20 January marks the day that a meeting of senior officials took place in Nazi Germany, at a home in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. The purpose of the conference, called by director of the …
World History
The Founder
25 December marks the birth of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the first Governor-General of Pakistan. Born in Karachi and trained as a barrister in London. In 1895, at age 19, he became the youngest Indian to …
Vive La France!
It was on this day, 21 December, in 1958, that Charles de Gaulle was elected the first president of the Fifth Republic by a sweeping majority of French voters. During the next decade, President de …
Death of a Literary Giant
20 November marks the death of Lev Tolstoy in 1910. Tolstoy authored sweeping novels, perhaps most notable, ‘War and Peace’ as well as short stories, many inspired by his military service, including, ‘A Prisoner in …
Correspondents with a Cause
22 October marks the birthday of John Reed, an American journalist best known for his chronicle of the Russian Revolution, ’10 Days that Shook the World’. A native of Portland, Oregon, Reed would graduate from …
A World Without Borders
6 October marks the birth date of Norwegian ethnographer, Thor Heyerdahl. Heyerdahl grew to world fame for his use of primitive ocean-going vessels in an attempt to illustrate the possibility of transoceanic contact between ancient, …
Egypt’s Loss
It was on this date, 28 September, 1970, that Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser died. A leader of the Revolution that toppled the Egyptian monarchy in 1952, Nasser himself would assume the office of President …
The Man They Killed, THe Consciousness Remained Alive
It was on 12 September, 1977, that South African student leader Steve Biko died in police custody in the Republic of South Africa, which was then under Apartheid rule. Nelson Mandela said of Biko: They …
From the Subcontinent to the Campus
27 May marks the death of Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru was a key figure in India’s independence and growth as a nation. Considered to be the political heir of Mohandas K. Gandhi, he became the first …
Where books are burned, so too shall people burn
On 10 May, 1933, Students in Nazi Germany burned upwards of 25,000 books in public bonfires. The books by Jewish authors and others deemed subversive by the Nazis were consigned to the flames. This included …