Scott Allsop's Blog, page 239
October 24, 2017
25th October 1940: Benjamin O. Davis Sr. becomes first black general in the US military
Davis was born in Washington D.C. and, although his army records and gravestone claim that he was born in 1877, his biographer has found a census document that suggests he was actually born three years...
October 23, 2017
24th October 1929: Wall Street Crash begins on ‘Black Thursday’
Thursday the 24th October 1929, known as Black Thursday, is generally accepted as the first day of the Wall Street Crash. The day saw panic selling of shares on the New York Stock Exchange on...
October 22, 2017
23rd October 1911: Italian Carlo Piazza pilots the first aircraft to be used in war
The Italian government of Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti launched its invasion of Libya in order to formalise its influence in the provinces of Tripolitana and Cyrenaica amidst the declining power of the Ottoman Empire. Having...
October 21, 2017
22nd October 1895: Granville-Paris express train crashes through a wall in Paris
On the 22nd October 1895, the Granville–Paris Express train ran across the station platform, crashed through a 60cm wall, and fell 10 metres to the street below after it overran the buffer stop at the...
October 20, 2017
21st October 1966: 144 people killed in the Aberfan disaster
At 9.15am on the 21st October 1966, 116 children and 28 adults were killed when a colliery spoil tip above the Welsh village of Aberfan collapsed. Approximately 150,000 cubic meters of mining debris from waste...
October 19, 2017
20th October 1935: Mao Zedong’s Red Army finishes the Long March
On the 20th October 1935, the 6,000 mile Long March by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China ended when the columns of troops led by Mao Zedong arrived in Shaanxi. Although the...
October 18, 2017
19th October 202 BCE: Roman Republic defeats Carthage at the Battle of Zama
The Second Punic War is famed for the Carthaginian commander Hannibal leading his troops and elephants over the Alps to face the Roman armies. After seventeen years, the war was finally brought to an end...
October 17, 2017
18th October 1922: British Broadcasting Company established
On the 18th October 1922, the British Broadcasting Company was established. Originally established as a private consortium of radio manufacturers to secure the first broadcasting license in the UK, the company later became the British...
October 16, 2017
17th October 1933: Einstein moves to the USA after Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
Einstein, who was Jewish, was undertaking a visiting professorship at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena when Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor on 30 January 1933. With the Nazis expanding their power in Germany,...
October 15, 2017
16th October 1793: The Execution of Marie Antoinette
At 12.15pm on the afternoon of the 16th October 1793, Marie Antoinette was executed by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution in Paris. Found guilty of treason earlier that morning, she was transported to...
