Scott Allsop's Blog, page 30

24th August 1938: The Kweilin incident sees the first ever civilian aircraft to be shot down when Japanese fighters attack

As the Kweilin Douglas DC-2 aircraft neared the city of Namyung in Guangdong province, it was intercepted by three Japanese Mitsubishi A5M fighters that opened fire on the unarmed civilian ...

23rd August 1970: Start of the Salad Bowl Strike, the largest farm worker walkout in U.S. history

The Salad Bowl Strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, began in California’s Salinas ...

22nd August 1864: Adoption of the first Geneva Convention governing sick and wounded members of armed forces

The First Geneva Convention mandated protection and care for wounded and sick military personnel, regardless of nationality, as well as recognising the neutrality of medical personnel, field hospitals, and ...

21st August 1957: USSR conducts first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)

After flying 6,000 kilometres, the R-7 Semyorka rocket successfully hit its target in what is now the Kura Missile Test Range in the Russian Far ...

20th August 1968: Warsaw Pact troops invade to end the Prague Spring

At around 11pm on the 20th August 1968, troops from the USSR, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary entered Czechoslovakia in an invasion that brought the Prague Spring to an ...

19th August 1991: August Coup places Gorbachev under house arrest

On the 19th August 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the Soviet Union, was placed under house arrest in what is known as the August ...

18th August 1933: Nazis reveal the Volksempfänger, a low-cost radio receiver, to the public

The Volksempfänger was simple and utilitarian, but made radio technology accessible to the general population and enabled it to be used as a means of disseminating Nazi ...

17th August 1807: The North River Steamboat was launched between New York and Albany

The world’s first commercially successful steamship was launched on the Hudson River between New York and ...

16th August 1793: National Convention of France agrees to the levée en masse, a policy of conscription during the Revolutionary Wars

The levée en masse affected the entire population and represented an unprecedented move by a government, as it extended the responsibility of national defence beyond professional soldiers to the general ...

14th August 1947: Partition of India begins with creation of the independent Dominion of Pakistan

The announcement of the partition led to mass migrations, marred by violence, as Hindus and Sikhs moved to India while Muslims migrated to ...