Scott Allsop's Blog, page 53

20th December 1860: South Carolina becomes the first state to secede from the United States of America

Other states soon followed South Carolina’s lead, setting the stage for the American Civil ...

19th December 1918: Ripley’s ‘Believe it or Not!’ published for the first time in the New York Globe

It has since been adapted into numerous formats and is still printed in more than 40 ...

18th December 1916: End of the Battle of Verdun during the First World War

German forces under the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm had begun the Battle of Verdun with the objective of "bleeding France white" by forcing the French army into a protracted, resource-draining defence of the historic fortress of ...

17th December 1969: Project Blue Book, the United States Air Force’s systematic study of UFOs, officially terminated

Project Blue Book began in 1952 to systematically assess and analyse reports of UFOs, and accumulated data from 12,618 ...

16th December 1944: The Battle of the Bulge begins on the Western Front of the Second World War

The Ardennes Counteroffensive marked a desperate attempt by the Nazis to turn the tide of the war in their favour and was conceived by Hitler ...

15th December 1791: United States Bill of Rights becomes law after ratification by the Virginia General Assembly

The significance of the Bill of Rights lies not only in its immediate impact on the legal framework of the United States but also in its enduring ...

14th December 1972: Gene Cernan becomes the last person on the Moon at the end of the Apollo 17 mission

As Cernan prepared to climb the ladder of the lunar module at the end of the final moonwalk, he paused to deliver the words, "We leave as we came, and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all ...

13th December 1636: The Massachusetts Bay Colony organises a formal militia, laying the foundations for the US National Guard

Some modern-day Massachusetts National Guard regiments are able to trace their history back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony of ...

12th December 2000: Bush v. Gore decision reached by the United States Supreme Court

In a momentous decision the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, effectively halted the ongoing manual recount in Florida and handed Florida's electoral votes to George W. Bush. This secured his victory in the state and, consequently, the ...

11th December 1941: Nazi Germany declares war on the USA

Approximately six hours after Germany’s declaration of war, the United States declared war on ...