Jim Whiting
When the Great War began in August 1914, many people thought it would be over by Christmas. Instead it lasted for more than four years and claimed millions of lives.
The most dominant feature of the conflict was the seemingly endless miles of trenches that faced each other, often just a few hundred yards apart. The only way of attacking was through brutal frontal assaults. Often thousands of men died in a few hours. When they weren't fighting,
...2) Rosa Parks
5) Anne Frank
7) Galileo
One of the most famous trials in U.S. history took place in a tiny town in Tennessee in 1925. Dayton was the site of what became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial.
The defendant, John T. Scopes, was accused of violating a recently passed state law. This law made it illegal to teach the theory of evolution. Under most circumstances, few people would have paid any attention to the trial.
Several of Dayton's leading citizens saw a chance to put
...12) Robert Fulton
Until she was thirteen, Joan of Arc led a normal life. Then she began hearing voices. She believed these voices spoke for God. At first, they told her to be a good girl. A few years later, they told her that her destiny was to save France from its English invaders. Joan's inspirational leadership helped the French to defeat the English at the city of Orleans. Soon afterward, she persuaded the crown prince Charles to become King of France.
A few
...14) Bubonic Plague
In the middle of the fourteenth century, a terrible and mysterious plague swept across Europe and Asia. One in every three Europeans died during the five years that it terrified the continent. People tried all sorts of ways to avoid catching the Black Death. They carried flowers, burned incense, fired cannons, and rang church bells. They nailed whole families in their homes to try to keep the disease from spreading. Nothing seemed to help. The
...When a teenager named Octavian learned that he was the heir of Julius Caesar, the most powerful man in Rome, it seemed like a recipe for disaster. Caesar had just been assassinated, and in the chaotic world of Roman politics the inexperienced young man would seem to have no chance against men two and three times his age. But Octavian had a genius for politics. Within a year he emerged as one of three leaders of Rome. Just over a decade later he
...The formation of the State of Israel in 1948 is one of the most important events in recent history. About 3,000 years ago, Israel was a powerful nation. But it soon fell from power and in the second century CE most Jews were forced out of their homeland. Many went to Europe, where they were subject to prejudice and persecution for centuries. By far the worst case was the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed. Their suffering accelerated
...Julius Caesar is one of the most famous figures in ancient Rome. He was born into a turbulent era, when different factions were trying to control the government. He survived and began a steady rise in importance.
He became a very successful military commander who added more than 200,000 square miles to the territories under Rome's control. But his triumphs created powerful enemies in Rome. They wanted to strip him of his power. He defeated those
...18) Paul Revere
Paul Revere was an expert silversmith. He became one of America's first industrialists. He was active in the movement that led to American independence. Yet Paul Revere's fame rests almost entirely on the few hours that he sped through the Massachusetts countryside in the early morning of April 19, 1775. He was warning the inhabitants that the British regulars were on their way. It marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Few people outside
...Science wasn't the only area that Aristotle examined. He founded one of the most important schools of the ancient world. He offered ideas on the best way to live. He developed a theory of drama that many modern screenwriters follow. He studied scores of different systems of government. Some of the conclusions from this study are reflected in the U.S. Constitution. This all-around genius had a huge impact on history.
20) Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh was a tormented man. From a young age, he was troubled by fits of depression. After a string of unfulfilling jobs and failed relationships, he found that painting would relieve him from his suffering. Even so, he cut off part of his left ear in a fit of rage. While in the hospital, doctors tried to diagnose his melancholy.
Once he was released, he continued to paint. In a remarkable career that spanned a little over ten years,
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