History

Refine Search

What was one purpose of propaganda?

The use of propaganda dates back to at least ancient Egypt and Ramesses II's successful campaign proving he "won" a battle against the Hittites. In modern times, it's been used to drum up support for countries during both world wars and every modern war since at least Napoleon's time, most often by demonizing the enemy.\nAdvertisers use a broad range of propaganda. For instance, they use testimonials and folksy approaches to convince potential customers that their products are valuable and useful. On product packaging, graphic bursts emblazoned with "New!" or "Organic" try to co..

Continue Reading

What are some facts about Hellen Keller?

Helen Keller overcame her loss of sight, hearing and speech with the help of Anne Sullivan. In 1887, Sullivan was recommended to her family by Alexander Graham Bell and worked with Keller for the next 49 years. In 1890, Keller began formal speech classes at the Horace Mann School for the Deaf in Boston. She also graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904.\nFollowing college, Keller became involved with the Socialist Party. Following the announcement of her involvement, press support for her decreased.\nKeller took a leadership role in a number of organizations in her lifetime, including the Amer..

Continue Reading

Who was Philip B. Downing?

Downing patented his mailbox on Oct. 27, 1891. Before 1891, safety was not guaranteed in public mailboxes because they were typically left half-open. With Downing's invention, the inner safety door ensured the protection of mail from theft and adverse weather conditions.\nIn 1890, Downing patented a railway switch controlling the power supply to trains. Residential electrical switches were later invented based on this design.

Continue Reading

Who discovered the color spectrum?

Newton's experiments were designed to disprove a then-popular theory that light was a wave and the spectrum emitted by a prism was caused by the prism corrupting or coloring the wave. Newton believed that light was made up of colored particles that combined to form white. He proved this by using two prisms in succession to split and then recombine white light. Newton also named the seven colors constituting the spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Continue Reading

How did the Industrial Revolution encourage imperialism?

Because the Industrial Revolution increased the production capacity of Western states astronomically, there was an enormous hunger for raw materials to satisfy demands. Thus, Western powers sought colonies where raw materials were abundant and where they could be appropriated at little to no cost. Additionally, colonies gave the Western powers a ready-made market for their goods, as the colonized people were left with little to no legal recourse to produce their own finished products. Technological advances in Western arms and transportation commonly made indigenous resistance to imperial incu..

Continue Reading

Who invented the camera phone?

Kahn completed his camera phone after his wife, Sonia, went into labor. He wired together his cellular phone, a camera and a laptop, and transmitted his first picture instantly to friends and family around the world. This is notably also the first "shared" photo, which would set the stage for modern social media sharing. Kahn has been the founder and CEO of Borland, Starfish Software, Lightsurf Technologies and Fullpower Technologies. He is also an avid sport sailor.

Continue Reading

What were Desert Storm trading cards?

The first set of Persian Gulf trading cards consisted of 88 cards and 22 stickers. It was produced in 1991 by the Topps company. Each package contained nine cards and one sticker at a price of 50 cents. The Pro set was published shortly after the Topps set and included 250 cards. They were sold in individual packages containing 10 cards. Additionally, Pacific Trading Cards produced a set of 110 cards, and Crowd Sports Cards created a set of nine caricatures.\nThe cards were very popular among both typical and atypical card collectors and sold very quickly. Some companies pledged to donate a pe..

Continue Reading

What were the names of Betsy Ross's siblings?

Betsy was born Elizabeth Griscom in Philadelphia on Jan. 1, 1752. She was a famous seamstress who is thought to have designed and sewed the first American flag for George Washington.\nA three-time widow, she was married to John Ross, Joseph Ashburn, and John Claypoole. Although she had no children with John Ross, she had five daughters with Joseph Ashburn and two daughters with John Claypoole. Two of her daughters died in childhood. Betsy died in Philadelphia on Jan. 30, 1836, at the age of 84.

Continue Reading

What did Lincoln do before he was President?

According to Abraham Lincoln Online, Lincoln's first term in public office began in 1834 when he won election to the Illinois House of Representatives. He was 25 years old. He served in the Illinois House four times before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846. Before beginning his political career, the self-educated Lincoln worked as a clerk and a manual laborer until joining the Illinois Militia in 1832.

Continue Reading

When did World War II begin?

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, European nations witnessed the steady rise to power of the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler. His imperialistic ideology resulted in the formation of the Axis Powers, with Japan and Italy having similar inclinations of territorial expansion as Hitler. They were eventually defeated in 1945 by the Allied Forces, comprised of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States.

Continue Reading
Showing 341 to 350 of 8554 (856 Pages)