The Berlin Wall came down. (1989) The checkpoints between East and West Germany were opened for the first time since August 13, 1961. East and West Germany were reunified less than a year later on October 3, 1990.
US President Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting US President to visit another country on official matters. (1906) President Roosevelt traveled to the Panama Canal to see how construction was coming along.
The "Kristallnacht" attacks occurred, unofficially beginning the holocaust. (1938) "Kristallnacht," or "night of broken glass," happened after Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish resistance soldier, killed a Nazi diplomat. The Nazis began burning and vandalizing Jewish businesses, homes, synagogues and schools. More than 100 Jews were killed, and Nazi forces arrested more than 30,000 Jewish men over two days, sending most of them to concentration camps; many of the men were later released after promising to leave the country.
The Northeast Blackout of 1965 occurred. (1965) The blackout, which shut off power to more than 30 million people in the US and Canada, was caused by human error; a maintenance worker set the voltage limit on a safety shut-off too low. People were without power for more than 13 hours in cold winter weather.
The US Supreme Court refused to hear a case challenging the legality of the Vietnam War. (1970) The justices voted 6-3 not to hear the Massachusetts v. Laird case, which argued that the Vietnam War wasn't officially declared, and therefore Massachusetts citizens could refuse to serve in the military.
Brokerage firms in the US were ordered to pay $1.03 billion US Dollars to cheated investors. (1998) In one of the largest civil lawsuit settlements in the history of the US, a federal judge required the brokerage houses to pay back investors who claimed they lost money on the NASDAQ because of fraudulent price-fixing.
The Treaty of Seville was signed, ending the Anglo-Spanish War. (1729) The treaty was the result of a negotiated peace agreement between France, Great Britain and Spain.
The Atlantic Monthly was founded. (1857) Now known as simply The Atlantic, the magazine continues to focus on political, literary and cultural commentary. It is read by more than 400,000 subscribers and delivered 10 times per year.
The US gained rights to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. (1887) The Hawaiian Kingdom and the US signed the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, giving the US access to the sugar trade, which benefited the Hawaiian Kingdom economy, and the US gained access to the land where the Pearl Harbor naval base was built. The land gave the US a permanent strategic military advantage in the Pacific. Hawaii became a US state in 1959.
The most destructive natural disaster in the history of the Great Lakes occurred. (1913) The Great Lakes Storm of 1913 was a hurricane-force blizzard that killed more than 250 people and destroyed 19 ships. Much of the damage occurred on Lake Huron, but four of the five Great Lakes suffered damage.
Rolling Stone published for the first time. (1967) The music-centric magazine was founded in San Francisco and now has a bi-monthly circulation of more than one million copies.
The German government passed a controversial data retention bill. (2007) The Bundestag, a lower-level parliament house in Germany, passed a bill that required the telecommunications traffic of its citizens — including e-mail and phone calls — to be stored, without establishing probable cause, for six months.
In my high school, I remember going through several history lessons about the Holocaust, and while I was a bit surprised at the ways in which the Jews were being tortured, one thing that really intrigued me is the way in which the Jews were sent to the concentration camps.
From reading some of the information on how the Jews were transported, you could tell that Hitler was very tactical about it.
He wanted to give the Jews a false sense of hope, and didn't want them to know what was going on immediately. Some examples of this include when the Jews had curfew limits, and also weren't allowed to buy anything from the stores.
Even though this didn't seem like a big deal at first, the restrictions became more and more extreme, to the point where the Jews couldn't even leave their home.
While I obviously don't agree with Hitler's tactics, I find his methods interesting, and it really showed how Hitler didn't just want to kill them outright, he wanted to break their spirit. The Holocaust has more depth than at first glance.
Krunchyman
@RoyalSpyder - Not only do you make some very good points, but generally speaking, I agree with you as well. Using one example, let's look at the infamous Hurricane Katrina.
While it's more than obvious that it was a downright devastating hurricane of the worst kind, on the other hand, it's also quite surprising that people didn't prepare for it the way they should have, especially with all of the weather patterns and such.
In that case, I definitely feel like the hurricane was underestimated. If the New Orleans residents had known the sheer amount of devastation that would be caused, I'm sure there would have been more preparations and the like. For all that we know, people might have even evacuated earlier.
How does this relate to the article? It really shows that even when you think you're ready for what the weather brings, it's always good to take extra precautions just in case.
RoyalSpyder
Even though I've never heard of this natural disaster before, regardless, not only do I find it be very very interesting, but it's almost amazing the amount of devastation that was caused in the process.
All in all, I think this tidbit does a pretty good job at showing just how dangerous natural disasters can be.
Also, even though this is just my opinion, does anyone else find natural disasters to be one of those things that generally speaking, are very hard to prepare for? After all, let's look at it this way.
Considering how it happened all the way back in 1913, it was harder to predict weather patterns, and how things would eventually turn. Based on this, there was almost no way to know what weather would be brought about.
While it's definitely easier to predict in this day and age, especially with all of the advancements in technology, it's still something to be very careful about.
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Discussion Comments
In my high school, I remember going through several history lessons about the Holocaust, and while I was a bit surprised at the ways in which the Jews were being tortured, one thing that really intrigued me is the way in which the Jews were sent to the concentration camps.
From reading some of the information on how the Jews were transported, you could tell that Hitler was very tactical about it.
He wanted to give the Jews a false sense of hope, and didn't want them to know what was going on immediately. Some examples of this include when the Jews had curfew limits, and also weren't allowed to buy anything from the stores.
Even though this didn't seem like a big deal at first, the restrictions became more and more extreme, to the point where the Jews couldn't even leave their home.
While I obviously don't agree with Hitler's tactics, I find his methods interesting, and it really showed how Hitler didn't just want to kill them outright, he wanted to break their spirit. The Holocaust has more depth than at first glance.
@RoyalSpyder - Not only do you make some very good points, but generally speaking, I agree with you as well. Using one example, let's look at the infamous Hurricane Katrina.
While it's more than obvious that it was a downright devastating hurricane of the worst kind, on the other hand, it's also quite surprising that people didn't prepare for it the way they should have, especially with all of the weather patterns and such.
In that case, I definitely feel like the hurricane was underestimated. If the New Orleans residents had known the sheer amount of devastation that would be caused, I'm sure there would have been more preparations and the like. For all that we know, people might have even evacuated earlier.
How does this relate to the article? It really shows that even when you think you're ready for what the weather brings, it's always good to take extra precautions just in case.
Even though I've never heard of this natural disaster before, regardless, not only do I find it be very very interesting, but it's almost amazing the amount of devastation that was caused in the process.
All in all, I think this tidbit does a pretty good job at showing just how dangerous natural disasters can be.
Also, even though this is just my opinion, does anyone else find natural disasters to be one of those things that generally speaking, are very hard to prepare for? After all, let's look at it this way.
Considering how it happened all the way back in 1913, it was harder to predict weather patterns, and how things would eventually turn. Based on this, there was almost no way to know what weather would be brought about.
While it's definitely easier to predict in this day and age, especially with all of the advancements in technology, it's still something to be very careful about.
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