Scott Allsop's Blog, page 72

12th May 1949: The Soviet Union ends its blockade of West Berlin

Instigated on 24 June the previous year, the Soviet blockade prevented all rail, road, and water transport between Berlin and the West of the ...

11th May 868: The world’s earliest dated printed book created in China

The world’s earliest dated printed book, a copy of the Diamond Sutra, was created in ...

10th May 1857: The start of the Indian Mutiny (First War of Indian Independence)

The Indian Mutiny, also known as the First War of Indian Independence, began in ...

9th May 1887: Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show opened in London at the American Exhibition in West Brompton

This was the first time Buffalo Bill had travelled to Britain, and also marked the first time that many Europeans had seen the fabled ‘Cowboys and ...

8th May 1945: Victory in Europe Day is celebrated as a public holiday to mark the end of the Second World War in Europe

VE Day was declared a public holiday in Britain and was marked with jubilant scenes across the world, much as the end of the First World War had been met with cheers and ...

7th May 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by the German U-Boat, U-20

The British ship RMS Lusitania sank after being attacked by the German U-boat U-20 off the coast of ...

6th May 1937: Hindenburg Disaster sees the German passenger airship LZ 129 engulfed in flames following a mid-air explosion

The landing ropes were dropped at 7.21pm, and shortly afterwards the Hindenburg was engulfed by ...

5th May 1912: Russian Communist newspaper Pravda first published

Pravda, the official newspaper of what became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was first ...

4th May 1932: Al Capone begins life as a convict in Atlanta Federal Penitentiary

Capone was found guilty on 17 October 1931 of Federal Income Tax Evasion and was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment by Judge James Herbert ...

3rd May 1915: John McCrae composes the war poem ‘In Flanders Fields’

Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian doctor, wrote the war poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, which inspired the symbol of the poppy to commemorate members of the military killed in ...