As a colonel in the Libyan army, Qaddafi deposed King Idris I in a military coup in September 1969.
In the following years, he expropriated Libya’s Jewish and Italian communities and nationalized foreign-owned petroleum assets.
During the Revolutionary War years, 90 percent of Americans were farmers. By World War II, the number had shrunk to 15 percent. Today fewer than 3 percent of the population are farmers.
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) was born V. I. Ulyanov. Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) was born Lev Davidovich Bronstein. Josef Stalin (1879-1953) was born Josef Dzhugashvili.
Three cities were destroyed when the volcano erupted. They were Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae, all southeast of modern Naples. When were the ruins of Pompeii discovered? Destroyed in A.D. 79, the city was not discovered until the late 1500s. Formal excavation did not begin until 1748.
A Ghost Dance is a ceremonial spiritual dance related to the teachings of Wovoka, a Paiute medicine man of Nevada who foresaw the restoration of the American continent to the Indians. Wovoka’s revolutionary message, preached in the late 1880s, provoked repression from U.S. officials, culminating in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890.
Hank Aaron entered the major leagues as right fielder with the Milwaukee Braves in 1954. He moved to Atlanta with the team in 1966. On April 8,1974, he broke Babe Ruth’s record for career home runs.
Cassius Clay announced that he had changed his name to Muhammad Ali in February 1964, after defeating Sonny Liston and becoming heavyweight champion. Some time earlier, Ali had secretly joined the Nation of Islam, led by Elijah Muhammad.