During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against Japan in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
2. Who was assassinated on November 22, 1963? Where and how did it happen?
John F. Kennedy. In Dallas, just before 12:30 p.m. CST, Kennedy’s limousine entered Dealey Plaza and slowly approached the Texas School Book Depository. Nellie Connally, then the First Lady of Texas, turned around to Kennedy, who was sitting behind her, and commented, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you," which President Kennedy acknowledged.
When the Presidential limousine turned and passed the Depository and continued down Elm Street, shots were fired at Kennedy; a clear majority of witnesses recalled hearing three shots. A minority of the witnesses did recognize the first gunshot blast they heard as a weapon blast, but there was hardly any reaction from a majority in the crowd or riding in the motorcade itself to the first shot, with many later saying they heard what they first thought to be a firecracker or the exhaust backfire of a vehicle just after the president started waving.
Within one second of each other, President Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and Mrs. Kennedy, all turned abruptly from looking to their left to looking to their right, between Zapruder film frames 155 and 169 Connally, like the president a WWII military veteran (and unlike the president, a longtime hunter), testified he immediately recognized the sound of a high-powered rifle, then he turned his head and torso rightward attempting to see President Kennedy behind him. Connally testified he could not see the president, so he then started to turn forward again, and that when he was about facing forward he was hit in his upper right back by a bullet. Mrs. Connally testified that right after hearing a first loud, frightening noise that came from somewhere behind her and to her right, she immediately turned towards President Kennedy and saw him with his arms and elbows already raised high with his hands already close to his throat. She then heard another gunshot and John Connally started yelling. Mrs. Connally then turned away from President Kennedy towards her husband, then another gunshot sounded and she and the limousine's rear interior were covered with fragments of brain, blood, and bone matter.
According to the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations, as President Kennedy waved to the crowds on his right with his right arm upraised on the side of the limo, a shot entered his upper back, penetrated his neck, slightly damaged a spinal vertebra and the top of his right lung, exited his throat nearly centerline just beneath his Adam's apple, then nicked the left side of his suit tie knot. He then raised his arms and clenched fists around his head and neck, then leaned forward and towards his left. Mrs. Kennedy (already facing him) then put her arms around him in concern. Governor Connally also reacted after the same bullet penetrated his back creating an oval entry wound, impacted and destroyed four inches of his right, fifth rib bone, exited his chest just below his right nipple creating a two-and-a-half inch oval sucking-air chest wound, then entered just above his right wrist, impacted and cleanly fractured his right wrist bone, exited just below the wrist at the inner side of his right palm, and entered his left inner thigh. He then shouted, "No, No, no. My God. They're going to kill us all!" The Warren Commission theorized that the "single bullet" struck between Zapruder frames 210 and 225, while the House Select Committee theorized it occurred exactly at Zapruder frame 190.
According to the Warren Commission, a second shot struck at Zapruder film frame 313 (the Commission made no conclusion as to whether this was the second or third bullet fired) when the Presidential limousine was passing in front of the John Neely Bryan north pergola concrete structure (the House Select Committee concluded that the final shot was the fourth shot). They each concluded that this shot entered the rear of President Kennedy's head (the House Select Committee determined the entry wound to be four inches higher than the Warren Commission), then exploded out a roughly oval sized hole from his head's rear and right side. Head matter, brain, blood, and skull fragments covered the interior of the car, the inner and outer surfaces of the front glass windshield and raised sun visors, the front engine hood, the rear trunk lid, the followup Secret Service car and its driver's left arm, and motorcycle officers riding on both sides of the president behind him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination#Assassination
http://www.fiftiesweb.com/kennedy/kennedy-assassination-22.htm
3. What does 9/11 refer to? Give a short overview of the disaster.
The September 11 attacks (often referred to as September 11th or 9/11) were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001.
1. American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York at 8:46 a.m. local time (Eastern Daylight Time, 12:46:30 UTC).
2. United Airlines Flight 175, which crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Center at 9:02:59 a.m. local time (13:02:59 UTC). Many people saw this as it happened because television news cameras were filming the site of the first crash when the second airplane hit the south tower.
3. American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia (near Washington DC), at 9:37:46 a.m. local time (13:37:46 UTC).
4. United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into the ground at 10:03:11 a.m. local time (14:03:11 UTC). It is believed that the terrorists wanted to crash the plane into the United States Capitol. The passengers tried to take over the plane. They stopped the terrorists from taking full control of the plane but could not save it. The plane ended up crashing near the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
4. What happened on the 14th April 1912? What were the consequences?
The Titanic hit an iceberg. The ship sank on the 15th April. Passengers and crew who survived: Unknown precisely but estimates commonly place the figure at just over 700.
Passengers and crew who perished: Unknown precisely but estimates commonly place the figure at just under 1,500 casualties.
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic
5. Why is the ship Mayflower so important in American history? What happened?
The Mayflower was the famous ship that transported the English Pilgrims, from Southampton, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. 2 passengers died on the trip. On March 21/31, 1621, all surviving passengers, who had inhabited the ship during the winter, moved ashore at Plymouth, and on April 5/15, the Mayflower, a privately commissioned vessel, returned to England. In 1623, a year after the death of captain Christopher Jones, the Mayflower was most likely dismantled for scrap lumber in Rotherhithe, London.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower
6. What was the significant event that took place on July 16, 1969? Illustrate.
The Apollo 11 mission landed the first humans on the Moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, the third lunar mission of NASA's Apollo Program was crewed by Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene 'Buzz' Aldrin, Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
7. What relevant event took place on January 20th 2009 in the United States? Illustrate.
The first black president of the USA, Barack Obama, made an oath and became the president of the USA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_inauguration#List_of_inaugural_ceremonies
8. What was Arpanet and why is this term and the man called Tim Berners-Lee very important in the world's history?
ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), created by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the United States Department of Defense, was the world's first operational packet switching network, and the predecessor of the contemporary global Internet. Tim Berners-Lee implemented the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server via the Internet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
9. Why is the date - September 1, 1939 – considered to be very significant date in the history of the world?
World War II began on that date.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II
10. What started on the morning of December 7, 1941? Give a short overview.
The attack on Pearl Harbor (or Hawaii Operation, Operation Z, as it was called by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and Battle of Pearl Harbor by some Americans) was an unannounced military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941. On November 26, 1941, a Japanese task force (the Striking Force) of six aircraft carriers departed northern Japan en route to a position to northwest of Hawaii, intending to launch its aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor. In all, 408 aircraft were intended to be used: 360 for the two attack waves, 48 on defensive combat air patrol (CAP), including nine fighters from the first wave.
The first wave was to be the primary attack, while the second wave was to finish whatever tasks remained. The first wave contained the bulk of the weapons to attack capital ships, mainly specially adapted Type 91 aerial torpedoes which were designed with an anti-roll mechanism and a rudder extension that let them operate in shallow water. The aircrews were ordered to select the highest value targets (battleships and aircraft carriers) or, if either were not present, any other high value ships (cruisers and destroyers). Dive bombers were to attack ground targets. Fighters were ordered to strafe and destroy as many parked aircraft as possible to ensure they did not get into the air to counterattack the bombers, especially in the first wave. When the fighters' fuel got low they were to refuel at the aircraft carriers and return to combat. Fighters were to serve CAP duties where needed, especially over US airfields.
Before the attack commenced, two reconnaissance aircraft launched from cruisers were sent to scout over Oahu and report on enemy fleet composition and location. Another four scout planes patrolled the area between the Kido Butai and Niihau, in order to prevent the task force from being caught by a surprise counterattack.
Fleet submarines I-16, I-18, I-20, I-22, and I-24 each embarked a Type A midget submarine for transport to the waters off Oahu. The five I-boats left Kure Naval District on November 25, 1941, coming to 10 nm (19 km) off the mouth of Pearl Harbor and launched their charges, at about 01:00 December 7. At 03:42 Hawaiian Time, the minesweeper USS Condor spotted a midget submarine periscope southwest of the Pearl Harbor entrance buoy and alerted the destroyer USS Ward. That midget probably entered Pearl Harbor, but Ward sank another at 06:37 in the first American shots fired in World War II. A midget on the north side of Ford Island missed the seaplane tender Curtiss with her first torpedo and missed the attacking destroyer Monaghan with her other one before being sunk by Monaghan at 08:43.
A third midget submarine grounded twice, once outside the harbor entrance and again on the east side of Oahu, where it was captured on December 8. Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki swam ashore and became the first Japanese prisoner of war. A fourth had been damaged by a depth charge attack and was abandoned by its crew before it could fire its torpedoes. A United States Naval Institute analysis of photographs from the attack conducted in 1999 indicated a midget may have successfully fired a torpedo into USS West Virginia. Japanese forces received a radio communications from a midget submarine at 00:41 December 8 claiming damage to one or more large war vessels inside Pearl Harbor. That submarine's final disposition has been unknown, but she did not return to her "mother" sub. On December 7, 2009 The Los Angeles Times reported that there is circumstantial evidence that three pieces of a submarine discovered three miles south of Pearl Harbor between 1994 and 2001 could be that of the missing submarine. The publication also reported that there is strong circumstantial evidence that the submarine fired two torpedoes at Battleship Row. The debris was dumped outside the harbor as part of an effort to conceal a 1944 ammunition explosion that destroyed six tank landing ships preparing for the secret invasion of Saipan .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor
No comments:
Post a Comment