Resultados de "Hourly History" en Todas las categorias

She was a famous American starlet who ended up living every girl’s dream of becoming a princess. This American celebrity married the prince of Monaco at the age of 26 and left Hollywood behind to become a monarch. Who was Grace Kelly? Was she an American icon? Was she the much-needed life support of an antiquated royal family? Was she just a trendsetter who got lucky, or was the character of Grace Kelly something that biographers, historians, and paparazzi all missed entirely?

Elvis Presley was much more than a cultural icon; he was a reliable barometer of the world in which he grew up. Long before the cultural revolutions of the '60s and '70s, Elvis was sparking a dynastic change of hands in American society. In this audiobook, you will learn about the life, the legend, and the unmistakable icon - Elvis Presley.

Voltaire, born François-Marie Arouet in Paris, France, was a writer and leading figure of the Enlightenment. His insistence that all authority could and must be questioned was so radical, he ended up in prison several times and was ultimately exiled. Voltaire’s writings were instrumental in influencing the American and French revolutions. Man as a being with natural rights was a radical concept at the time, but one which the American founding fathers embraced. Voltaire’s anger was specifically directed at the arbitrary powers of the state and the church.

Henry VII was not destined to be the well-known (or perhaps better described as infamous) king that his son was after him, but his place in history remains important. With his victory over Richard III in 1485, Henry brought England out of the Middle Ages and ushered it into the modern era. His reign ended decades of bloody civil wars and provided the wealth and stability necessary for commerce and art to thrive in England. When Henry’s son, Henry VIII, ascended the throne in 1509, it marked England’s first uncontested transfer of power in almost 90 years.

The Battle of Okinawa was the deadliest campaign of the Pacific during World War II. The Americans had come back from the demoralizing defeat at Pearl Harbor to mount a ferocious attack against the Japanese. To be able to invade Japan, the Americans had to take Okinawa. But the Japanese, determined to defend their homeland and preserve their way of life, would fight to the death against the invaders. As the Army and Marines fought bloody battles to gain Okinawa inch by inch, the Navy was subjected to kamikaze attacks.

In the midst of World War I, the Easter Rising took place in Dublin and throughout Ireland in April 1916. The revolutionary movement faced many problems from the beginning, including splintered leadership, disorganized support, opposition from moderate supporters of home rule, and prepared retaliation from the British.

John Wycliffe was known as the “Morning Star” of the Reformation. His doctrines of strict adherence to the Bible and his attacks on the wealth and corruption of the Catholic Church would be the spark that would later ignite the fires of the Protestant Reformation.

William Wallace; if ever there was a champion in the annals of Scottish history, he was it. Known as a proud Scot who rose through the ranks to challenge the English king, Wallace was a mere man who became larger than life - large enough even for the likes of Mel Gibson to play him in Braveheart for movie-going audiences on the silver screen. But who was William Wallace? What separates the real man from the myth?

The Great Depression was one of the most trying eras in American history. All aspects of the US were affected. After the stock market crash of 1929, the nation was thrust into a decade of turmoil and change - in government, the economy, and culture. Many of the changes brought about by the Great Depression remain today.

Long-time adversaries Germany and the Soviet Union put their hostilities to the test in World War II. Despite a temporary truce in the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-aggression Pact in 1939, the Germans and the Soviets knew that the time was coming when they would face one another on the battlefield. But Operation Barbarossa was the beginning of the downfall of the Third Reich, as the dogged Russian refusal to succumb and the menace of the Russian winter demonstrated that the Soviet Union would not surrender as other European nations had done.

Discover the remarkable life of Chester A. Arthur... Chester A. Arthur is not a name that immediately comes to mind when one thinks of great American presidents. He is, in many ways, the forgotten man of the White House, and most Americans would probably struggle to place him, let alone recall what he actually did. And yet his story is remarkable and, in many ways, surprising.

As the daughter of a decorated general in the Imperial Russian army, Alexandra Kollontai was a member of the elite from birth. From that comfortable perch, she might easily have lived out her days in the drawing rooms and social circles of St. Petersburg's upper classes. Instead, she devoted her life to tearing that world apart.

Discover the remarkable life of James A. Garfield... James A. Garfield was the 20th President of the United States. He held that title for only a few brief months before falling victim to an assassin’s bullet. Like Abraham Lincoln before him, Garfield was cut down by a gunman before his vision could be realized. Yet while Lincoln is immortalized, Garfield has been all but forgotten, a fate as unfair as the one that ended his life. In his short life, Garfield established himself as a well-known figure in American politics.

Discover the remarkable life of Boudica... Boudica was the queen of her people, a proud Celtic tribe in the east of England, and she took that responsibility seriously. In a time when the Romans sought to add the British Isles to their ever-growing empire, she stood as the last line of defense between her tribe and total subjugation. And so, with nothing left to lose, she did what few had ever dared: she led her people in open revolt against the mightiest empire on earth.

Few women in history have inspired such contradictory reactions as Catherine de Medici. To her admirers, she was a brilliant stateswoman and a steadying force in an era of great religious conflict. To her enemies, she was something far darker: a scheming foreigner, an Italian serpent coiled at the heart of the French court. What almost everyone agreed on was that she was extraordinary.

Discover the remarkable life of Empress Dowager Cixi... Empress Dowager Cixi, who first rose to prominence as a royal consort, connived and schemed her way to the very pinnacle of power in China. From the shadows of the Forbidden City's inner chambers, she emerged as the empire's de facto ruler, wielding authority few women in history had ever possessed. She ruthlessly crushed her opponents and at times subjected even close family members to abject cruelty all in pursuit of power. Yet outside forces and internal turmoil proved too much for even her guile and cunning to overcome.

Discover the remarkable history of the Arab Spring... The Arab Spring began unexpectedly on December 17, 2010, when Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit seller in the city of Sidi Bouzid in Tunisia, committed suicide in a horrifying and public way. He doused himself in flammable liquid and then set himself on fire. Bouazizi had been driven to this act of despair, it was said, by constant harassment from local representatives of the regime of President Ben Ali, who had been the autocratic ruler of Tunisia for more than twenty years.

Discover the remarkable life of Rutherford B. Hayes... Rutherford B. Hayes may not be the most famous president in US history, but his time in office was quite consequential all the same. He entered the White House under a cloud of controversy in one of the most contested elections the country had ever seen, yet he refused to let scandal define his presidency. Against all odds, he persevered. As the 19th president, Hayes proved himself a reformer and a man of principle.

Emmeline Pankhurst remains one of the most pivotal women in history. For others, such words might be an overstatement, but for Emmeline Pankhurst, they are simply the truth. She came of age at a time when women had no voice in the affairs of their own country, and she made it her life's work to change that. What began as grassroots activism quickly turned into nothing short of a crusade that would reshape British society and inspire women across the world.

Golda Meir began her career as a grassroots activist whose tireless efforts helped ensure the creation of a Jewish homeland. As a diplomat and negotiator, she played a pivotal role in securing the recognition and funding that made the founding of Israel possible in 1948. She would go on to serve as the new nation’s foreign minister and, ultimately, as its prime minister—one of the first women in the world to hold such an office.