FAVORITE HISTORICAL EVENT

[No Soul Man]

Hi, i am a new member. I am 16 and a big fan of the mighty LED ZEPPELIN! I need your help. For my World History class i need to write a detailed report on any historical event i choose. I can't narrow one down since there are too many! Can i get some suggestions, PLEASE? Thanks guys, and ROCK N ROLL!!!

[THE FIRST LEDZEP]

911

[No Soul Man]

911

That is one I wish to steer clear of. Too complicated for me. Also too painful since it happened in my recent past. I would like to write on an event that occurred in the United States but not in the last few decades. NO wars that relate to our current situation. Thanks for your suggestion still!

[ally]

The Moon landing

[valleygirl]

tough question

[mordor_maiden]

Watergate, the "sexual revolution" of the sixties, the same topic from the 20s, 1st and 2nd wave feminism (1870 and 1920s-Victoria Woodhull, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Sanger) the Depression, World War 2 diplomacy, the Cold War, purchase of Alaska, any of the pre-Civil War acts regarding the spread of slavery, Whiskey Rebellion

[mordor_maiden]

or history of music, British Civil War, the Reformation, the Restoration, the Renaissance, medieval art, Trail of Tears and/or conflicts/issues with Cherokees, colonial impacts on Native Americans, the beaver trade in Canada, Communism, Russian Revolution, Nicholas and/or Alexandra Romanov, did Anastasia Romanov really die?, US Reconstruction, the Glorious Revolution

[manderlyh]

I say start a grassy knoll debate in here!

You'll either earn a ton of respect or get flamed!

ROFL

[BonzoEqualsGoodStuff]

Definitely Milli Vanilli being outed as lipsynchers.

[Mattmc1973]

Me winning the Nobel Prize in Karate.

[Black Dawg]

1173- A Tower in Pisa is built then begins to lean but continues to stand.

History

Galileo Galilei is said to have dropped two cannon balls of different masses from the tower to demonstrate that their descending speed was independent of their mass. This is considered an apocryphal tale, and the only source for it comes from Galileo's secretary

In 1934 Benito Mussolini ordered that the tower be returned to a vertical position, so concrete was poured into its foundation. However, the result was that the tower actually sank further into the soil

During World War II, the Allies discovered that the Nazis were using it as an observation post. A U.S. Army sergeant was briefly entrusted with the fate of the tower. His decision not to call in an artillery strike saved the edifice.

On February 27, 1964, the government of Italy requested aid in preventing the tower from toppling. It was, however, considered important to retain the current tilt, due to the vital role that this element played in promoting the tourism industry of Pisa. A multinational task force of engineers, mathematicians and historians was assigned and met on the Azores islands to discuss stabilization methods. On 7 January 1990, after over two decades of work on the subject, the tower was closed to the public. While the tower was closed, the bells were removed to relieve some weight, and cables were cinched around the third level and anchored several hundred meters away. Apartments and houses in the path of the tower were vacated for safety. After a decade of corrective reconstruction and stabilization efforts, the tower was reopened to the public on December 15, 2001. It was found that the lean was increasing due to the stonework expanding and contracting each day due to the heat of sunlight. This was working in combination with the softer foundations on the lower side. Many methods were proposed to stabilize the tower, including the addition of 800 metric tons of lead counterweights to the raised end of the base. The final solution to prevent the collapse of the tower was to slightly straighten the tower to a safer angle, by removing 38 m3 of soil from underneath the raised end. Through this, the tower was straightened by 18 inches (45 centimeters), returning to the exact position that it was in 1838. The tower has been declared stable for at least another 300 years.

In 1987, the tower was declared as part of the Piazza dei Miracoli UNESCO World Heritage Site along with neighbouring cathedral, baptistery and cemetery.

[The Rover]

My Favorite Tragedy/Historical Event

[Del Zeppnile]

Well, I generally think in terms of history from an American perspective (is there any other way ). My son is your age and he just did a report on the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War -- but that was for his American History class. If I had to do a report on something from 'World History' I think I would do it on one of these topics:

The English Reformation

The Industrial Revolution

The Napoleonic Wars

(maybe not American, but at least European. And if you are doing it on 'African History' ask Manders--- she teaches that to her students in Idaho)

good luck

[manderlyh]

^not anymore. I'm not in that school anymore. And I didn't teach African History, I taught twentieth century European and American History---with a special focus on The Holocaust. With English state and district standards skillfully interwoven.

[Bilbo the Rover]

Well, I generally think in terms of history from an American perspective (is there any other way ). My son is your age and he just did a report on the battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War -- but that was for his American History class. If I had to do a report on something from 'World History' I think I would do it on one of these topics:

The English Reformation

The Industrial Revolution

The Napoleonic Wars

(maybe not American, but at least European. And if you are doing it on 'African History' ask Manders--- she teaches that to her students in Idaho)

good luck

F*** That Coriscan Son of a WHORE ! ( Sorry Del, force of habit...must be in the blood)

[leddy]

How about the Russian Revolution of 1917 ??, I always found that interesting !!

[The Rover]

Here's One the Mass media won't be going on about with the 2008 Olympics coming up . . . .

China's "Great Leap Forward".... which only starved out 2,000,000 peasants at the least, and perhaps many Millions more . . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Chinese_Famine

Mao declared the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Mao's first goal was a total overhaul of the land ownership system, and extensive land reforms. China's old feudal system of landlord ownership of farmland and peasant workers was replaced with a more equal distribution system in favour of less wealthy peasants. Mao laid heavy emphasis on class struggle and theoretical work, and in 1953 began various campaigns to suppress former landlords and capitalists. Foreign investment was largely wiped out.

Mao believed that socialism would eventually triumph over all other ideologies, and following the First Five-Year Plan based on a Soviet-style centrally controlled economy, Mao took on the ambitious project of the Great Leap Forward in 1958, beginning an unprecedented process of collectivization in rural areas. Mao urged the use of backyard iron smelters to increase steel production, pulling workers off of agricultural labor to the point that large amounts of crops rotted unharvested. Mao decided to continue to advocate these smelters despite a visit to a factory steel mill which proved to him that high quality steel could only be produced in a factory; he thought that ending the program would dampen peasant enthusiasm for the leap forward. This, combined with bad weather, end of Soviet economic aid, and a grossly administered system of production, the Great Leap ended in great famine, during which over 20 million would die from unnatural causes.

The Great Leap Forward is now widely seen, both within China and outside as a major economic disaster, effectively being a "Great Leap Backward" that would affect China in the years to come. As inflated statistics reached planning authorities, orders were given to divert human resources into industry rather than agriculture. The official toll of excess deaths recorded in China for the years of the Great Leap Forward is 14 million, but scholars have estimated the number of famine victims to be between 20 and 43 million.

Until the early 1980s, the Chinese Government's stance, reflected by the name "Three Years of Natural Disasters", was that the famine was largely a result of a series of natural disasters compounded by some planning errors. Researchers outside China, however, generally agree that massive institutional and policy changes which accompanied the Great Leap Forward were the key factors in the famine. Since the 1980s there has been greater official Chinese recognition of the importance of policy mistakes in causing the disaster, claiming that the disaster was 35% due to natural causes and 65% by mismanagement.

[59LesPaul]

November 22,1963

......and the aftermath,which continues to this day.......

[leddy]

July 30, 1966 a pretty amazing historical event or University of Surrey, Guildford on October 15, 1968 another very historical event !!

[bigstickbonzo]

Some off the top of my head..

31 BC- Sept. 2. The Battle of Actium. Marc Antony and Cleopatra's forces are defeated on my birthday by Rome's first future caesar, Augustus.

1671- Sir Henry Morgan burns Panama during his Caribbean Conquest. "The Captain Makes It Happen."

1718- Outer Banks, North Carolina. Blackbeard the Pirate is beheaded off Ocracoke Island.

1776- The Battle of Iron Works Hill, Mt. Holly, New Jersey. My hometown proved to be more pivatel in the Revolution than many realize. British commanders got word Colonial troops were gathering in Mt. Holly, so a large batallion of Hessian soldiers were sent to intercept. What they found were a small batch of Colonial militia holding ground on the Mount, effectively decoying the Hessians away from their post in Trenton. Washinton's Crossing and little resistance from 3-to-1 outnumbered Hessians is a direct result of the decoy presented in Mt. Holly by Colonial Militia.

1784- After the Revolution is finally over and rebuilding begins, the young republic chooses their first commander in chief, George Washington, to which he abruptly says "no" and retires to Mt. Vernon.

1790- Alexander Hamilton becomes the First Secretary of the Treasury under Washington's Cabinet. Hamilton's views on currency and banking established our early currency and economy and he is best known today for his portrait on the 20 Dollar Bill. Gunned down in a duel with Aaron Burr in 1804 in New York City.

1798- President John Adams' XYZ Affair keeps us at peace with France, a war the entire public wanted. Our economy would have been destroyed and we would have been crushed by the French Army and Navy. Because of his stance, Adams was not re-elected and faced public turmoil for the remainder of his life, despite historians now agreeing it was him alone who prevented our nation from being destroyed in 1798.

1818- Mary Shelley, wife of poet Percy Shelley, writes her masterpiece "Frankenstein: Or the Modern Prometheus," the greatest book of the 19th Century.

1824- July 4th. Exactly 50 years to the day of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die, having become good friends in their final years.

1845- June 8th. Former President Andrew Jackson, "Old Hickory" dies. Was the founding father of the Democratic Party and also the reason we slaughtered millions of Native Americans. He was once quoted to saying, "If I'm remembered for nothing more than exterminating those savages, I'll know I'vd done my job." Thanks to him, Adolf Hitler used our 'extermination' method as the blueprint for the Holocaust.

1881- Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt, Virgil & Morgan Earp with the help of friend Doc Holliday gun down the McLaurie Brothers and Billy Claborn at the now infamous OK Corral Gunfight. "A daisy if you do."

1889- Jack the Ripper terrorizes London, leaving numerous prostitutes butchered to death and police and citizens scrambling to uncover his identity. From Hell..indeed.

1916 - June 1st-10th. New Jersey Shore. 5 people are attacked by sharks within the span of alittle over a week, resulting in 4 fatalities. Known as "The Summer of the Shark" or "The Hunt For the Jersey Man-Eater," the news made world wide headlines after the third attack. Some dismiss the notion of it being a single shark, but a 10ft great white shark was caught off the mouth of Manasquan Inlet with 10pds of human remains in its stomach. The incidents would go on to inspire author Peter Benchley to write his best seller "Jaws." (I work on the beach of the first attack. Swim there every morning.)

1939-1945- Winston Churchill being the 'fighting bulldog' that he was.

1954 - While working at Princeton University, my grandfather briefly meets Albert Einstein. He said, "The guy might have been a genius, but he couldn't color coordinate his socks worth a damn."

1958- Greg Noll, aka "Da Bull" paddles out into 30ft Waimea Bay, Hawaii and takes off on a wall of water and signifies the beginning of big-wave surfing. A living legend, a God amongst men.

1960- Author Harper Lee publishes, "To Kill A Mockingbird." Rich in dialogue about social change and racism, it is without a doubt the most important novel of the 20th Century.

1963- Dallas, Texas. Kennedy is assassinated and the American Dream dies with him.

1967- Jimi Hendrix debuts in America at the Monterey Pop Festival and music is never the same.

1975- Summer. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg releases his second motion picture, Jaws, to the world. Becoming the biggest movie of all time, until Star Wars, he single handedly created the "summer blockbuster."

1975- October 11th. NBC's Saturday Night premieres. Would later be changed to Saturday Night Live. With cast members; Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtain, Garret Morris, Laraine Newman, Gilda Radner and becoming a regular in 1977, Bill Murray- the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" were the original bunch of misfits on tv every Saturday Night.

1979- Robert Duvall as Kilgore. Period.

1985- Marty McFly goes back in time to help his parents fall in love.

1990- Super Bowl XXIV. Joe "Cool" Montana goes 22-29 with 297 yds and 5 TD passes.

1993- The Philadelphia Phillies pulled a 'magic' year out of no where and made it all the way to the World Series. The ultimate clubhouse. They were the "Slap Shot" team of baseball.

1997- My grandfather pays tuition for our family name to forever be engraved at Ellis Island, NY where his father came over from Poland in 1907.

1998- My grandfather getting Joltin' Joe DiMaggio's autograph in Atlantic City. He surprised DiMaggio when he presented his fully intact 1936 World Series ticket and scorecard for Joe to sign. It was DiMaggio's first World Series. My grandfather said DiMaggio told him, "I can't believe you still have this. I'm kinda jealous."

2001- Sept. 11. Certainly not a favorite of mine, but like my father before me with Kennedy, I will remember where I was and what I was doing that fateful morning for the rest of my life.

2003- Receiving documents from my grandfather that date from 1684, 1792 and 10 Civil War letters from a young private in the Northern Army on his march to Gettysburg in 1863 to his sister back home: All legiable. Very sad.

2004- The Boston Red Sox put the ultimate humiliation on the New York Yankees and pull off the biggest upset in American Sports History.

2005- February 20th. The Good Doctor bows out.

[Electrophile]

The moon landing and the two Kennedy assassinations.

[Del Zeppnile]

F*** That Coriscan Son of a WHORE ! ( Sorry Del, force of habit...must be in the blood)

Fair enough.

Okay, how about the Spanish Explorers as a topic? My favorite was Cortez. I loved the way he and a small group of soldiers were able to bring that whole blood thirsty Aztec Empire to it's knees.

Yep, Cortez was a Spanish Superhero!

.

[wanna be drummer]

My favorite American history events to study are the Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War

But we're talking people, then I like to read about Lincoln, Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Patton, etc.

For world history, then it's hands down the life of Napoleon Bonparte I. Also, the real story behind The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is very fascinating once you get used to all the people involved in that war. If you want more suggestions, then I'd say Joan of Arc, El Cid, William Wallace, Ghandi, Apartheid and Nelson Mandela, and the age of the Mongol Empire (their entire history is as interesting as they come!)

[59LesPaul]

Favorite Historical Event?

September 9,1970...10:26PM

My birthday.

[No Soul Man]

Thanks you guys! Some really great ideas. I need to do some heavy thinking still. I want to get a A so I need to pick my topic carefully. I would never thought of doing it on landing on the moon, that was a great idea. And thank you The Rover, Del, Joelmon and bigstickbonzo for so many great suggestions.