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…
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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…
A Brief History On May 10, 1849, Astor Opera House in Manhattan was the unlikely scene of another of those goofy named riots we keep telling you about. Though the Astor Opera House is no more (nor are the 22 to 31 people killed during the riot!), the Astor Place Riot lives on in the Pantheon of Stupid Riots. (Type in “Riot” in the question box of our website to get our many articles about the seemingly endless supply of riots.) Along with the many people killed, another 260 (including militiamen) were seriously injured, making the Astor Place Riot one…
A Brief History On May 7, 1664, King Louis XIV of France began construction on the Palace of Versailles, one of the most iconic structures in the world and the symbol of the throne of France. Today the palace and grounds are a Monument historique and UNESCO World Heritage site and remains one of the biggest tourist attractions in France, a country noted for its tourist attractions. Digging Deeper From 1682 to 1789 the Palace of Versailles was the residence of the monarch of France and the epitome of royal excess. First the home of Louis XIV, by the time…
A Brief History On May 3, 1921, the state legislature of West Virginia enacted the first Sales Tax in the United States, although problems in creating the mechanism to administer the tax precluded enforcement for several years. In 1930, Kentucky and Mississippi followed suit, enacting broad based sales tax, although Kentucky repealed the legislation in 1936, possibly due to the effects of the Great Depression. During the 1930’s many states jumped on the sales tax bandwagon. Digging Deeper While broad based sales tax is now common in the US and in Canada, the original application of sales tax pertained to…