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WHAT'S NEW ... OR ... IN THE NEWS
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HBO's miniseries about World War II, entitled "The Pacific," is continuing through mid-May. We are producing stories and biographies - about the battles and the lead characters - to help everyone better understand what appears on the television screen.
Three American servicemen tie the ten episodes together. They are: As the series proceeds - between now and mid-May - we will continue to release stories, videos and other assets. For example:
Dr. Dorothy Height, long respected as an American civil rights leader, died on the 20th of April, 2010. She was 98 years old. Learn more about her in this short bio which links to her autobiography, Open Wide the Freedom Gates.
PERSEUS - CLASH of the TITANSAnother film about Perseus (and the Greek gods and monsters who were part of his life) is playing in theaters. What does Greek mythology have to say about him? Who was Medusa? Andromeda? The Kraken?
Awesome Stories, and the site's editor, were recently featured in a
major news profile. Take a look at the story and its pictures.
We are using Twitter, between monthly newsletters, to profile current and historical events. To stay on top of things, click the link above, sign up and off you go!
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SITE SIGNUP and LOGIN
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Our tech team has simplified the sign-up and log-in process on the site. Since you need both a username AND password for the new site, be sure to convert your old password. Just follow the instructions on the relevant page.
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QUICK CLIPS from the VIDEO ARCHIVES - MAY
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THE U-2 SPY PLANE INCIDENT
President Eisenhower was serving his last year as America's leader when a U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, was shot down over the Soviet Union. The United States and the USSR were already at odds, during the Cold War, but this incident (which took place on May 1, 1960) made relations between the two countries much worse.
LEONARDO da VINCI
Leonardo da Vinci, a leading figure of the Renaissance, was born in 1452, just outside the village of Vinci (in Italy). Called "the first modern mind in history," Leonardo was denied an excellent education because of his status at birth. That fact hardly stopped his quest for knowledge, however. What he did not learn in school he learned by other means.
Endlessly curious, the young lad investigated everything he could in, and around, his village. He loved to watch, and draw, birds. Those observations helped him to study the laws of aerodynamics. On the 2nd of May, 1519, Leonardo died in France. Who was this famous man of the Renaissance?
FIRST AMERICAN in SPACE
Alan Shepard was the first American to blast into space when he made the fifteen-minute trip on the 5th of May, 1961. With schoolchildren throughout the country watching televisions in their classrooms, Shepard was shaking so hard inside his capsule that he could hardly read the instrument panel. The following decade, he made a trip to the Moon (where he walked on its surface). This clip, from NASA, incorporates the launch and other historic footage.
As the Hindenburg was coming in for a landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey it suddenly burst into flames. In less than a minute, the entire dirigible was destroyed. Herb Morrison was recording the event for later broadcast and was sure no one could have lived through the ordeal. Many people did survive, however, and the event remains one of the most sensational occurrences of the 20th century.
SINKING of the LUSITANIA
Lusitania left New York City, bound for her home port of Liverpool, on the 1st of May, 1915. Two weeks earlier, the German Embassy in Washington had issued a warning that any ship flying under the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, was subject to attack. On the 7th of May, the Lusitania was attacked by a German submarine. She sank in eighteen minutes, causing the deaths of a reported 1,198 people.marine. She sank in eighteen minutes, causing the deaths of a reported 1,198 people.
V-E DAY - WORLD WAR II ENDS in EUROPE
While Allied bombing of Germany intensified during April of 1945, the Soviet Army pushed toward Berlin. Historic footage of the battle for the city reveals extraordinary damage. Every home became a fortress. By the 8th of May, the war in Europe was over when Germany signed an unconditional surrender.
CAPTURE OF U-110 and the ENIGMA CODES
Before the Enigma Codes were captured by a Royal Navy crew - on the 9 th of May, 1941 - German U-Boats were causing all kinds of damage in the North Atlantic. But when U-110 was captured, the Allies had the ability to begin deciphering Germany's ingenious system.
EINSTEIN'S THEORY of GENERAL RELATIVITY
In 1916, Albert Einstein presented an astonishing paper which expanded his Theory of Special Relativity. There was, he said, a Theory of General Relativity. What does that theory really mean - and - how did it change the world?
RECORDED VOICE of VIRGINIA WOOLF
On the 14 th of May, 1925, Virginia Woolf published her famous novel, Mrs. Dalloway. A single recording of Virginia Woolf's voice survives. You can hear her in this clip.
THE FALL of HOLLAND
Following massive bombing of The Netherlands, including its major port city of Rotterdam, Hitler forced Holland's surrender. How did Germans learn the news regarding the events of that significant week (of May 15th, 1940)? This contemporary German weekly newsreel, translated into English, provides some insight.
DEATH of JACKIE KENNEDY
During her lifetime, Mrs. Kennedy was one of the most-loved women in the world. She died, of cancer, on the 19th of May, 1994. We can learn more about her from the famous tour of the White House which she made for television viewers in 1962.
TRIAL of JOAN of ARC
When the English tried the French heroine, Joan of Arc, as a relapsed heretic - in May of 1431 - her fate was a foregone conclusion. Her trial transcripts reveal that she was afraid of death by burning at the stake.
DEATH of JOAN of ARC
On the 30th of May, 1431, nineteen-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France. Carl Theodor Dreyer's feared-lost-but-found silent movie, "The Passion of Joan of Arc," recreates the event. Maria Falconetti portrays Joan.
SAMUEL MORSE SENDS 1ST TELEGRAPHIC MESSAGE
On the 24th of May, 1844, Samuel Morse sent the first telegraphic message which traveled between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. But ... was Morse really responsible for developing the famous code ... or ... did he have help from someone else?
HILLARY and NORGAY CLIMB MT EVEREST
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mt Everest on the 29th of May, 1953 at 11:30 a.m. Because George Mallory and Andrew Irvine tried to reach the top of the world in 1924, but died in the process, it is believed that Norgay and Hillary were the first to climb the world's tallest mountain.
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MAY HIGHLIGHTS
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"NEGRO NATIONAL LEAGUE"
Forced to play segregated baseball, African-Americans formed a national league (also called the NNL) in 1920. That year, they played their first official game in Indianapolis on the 2nd of May. Why were these major-league players not allowed to participate in regular major-league baseball?gue baseball?
STONEWALL JACKSON: VICTIM of FRIENDLY-FIRE
Not far from a crossroads mansion named Chancellorsville, in a dense Virginia forest locals called "The Wilderness," Union General Joseph Hooker readied his 70,000-strong infantry. Absolutely confident that he had General Lee and the Confederates in a vice grip, Hooker told his men "that our enemy must ingloriously fly or ... give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him." Hooker was both arrogant and wrong. The battle proved to be General Robert E. Lee's greatest victory, but the price was high.
On May 2, 1863, Lee's best commander - "Stonewall" Jackson - was mortally wounded by friendly fire. The Confederates never recovered from his loss. Our story links to the Official Record of the Civil War, to annotated maps from the U.S. Military Academy, to video clips and to original documents from the National Archives and Virginia Military Institute.
KENT STATE - UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FATALLY SHOT
On the 4th of May, 1970, students at Ohio's Kent State University were protesting President Nixon's decision to bomb Cambodia. The Ohio National Guard, armed with gas masks and fixed bayonets, were sent to the campus. Four students were shot dead. Our story links to trial photographs depicting the scene before, during and after the shootings. It also links to a video summary of events and Kent State archives (and its "May 4 Collection") where hundreds of digitized photographs are available.
HINDENBURG EXPLOSION
As the great German airship Hindenburg hovered above its landing spot at Lakehurst Naval Station, thunderstorms still rumbled in the atmosphere. It had been a stormy May 6th day, in 1937. Suddenly, and completely unexpectedly, Commander Rosendahl saw a small burst of flame at the top of the Zeppelin. Within thirty-four seconds, the Hindenburg was totally destroyed in a devastating fire.
Amazingly, two-thirds of the Hindenburg's passengers survived.
SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
Germany and Britain were at war on the 7th of May, 1915. So were most of the other countries of Europe. The United States, despite wishing to remain neutral, had received a warning from the Imperial German Embassy in Washington, D.C. It said, among other things, "that travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk."
About two thousand people were on board Cunard's Lusitania as the ship headed to its home port of Liverpool. While in the Irish Sea, just west of the Old Head of Kinsale, the ship was struck by a single U-boat torpedo. An eyewitness said the striking weapon was like "the sound of an arrow entering the canvas and straw of a target magnified a thousand times." On her 202nd Atlantic crossing, Lusitania sank in eighteen minutes. Less than half of those on board survived.
Was the ship carrying munitions? Its cargo manifest has never been made public. But Lord Mersey's official wreck-inquiry report is available and is linked in this story. So are the surprising results of Dr. Robert Ballard's underwater investigation of Lusitania's remains and video clips recreating what happened.
V-E DAY: VICTORY IN EUROPE
As the Soviet Army pounded Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Hitler took refuge in his underground bunker. By the 2nd of May, 1945, Hitler had already committed suicide and the Soviets had liberated Berlin. On the 8th of May, Germany surrendered. Thereafter, that date is remembered as V-E Day.
In this story, see photos from the Russian Archives and watch newsreels, video recreations and interviews with Hitler's secretary and bodyguard.
ENIGMA MACHINE - CAPTURED and DECODED
As ships of the Royal Navy traveled in the waters south of Iceland - on the 9th of May, 1941 - they attacked a German U-Boat. As it happened, U-110 contained a working Enigma machine (used by the German Navy to encrypt and send messages) together with its relevant code books. The discovery helped decryption experts, at Bletchley Park, to decipher the code.
Learn the story by observing historical footage of U-boats, watching a video which explains how Enigma worked, reading interviews with the sailors involved, examining archival pictures of the capture and seeing videos of Bletchley Park's huge decryption machine.
MANDELA BECOMES PRESIDENT of SOUTH AFRICA
After spending nearly three decades in prison, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated President of South Africa on the 10th of May, 1994. With videos and other primary sources, learn how that event came about.
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD COMPLETED
On the day that Nelson Mandela was sworn in as South Africa's president (in 1994) a golden spike was driven into the ground at Promontory Point, Utah (in 1869). A telegram was sent - on May 10th - to let the nation know the country was now connected by rail. It contained one word: "Done."
WARSAW and the STROOP REPORT
On the 16 th of May, 1943, SS Major General Jurgen Stroop declared that his forces had destroyed Warsaw's Jewish ghetto. A report which Stroop prepared, documenting what happened, came to light during the Nuremberg trials and helped to convict the Nazi commander of war crimes. He was executed, in Warsaw, in 1951. His official report, with photographs, is linked in this story as are other resources from national archives and the University of South Florida.
FRANKLIN EXPEDITION
Sure he could find the last section of the hoped-for Northwest Passage, Sir John Franklin left Britain with two ships (the HMS Erebus and Terror) on the 19th of May, 1845. He, and all his men, were lost. At least three of his sailors were later found - in mummified form. Historians believe a common cause linked their deaths. What was it?
MEXICO RATIFIES TREATY
On May 19, 1848, Mexico's Congress ratified the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. For the direct payment of $15 million, Mexico ceded a bit more than half its territory to the United States. In addition, America assumed about $3.25 million of claims pending against the Mexican government. With the stroke of a pen, the U.S. border with Mexico became the Rio Grande and ownership of the current states of California, Nevada, and Utah were transferred from Mexico to America. So were parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Texas had already been annexed in 1845.
Fourteen years later, Mexico had a great triumph against an invading French army. Landing at the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, well-equipped French troops marched toward Mexico City. Sympathetic to Mexico's cause, President Abraham Lincoln was unable to assist because of America's civil war. Without outside help, Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza and his small group of poorly armed militia defeated the French at Puebla - one hundred miles east of Mexico City - on the 5th of May, 1862. Cinco de Mayo is the annual festival which commemorates that victory.
JOAN OF ARC
On the 30th of May, 1431, nineteen-year-old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in Rouen, France. Centuries later, we can still study her trial transcript to discover the real reason why she was executed. See pictures of her village and home, review "moving maps" which track her various journeys, examine key portions of her trial transcript, watch clips from the Hundred Years War (courtesy Shakespeare's tale about Henry V) and learn how Joan's mother and brothers prevailed in their appeal of the charges which condemned her. The actual story is even more interesting than the legend.
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