Video: 'Tsar's Family Death | National Geographic'
(Wednesday, July 17, 1918, around 2:00 a.m. local time; during World War I) — Russia’s Czar Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, ruling from 1894 until his forced abdication in 1917, his wife and five children were executed early this morning by forces of the Bolshevik secret police under Yakov Yurovsky. Continue reading Russian Imperial Romanov family executed 100 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jul 17 1918)
Video: 'Circus performers killed in Hammond train crash remembered 100 years later'
(Saturday, June 22, 1918, 4:00 a.m. local time) — A train carrying members of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus and their families was rear-ended by a troop train today during an emergency stop near Hammond, Indiana, killing at least 86 people aboard the circus train and injuring 127 others. Continue reading 86 people killed in Hammond Circus Train Wreck 100 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 22 1918)
Video: '1914~1918. A BBC History of the Great War: 3. Total War' (June 15, 1918, at 17:06)
(Saturday, June 15, 1918; on the Italian Front during World War I) — Captain Edward Brittain, a British Army officer who was immortalized by his sister Vera Brittain in Testament of Youth, was shot in the head and killed early this morning on the Asiago Plateau during a counter-attack against an Austrian offensive, part of the Second Battle of the Piave River at Piave, Italy. Continue reading Vera Brittain’s brother killed on Italian Front 100 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 15 1918)
Video: 'U.S. Marines at Belleau Wood in WWI'
(Thursday, June 6, 1918, at dawn local time; during the Spring Offensive, part of the Western Front of World War I) — The first battalion of the 5th U.S. Marines suffered heavy casualties today as they launched a counteroffensive against German troops in the Battle of Belleau Wood near the Marne River in France. Continue reading U.S. Marines suffer heavy casualties at Belleau Wood 100 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 6 1918)
(Tuesday, June 4, 1918, at 8:55 p.m. CDT) — Charles W. Fairbanks, the 26th Vice President of the United States from 1905 to 1909, during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt, and the 1916 Republican vice presidential nominee (on a ticket with Charles Evans Hughes), died tonight of nephritis in his home in Indianapolis, Indiana. Fairbanks was 66.
Video: 'WORLD WAR ONE CANTIGNY BATTLE NEWSREEL MAY, 1918 27034a'
(Tuesday, May 28, 1918, 6:45 a.m. local time; during the Battle of Cantigny, part of the Western Front of World War I) — American troops fought their first military engagement during World War I today as the 1st Infantry Division attacked and captured the German-held French village of Cantigny. Continue reading Americans fight first major battle of World War I 100 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 28 1918)
Video: 'The First U.S. Air Mail Flight (1918) - 1976 Commemorative Clip'
(Wednesday, May 15, 1918, first flight from Belmont Park at 11:30 a.m. EDT) — The United States officially established airmail service between New York and Washington, D.C. today, using six converted United States Army Air Service Curtiss JN-4HM “Jenny” biplanes flown by Army pilots between Washington, D.C. (Washington Polo Grounds) and New York City (Belmont Park) with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia (Bustleton Field). Continue reading U.S. begins NYC to DC airmail service 100 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 15 1918)
Video: 'The History of Mother's Day'
(Sunday, May 10, 1908) — Mother’s Day, a celebration honoring motherhood and family life, was observed for the first time in the United States today when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Continue reading First Mother’s Day observed in U.S. 110 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (May 10 1908)
Video: 'The Red Baron - Manfred von Richthofen I WHO DID WHAT IN WW1?'
(Sunday, April 21, 1918, just after 11:00 a.m. local time) — Manfred von Richthofen, the German fighter pilot known as the “Red Baron” who was credited with 80 air combat victories during World War I, was himself shot down and killed today while in action over Morlancourt Ridge near the Somme River. He was 25. Continue reading Germany’s ‘Red Baron’ flying ace shot down and killed 100 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 21 1918)
Video: 'The Royal Air Force: Past and Present (Part One 1912-1937)' (Apr. 1, 1918, at 11:58)
(Monday, April 1, 1918; during World War I) — Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF), the oldest independent air force in the world, came into being today as the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged into a single, independent entity. Continue reading Britain’s Royal Air Force founded 100 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 1 1918)
