TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – OCT 31
1517 Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg in Germany. Luther’s theories and writings inaugurate Protestantism, shattering the external structure of the medieval church and at the same time reviving the religious consciousness of Europe.
1541 Michelangelo Buonarroti finishes painting “The Last Judgement” in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican City
1815 Sir Humphrey Davy of London patents miner’s safety lamp
1838 A mob of about 200 attacks a Mormon camp in Missouri, killing 20 men, women and children.
1846 A heavy snowfall trapped the Donner Party in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
1864 Nevada becomes the 36th state.
1917 World War I: Battle of Beersheba in southern Palestine – “last successful cavalry charge in history” performed by the 4th Australian Light Horse
1941 After 14 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed.
1952 The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific.
1956 Following Egypt’s decision to nationalize the Suez Canal Britain and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
1968 The bombing of North Vietnam is halted by the United States.
1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by two Sikh members of her bodyguard.
1992 Pope John Paul II acknowledged the errors committed by the Catholic Church while dealing with Galileo Galilei in the 17th century
1998 Iraq announces it will no longer cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.
2002 Former Enron Corp. CEO Andrew Fastow convicted on 78 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, obstruction of justice and wire fraud; the Enron collapse cost investors millions and led to new oversight legislation.
2011 The world population reaches 7 billion inhabitants according to the United Nations
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
