A Brief History On May 17, 1900, the L. Frank Baum fantasy story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was published. In 1902, the story was adapted as a Broadway musical, titled The Wizard of Oz, and in 1939, the famous movie adaptation again titled the story The Wizard of Oz. Of these 3 ways to tell the story, it is the iconic moving picture that has been an integral part of Americana and is the vehicle by which most Americans are familiar with the story. Today, we look at this marvelous tale and tell you about 10 things you may…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On May 15, 1848, Serfdom was abolished in the Habsburg Austrian region of Galicia, ending the slavery of peasants in an area now occupied by Poland and the Ukraine. The freedom of the Serfs came about as a result of the Revolutions of 1848, a widespread revolt across Feudal Europe, a so called “Bourgeois revolution” against the monarchies that controlled lands not native to the rulers. The upheaval was part of what Karl Marx was referring to when he predicted the people would rise up to overthrow the elites. Serfdom was a form of slavery practiced in…
A Brief History On May 14, 2019, a mere five days away from the HBO mega-hit television series, Game of Thrones series finale, we at History and Headlines are all too willing to provide our readers inclined to desperately want to know things ahead of time with SPOILERS! Who will live and who will die, who will occupy the Iron Throne? Many pundits have speculated, and supposedly alternate endings have been filmed to avoid cast members from spilling the beans, but only we have the soi-disant (self-described) clairvoyant, who will now boldly share his visions of the coming final episode…
A Brief History On May 13, 2019, we celebrate National Apple Pie Day, the most American of desserts. Right? Wrong! While Apple Pie in its many iterations is indeed loved by Americans, including This One, Apple Pie is not an American invention at all. Still, Apple Pie is just so darn good that having a National Apple Pie Day makes good sense anyway. Digging Deeper As American as apple pie? NOT! Since the only apples native to North America are crabapples, Americans did not even have the apples for apple pie until trees could be grown from seed brought from…
A Brief History On May 12, 2006, an Iranian magazine ran a cartoon of a cockroach sitting across a table from and having a conversation with an Iranian boy. Incredibly (to us), this cartoon led to massive riots across Iran, a country that experienced a profound revolution in 1979, when it transformed from a monarchy to a theocracy, becoming an Islamic state. We have often told you about goofy riots, riots that have either idiotic origins or at least have goofy names. History is full of such unfortunate events, and today, we add yet another such unfortunate riot to this…