HistoryPod

Claimed by its fans to be the greatest comedy film of all time, Life of Brian has courted controversy since its release due to its satirical portrayal of religion that is interpreted by some as ...

At the end of the visit Khrushchev and Eisenhower agreed to continue discussions, signalling a temporary improvement in relations that became known as the ‘Spirit of Camp ...

On the 14th September 1814, the poem that was to provide the lyrics for the United States’ national anthem was written by 35 year-old Francis Scott ...

Michelangelo’s David is considered to be one of the greatest examples of Renaissance ...

The walls of the Lascaux cave contained numerous representations of animals, including horses, bulls, bison and deer that were painted approximately 15,000 years ago, during the Upper Palaeolithic ...

Janet Parker first became ill on 11 August, but nine days passed before she was admitted to hospital and her infection was identified as ...

The Austrian delegation to Paris was led by the Social Democrat minister Karl Renner who had little choice but to agree to the redrawing of national borders that saw the emergence of several independent nations and the reduction of Austrian ...

Around 10,000 Scots are thought to have died including twelve earls, fifteen lords and numerous other nobles and clan chiefs, removing much of Scotland’s political and military leadership in a single ...

The Siege of Leningrad, one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, ...

The Nazi German Luftwaffe launched the first of 57 consecutive days and nights of bombing raids on London in what became known as the ...

On the morning of 6 September, the French Sixth Army attacked the German First Army near the River Ourcq while the French Fifth Army and British Expeditionary Force advanced into the gap between the German First and Second Armies. On 9 September, German Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke ordered a withdrawal, marking the transition from mobile warfare to the long period of trench warfare that ...

Peter the Great's decision to ban beards was unpopular, not only because it was a significant challenge to tradition but also because shaving a beard was interpreted by some Orthodox Christians as being ...

Romulus’ overthrow facilitated Odoacer’s rise and the transition to the Ostrogothic ...

The victory halted the Mongol advance into the Levant and Egypt, preserving the Mamluks as the dominant power in the eastern Mediterranean and establishing a frontier between the Mongol-controlled lands to the ...

The Adi Granth, the original holy scripture of Sikhism now known as Guru Granth Sahib, was first installed at the Harmandir Sahib Golden ...

Britain and Russia signed the Anglo-Russian Entente, which led to the formation of the Triple ...

Approximately 700 Red Stick warriors led by William Weatherford attacked the fort. Around 250 people were killed, while at least 100 others were taken ...

The First Opium War formally ended when Britain and China signed the Treaty of Nanking, the first of the ‘unequal ...

Black teenager Emmett Till was murdered for allegedly flirting with and offending a white woman in ...

By 1916, the Allied governments had promised Romania control of Transylvania and other territories if the Central Powers were defeated. Encouraged by the Brusilov Offensive, which had inflicted heavy losses on Austria-Hungary, Romanian leaders concluded that the moment was favourable for ...

The National Constituent Assembly of France adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the ...

Captain Matthew Webb became the first person to successfully swim across the English ...

Although it had limited strategic value in military terms, the Burning of Washington demonstrated the vulnerability of the young American republic during the War of 1812 and temporarily damaged public confidence in the government’s ability to defend the ...

King Michael I of Romania led a coup d'état that removed the Nazi-aligned government of Ion ...

Slaves in the French colony of Saint-Domingue on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola began the Haitian ...

Daghlian was working alone when he accidentally dropped a block of tungsten onto the plutonium core, which increased the reflection of neutrons and pushed the system into a supercritical ...

Leon Trotsky was fatally wounded with an ice axe by Spanish communist Ramón ...

The Cold War border between Austria and Hungary was opened for a short period of time for the Pan-European ...

“The Hardest Day” saw the Luftwaffe lose more than 60 aircraft, while the RAF lost around 30 fighters together with experienced pilots whose replacement was increasingly ...

Parliament passed the Marriage Act that legalised civil marriages and introduced their formal ...

Queen Victoria sent the first telegram using the newly-installed transatlantic telegraph cable to US President James ...

Officially promoted as “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music,” Woodstock remains one of the defining moments in the history of modern popular ...

The Atlantic Charter was issued by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston ...

The first complete performance of Wagner’s Ring cycle took place in the Bavarian town of ...

After separation from the carrier aircraft the pilots completed a controlled descent and precise landing at Edwards Air Force Base, confirming earlier aerodynamic predictions and providing engineers with valuable information for the construction and operation of the orbital shuttle ...

It took the best of part of seven months for the delegates of the new German National Assembly to agree on the terms of the new Weimar constitution, which Ebert signed into law whilst on holiday in ...

The Louvre museum in Paris opened to the public in the former palace of the French royal ...

Produced in cooperation with the Ad Council, the first Smokey Bear poster, released on 9 August 1944, showed the bear pouring a bucket of water onto a campfire beneath the message, “Smokey says – Care will prevent 9 out of 10 forest fires.” The illustration was created by artist Albert Staehle, whose friendly but authoritative depiction proved immediately ...

Traffic was stopped on the B507 road in London so The Beatles could pose for their iconic Abbey Road album ...

Alice Huyler Ramsey became the first woman to drive an automobile across a continent when she completed a 59-day road trip from New York to San ...

The Voting Rights Act outlawed literacy tests and authorised federal officials to oversee voter registration in jurisdictions with a history of discrimination, resulting in a substantial increase in voter registration and political participation among African Americans in the years that ...

Scottish independence leader Sir William Wallace was captured by English forces at Robroyston near ...

On 4 August 221 Lady Zhen, the wife of Cao Pi of Wei of the Three Kingdoms, ...

As Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey had attempted to prevent the crisis but these efforts proved unsuccessful and, during the evening of 3 August, he reportedly remarked, “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our ...

Hannibal’s army inflicted a devastating defeat on the numerically superior Roman army at the Battle of ...

George, Elector of Hanover, became King George I of Great ...

The astronauts visited geological features near the Apollo 15 landing site in the Hadley-Apennine region, collected samples, and deployed scientific experiments, while television images transmitted from the rover allowed audiences on Earth to observe the ...

La Marseillaise was composed by a French army officer and was originally called the ‘War Song for the Army of the Rhine’ with the aim of rallying soldiers fighting in Strasbourg during the French Revolutionary ...

James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, who was forced to abdicate in favour of her young son a month after she was ...

British officials regarded the Acadian population as a security risk and, on 28 July, Lieutenant-Governor Charles Lawrence and his council resolved that the Acadians should be removed and dispersed among Britain’s North American ...