HistoryPod Podcast
1) 21st October 1805: The Battle of Trafalgar sees the British Navy under the command of Nelson defeat the combined fleets of France and Spain
The Battle of Trafalgar secured British supremacy of the seas and saw the victorious fleet sail away without having lost a single ...
2) 20th October 1973: Sydney Opera House officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II
Construction began in March 1959 but the project, located on Bennelong Point overlooking Sydney Harbour, soon ran into difficulties before finally opening on 20 October ...
3) 19th October 1935: League of Nations imposes sanctions on Italy for the invasion of Abyssinia
When Abyssinia was finally captured on 5 May, all the sanctions were ...
4) 17th October 1943: The Thailand–Burma ‘Death’ Railway completed using forced labour including Allied prisoners of war
The Japanese used approximately 60,000 POWs, mainly British, Dutch, Australian, and American, to construct the railway alongside an estimated 180,000 to 250,000 Asian civilians. It is estimated that a...Show More
5) 15th October 1923: Rentenmark introduced in Weimar Germany in an attempt to stop the hyperinflation crisis
The new currency was backed by land that was used by businesses and agriculture, and was introduced at the rate of one Rentenmark to one trillion ...
6) 14th October 1892: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle first published, containing 12 stories
The twelve stories that make up The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes were originally serialised between July 1891 and June 1892, and included cases such as “A Scandal in Bohemia,” and “The Adventure of t...Show More
7) 11th October 1986: Reykjavík Summit takes place between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev
The Reykjavík Summit quickly developed into one of the most significant negotiations of the era, with both sides beginning to address the escalating nuclear arms race during the Cold ...
8) 8th October 1856: Second Opium War begins after the arrest of the crew of the Arrow, a Chinese-owned but British-registered cargo boat
Chinese officials boarded the Arrow and arrested its crew on suspicion of piracy and smuggling, prompting British authorities to claim that the Chinese had violated the vessel’s British protection, an...Show More
9) 7th October 1949: The creation of East Germany, formally known as the German Democratic Republic
The establishment of the GDR ensured that the division of Germany that had been implemented in 1945 was made ...
10) 5th October 1914: First recorded aerial combat victory takes place when a French Voisin shoots down a German Aviatik aircraft
Contemporary reports state that the French crew fired a long burst on a machine, hitting the German Aviatik and fatally wounding its crew before the plane crashed behind enemy ...