The 'on this day in history' podcast, with a new episode every single day. Featuring historical events that range from the Roman Empire to the World Wide Web, HistoryPod proves that there is always something to be remembered 'on this day'. Written and presented by Scott Allsop, creator of the award-winning www.mrallsophistory.com
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On the 6th October 1981 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group that was enraged by the peace treaty he had negotiated with ...By Scott Allsop
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5th October 1789: The October Days begin when a crowd of Parisian women march to the Palace of Versailles to demand food
The demonstrators soon surrounded the palace and demanded an audience with the king, who met with a small delegation of women, but tensions escalated as the palace was broken into and some royal guards were beaten or even killed by the ...By Scott Allsop
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4th October 1535: Myles Coverdale finishes printing the first complete English translation of the Bible
The printing of the Coverdale Bible was made possible due to the support of English merchants and reformist sympathizers abroad. It made the scriptures accessible to English speakers, marking a significant moment in the Reformation and the spread of ...By Scott Allsop
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The Italian forces were well-equipped with modern weaponry including tanks, aircraft, and chemical weapons, giving them a significant advantage over the Ethiopian army, which was primarily composed of infantry with limited access to modern ...By Scott Allsop
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In return for the crusaders’ unconditional surrender, Saladin agreed that anyone who paid a ransom would be able to leave the city in ...By Scott Allsop
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While heavy rain contributed to a smaller-than-expected crowd of 10,000 visitors on the first day, the Disney World quickly gained popularity and became a global ...By Scott Allsop
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When Suleiman died at the age of 71 in 1566, he ruled over at least 25 million people and was the longest-reigning sultan of the Ottoman ...By Scott Allsop
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The Metropolitan Police, which is often considered to be the first modern police force, began operating in ...By Scott Allsop
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28th September 1924: First aerial circumnavigation of the globe completed by a team from the United States Army Air Service
Two of the four original planes successfully completed the entire circumnavigation from Seattle, travelling approximately 26,345 miles (42,398 kilometres) and stopping in 28 countries along the ...By Scott Allsop
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The shortest papacy in history ended after just twelve days following the death of Pope Urban VII, shortly after he introduced Europe’s first smoking ...By Scott Allsop
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Despite the anger from some Germans, Stresemann’s actions laid the foundation for the economic recovery that Germany experienced up until the onset of the Great ...By Scott Allsop
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Known as Transatlantic No. 1 or TAT-1, the £120 million system actually consisted of two identical cables to allow transmission in each ...By Scott Allsop
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24th September 1946: ‘Containment’ first suggested to President Truman in a report by Clark Clifford and George Elsey
Truman later ordered all copies to be brought to him and locked away since the content was a serious threat to US-Soviet ...By Scott Allsop
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Originally known as “Nintendo Koppai”, Fusajiro Yamauchi established the company to produce hanafuda, a type of traditional Japanese playing ...By Scott Allsop
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The war persisted for nearly eight long and bloody years, leading to the deaths of an estimated half a million soldiers and the same number of ...By Scott Allsop
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Cecil Chubb became the last private owner of Stonehenge, having bought the Neolithic monument at ...By Scott Allsop
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The first Cannes Film Festival was established to celebrate cinema and to promote cultural exchange between countries in the aftermath of World War ...By Scott Allsop
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The Illuminations at the British seaside resort of Blackpool were turned on for the first ...By Scott Allsop
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18th September 1931: The Manchurian Crisis begins after Japanese forces bomb the South Manchuria Railway
The Chinese government appealed to the League of Nations for assistance, and the League promptly passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Japanese ...By Scott Allsop
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The San Francisco Bulletin printed his decree in full, sparking media interest that led to him becoming a celebrity in the ...By Scott Allsop
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Peter Strelzyk and Günter Wetzel, who had expertise in mechanics and construction, worked for nearly a year and a half to construct a balloon capable of carrying their families of four adults and four ...By Scott Allsop
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15th September 1440: Gilles de Rais is arrested and later convicted as one of the world’s earliest serial killers
Gilles de Rais was found guilty of murder, sodomy, and heresy after confessing to his involvement in the murder of children and engagement in occult practices, seeking power and knowledge through alchemy and the invocation of ...By Scott Allsop
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Shortly after midnight in Moscow, the Soviets became the first to successfully send a human-made object to the ...By Scott Allsop
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13th September 1848: Phineas Gage survives an accident in which an explosion propels a large iron bar completely through his head
An explosion propelled a tamping iron into Gage’s left cheek before it passed behind his left eye and exited through the top of his skull, destroying much of his brain’s left frontal ...By Scott Allsop
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12th September 490 BCE: Battle of Marathon is fought during the Greco-Persian Wars (accepted date)
The Persians suffered over 6,000 casualties, while the Athenians lost only 192 men, leading to a decisive Athenian victory that saw the invaders retreat to their ...By Scott Allsop
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Alexander Hamilton was made the first United States Secretary of the Treasury by President George ...By Scott Allsop
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Hungary had been inundated with East Germans since the government began removing the border fence in ...By Scott Allsop
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Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, the USA’s most popular television show, for the first ...By Scott Allsop
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8th September 1888: Peral, the first successful electric-powered submarine, launched by the Spanish navy
Designed by the Spanish engineer and naval officer Isaac Peral, the Peral submarine marked a significant development in naval technology as it featured a revolutionary propulsion system that used electric batteries to power a pair of 30hp electric ...By Scott Allsop
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7th September 1695: English pirate Henry Every captures the Grand Mughal Fleet in one of the most lucrative pirate raids of all time
With the impressive Ganj-i-Sawai incapacitated, Every’s crew boarded the ship and looted the valuable cargo, which is estimated to have been worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at the ...By Scott Allsop
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6th September 1651: Charles II of England hides in an oak tree to escape capture by Parliamentary forces following the Battle of Worcester
With Parliamentary troops searching the surrounding woodland, Royalist soldier William Careless suggested the king should hide in an oak tree, later known as the Royal ...By Scott Allsop
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The Reign of Terror began in France when Bertrand Barère, a member of the Committee of Public Safety, made a speech in favour of it that ended with the exclamation, “Let's make terror the order of the ...By Scott Allsop
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The Little Rock Crisis gained national attention, and was only resolved when President ...By Scott Allsop
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The Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War, was signed by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of ...By Scott Allsop
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2nd September 1792: September Massacres begin during the French Revolution, resulting thousands of deaths
With the prisons full of suspected counter-revolutionaries, the radical journalist and politician Jean-Paul Marat urged the citizens of Paris to take up arms and eliminate these ‘enemies of the ...By Scott Allsop
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1st September 1969: Libyan Revolution brings Muammar Gaddafi to power following the overthrow of King Idris I
In the early hours of September 1, while King Idris I was in Turkey receiving medical treatment, Gaddafi and the Free Officers Movement launched their coup that took control of key institutions in Tripoli and Benghazi, including military bases, government offices, and radio ...By Scott Allsop
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On the 31st August 1888, Mary Ann Nichols – commonly known as Polly – became the first confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper in the Whitechapel area of ...By Scott Allsop
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30th August 1967: Thurgood Marshall confirmed as the first African American Justice of the US Supreme Court
President Johnson nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court on June 13, 1967, and his nomination was confirmed by the Senate with a vote of 69 to 11 on August ...By Scott Allsop
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29th August 1911: Ishi, the last surviving member of the Yahi tribe, emerged from the wilderness in California
Ishi, believed to be the last surviving member of the indigenous Yahi tribe, emerged from the wilderness in ...By Scott Allsop
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28th August 1973: Norrmalmstorg robbery in Stockholm ends, prompting the term ‘Stockholm Syndrome’
During a bank robbery in Stockholm, Jan-Erik Olsson took four bank workers hostage. They later began to exhibit sympathy towards their captors while becoming fearful of the police’s ...By Scott Allsop
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27th August 1896: Shortest recorded war in history fought between Britain and the Sultanate of Zanzibar
The British bombardment was swift and devastating, setting Zanzibar's palace and its buildings ablaze and killing or wounding approximately 500 men and women. The war lasted for barely 40 ...By Scott Allsop
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26th August 1895: The world’s first major AC power plant began producing electricity at Niagara Falls
The world’s first large-scale, alternating current power plant began producing electricity at Niagara ...By Scott Allsop
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Forty-four years after the establishment of Yellowstone, the service was created when President Wilson signed the National Park Service Organic Act on 25 August, ...By Scott Allsop
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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 ...By Scott Allsop
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The Salad Bowl Strike, the largest farm worker strike in U.S. history, began in California’s Salinas ...By Scott Allsop
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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 ...By Scott Allsop
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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 ...By Scott Allsop
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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 ...By Scott Allsop
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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 ...By Scott Allsop
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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 ...By Scott Allsop
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