HISTORY This Week

July 10, 1943. 150,000 British and American soldiers storm the beaches of Sicily in the first Allied invasion of Nazi-controlled Europe. But the Nazis…aren’t really there to put up a fight. Hitler thought the invasion was coming for Greece. The Nazis h...

July 16, 1945. It happened within a millionth of a second. In the New Mexico desert at 5:29 AM. It was silent at first. Then came the sound. The first-ever atomic bomb was a success. How was this bomb created and how did it change the world?

July 22, 1934. John Dillinger, America's most famous outlaw, is gunned down by federal agents outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago. Dillinger's death is the final act in a crime spree that involved multiple prison breaks, dozens of bank ro...

July 31, 1492. In towns across late medieval Spain, whole districts have emptied out, the jewish districts. Because four months earlier, jewish people were told: convert to catholicism or leave. Why were the Jews expelled from Spain?

August 4, 1987. The Federal Communication Commission’s leadership has come together in Washington D.C. to decide the fate of a vital issue: fairness. For the previous 40 years, the FCC has attempted to ensure that TV and radio broadcasters present both...

August 18, 1920. On this day, the 19th Amendment is ratified, which says that women, nationwide, will be able to vote. But, what did the amendment actually do? And what does it show us about our own right to vote today?

August 25, 1797. Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury, has published a new pamphlet. At first, readers assume this is going to be another one of Hamilton’s pro-Federalist, ideological screeds. But soon, the whole country will realiz...

Sept 5, 1698. Tsar Peter the Great of Russia returns home from a year-long European tour. When noblemen, religious figures and friends gather to welcome him home, Peter pulls out a straight razor, holds it to their throats and…forcibly shaves their bea...

September 10, 2002. Today, we are in a race to save the world’s seeds. How has an international coalition of scientists worked to conserve the world’s seeds? And why might they be the key to protecting the future of humanity?

September 16, 1965. Cesar Chavez and the National Farmworkers Association have been plotting a Mexican-American labor strike for years, concentrating their efforts in the farming community of Delano, California. But just one week earlier, Filipino farm...