This Week in History: The Pastry War Breaks Out

Sometimes, forgettable incidents in history refuse to bow down and be overlooked. One way this happens is when the seriousness of the incident is pushed aside by a silly but memorable title. Enter the Pastry War of the 1830s. Otherwise known as the First Franco-Mexican War – but who would have remembered that? – this […]

This Week in History: Congress Declares the Civil War has Nothing to do With Slavery

This week, over 150 years ago, the United States Congress passed legislation that declared the Civil War was being fought over the reunion of the states, not to abolish slavery.

This Week in History: New England Goes Dark

Almost 250 years ago this week, morning turned to night for the states of New England as darkness descended. New Englanders had noticed something seemed wrong in the days building up to May 19th, 1780. The sky had appeared yellow, and the sun had turned blood red. But that was nothing compared to what happened […]

This Week in History: Golfer who Drank 1,400 Bottles of Radioactive Water Dies

This week, American millionaire and amateur golfer Eben Byers died after drinking radioactive water for years.

This Week in History: Birth of Napoleon’s Greatest Diplomat

This week, over 250 years ago, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was born. Talleyrand (the man in the flowing white wig stood directly behind the table) was a French politician and diplomat who served under, and later conspired against, Napoleon.

This Week in History: The Great Emu War Ends, Emus Win

In this week in history, Australia admitted defeat in its war with thousands of large, flightless birds. Imagine an army, 20,000 strong, that can run at 30 mph – significantly faster than Usain Bolt – take up to five bullets before being felled and tear down metal fencing with just their legs. Major Meredith of […]

This Week in History: Frederick the Great’s Finest Moment

This week, just over 250 years ago, the battle of Rossbach ended with Frederick the Great’s Prussia crushing the armies of France, the Holy Roman Empire and Austria. A year into the Seven Years’ War, the 18th century’s answer to a World War, and things weren’t looking too good for Prussia. United as a kingdom […]

This Week in History: Chicago World’s Fair Closes

This week saw Chicago’s widely successful World’s Columbian Exposition come to an end in 1893. It sounded like a task handed down to Hercules – transform a city ravaged by fire just two decades before into a home for the most spectacular world fair ever seen. Amidst massive corruption at just about every level and constant […]

This Week in History: The World is Created (According to a 17th century Archbishop)

This week, Archbishop of Armagh James Ussher established the date of creation as October 22nd, 4004 BC. These days, the majority of people believe that the Earth was created a few billion years ago. And so they should – the science is right there. But just a few hundred years ago, there was no such thing […]

This Week in History: 10 Second Barrier for the 100m Broken

This week, almost fifty years ago, Jim Hines became the first person in recorded history to run the 100-metre sprint in under 10 seconds. With modern day sprinters regularly completing 100 metres in under 10 seconds, it’s almost surprising to see that just a few decades ago it was rarely seen. In fact, before 1990, the […]