Gone with the Wind, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novel by Margaret Mitchell, tells the story of a rebellious Georgia woman named Scarlett O'Hara. It presents a detailed view of her complex relationships with family and friends and her struggle to survive in the American South before, during, and after the Civil War. Many regard the book as having a strong ideological commitment to the cause of the Confederacy. Why was Mitchell's book the subject of a 2001 court case?
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Launched in 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and to make up-close observations of Jupiter, capturing images that were later sent back to Earth. It passed the orbit of Neptune in 1983 and became by some definitions the first artificial object to leave our solar system. By February 1998, the probe was over 7.5 billion miles from Earth but lost its title as the most distant man-made object to what craft?
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The Anglo-Zanzibar War is the shortest war in history. Lasting only 38 minutes, the conflict broke out when Khalid bin Bargash seized power after the death of his uncle, Sultan Hamad bin Thuwaini. The British, who favored a different candidate, delivered an ultimatum ordering Bargash to abdicate. When Bargash refused and assembled an army, the Royal Navy sent five warships to the harbor in front of the palace and opened fire. For what did the British demand payment after the brief war was over?
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Lavoisier was a French nobleman known today as the "father of modern chemistry." He stated the first version of the Law of Conservation of Mass, co-discovered and named oxygen, wrote the first detailed list of elements, and introduced the metric system. Lavoisier also worked to improve economic and social conditions in France, holding various government posts. He was beheaded during the Reign of Terror because, as a member of the farmers general, one of his duties was to do what? Discuss
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The Battle of Amiens was the opening phase of the Allied offensive that ultimately led to the end of WWI. By the end of the first day, Allied forces had pushed approximately seven miles into enemy territory, making one of the greatest advances of the war. The battle marked the end of trench warfare on the Western Front and the return to mobile warfare, which would prevail until the armistice was signed on November 11. How did German general Erich Ludendorff describe the first day of the battle? Discuss
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In 1992, US armed forces, together with the UN, undertook a joint operation to restore order in Somalia, a country wracked by civil war and severe famine. When US special operations forces attempted to arrest members of Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid's militia organization, their helicopters were shot down and an urban battle ensued. Eighteen US servicemen and between 3,000 and 5,000 Somalis died in the fighting. What terrorist allegedly trained some of Aidid's men?
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In 1526, King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia led a poorly prepared army against a vastly superior Turkish force led by Sultan Suleiman I with disastrous results. About 25,000 of the king's soldiers were killed in the battle, and the rest were taken captive and massacred. Louis himself died during the retreat after being thrown from his horse. The defeat resulted in more than 150 years of Ottoman domination in Hungary. What modern Hungarian expression of bad luck references the battle? Discuss
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This battle, which took place during WWII, marked the first all-aircraft naval attack in history. The results were definitive, as British planes destroyed much of the Italian fleet anchored in Taranto. The battle is seen as a turning point in military history, marking the end of the reign of "big-gun" battleships and leading to the rise of naval air power. Certain aspects of the attack were studied as part of the planning for what other notorious aerial bombardment?
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On Bloody Sunday, Tsar Nicholas II's Imperial guards killed between 1,000 and 4,000 unarmed, peaceful demonstrators as they marched toward the Winter Palace. Their intention was to present the tsar with a petition that included demands for equality before the law, an eight-hour workday, improved working conditions, and fair wages. Why was Father Gapon, the Russian Orthodox priest who organized the demonstration, later killed by his friend?
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Yeltsin served as Russia's first democratically elected president. He directed the Russian Federation's secession from the USSR and the formation of a new, decentralized confederation, the Commonwealth of Independent States, with himself as its leader. As president, Yeltsin instituted a radical reform program that consisted of the mass privatization of state-run enterprises, after which the country experienced inflation, heavy taxes, and a protracted economic depression. Who succeeded Yeltsin?
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