A Brief History On May 27, 1996, President Boris Yeltsin of Russia met with Chechen rebels to negotiate a cease fire in what is known as The First Chechen War. The Chechen Republic is an almost autonomous region within the Russian Federation, which fought a war for independence from December of 1994 to August of 1996. Digging Deeper The Chechen people lost as many as 14,000 fighters killed in the war, and another 80,000 to 100,000 civilians slain. The Russians lost about 3,000 to 5,000 killed. A second Chechen War was fought from 1999 to 2009. Chechnya is part of…
Browsing: May 27
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A Brief History On May 27, 1962, a landfill above a coal mine in Centralia, Pennsylvania caught on fire probably due to someone intentionally burning trash. The landfill located right above a seam in a former strip mine ignited the coal seam which led to an underground fire that has been burning ever since. Digging Deeper Incredibly, authorities have never been able to extinguish the flames, and the abandoned mine continued to burn, making most of the town of Centralia above the mine uninhabitable. With a population of 1400 in 1962, the ghost town boasted only 7 residents by 2013.…
A Brief History On May 27, 1907, in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the city by the bay came down with an epidemic of Bubonic Plague, the same plague responsible for the infamous “Black Death” in earlier centuries. Digging Deeper San Francisco had its first bout with Bubonic Plague from 1900 to 1904, initially covered up by the Governor of California who did not want to scare off investors and people from moving to the area. (Note: Governments lie, and lie and lie!) When the crisis was made public, Chinese immigrants were initially blamed, another step in…
A Brief History On May 27, 1703, Czar Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg, Russia. At 6 feet 8 inches his height alone made him “great,” but of course there were other reasons. Over the years a variety of people have been called “The Great,” “The Greatest,” or “The Great One,” and here we list 10 of them that really are great. (Note: The Great Gatsby is not a real person, just a character from a book. Jackie Gleason, comedian, composer, television pioneer was known as “The Great One.”) Digging Deeper 10. Muhammad “The Greatest” Ali. This former Olympic and…
A Brief History On May 27, 1958, the McDonnell Aircraft (later McDonnell Douglas) F-4 Phantom II naval interceptor made its first flight. Designed as a carrier airplane to defend the fleet against Soviet supersonic bombers, the concept was to create an interceptor that could climb rapidly and fly fast enough to catch bombers before they got close enough to attack the fleet. Digging Deeper Prior to entering service in 1960, the F-4 proved its concept by setting 15 aviation records for such things as speed and altitude. Designed to shoot down bombers rather than dogfight with fighters, the F-4 was…