos:
1938 War of the Worlds
1517 Martin Luther
1776 Mission San Juan Capistrano
1957 Sputnik II

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #45

November 7, ____ - Canada's first transcontinental railway was completed.

November 8, ____ - X-rays were discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen in Germany.

November 9, ____ - At 5:16 p.m., the Great Blackout of the Northeast began. A tripped circuit breaker caused a chain reaction knocking out interconnected power companies down the East Coast, affecting more than 30 million persons.

November 9, ____ - The Berlin Wall was opened after 28 years.

This week in history #44

Last week's photos:
1945 United Nations
1825 Erie Canal
1636 Harvard University
1929 Stock Market Crash

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #44

October 30, ____ - The War of the Worlds radio broadcast, depicting a Martian invasion of New Jersey, panicked millions of Americans who thought it was real.

October 31, ____ - Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Wittenberg's palace church.

November 1, ____ - Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in California. Each year, the swallows of Capistrano leave their nests there approx October 23rd and return the following year approx March 19th.

November 3, ____ - Soviet Russia launched Sputnik II, the world's first inhabited space capsule which carried a dog named Laika.

This week in history #43

Last week's photos:
1701 Yale University
1987 Black Monday
1818 US-Canadian Border
1879 Incandescent Lamp

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #43

October 24, ____ - The United Nations was founded.

October 26, ____ - The Erie Canal opened as the first major man-made waterway in America. It cost over $7 million and took eight years to complete.

October 28, ____ - Harvard University was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

October 29, ____ - The stock market crashed when more than 16 million shares were dumped amid tumbling prices. The Great Depression followed.

This week in history #42

Last week's photos:
1822 Brazil
1775 US Navy
1884 Greenwich Mean Time
1947 Yeager

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #42

October 16, ____ - Yale University was founded in Connecticut. 

October 19, ____ - Wall Street "Black Monday" occurred. Stocks plunged a record 508 points [22.6 per cent], the largest one-day drop in stock market history. 

October 20, ____ - The US and Britain agreed to set the US-Canadian border at the 49th parallel.

October 21, ____ - Thomas Edison successfully tested an electric incandescent lamp at his laboratory in New Jersey, keeping it lit for over 13 hours. 

This week in history #41

Last week's photos:
1932 Iraq
1990 Germany
1927 Jazz Singer
1871 Chicago Fire

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #41

October 12, ____ - Brazil became independent of Portugal.

October 13, ____ - The United States Navy was born.

October 13, ____ - Greenwich was established as the universal time throughout the world. 

October 14, ____ - US Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier. 

This week in history #40

Last week's photos:
1789 US Army
1829 British "bobbies"
1908 Ford Model T
1949 China

Last year we looked at obscure holidays. This year, let’s look at major world events that occurred each week.  Make your best guess in the comments as to the years of each event.  No googling!

Week #40

October 3, ____ - Iraq gained independence from Britain.

October 3, ____ - East and West Germany were reunited as the Federal Republic of Germany.

October 6, ____ - The first full-length feature film using spoken dialogue, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, opened in New York.

October 8, ____ - The Great Fire of Chicago erupted. More than 300 persons were killed and 90,000 were left homeless. The fire leveled 3.5 square miles and destroyed 17,450 buildings.