Scott Allsop's Blog, page 13

10th March 1762: The execution of Jean Calas prompts debates on religious intolerance and judicial injustice in France

Jean Calas was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by breaking on the wheel, but the case had been marred by inconsistencies and a lack of conclusive evidence that prompted Voltaire to argue Calas had been a victim of religious prejudice and a flawed judicial ...

8th March 1736: Nader Shah formally crowned as the ruler of Iran, marking the start of the Afsharid dynasty

Nader's coronation ended Safavid rule and established the Afsharid dynasty that dramatically expanded Persia’s borders, but at the expense of heavy taxation that funded the military ...

6th March 1933: Eleanor Roosevelt holds her first press conference as First Lady of the United States

Roosevelt's press conference was exclusively for women reporters. It was the first time a president’s wife had held a press briefing, marking a significant departure from previous ...

3rd March 1938: First commercial quantities of oil discovered in Saudi Arabia after engineers drill Dammam Well No. 7

Dammam Well No. 7 well produced 1,585 barrels in its first day, leading to further exploration that revealed vast oil fields in Saudi ...

27th February 1900: Labour Representation Committee founded, marking the start of what would later become the British Labour Party

The Labour Representation Committee aimed to secure parliamentary representation for labour candidates, funded by trade unions. Ramsay MacDonald was appointed secretary, and six years later it adopted the name Labour ...

26th February 1935: Daventry Experiment proves the ability of using radio waves to detect aircraft, heralding the development of radar

Robert Watson-Watt and Arnold Wilkins conducted an experiment using a BBC shortwave radio transmitter located near Daventry, Northamptonshire, and a receiving station was set up in a field around 6 miles away that consisted of two receiving antennae attached to CRT monitoring equipment installed in a van. A Handley Page Heyford bomber was instructed to fly through the radio signal’s path, and it caused detectable variations in the received radio waves displayed on the ...

25th February 1932: Adolf Hitler gains German citizenship, having been stateless for seven years and unable to run for public office

Numerous attempts to secure him German citizenship were attempted over the next few years, but it wasn’t until 1932 that a solution was found when Dietrich Klagges, a Nazi Party member who was serving as the Minister of the Interior for the Free State of Brunswick, arranged for Hitler to be appointed as an administrator for the state’s delegation to the Reichsrat in Berlin on 25 February ...

23rd February 1903: US President Theodore Roosevelt leases Guantanamo Bay from Cuba in perpetuity

Although Cuba retained sovereignty over Guantanamo Bay, the arrangement ensured that the United States maintained a strategic military presence in the Caribbean. The 45 square mile area was selected as most suitable for a naval base and coaling station due to its deep-water harbour and strategic location on Cuba’s south-eastern ...

21st February 1804: World’s first recorded locomotive-hauled railway journey takes place at the Penydarren Ironworks in South Wales

On 21 February 1804, Richard Trevithick’s steam locomotive successfully pulled a load of ten tons of iron, as well as several passengers and workmen, along a 9.75 mile route from Penydarren Ironworks in South Wales in just over 4 ...

19th February 1942: President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, allowing the military to place Japanese Americans in internment camps

Executive Order 9066 was issued two months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour and primarily targeted Japanese Americans, leading to their forced relocation and internment during World War ...