A Brief History On August 16, 1945, the last Emperor in China, Puyi of Manchuria, was captured by the Soviet Army. Puyi, also known as Henry Puyi, was the last Qing Emperor of China from 1908 to 1912, deposed while still a child (born 1906) by the Xinhai Revolution of 1912. The former Xuantong Emperor lived quietly until the Japanese occupation of Manchuria (Manchukuo) in 1932. Digging Deeper The Japanese made Puyi their puppet ruler of Manchukuo, and in 1934 declared him Emperor Datong, the Kangde Emperor of Manchukuo. This regime lasted only until the end of Japanese occupation in…
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A Brief History On August 16, 1942, while on routine anti-submarine patrol, the 2 man crew of US Navy Blimp L-8 disappeared without a trace. The unmanned blimp drifted about aimlessly until crash landing in Daly City, California. No trace of the crew or reason for their disappearance has ever been found. Digging Deeper (Note: An unrelated disaster, the 1964 Republican National Convention was held in the modern city limits of Daly City, although History usually refers to the convention as being held in San Francisco. Barry Goldwater was nominated for President, and went on to lose by a record…
A Brief History On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, touted to be “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music” opened in the Catskills region of New York State. The 3 day weekend blast saw 32 music acts perform rock and folk music, with just about all forms of rock (of the time) represented. About 400,000 people attended, and the event is often considered one of the most important and famous musical events in rock and roll history. Digging Deeper Located on a farm owned by Max Yasgur near Bethel, New York, the site is…
A Brief History On August 14, 1947, the independent country of Pakistan came about, a mostly Muslim country consisting of the Northeast and Northwest portions of the Indian sub-continent carved out of the British colony of India. The next day, India also gained her long awaited independence, a fitting thing for the world’s second most populous country. Digging Deeper India had been the target of British colonialism since the 1600’s, and by 1820 the entire subcontinent was basically under British rule. Indians chafed under this rule, a situation not helped by religious and ethnic differences in a giant country of…
A Brief History Last year on August 14, 2014, we ran a list of wonderful products named after the city they are associated with or came from. This year we will repeat the process, and name 10 more such wonderful products. We will try to cover many different types of products. (We may get a little liberal with what we include as a city, and expand it to include a state, region, or country this time.) Digging Deeper 10. Kentucky Long Rifle. The long barreled, graceful looking, muzzle loading rifle of the 18th and 19th Centuries was designed as a…