In April 1989, Chinese students gathered in Tiananmen Square to demand democratic reform. The demonstrators were gradually joined by workers, intellectuals, and civil servants, until over a million people filled the square and martial law was declared. The protesters demanded that the leadership resign, and the government answered, on June 3, with troops and tanks, killing thousands to quell a “counterrevolutionary rebellion.” What happened in the aftermath of these events? Discuss
During the American Civil War, Davis, a political and military leader who had previously served in both houses of US Congress and distinguished himself as the commander of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican War, was elected President of the Confederate States of America. A West Point graduate, Davis prided himself on his military skills and closely managed the Confederate army. Following the Confederacy’s surrender, he was captured and indicted on charges of treason. What became of him? Discuss
To remain bold, resolute, determined, and courageous, especially in the face of possible danger, difficulty, hardship, or adversity. Taken from a line in Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “We fail! But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we’ll not fail.” Watch the video
The world we live in would be nothing like it is today were it not for the internal-combustion engine. In 1885, Gottlieb Daimler built an internal-combustion engine that is widely viewed as the prototype of the modern gas engine, and Karl Benz built the first practical automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine, ushering in a new era in transportation. Today, internal-combustion engines are used to power everything from cars and trucks to locomotives, ships, and jets. How do they work? Discuss
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, is the elder daughter and successor of George VI. At age 18, she was made a state counsellor, a confidante of the King. During World War II, she trained as a second lieutenant in the women’s services. In 1947, she married Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh. They were in Kenya when the King died and Elizabeth succeeded to the throne. Her coronation was the first to be televised. Elizabeth is Britain’s second-longest reigning monarch. Who is the first? Discuss
A novelist and poet, Hardy was one of the 19th century’s great English writers. Though he started out writing poetry and regarded the novel as an inferior genre, his first published works were novels, and it was through them that he gained fame as a writer. Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891) and Jude the Obscure (1895) are considered his masterpieces. At the height of his success, Hardy gave up writing novels and began publishing poetry. What compelled him to finally make the change? Discuss
An aviation term among pilots and airline crew for the effect created when the rubber oxygen masks in a commercial aircraft deploy from its ceiling. Watch the video
The University of Padua is one of the oldest universities in Europe and the second oldest in Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and faculty from the University of Bologna and has since become a premier institution for higher education in Italy, boasting an enrollment of 65,000 students and an academic staff numbering more than 2,200. Over the course of the university’s long and illustrious history, many famed historical figures passed through its doors, such as what scholars? Discuss