Scott Allsop's Blog, page 13

5th May 1789: The Estates General meets at Versailles, near Paris, for the first time in 175 years

When the Estates General opened on 5 May many hoped that it would provide a platform for reform, but in practice it acted as a precursor to the French ...

3rd May 1921: Partition of Ireland divides Ireland into two separate political entities

The Government of Ireland Act established one parliament in Belfast for Northern Ireland and another in Dublin for Southern Ireland. While both remained under the authority of the United Kingdom, each was granted a degree of self-governance and the border remains today as the boundary between the Republic of Ireland and Northern ...

2nd May 1670: Hudson’s Bay Company established with a royal charter from King Charles II of England

The Hudson's Bay Company maintained a monopoly over trade in the area for over 200 years, ensuring it had a lasting impact on the economic and political development of what would later become ...

1st May 1776: The forerunner of the Bavarian Illuminati was founded by Adam Weishaupt

The Covenant of Perfectibility, the forerunner of the original Bavarian Illuminati, was founded by Adam Weishaupt in ...

29th April 1587: Singeing the King of Spain’s Beard

Sir Francis Drake entered the Bay of Cádiz and attacked the Spanish naval fleet in an event known as ‘Singeing the King of Spain's ...

28th April 1967: Muhammad Ali, the reigning world heavyweight boxing champion, refuses induction into the United States Army

Ali's refusal to be inducted led to him being stripped of his boxing titles and later convicted of draft evasion for which he was sentenced to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and a ban from boxing. He remained free on bail while the case was under ...

27th April 1945: Benito Mussolini, the former Fascist dictator of Italy, captured by Italian partisans in northern Italy

Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans near the village of Dongo whilst attempting to flee to Switzerland, and was executed the next ...

26th April 1865: John Wilkes Booth, who had assassinated Abraham Lincoln, shot after refusing to surrender

He was dragged out of the barn where he had been hiding and died three hours ...

25th April 1859: Construction begins on the Suez Canal at the northern Egyptian port town of Port Said

The canal was designed as a sea-level waterway stretching approximately 120 miles across the Isthmus of Suez, and its completion in 1869, ten years after work began, significantly reduced travel time between Europe and ...

24th April 1932: Mass trespass of Kinder Scout in the Peak District protests against limited access to open countryside

The Kinder Mass Trespass involved approximately 400 people walking to the Kinder Scout plateau in deliberate defiance of the landowners, in a protest in favour of the right to ...