Scott Allsop's Blog, page 216
June 19, 2018
20th June 1789: National Assembly swears the Tennis Court Oath
On the 20th June 1789 at Versailles in France, the National Assembly swore the Tennis Court Oath in which they vowed not to separate until a written constitution had been established for the country. Faced with enormous financial difficulties, Louis XVI had called a meeting of the Estates General that first convened in early May. This involved representatives of the three Estates – the clergy, the nobility and the non-privileged common people known as the Third Estate – meeting with the king...
June 18, 2018
19 June 1949: The first NASCAR ‘Strictly Stock’ race takes place at Charlotte Speedway
The first NASCAR race took place at the Charlotte Speedway in North Carolina. Stock car racing had its origins in the era of Prohibition, when illegal alcohol was distributed by fast cars across the United States. In order to outrun the police, many bootleggers modified their otherwise ordinary or ‘stock’ cars and over time began to organise events and compete against one another. Mechanic Bill France Sr. moved to the spiritual home of automobile racing at Daytona Beach in Florida in 1935. He...
June 17, 2018
18th June 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte defeated at the Battle of Waterloo
On the 18th June 1815, Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. Having escaped from exile on the island of Elba, he landed on the mainland on the 1st March and successfully secured support of a small army whom he marched to Paris. His arrival on 20th March led to Louis XVIII fleeing the city. This signaled the start of a period of Napoleonic government we now call the Hundred Days. Napoleon’s return from exile was met with enormous hostility from the other European powers. Having alr...
June 16, 2018
17th June 1631: Mumtaz Mahal’s death prompts construction of the Taj Mahal
The death of Mumtaz Mahal, the chief consort of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, prompted her husband to construct the Taj Mahal. Mumtaz Mahal, whose name means ‘the Exalted One of the palace’, was originally known as Arjumand Banu Begum. Born into a prominent Persian noble family, she married the future Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in 1612. She is widely recorded as being the favourite of his three wives with whom he shared a genuine love, and who was a valued confidant and trusted advisor. The b...
June 15, 2018
16th June 1958: Execution of Hungarian Communist leader Imre Nagy
On June 16th 1958, Hungarian Communist politician Imre Nagy was executed. Arrested after Soviet forces brought the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to an end, Nagy was found guilty of treason in a secret trial and executed by hanging. Nagy had been sacked from his position as Chairman of the Council of Ministers in April 1955 due to his independent attitude that favoured a “New Course” in Socialism. Although his moderate reforms were met with hostility from the USSR, they garnered significant sup...
June 14, 2018
15th June 1859: The Pig War begins between the USA and Britain
The Pig War border confrontation began when Lyman Cutlar shot a British-owned pig on San Juan Island. The archipelago of which San Juan Island is part lies between Washington State on the United States mainland and Vancouver, in what was then British North America. The 1846 Oregon Treaty had established a boundary along the 49th parallel along ‘the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver’s Island’. The problem was that San Juan Island itself lies in the middle of th...
June 13, 2018
14th June 1777: Stars and Stripes adopted as the flag of the USA
On the 14th June 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the so-called Flag Resolution and adopted the stars and stripes as the flag of the United States. The day is now celebrated as Flag Day, which first proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 although it is not an official federal holiday. The Flag Resolution stated some general parameters for the appearance of the flag. Specifically it said that there should be thirteen alternate red and white stripes and a group of white sta...
June 12, 2018
13th June 1966: Miranda Warning introduced after US Supreme Court says suspects must be told their rights
Any suspect arrested in the USA must be informed of four key rights. ‘You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed for you.’ Known as the Miranda warning, the requirement for the police to inform all criminal suspects of these rights came about as the result of Arizona labourer Ernesto Miranda’s 1963 conviction for kidnapping and rape. A confession ma...
June 11, 2018
12th June 1942: Anne Frank receives a diary for her 13th birthday
On the 12th June 1942, Anne Frank received a diary as a thirteenth birthday present from her father. Barely three weeks later, Anne and her family went into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Her diary, which chronicled her experiences over the next two years, was published posthumously after the war under the title The Diary of a Young Girl and became one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated books. The Frank family originated in Frankfurt, Germany, but moved away after the Nazi party w...
June 10, 2018
11th June 1963: Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself to death
Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself to death at a busy crossroads in Saigon. Quảng Đức's self-immolation came in response to the persecution of Buddhists by the government under Diệm, who belonged to the Catholic minority and was supported by the USA. Buddhists were regularly subjected to discriminatory policies that ranged from limited access to United States aid to employment. Even the military saw some Buddhists convert in order to improve their chance of promotion. In...
