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39d4ee7144095ae9ce2d20f5f122f7d3 | https://www.history.com/news/cleaning-of-alamo-reveals-historic-graffiti | Cleaning of Alamo Reveals Historic Graffiti | Cleaning of Alamo Reveals Historic Graffiti
Historic etchings have been uncovered at the Alamo, a legendary former mission and fortress that welcomes some 3 million visitors a year. Carved deep into a wall above the main entrance to the complex’s church, the mysterious markings appear to read “1802,” “WVANCE,” “TEX” an... |
57a4395bb07d2955cdbb6a3416f7661b | https://www.history.com/news/climate-change-study-colonization-death-farming-collapse | How Colonization's Death Toll May Have Affected Earth's Climate | How Colonization's Death Toll May Have Affected Earth's Climate
As the 15th century drew to a close, some 60 million people lived across the Americas, sustaining themselves with the bounty of the vast lands they inhabited.
But with the arrival of the first European settlers, waves of new diseases, along with warfare, s... |
c7e1154ee31c3b1f58a6283763ff7b6f | https://www.history.com/news/clinton-1990s-welfare-reform-facts | How Bill Clinton’s Welfare Reform Changed America | How Bill Clinton’s Welfare Reform Changed America
Bill Clinton‘s 1992 presidential campaign placed welfare reform at its center, claiming that his proposal would “end welfare as we have come to know it.”
Four years later, with a Republican-dominated Congress, Clinton set about to deliver on his campaign promise, overha... |
2dcc55423598b855b7600ff3679cfa36 | https://www.history.com/news/clinton-impeachment-lewinsky-scandal-nixon-resigned-watergate | Why Clinton Survived Impeachment While Nixon Resigned After Watergate | Why Clinton Survived Impeachment While Nixon Resigned After Watergate
Just four presidents have faced impeachment charges in U.S. history—Andrew Johnson in 1868 surrounding the firing of a cabinet member; Richard M. Nixon in 1973 for his Watergate cover-up; Bill Clinton, in 1998-99 for charges of perjury and obstructio... |
2ca66d16c8859eb4c4d0ec354ed2f3c5 | https://www.history.com/news/clotilda-wreck-identified-last-us-slave-ship-alabama | Wreckage of the Last U.S. Slave Ship Is Finally Identified in Alabama | Wreckage of the Last U.S. Slave Ship Is Finally Identified in Alabama
After much searching, researchers have finally located the last U.S. slave ship, the Clotilda, at the bottom of the Mobile River in Alabama. The announcement comes one year after the publication of Zora Neale Hurston’s lost interview with a survivor ... |
3a4909aabdf2b0aca6dbbf1572b965e1 | https://www.history.com/news/clovis-migration-discovery | Why Did the Clovis People Mysteriously Vanish? | Why Did the Clovis People Mysteriously Vanish?
Ancient people of North America’s Clovis culture migrated to South America roughly 11,000 years ago, then mysteriously vanished, researchers have discovered.
In a new study, researchers analyzed DNA from 49 people living over a span of 10,000 years in Belize, Brazil, the C... |
67244fea153cde3cc61d19411616fe13 | https://www.history.com/news/clue-game-origin-wwii | The Game Clue Was Borne of Boredom During WWII Air-Raid Blackouts | The Game Clue Was Borne of Boredom During WWII Air-Raid Blackouts
Before Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett and Colonel Mustard gathered on a game board to claim their first victim—wielding a revolver, a rope or a lead pipe—a British musician named Anthony Pratt was watching murder-mystery scenarios unfold in European count... |
0aeb177851bb7c5e89a591c2336b49df | https://www.history.com/news/cola-wars-pepsi-new-coke-failure | How the 'Blood Feud' Between Coke and Pepsi Escalated During the 1980s Cola Wars | How the 'Blood Feud' Between Coke and Pepsi Escalated During the 1980s Cola Wars
The great Cola Wars of the 1980s were a battle between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo for dominance. The disastrous introduction of “New Coke” in 1985 appeared to set Coca-Cola back. Yet by the end of the year, it was clear the “mistake” had actual... |
811a4d07c58ab89d403c8eaf389eb03a | https://www.history.com/news/cold-war-fallout-shelter-survival-rations-food | At Cold War Nuclear Fallout Shelters, These Foods Were Stocked for Survival | At Cold War Nuclear Fallout Shelters, These Foods Were Stocked for Survival
What were postwar Americans planning to eat in the event of a nuclear attack? Hint: It wasn’t very appetizing.
With Cold War tensions escalating in the 1950s, the threat of a Soviet nuclear attack cast a terrifying shadow over everyday American... |
244eb3bf7754344574f8d2a0ca72b840 | https://www.history.com/news/cold-war-soviet-spy-dmitri-polyakov | The Spy Who Kept the Cold War From Boiling Over | The Spy Who Kept the Cold War From Boiling Over
In 1984, U.S. spies monitoring the Soviet press found an alarming piece in a Russian magazine. It wasn’t an expose on officials in the Soviet Union or a worrying account about Cold War attitudes toward the United States. Rather, it was a recipe for coot, a small water bir... |
36728c89a02327fd5c9a00184ec5bf99 | https://www.history.com/news/coldest-day-temperatures-in-us-history | The Coldest Month in U.S. History | The Coldest Month in U.S. History
Snow weighed down the fronds of palm trees of Fort Myers, Florida, while an icy crust formed on the Mississippi River in New Orleans. Nearly three feet of snow buried the nation’s capital, and ice encased steamboats on Lake Michigan. There’s cold—and then there was the Great Arctic Out... |
894753254cf6f59a40119b5146f5973f | https://www.history.com/news/college-footballs-most-lopsided-game | College Football’s Most Lopsided Game | College Football’s Most Lopsided Game
Few, if any, of the hundreds of Georgia Tech University football fans who filed into Atlanta’s Grant Field on October 7, 1916, expected a nail-biter for that afternoon’s game with tiny Cumberland College. “Local Eleven Should Have Easy Sailing in Today’s Game,” read the headline in... |
a9a3ee9ca8a320b939f5e1b11b64f0b0 | https://www.history.com/news/colonists-native-americans-smallpox-blankets | Did Colonists Give Infected Blankets to Native Americans as Biological Warfare? | Did Colonists Give Infected Blankets to Native Americans as Biological Warfare?
North American colonists’ warfare against Native Americans often was horrifyingly brutal. But one method they appear to have used—perhaps just once—shocks even more than all the bloody slaughter: The gifting of blankets and linens contamina... |
a56f3ee06952fdb086d79be49f4957fb | https://www.history.com/news/columbia-university-protest-occupation-1968 | How Columbia’s Student Uprising of 1968 Was Sparked by a Segregated Gym | How Columbia’s Student Uprising of 1968 Was Sparked by a Segregated Gym
If you walked across the campus of Columbia University in April 1968, you may have been handed a typewritten flyer inviting you to a campus protest. “The big steal is on,” it declared. Columbia was in the process of stealing land and resources from... |
230dc174bbf2feff0b078020621a9cba | https://www.history.com/news/columbus-day-controversy | Why Columbus Day Courts Controversy | Why Columbus Day Courts Controversy
More than 500 years after he "discovered" the New World—kicking off centuries of exploration and colonization of the Americas—Christopher Columbus is honored with a federal holiday on the second Monday of every October. However, as historians have continued to dig into the life of Ch... |
46e586c65acf04ff74b1dcaf370aca99 | https://www.history.com/news/columbus-day-statues-italian-american-controversy | Christopher Columbus: How The Explorer's Legend Grew—and Then Drew Fire | Christopher Columbus: How The Explorer's Legend Grew—and Then Drew Fire
Christopher Columbus has long been exalted as a heroic figure in American history: the first explorer to establish a European presence in the New World. Americans have celebrated his arrival as far back as 1792, the 300th anniversary of his landing... |
d77414231f866f20cfa71e5f477b8ffb | https://www.history.com/news/columbus-letter-stolen-decades-ago-returns-to-italy | Columbus Letter Stolen Decades Ago Returns to Italy | Columbus Letter Stolen Decades Ago Returns to Italy
Christopher Columbus landed on the island he called San Salvador, in the Bahamas, in October 1492. He spent the next five months exploring the Caribbean, particularly the islands of Juana (Cuba) and Hispaniola before sailing back to Spain to share news of his fantasti... |
b0e0d6afa3b79c315aa80d4312f6f7ca | https://www.history.com/news/comfort-women-japan-military-brothels-korea | The Brutal History of Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’ | The Brutal History of Japan’s ‘Comfort Women’
Lee Ok-seon was running an errand for her parents when it happened: a group of uniformed men burst out of a car, attacked her and dragged her into the vehicle. As they drove away, she had no idea that she would never see her parents again.
She was 14 years old.
That fateful... |
2511a6cd87045dd74732a519d3d1e3ad | https://www.history.com/news/communist-leaders-photos | Communist Leaders and Dictators Gallery | Communist Leaders and Dictators Gallery
Communism as an ideology arose in the wake of the first Industrial Revolution when overworked, underpaid workers felt exploited and sought better representation in government. The Communist Manifesto, as laid out by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, called for a classless society w... |
dfdb9ad23c27b302ed75b2b63535ae79 | https://www.history.com/news/confederacy-in-brazil-civil-war | The Confederacy Made Its Last Stand in Brazil | The Confederacy Made Its Last Stand in Brazil
By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, much of the South lay in ruins, physically, economically and socially. Fears of Yankee reprisals and racial conflict percolated through society. Enslaved people had been freed; Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned. Fo... |
4585fa7ceacf6df1d3c099a94397104f | https://www.history.com/news/confederate-gold-jefferson-davis | Chasing the Myth of Confederate Gold | Chasing the Myth of Confederate Gold
With Union troops closing in on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, in early April 1865, President Jefferson Davis and the rest of his government fled southward, allegedly carrying with them a considerable amount of gold, silver and other coins. But when Union officers ca... |
8a1cdeeec4503948a0c74e1d21e5c433 | https://www.history.com/news/confederate-school-names-changing | Not Just Monuments: Schools Named After Confederates Are Rebranding | Not Just Monuments: Schools Named After Confederates Are Rebranding
The school board in Richmond, Virginia, announced this week that the city’s only school named after a Confederate general will change its name to Barack Obama Elementary. The decision to honor the first black president over J.E.B. Stuart—whom the schoo... |
b51102f596f1fef97e7c377002be0abd | https://www.history.com/news/congress-debates-manhattan-project-national-park | Congress Debates Manhattan Project National Park | Congress Debates Manhattan Project National Park
Less than a month after that first A-bomb exploded at the Trinity test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico, U.S. planes dropped two other bombs produced by the Manhattan Project on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Their lethal force killed some 120,000 people im... |
f4ecbea28c5317a9aef9ba2d8390a6c9 | https://www.history.com/news/congress-passes-13th-amendment-150-years-ago | Congress Passes 13th Amendment, 150 Years Ago | Congress Passes 13th Amendment, 150 Years Ago
Although he believed slavery to be immoral, Abraham Lincoln was not an abolitionist when the Civil War broke out in 1861. The president’s stated goal in the early years of the war was strictly the preservation of the Union. Granting freedom from bondage to the nearly 4 mill... |
184ae85eab58ace3c9109aea50cc4d51 | https://www.history.com/news/contents-of-boston-time-capsule-buried-by-samuel-adams-and-paul-revere-unveiled | Contents of Boston Time Capsule Buried by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere Unveiled | Contents of Boston Time Capsule Buried by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere Unveiled
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and other dignitaries were on hand to witness the opening of one of the nation’s oldest time capsules yesterday evening (January 6) in the Art of the Americas wing at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA)... |
3932a1f87ea2c8f1c0709501cc4606a3 | https://www.history.com/news/conviction-for-hate-crime-34-years-later | The Hate Crime Solved After 34 Years | The Hate Crime Solved After 34 Years
One night in October 1983, two white men waited outside a local dance club near Sunny Side, Georgia for a black man, Timothy Coggins. Coggins was young, exuberant, loved to dance—and was known to date white women. When Coggins emerged, according to court testimony, they lured him in... |
e57e70c6f03a8d90caaf7af2e5208973 | https://www.history.com/news/could-compromise-have-prevented-the-civil-war | Could Compromise Have Prevented the Civil War? | Could Compromise Have Prevented the Civil War?
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly stirred up controversy on Monday night when, appearing on the Fox News program “The Ingraham Angle,” he said “the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War.”
As many historians have already noted, historically speaking, it’... |
8981d280a63e7d8ca96a6a1df6d25ffe | https://www.history.com/news/creepy-bronze-hand-found-england-roman-cult | Creepy Bronze Hand Found in England Connected to Ancient Roman Cult | Creepy Bronze Hand Found in England Connected to Ancient Roman Cult
Archaeologists have discovered a bronze, child-sized hand at Vindolanda, an ancient Roman auxiliary fort in Northumberland, England. Excavators unearthed the unsettlingly lifelike hand near a temple dedicated to the god Jupiter Dolichenus, suggesting i... |
f8ff1294c3ae13818baa347bf21012ca | https://www.history.com/news/crowdfunding-campaign-launches-for-historic-space-mission | Crowdfunding Campaign Launches for Historic Space Mission | Crowdfunding Campaign Launches for Historic Space Mission
Project Blue isn’t your traditional space mission. Unlike the wide-ranging, long-running projects NASA is known for (think Hubble, Kepler and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope), the collaborative science consortium has a far more specific focus and objecti... |
cd830138241cb506797462014de3100f | https://www.history.com/news/ct-scan-reveals-mummified-monk-inside-ancient-buddha-statue | CT Scan Reveals Mummified Monk Inside Ancient Buddha Statue | CT Scan Reveals Mummified Monk Inside Ancient Buddha Statue
The Meander Medical Centre in the Dutch town of Amersfoort has plenty of experience treating senior citizens, but none nearly as old as the 1,000-year-old patient who came through its doors in early September 2014 for tests and a checkup.
Researchers brought a... |
50c1c56cf7cb374f8db71a1018f6632a | https://www.history.com/news/cuba-after-castro-miguel-diaz-canel | How the Castro Family Dominated Cuba for Nearly 60 Years | How the Castro Family Dominated Cuba for Nearly 60 Years
For nearly 60 years, the Castro family controlled Cuba. But in April 2018, it was announced that the island nation long dominated by the specter of its former dictator, Fidel Castro, and his family will get a new leader. On April 19, 2018, the 86-year-old Raúl Ca... |
8bb7f6ed4895086a92213108e2e7c287 | https://www.history.com/news/cultural-sites-heritage-wars | 7 Cultural Sites Damaged or Destroyed by War | 7 Cultural Sites Damaged or Destroyed by War
During World War II, countries on both sides of the fight destroyed a number of important cultural sites in Europe and Asia. In 1942, the Nazi Lufwaffe leveled the Royal Opera House in Valletta, Malta. And in 1945, the United States hollowed out the Prefectural Industrial Pr... |
7c94eefa59490ef0ccd94ef9c0168c08 | https://www.history.com/news/curse-of-27-or-is-it-only-rock-n-roll | Curse of 27, or Is It Only Rock ‘n’ Roll? | Curse of 27, or Is It Only Rock ‘n’ Roll?
They lived hard and died far too young. From Amy Winehouse to Kurt Cobain to Jim Morrison, the list of famous musicians who died at age 27 is tragically long. It's so long, in fact, that it prompted researchers to investigate whether there could be a statistical explanation.
Le... |
9f796a890b24ae75290bb7ad2bfc64d4 | https://www.history.com/news/d-day-7-surprising-facts | 7 Surprising Facts About D-Day | 7 Surprising Facts About D-Day
The legacy of D-Day resonates through history: It was the largest-ever amphibious military invasion. Allied forces faced rough weather and fierce German gunfire as they stormed Normandy’s coast. Despite tough odds and high casualties, Allied forces ultimately won the battle and helped tur... |
c577edb67345dba4b0e3d49b9abc2d77 | https://www.history.com/news/d-day-hero-medal-of-honor-waverly-woodson | A Black Medic Was Hailed as a D-Day Hero. Was He Deprived of a Medal of Honor? | A Black Medic Was Hailed as a D-Day Hero. Was He Deprived of a Medal of Honor?
Heavy machine-gun fire greeted a nauseous and bloody Waverly B. Woodson, Jr. as he disembarked onto Omaha Beach the morning of June 6, 1944. A German shell had just blasted apart his landing craft, killing the man next to him and peppering h... |
e62964fc574e4994a0c5e577d4635e60 | https://www.history.com/news/d-day-hitler-germany-defenses-miscalculations | What Hitler Got Wrong About D-Day | What Hitler Got Wrong About D-Day
As early as 1942, Adolf Hitler knew that a large-scale Allied invasion of France could turn the tide of the war in Europe. But thanks in large part to a brilliant Allied deception campaign and Hitler’s fanatical grip on Nazi military decisions, the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944 became... |
47b2a896fab96e2e9c398fb8dd49c986 | https://www.history.com/news/d-day-important-world-war-ii-victory | How D-Day Changed the Course of WWII | How D-Day Changed the Course of WWII
The D-Day military invasion that helped to end World War II was one the most ambitious and consequential military campaigns in human history. In its strategy and scope—and its enormous stakes for the future of the free world—historians regard it among the greatest military achieveme... |
197c6e9fd7c921fa4925202b789e4605 | https://www.history.com/news/d-day-normandy-wwii-facts | D-Day: Facts About the 1944 WWII Invasion of Normandy | D-Day: Facts About the 1944 WWII Invasion of Normandy
Without the brilliant planning and heroic sacrifices of the D-Day invasion, the Allies may have never defeated the Nazi forces in Europe. On June 6, 1944, more than 156,000 American, British and Canadian troops stormed 50 miles of Normandy's fiercely defended beache... |
ffe464c9908399b07b45cb43d637b9f3 | https://www.history.com/news/d-day-roosevelt-churchill-doubts-planning | Churchill and Roosevelt Spent Years Planning D-Day | Churchill and Roosevelt Spent Years Planning D-Day
The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 is considered one of the most consequential developments of World War II and instrumental in defeating the Axis powers. 156,000 troops landed on the beach as part of Operation Overlord, but before they would carry out the... |
f98e054408969567e7efaf121d7b628e | https://www.history.com/news/d-days-deadly-dress-rehearsal | D-Day’s Deadly Dress Rehearsal | D-Day’s Deadly Dress Rehearsal
In the early morning hours of April 28, 1944, an Allied fleet slinked toward the coast of southern England. Along with a lone British corvette, the flotilla included eight American tank landing ships, or LSTs, each one of them filled to the brim with soldiers from the U.S. Army’s VII Corp... |
b743fcb3da7aee13e90bf6bb04fd48ad | https://www.history.com/news/dachau-concentration-camp-liberation | The Horrifying Discovery of Dachau Concentration Camp—And Its Liberation | The Horrifying Discovery of Dachau Concentration Camp—And Its Liberation
When the men of the 42nd “Rainbow” Division rolled into the Bavarian town of Dachau at the tail end of World War II, they expected to find an abandoned training facility for Adolf Hitler’s elite SS forces, or maybe a POW camp.
What they discovered... |
cce8c3208943ccf7afb451e0cdaddf4f | https://www.history.com/news/dan-rather-reflects-on-his-emotional-visit-to-two-military-cemeteries | Dan Rather Reflects on His Emotional Visit to Two Military Cemeteries | Dan Rather Reflects on His Emotional Visit to Two Military Cemeteries
Over the years, I have been to many military cemeteries, and I am always overcome with waves of emotion. This is especially true of the cemeteries that are filled, not with the tombs of long-lived veterans who earned a military burial for their servi... |
534c45627fc09b46a5cd02ac4d055d66 | https://www.history.com/news/dangerous-foods | Dangerous Foods | Dangerous Foods
These days, barely a week goes by without some new food-related horror story popping up in the media. Horsemeat in your taco? Check. E. coli in your hamburger? Got it. From mercury in fish to salmonella in chicken, it can seem like we’re living in a golden age for unsafe foods. But what about foods that... |
6caa11bd8090a8e2c1a0e2f026c2e38b | https://www.history.com/news/danish-viking-tomb-reveals-unprecedented-gems | Danish Viking Tomb Reveals Unprecedented Gems | Danish Viking Tomb Reveals Unprecedented Gems
Originally discovered in 2012, the Viking burial site in Hørning, Denmark consists of two graves and a tomb that is believed to contain two or three burial chambers. Excavations have started on the first of the chambers, and so far, the archaeologists have been astounded by... |
d6939c4eee267e380c34c3d84fc0fd87 | https://www.history.com/news/dazzle-camouflage-world-war-1 | WWI ‘Dazzle' Camouflage Protected Ships by Confusing the Enemy | WWI ‘Dazzle' Camouflage Protected Ships by Confusing the Enemy
One of Germany’s most feared and effective weapons during World War I was its fleet of submarines—known as U-boats—that roamed the Atlantic, sneaking up underwater on British merchant ships and destroying them with torpedoes. During the course of the war, t... |
05201602fade1fa3eddbaa3e2309c079 | https://www.history.com/news/deadliest-events-united-states | The Deadliest Events in US History | The Deadliest Events in US History
It’s a grim but necessary calculation, counting those Americans who have died in service to their country, as targets of terrorist attacks, amid natural disasters or as victims of pandemic disease. Here are major events from history that have inflicted a devastating toll on American l... |
9953188042b8bfb9718a5d895528e1fc | https://www.history.com/news/deadliest-tornado-tri-state-1925-united-states | The Deadliest Tornado in U.S. History | The Deadliest Tornado in U.S. History
Overturned trains. Timber found miles away from where it had been stored. Trees felled. Fires and close calls. A letter that flew almost 100 miles. On a normal day in the Midwest in 1925, any one of these stories would have been worthy of front-page coverage. But March 18, 1925 was... |
6b4f1577f26c16012e7c2cf2a31db2ed | https://www.history.com/news/death-penalty-jamestown-virginia-colony | Was the First Person Executed in the Colonies a Mutineer or a Spy? | Was the First Person Executed in the Colonies a Mutineer or a Spy?
The seven original councillors of what would soon become the colony of Jamestown, Virginia, had voyaged for four long months between Great Britain and the New World. After nearly three weeks of looking, they chose the land for their new settlement of ov... |
11925c6112db986658f8706be32f02ac | https://www.history.com/news/deeper-roots-of-northern-slavery-unearthed | Deeper Roots of Northern Slavery Unearthed | Deeper Roots of Northern Slavery Unearthed
In the winter of 1757, one of the bluest of Colonial Connecticut’s bluebloods set sail from New London. Colonial governors sprouted from Dudley Saltonstall’s family tree, and his ancestors included John Winthrop, the Puritan founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Sir Ric... |
4fdb3b3f3bae9f544aad93da22cec4e7 | https://www.history.com/news/defense-production-act-cold-war-emergency-truman | Why Congress Passed the Defense Production Act in 1950 | Why Congress Passed the Defense Production Act in 1950
“Are YOU doing all you can?” “We can do it!” During World War II, Americans at home were reminded to do their part by splashy propaganda posters that emphasized pulling together for the national good. Industry did its part, too, thanks to wartime laws that prioriti... |
1480b3a8e3db95d41065b3410cbf3c1a | https://www.history.com/news/denisovans-interbreeding-discovery | Early Humans Slept Around with More than Just Neanderthals | Early Humans Slept Around with More than Just Neanderthals
It’s been known for some time that our modern human ancestors interbred with other early hominin groups like the Neanderthals. But it turns out they were even more promiscuous than we thought.
New DNA research has unexpectedly revealed that modern humans (Homo ... |
a0d0aba47dd46871482254b7e028daf2 | https://www.history.com/news/desegregation-busing-schools | What Led to Desegregation Busing—and Did It Work? | What Led to Desegregation Busing—and Did It Work?
Kids have been riding buses to get to school since the 1920s. But the practice became politically charged when desegregation busing, starting in the 1950s, attempted to integrate schools.
The 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Tope... |
1926ffaea4cc395962c3757b13934a0e | https://www.history.com/news/did-a-premature-obituary-inspire-the-nobel-prize | Did a Premature Obituary Inspire the Nobel Prize? | Did a Premature Obituary Inspire the Nobel Prize?
On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament at Paris’ Swedish-Norwegian Club. The 62-year-old industrialist had previously mused about using some of his personal fortune to support the work of scientists and inventors, but the document he produ... |
0805f7ecb34f1277c02dcad6296476ed | https://www.history.com/news/did-an-apple-really-fall-on-isaac-newtons-head | Did an apple really fall on Isaac Newton’s head? | Did an apple really fall on Isaac Newton’s head?
Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree when he was bonked on the head by a falling piece of fruit, a 17th-century “aha moment” that prompted him to suddenly come up with his law of gravity. In reality, things didn’t go down quite like tha... |
051132ea5be1cddff4b6163f3d6b1464 | https://www.history.com/news/did-an-irish-monk-discover-america | Did an Irish Monk 'Discover' America? | Did an Irish Monk 'Discover' America?
Fifty years after the death of St. Patrick on March 17, 461 A.D., another Celtic saint continued the work of converting pagan Ireland to Christianity. Born near Tralee in County Kerry in 484 A.D., St. Brendan the Navigator traveled tirelessly to evangelize and establish monasteries... |
051df1d9ab1ab62d0533dcdd97f4e5c5 | https://www.history.com/news/did-anne-boleyn-have-extra-fingers | Did Anne Boleyn have extra fingers? | Did Anne Boleyn have extra fingers?
Wild rumors and speculation have always surrounded the life of Anne Boleyn, the young noblewoman who became King Henry VIII’s second wife in 1533 only to be cast aside and beheaded three years later. But among the many mysteries concerning the doomed queen, perhaps the most unusual i... |
fbfaa842dd395cac6235eb7f26782bff | https://www.history.com/news/did-betsy-ross-really-make-the-first-american-flag | Did Betsy Ross really make the first American flag? | Did Betsy Ross really make the first American flag?
Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross is famous for making the first American flag. But is the account of her contribution to the American Revolution simply a legend?
Although she purportedly sewed the first flag in 1776, Ross wasn’t credited with this work during her lifetime. In f... |
090ce73b92a442acebfb842398860818 | https://www.history.com/news/did-early-humans-stand-upright-to-punch-better | Did Early Humans Stand Upright to Punch Better? | Did Early Humans Stand Upright to Punch Better?
When human ancestors first adopted their upright posture some 4 million years ago, the transition from four-limbed lumbering to bipedal striding came with some disadvantages. The shift produced skeletal adaptations that made them more susceptible to back, leg and joint in... |
5779b3bbad58ffe0b154c3d395937b78 | https://www.history.com/news/did-four-winged-birds-and-dinos-fly-the-ancient-skies | Did Four-Winged Birds and Dinos Fly the Ancient Skies? | Did Four-Winged Birds and Dinos Fly the Ancient Skies?
If bird watchers could travel back 100 million years, they would see double, according to new research. At the dawn of bird history, early fliers sported not one but two sets of feathers, Chinese paleontologists claim in the latest issue of Science. Presenting an a... |
e2fb2b5d6928bf1120672920262f8ae9 | https://www.history.com/news/did-franz-ferdinands-assassination-cause-world-war-i | Did Franz Ferdinand’s Assassination Cause World War I? | Did Franz Ferdinand’s Assassination Cause World War I?
The causes of World War I, also known as the Great War, have been debated since it ended. Officially, Germany shouldered much of the blame for the conflict, which caused four years of unprecedented slaughter. But a series of complicated factors caused the war, incl... |
5e0c3c12f661b9b7c6aa4f9b567f3bbe | https://www.history.com/news/did-george-washington-knock-back-a-cold-one-here | Did George Washington Knock Back a Cold One Here? | Did George Washington Knock Back a Cold One Here?
Established in the mid-18th century, the Bull’s Head Tavern was located on the outskirts of the city (which at the time consisted solely of Manhattan) in an area that featured a slaughterhouse and served as a butcher’s district. The tavern stepped into history on Novemb... |
cb5e386b03d540f399f2400b8b2f0066 | https://www.history.com/news/did-george-washington-really-free-mount-vernons-slaves | Did George Washington Really Free Mount Vernon’s Enslaved Workers? | Did George Washington Really Free Mount Vernon’s Enslaved Workers?
When George Washington died in 1799, a new nation ground to a halt. Mourning Americans wore black crepe armbands. Church bells tolled. And at Mount Vernon, the first president’s estate, wrote a visitor, “Every one was affected, but none so much as his d... |
46a861ffca8821bd8a6b6c11a2d88944 | https://www.history.com/news/did-marco-polo-visit-alaska | Did Marco Polo Visit Alaska? | Did Marco Polo Visit Alaska?
In 1271, a 17-year-old boy left Venice with his father and uncle to travel east along the Silk Road. Marco Polo did not return home until 24 years later, and while the self-described “wayfarer” was hardly the first European to have visited the Far East, he instantly became the most famous a... |
3a9ff56abae95446fe9c7a878e8705d3 | https://www.history.com/news/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake | Did Marie-Antoinette really say “Let them eat cake”? | Did Marie-Antoinette really say “Let them eat cake”?
It’s one of the most famous quotes in history. At some point around 1789, when being told that her French subjects had no bread, Marie-Antoinette (bride of France’s King Louis XVI) supposedly sniffed, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”—“Let them eat cake.” With that call... |
142cdbc8f6574b7bcf8aac465f8f804b | https://www.history.com/news/did-neanderthals-create-worlds-oldest-cave-paintings | Did Neanderthals Create World’s Oldest Cave Paintings? | Did Neanderthals Create World’s Oldest Cave Paintings?
Once considered intellectually inferior to modern humans, Neanderthals have enjoyed an image makeover in recent years thanks to new research. Experts now think the stocky hunters crafted complex tools, buried their dead, spoke a language and expressed themselves ar... |
46e867fcc0afb5010c240a13f71149d9 | https://www.history.com/news/did-neanderthals-die-out-much-earlier-than-we-thought | Did Neanderthals Die Out Much Earlier Than We Thought? | Did Neanderthals Die Out Much Earlier Than We Thought?
As part of the study, which appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), an international team of scientists re-examined previously tested animal fossils from Neanderthal-era sites in southern Iberia (modern-day Spain), a region believed t... |
a3b5c1bdb215ea0366d163700c5d0578 | https://www.history.com/news/did-nero-really-fiddle-while-rome-burned | Did Nero Really Fiddle While Rome Burned? | Did Nero Really Fiddle While Rome Burned?
In July of 64 A.D., a great fire ravaged Rome for six days, destroying 70 percent of the city and leaving half its population homeless. According to a well-known expression, Rome’s emperor at the time, the decadent and unpopular Nero, “fiddled while Rome burned.” The expression... |
6250b27206645921443fb6acedc72935 | https://www.history.com/news/did-north-carolina-issue-the-first-declaration-of-independence | Did North Carolina Issue the First Declaration of Independence? | Did North Carolina Issue the First Declaration of Independence?
In April 1819, a provocative article appeared in the pages of the Raleigh Register newspaper in North Carolina. “It is probably not known to many of our readers that the citizens of Mecklenburg County, in this State, made a Declaration of Independence more... |
5958478b6f5c9d9bf6e7c97bdcf4dfd6 | https://www.history.com/news/did-rabbits-kill-the-neanderthals | Did Rabbits Kill the Neanderthals? | Did Rabbits Kill the Neanderthals?
What happened to the Neanderthals? Our close evolutionary cousins dominated Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia for hundreds of thousands of years before dying out an estimated 30,000 years ago. Along the way, the stocky hominins developed a rich culture, stalked many a wooly ma... |
447d59c890ab8c5a0cd5510a76f65801 | https://www.history.com/news/did-the-aztecs-really-practice-human-sacrifice | Did the Aztecs really practice human sacrifice? | Did the Aztecs really practice human sacrifice?
They did. Human sacrifice was an integral part of the Aztec religion—as it was for many other societies in the New World, including the Maya. One of the central beliefs of the Aztec world was that Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun, needed constant nourishment in the for... |
cfa7edd12ac57242df9e20506383c355 | https://www.history.com/news/did-the-cia-secretly-dose-people-with-lsd | Did the CIA secretly dose people with LSD? | Did the CIA secretly dose people with LSD?
The hippies and other counterculture movements weren’t the only groups to experiment with mind-altering substances. Starting in 1953, the Central Intelligence Agency conducted research on psychedelic drugs as part of a top-secret behavior modification program codenamed MK-ULTR... |
818eb83fe198e455d05affe6e0134493 | https://www.history.com/news/did-the-first-human-ancestor-emerge-in-europe-not-africa | Did the First Human Ancestor Emerge in Europe, Not Africa? | Did the First Human Ancestor Emerge in Europe, Not Africa?
According to the generally accepted story of human evolution, the human lineage split from that of apes some 7 million years ago in Africa. Hominins (early humans) are believed to have stayed put in Africa until about 2 million years ago, when they migrated fir... |
ceae34ff2c69de6c851216b29f5327b3 | https://www.history.com/news/did-viking-warriors-bare-groovy-teeth | Did Viking Warriors Bare Groovy Teeth? | Did Viking Warriors Bare Groovy Teeth?
Since its 2009 discovery in the English county of Dorset, a 1,000-year-old burial pit thought to contain the remains of headless Viking warriors has yielded one surprising find after another. First, radiocarbon dating revealed that the remains were interred during the late Saxon e... |
fa21ce1720e7abd413006edeae31b7a2 | https://www.history.com/news/did-vikings-really-wear-horned-helmets | Did Vikings really wear horned helmets? | Did Vikings really wear horned helmets?
Forget almost every Viking costume you’ve ever seen. Yes, the pugnacious Scandinavians probably sported headgear when they marched into battle, but there’s no reason to believe it was festooned with horns. In depictions dating from the Viking age—between the eighth and 11th centu... |
6272544ee7a4ccc77f1f50ca1ec2bebd | https://www.history.com/news/did-william-henry-harrisons-inauguration-speech-kill-him | Did William Henry Harrison’s inauguration speech kill him? | Did William Henry Harrison’s inauguration speech kill him?
It’s common wisdom that William Henry Harrison delivered one killer of a speech after being sworn in as the ninth president of the United States—and it had nothing to do with anything he said. Ignoring the advice of vigilant mothers everywhere, “Old Tippecanoe”... |
cc8302e603e3be94c05a4bde7f82a7cf | https://www.history.com/news/did-william-howard-taft-really-get-stuck-in-a-bathtub | Did William Howard Taft Really Get Stuck in a Bathtub? | Did William Howard Taft Really Get Stuck in a Bathtub?
Topping the scales at over 350 pounds, William Howard Taft was a true political heavyweight. Although “Big Bill” was the only man to serve as both U.S. president and Supreme Court chief justice, what most remember about Taft is that he supposedly became stuck in th... |
6955fc5dd23128b9e5d228cec6f78c44 | https://www.history.com/news/did-world-war-ii-launch-the-civil-rights-movement | Did World War II Launch the Civil Rights Movement? | Did World War II Launch the Civil Rights Movement?
The civil rights movement was a fight for equal rights under the law for African Americans during the 1950s and 1960s. Centuries of prejudice and discrimination fueled the crusade, but World War II and its aftermath were arguably the main catalysts.
A. Philip Randolph’... |
2dfee0fa20f466e4d90612e497ca036a | https://www.history.com/news/digging-up-the-dead-historys-most-famous-exhumations | Digging Up the Dead: History’s Most Famous Exhumations | Digging Up the Dead: History’s Most Famous Exhumations
1. Jesse James The infamous Wild West outlaw may have died in 1882, but his legend lived on—as did persistent rumors that James faked his own death. Although it was widely accepted that fellow gang member Bob Ford shot and killed James to collect the bounty on his ... |
48c50bdfc72a901ed39290089df25de5 | https://www.history.com/news/dining-across-america-in-rails-golden-age | Dining Across America in Rail’s Golden Age | Dining Across America in Rail’s Golden Age
Long before supersonic jets made it easy to cross the country, train travel was the elegant way to get from place to place in the United States. During the golden age of American trains, their sleek, opulent interiors featured plush seats, porters for your every need and gleam... |
8257ddb8618d6c345f07a13de81db98c | https://www.history.com/news/dino-temperature-puzzle-scientists-get-warmer | Dino Temperature Puzzle: Scientists Get Warmer | Dino Temperature Puzzle: Scientists Get Warmer
“Originally, dinosaurs were considered to have been cold-blooded animals because they are reptiles, just like salamanders or crocodiles,” explained Thomas Tütken, a biochemist from the Steinmann Institut at the University of Bonn in Germany, who participated in the study. ... |
50cd93fee6b469a471cbd615c03ecbea | https://www.history.com/news/dinosaur-asteroid-may-have-sent-life-into-space | Dinosaur Asteroid May Have Sent Life Into Space | Dinosaur Asteroid May Have Sent Life Into Space
Astronomers have long been intrigued by the idea of panspermia, or the theory that organisms can travel around the solar system on comets and debris from meteor strikes. Now, advances in computer technology have made it possible to simulate the journeys of such objects an... |
20f23de2c659c32a91cc844c98829845 | https://www.history.com/news/dinosaur-egg-study-suggests-new-evolutionary-link-with-birds | Dinosaur Egg Study Suggests New Evolutionary Link With Birds | Dinosaur Egg Study Suggests New Evolutionary Link With Birds
Troodon, officially Troodon formosus, was a small coelurosaurian dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous period, around 75 million years ago. Measuring about 6.5 feet (2 meters) long and weighing in at about 110 pounds (50 kilograms), it walked and ran... |
421755efbea7d5e76a99a1f92d0f0d20 | https://www.history.com/news/dinosaur-footprints-discovery-england | 85 'Incredibly Detailed' Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in England | 85 'Incredibly Detailed' Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in England
A series of strong storms have revealed more than 85 dinosaur footprints in the county of East Sussex, England. At least seven different species left these tracks over 100 million years ago, making them the most diverse and detailed collection from the ... |
e8a3e882068025146c58e79fae6cc228 | https://www.history.com/news/dinosaur-sites-under-siege-by-poachers | Dinosaur Sites Under Siege By Poachers | Dinosaur Sites Under Siege By Poachers
In an article published this week in The New York Times, one paleontologist said about the poaching issue: “This is huge. It isn’t just one or two specimens. A fair proportion of very good fossils just disappear from knowledge, and few are ever seen again.”
Dinosaurs first roamed ... |
bf41ec59f0965a0057ea29fb445d1dd7 | https://www.history.com/news/discovery-of-oldest-human-fossil-fills-evolutionary-gap | Discovery of Oldest Human Fossil Fills Evolutionary Gap | Discovery of Oldest Human Fossil Fills Evolutionary Gap
Under a searing African sun on January 29, 2013, an international team of paleoanthropologists scoured a dusty plateau looking for clues to the origins of mankind. Aboveground, the surrounding Ethiopian landscape at the northern end of the Rift Valley looked barre... |
a603cb9f610b3d516ff2925a725bfcf0 | https://www.history.com/news/divers-excavate-greek-shipwreck-dubbed-ancient-titanic | Divers Excavate Greek Shipwreck Dubbed “Ancient Titanic” | Divers Excavate Greek Shipwreck Dubbed “Ancient Titanic”
In the spring of 1900, a group of Greek sponge divers were returning from North Africa when they were blown off course during a storm and forced to take shelter near the small island of Antikythera, located between Crete and Kythera in the Aegean Sea. While looki... |
028540a61361026961ecb22c007be556 | https://www.history.com/news/dna-from-ice-age-baby-uproots-native-american-family-tree | DNA from Ice Age Baby Uproots Native American Family Tree | DNA from Ice Age Baby Uproots Native American Family Tree
DNA analysis of a six-week-old baby girl, buried some 11,500 years ago in what is now Alaska, has identified her as a member of a previously unknown Native American population. The discovery strongly supports the theory that the Americas were settled by people f... |
3707bbe299242428b9234909f38baa8a | https://www.history.com/news/dna-proves-viking-women-were-powerful-warriors | DNA Suggests Viking Women Were Powerful Warriors | DNA Suggests Viking Women Were Powerful Warriors
An elaborate Viking Age grave in Sweden holds the remains of a decorated female warrior from the 10th century, providing the first archaeological evidence that women held high-status positions in Viking culture.
The remarkable find was revealed in a study by researchers ... |
87e8ce986ab862790ea88d7b819c9678 | https://www.history.com/news/document-banning-pete-rose-from-baseball-goes-on-sale | Document Banning Pete Rose From Baseball Goes on Sale | Document Banning Pete Rose From Baseball Goes on Sale
It’s the one autograph Pete Rose never wanted to sign.
When baseball’s all-time hits leader scrawled “Peter Edward Rose” at the end of a five-page document on August 23, 1989, he signed his own death sentence from the game he loved. The agreement ended a six-month i... |
5aefdb052b96fff70ec78ea7204a7b0a | https://www.history.com/news/document-reveals-1961-nuclear-close-call-over-north-carolina | Document Reveals 1961 Nuclear Close-Call over North Carolina | Document Reveals 1961 Nuclear Close-Call over North Carolina
On January 23, 1961, a B-52 Stratofortress bomber patrolled the night skies over the Atlantic Ocean. It was three days after the presidential inauguration of John F. Kennedy, and with the Cold War in a full freeze, American bombers such as this one carrying a... |
0cbc813275f1891cefe5268eea504794 | https://www.history.com/news/does-a-guatemala-lake-contain-mayan-treasure | Does a Guatemala Lake Contain Mayan Treasure? | Does a Guatemala Lake Contain Mayan Treasure?
Is eight tons of pure gold lying beneath a Guatemala lake, submerged for some 2,600 years amid the ruins of a once-thriving Mayan capital? That’s what the famous Dresden Codex suggests, according to the German mathematician Joachim Rittsteig, who set off with a team of arch... |
33c837449e095e0a7758016f99a68a30 | https://www.history.com/news/donner-party-route-cannibalism | How the Donner Party Was Doomed By a Disastrous Shortcut | How the Donner Party Was Doomed By a Disastrous Shortcut
After it was all over, Virginia Reed wrote a long letter to her cousin. A member of the infamous Donner Party, the 13-year-old had recently suffered through one of the most grueling—and gruesome—overland crossings of all time. Though Virginia said her family had ... |
a777ed51f15e3753a90187fc7ec0a778 | https://www.history.com/news/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-compromise | How 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Became an Imperfect Step Forward for LGBT Military | How 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Became an Imperfect Step Forward for LGBT Military
In 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into law, it represented a compromise between those who wanted to end the longstanding ban on gays serving in the U.S. military and those who felt having... |
402322c37da9dbefce93272c4b7a5735 | https://www.history.com/news/dr-john-kellogg-cereal-wellness-wacky-sanitarium-treatments | Dr. John Kellogg Invented Cereal. Some of His Other Wellness Ideas Were Much Weirder | Dr. John Kellogg Invented Cereal. Some of His Other Wellness Ideas Were Much Weirder
Battle Creek Sanitarium, America’s most popular medical spa of the early 20th century, may be best known as the birthplace of the corn flake. But some might say that the biggest flake to come out of Battle Creek was the man in charge: ... |
1beb0abab8fd510c7e9dcf0eb4d7bed2 | https://www.history.com/news/draculas-dungeon-unearthed-in-turkey | “Dracula’s Dungeon” Unearthed in Turkey | “Dracula’s Dungeon” Unearthed in Turkey
In 1442, the ruler of Wallachia (now part of present-day Romania) embarked on a diplomatic mission into the heart of the Ottoman Empire. It was a leap of faith for Vlad II, who had pledged to defend Christianity in Eastern Europe against the Ottomans 11 years earlier when he join... |
da3e85aa8eebd17782ef67ee3472b9c2 | https://www.history.com/news/dresden-bombing-wwii-allies | Why Was Dresden So Heavily Bombed? | Why Was Dresden So Heavily Bombed?
They had heard the “whump a whump” of distant aerial bombings many times before. But on February 13, 1945, the American prisoners of war heard Dresden’s fire sirens howl right above their heads. German guards moved them two stories down into a meat locker. When they came back to the s... |
25aa7339788509f0011fac597b7361c3 | https://www.history.com/news/drink-some-whiskey-call-in-the-morning-doctors-prohibition | Drink Some Whiskey, Call in the Morning: Doctors & Prohibition | Drink Some Whiskey, Call in the Morning: Doctors & Prohibition
This week marks the 93rd anniversary of the ratification of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the related Volstead Act, which banned the manufacture, sale and transport of intoxicating beverages. Over the next 14 years, seasoned alcoholics and... |
9af1dd6d203e105f27f650b8c6846761 | https://www.history.com/news/drought-may-have-spelled-end-for-maya | Drought May Have Spelled End for Maya | Drought May Have Spelled End for Maya
Beginning around A.D. 250, the Maya built their civilization over a region about the size of Texas, located in what is now Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize and parts of southern Mexico. They were famously advanced in the fields of agriculture, architecture and mathematics, ... |
fabbcae20b10c3d1f9725a1d0addd255 | https://www.history.com/news/drug-use-in-vietnam | G.I.s’ Drug Use in Vietnam Soared—With Their Commanders’ Help | G.I.s’ Drug Use in Vietnam Soared—With Their Commanders’ Help
Armed servicemen of the Vietnam War used drugs more heavily than any previous generation of enlisted U.S. troops. From heroin to amphetamines to marijuana, drugs were so commonplace among the troops that, in 1970, liaison to the Bureau of Narcotics and Dange... |
56538f1c4c72ec30eb1719a6f31170c2 | https://www.history.com/news/dublin-viking-village-graffiti-discovered | Viking Village With ‘Graffiti’ Found in Dublin | Viking Village With ‘Graffiti’ Found in Dublin
Archaeologists in Dublin have discovered an 11th-century Viking village, along with several other artifacts from the Norse seafarers who famously traveled through Europe and the Middle East several centuries ago.
One of the most notable finds is an example of Viking “graff... |
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