Jennifer's 20th Century History Blog January 2004 Archive

On June 13, 1952, a Swedish DC-3 aircraft with an eight-man crew disappeared. The Swedish government said the plane had been on a training mission. The Soviet Union ... Read More

Pancho Villa was a killer, a bandit, and a revolutionary but is best remembered as a Mexican folk hero. Learn more about this man from my biography of Pancho ... Read More

January 27 marks the 60th anniversary of the end of the Nazi siege on Leningrad. During World War II, the Nazis overran city by city on their way east. ... Read More

A 104-year old, blue and gold macaw has historians and the populace intrigued this week. A recent story states that the macaw, Charlie, was owned by British Prime Minister ... Read More

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the case of Roe v. Wade, making abortion legal in the United States. CNN's Special Report offers a look ... Read More

On January 21, 1924, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (aka V.I. Lenin) passed away after suffering a series of strokes. He had been a major leader of the Russian Revolution and ... Read More

On January 20, 1942, Nazi leaders gathered together in Wannsee to plan the implementation of killing Europe's Jewry. Learn more about the Wannsee Conference.

On Monday, the United States celebrates the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.. Learn more about this extraordinary human here on my site.

The recent 60th anniversary of the death of Sir Aurel Stein, who sent home to the U.K. more than 40,000 artifacts from his explorations round Asia, is causing questions to ... Read More

Test your knowledge of 20th century history with this week's challening history quiz!

When Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union, Russian Revolution leader Leon Trotsky quickly fell from favor. On January 11, 1928, Stalin exiled Trotsky to Alma-Ata ... Read More

During his first State of the Union speech on January 8, 1964, just weeks after succeeding John F. Kennedy to the presidency, President Lyndon Johnson declared a "War on Poverty." ... Read More

One of the enduring legends of the Great War, the singing attacks of German students at the First Ypres, is a curious mixture of fact and self-serving fiction--a cover-up that ... Read More

John Toland was awarded the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for his book The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 which tells the story of ... Read More

Challenge yourself with this new history quiz. How much to you know about the 20th century?

The name of Hitler provokes intense emotions. But what if Adolf Hitler had really been named Adolf Schicklgruber? It was closer than you think.

At 7:25 p.m. on May 6, 1937, while the Hindenburg was attempting to land at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey, a flame appeared on the outer cover ... Read More