EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION.
Although the famous proclamation had limited initial effect, Abraham Lincoln's effort to free American slaves is one of America's treasured documents. You can view the five-page, handwritten original which is linked in this story.
VIKINGS INVADE BRITAIN.
In January of 793, Danish Vikings invaded Britain and destroyed the Church at Lindisfarne. Escaping monks were able to save what is now one of Britain's great treasures - a foot-high book known as the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Who were these Vikings? Who were the Anglo-Saxons? With links in this chapter, you can virtually create (and sail) a Viking ship to/from Lindisfarne, view videos about the looting invaders, take a virtual tour of a Viking-era farm and "turn the pages" of ancient books (including from the Viking era).
THE VIRGIN QUEEN.
Life for Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, was difficult during her childhood years. Before the little girl was three, her mother was beheaded. When her half-sister Mary became Queen, no one could be sure about Elizabeth's safety. Then, on the 15th of January, 1559, Elizabeth Tudor was crowned Queen. She was twenty-five years old.
SPANISH FLU. In January of 1919, the Red Cross announced that hundreds of nurses - recruited to care for people with a type of influenza known as "Spanish Flu" - had died. The sweeping pandemic, which spread like wildfire during World War I, took the lives of more individuals than the war itself.
What was this illness? How was it spread? How did it impact the lives of people who were already enduring "The Great War?" Don't miss the animations, video clips and time lines linked in chapter 4 of this story.
X-RAYS.
Sir William Crookes (who invented the cathode ray tube) was upset with photographic plates he'd received from a shop in Ilford, England. Why, he demanded to know, were those plates fogged and blackened when the boxes hadn't even been opened?! Replacing the gelatin plates, the seller observed (correctly) that the damage must have happened while the products were in Crookes' possession (since no one else had complained about such a phenomenon).
In fact, the plates were affected by what was going on in Crookes' lab - he just didn't understand what had happened. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen figured it out, and his discovery led to the widespread use of diagnostic X-rays.
In this chapter, meet Roentgen and see the famous picture he "made" of his wife's hand.
PROHIBITION: A FAILED EXPERIMENT
On the 16th of January, 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment (which prohibited "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors" in the United States) became law. Because of its unintended consequences (including nationwide lawlessness), the Amendment (mandating "prohibition") was repealed just thirteen years later.
What was actually prohibited? And ... What was life like in America during those thirteen years?
WANNSEE CONFERENCE.
In one of mankind's darkest chapters, Nazi officials held the "Wannsee Conference" on January 20, 1942. During that meeting, participants discussed Hitler's directive that Jewish people should be killed.
This story links to documents evidencing aspects of "The Final Solution," including minutes of the Wannsee meeting (click on "planned" in the first chapter) and an audio clip of Himmler's infamous speech. It also links to an animated time line with documents (in the first chapter), an animated time line of Auschwitz (in the fourth chapter), war photos at various national archives and survivor stories from the Shoah Foundation.
LOUIS XVI.
On the 21st of January, 1792, Louis XVI was executed in Paris. What were his alleged crimes? How did he, and his family, react to their stunning reversal of fortune? What is a guillotine, and how did it appear during the French Revolution? What happened to his family after the king died?
For answers to these questions, see the second half of the linked story.
CHALLENGER EXPLOSION.
On the 28th of January, 1986, school children throughout America were watching television. They expected to see a teacher - Christa McAuliffe - launch into space aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
Unknown to television viewers - and to the astronauts - a battle had raged over whether it was safe for the shuttle to launch. The wrong decision was made, as reported later by the Rogers Commission.
Learn the story with links to the official report, video clips and NASA photographs which depict, among other things, that the shuttle was in trouble before it left the launch pad.
IVAN THE TERRIBLE.
In 1547, the newly crowned Ivan IV of Russia - then seventeen years old - decided he wanted a different name. He would thereafter be known as "Caesar," so he selected the Russian word Tsar ("Czar") as his new title. Later, he was also known as Ivan Grozny - or - "Ivan the Terrible." Who was he? How did he earn the name Ivan the Terrible?
This famous Russian leader ordered the construction of one of Moscow's most beautiful structures: St. Basil's Cathedral. Are the stories about his shameful treatment of the building's architects true? In this story, take a virtual trip to Russia and "meet" Ivan the Terrible.
