The History Guy

On January 2, 1980, the era of detent ended and the "forever war " began. And nothing has been the same since.

The airport security we expect today really began in the US on January 5, 1973.

Icelanders in the 17th century might have thought themselves relatively safe from the pirates of that age, but in 1627 they would be on the receiving end of piratical raids when the sails of the Barbary pirates appeared in the North Atlantic Ocean.

So many harsh winters occurred during the 1880s that the decade is sometimes called “The Little Ice Age of the 1880s.” And one of the worst years of that age was the one that some argue was its last. On January 12, 1888 tragedy struck the American Midwest.

USS Enterprise was the world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, and would see an exceptional five decades of active service throughout an astounding number of operations, including being the first nuclear powered ship to engage in combat. However, Enterprise’s deadliest day was not off of Vietnam, but off of Hawaii.

The Russian Revolutions in 1917 ended Russian involvement in WWI, but precipitated a civil war that dragged in outside powers and lasted for years as the Bolshevik forces sought to enforce control over all the former territories of the Russian Empire. The chaos allowed all manner of smaller movements and independent warlords to flourish for a time, and among them was the brutal so called “Bloody” or “Mad” Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg.

The world is not fair. But In sports, we should be able to guarantee an even playing field.

On January 21, 1968, a mattress fire caused the United States Air Force to drop four thermonuclear bombs on Greenland.

The earthquake in Shaanxi China on January 23, 1556 was not, by any means, the most powerful earthquake experienced in human history. Still, an inscription from the time ends, simply, "Since the beginning of time, there has been no earthquake comparable to this one."

The split between Argentina and the Axis represented a strange tale of espionage and diplomacy in a part of the world that seemed far removed from the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific.

Each year, based on age and law and international convention, old copyrights expire and once protected works fall into the public domain. Animal Crackers, the second major motion picture to feature the Marx brothers, disappeared for nearly a quarter of a century, and parts of it were nearly forgotten for 86 years, and today it belongs to the public.

When Communist China decided to intervene in the Korean War in December, 1950, hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the People’s Volunteer Army drove UN troops below the 38th parallel. Less than a month later, in late January, 1951, UN troops of General Matthew Ridgeway’s 8th army prepared to counter attack.

On February 2nd, 1980 the first details of what would be recognized as one of the greatest scandals of the era were released. According to the FBI, eight sitting members of the United States congress had been implicated in an investigation of political corruption.

On February 4, 1859 a “ Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation, between the United States of America and the Republic of Paraguay” was signed. But the two nations had a rather rocky path to friendship, involving an up to then unprecedented deployment of the United States Navy.

Since 1928 the figures on bills printed for the general public have remained the same - Our familiar Washington, Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Grant and Franklin. But the United States has had many different kinds of federally printed paper money, and many different people have adorned it.

The so-called “Torpedo Crisis” afflicted German U-boats in a critical part of the war, giving the allies much-needed time to improve anti-submarine tactics, and thus might have changed the course of the entire war.

The St Louis World’s Fair, officially known as the Louisiana Purchase Expedition, was an enormous event, with more than 60 countries and 43 states maintaining exhibition spaces for nearly twenty million visitors. In addition to the many exhibitions, a variety of private enterprises set up camp near the fair in the hopes of making money off the guaranteed audience. Some of those ideas worked better than others, but few among them went as ridiculously badly as the attempt to put on a Spanish-Style bullfight.

The 1929 “Cruiser Act” raised some controversy among those who believed that war had become obsolete, But the ships built under the act would be workhorses in the war to come.

During the later half of the nineteenth century numerous attempts were made to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Killing the Tsar, however, turned out to be no easy task.

An Olympic medal event only since 1998 you might think that curling is a relatively new sport apparently invented in Canada. And, of course, neither is true. The sport dates back at least to the 16th century, and comes from perhaps a surprising place.

The road to plentiful aluminum was long, and literally dozens of important scientists were involved over a period of centuries in the effort to purify the metal. In the end, the solution would come almost simultaneously from two scientists, each just 22 years of age.

While little known in the US today, In the early 1900s, a Basque sport that had been played for centuries seemed poised to enter America’s mainstream.

On February 27, 1942 a three decades old US Navy ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft and sunk. It was a difficult time for the allies, many ships were lost that day. But the sinking of USS Langley represented the end of one of the most consequential ships is the Navy's history.

No, the History Guy never owned a classic mustang. But that doesn't mean I didn’t want to.

237 years ago, on March 4, 1789 the first US congress under the newly ratified constitution began its first session. It was, arguably, the most important congress in US History.

In 1938, the Chinese would make a decision they had made before in times of invasion and desperation: the destruction of dykes to flood huge sections of the country.

In 1933 a farmer named Ed Carlson walked into a laboratory at the University of Wisconsin and asked a simple question- what was killing his cattle? The answer to that question would earn the university millions of dollars, and revolutionize the fields of both medicine and vermin extermination. The strange story of warfarin deserves to be remembered.

The 1927 Coverdale Mine Brinks Armored Car robbery was a particularly violent episode in the particularly violent era.

During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.

The appeal of one strange object, which achieved dizzying popularity in my lifetime, and today lives on mostly for nostalgia, is not so difficult to explain. All you need to do is turn one on and wait.

As President Truman said on May 8th, 1945 the “glorious hour” of German surrender was not the end: “our victory is but half-won”. But transferring resources from Europe to the Pacific was no small feat: the US faced issues of manpower, of war-weariness, and transport that threatened the American ability to defeat Japan.

Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest man ever to assume the office of President of the United States. Eight years later the fifty year old was still a robust, energetic man. Slipping quietly into retirement was not his style.

Often called the “Eighth Wonder of the World” by contemporaries, in their time the Pink and White Terraces were a popular tourist attraction. Then they were lost, and nearly forgotten.

In 1776, the Continental Navy was outnumbered tenfold by the Royal Navy. It is impressive, then, that men still chose to serve in the Navy and face a much more powerful foe. In those early years there was one man whose actions rose above the rest. Gustavus Conyngham would become known as the “Dunkirk Pirate.”

The election of 1876 was so marred by antics that the eventual winner, Rutherford B Hayes, was referred to by opponents as “Your Fraudulecy.” But the issues were not just national - statewide offices were just as much part of the fraud and violence as the presidential one was. In South Carolina violence erupted from both sides, and for months the state existed with two separate governments.

A Brief History of Sugar.While sugar is everywhere now, in fact almost impossible to avoid, that has not always been the case. Humans and sugar have had a long history, and it has driven human civilization in significant ways.

I am constantly surprised by the opportunities that have come from being The History Guy. In the end I am just a guy who makes videos in his basement. But an invitation to go to NATO headquarters was unexpected.

One of the oddest teams to have ever played the game came out of the town of Rawlins, Wyoming, home of the state Penitentiary. The team was odd because its players were all prisoners at that penitentiary, serving time for all kinds of crimes, including murder.

In the 19th century museum collections around the world displayed plaster casts of some of the most famous works of art in history. Largely forgotten in museum storerooms, the casts are old enough now to be considered artifacts themselves. But they represent an interesting period of history and a laudable moment of international cooperation.

Gregor MacGregor's fraud has been widely described as one of the most brazen in history.

The term "Luddite" is meant to be derogatory, about people who oppose innovation primarily out of ignorance, fear, or stubbornness. The term has a very specific history, however, and its modern use fails to understand the motivations or the philosophy of the original Luddites, protestors who grew famous in the early 19th century for smashing looms.

USS-Holland, generally recognized as the first modern submarine to be adopted by a major Navy, was a forerunner of the technology that is still central to naval warfare today. But its designer, John Philip Holland, would be nearly forgotten.

Well known among people who study the history of firearms, John Moses Browning’s achievements are far less understood by the general public.

The Battle of Caldera Bay was a brief battle that had little impact on a short and largely forgotten war. And yet the naval doctrines of the entire world were changed in a single moment.

Put simply, rats tend to go where humans go, and these strange bedfellows have had a surprising impact on each other.

Think the momentary worldwide obsession with crop circles would deserve to be remembered just for the nostalgia alone- they represent the weirdness of the 1980s.

The Empire State Building wasn’t just an architectural marvel—it was a financial gamble, shaped by economic desperation, bold speculation, and a few questionable decisions. Despite being one of the world’s most famous buildings, the true story behind the financing of the construction of the Empire State Building is nearly forgotten history.

The first class of nuclear submarines were a learning experience for the Soviet Navy. The November class boats experienced numerous difficulties and accidents, culminating in what has been described as a potential “Underwater Chernobyl."

89 years ago, on May 6, 1937, a great airship burned in one of the most memorable moments of the twentieth century. The story of the Hindenburg has, over time, become more legend than fact, while truth has become nearly forgotten history.

You’ve probably heard of the Spanish Armada, in 1588 is a famous failure - a defeat so complete that it established the English as a naval power, while it underscored Spain’s decline. But much less remembered was that the English too raised an armada, seeking to take advantage of the Spanish loss, itself ending in dismal, almost spectacular failure.

If you are an Earp aficionado, you probably already knew something about Wyatt Earp’s dark side. But most of us only know the famous lawman from the movies, and those seem to have, generally, left a few things out.

Man-eating big cats are rare, but can be prolific killers. Studying some of history's greatest struggles with nature’s creatures helps us to understand ourselves, and offers lessons as we continue to face the challenges of living in harmony with our environment.

While the massive Essex-class fleet carriers grabbed the headlines with their sprawling air groups and high-speed strikes, the "Jeep carriers" of the Casablanca class provided the indispensable backbone of Allied maritime operations.

I'll leave the questions of what happened in Roswell, New Mexico on July 8, 1947 to other channels. But the "Roswell Incident" occurred in the context of its time.

The first major Allied use of glider infantry occurred on the night of July 9, 1943. It was a night of heroism and sacrifice.

The “Murder at the Regatta” was a story of jealousy, passion, and some say even madness that shocked and fascinated the nation, and changed the very nature of how murder was seen and prosecuted in the United States.