On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong (1893-1976) stood on the rostrum of Tian’anmen (The Gate of Heavenly Peace) and announced the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in his strong Hunanese accent. This momentous announcement marked the end of China’s chaotic era of foreign domination since the mid-18th century and of frequent governmen…

Since 2002, December 12 has been known as Poinsettia Day, created by Congress to honor the passing of Paul Ecke, Jr., who helped commercialize the plant in the United States in the middle of the twentieth century.Written by Lindsay Schakenbach Regele. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and audio production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nichola…

This presentation commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Disaster (2-3 December, 1984 in Bhopal, India), the world’s worst industrial disaster. Dr. Madhumita Dutta, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at The Ohio State University discusses the disaster, the immediate and ongoing health repercussions for the people of Bho…

While most of the books written about the Salem witch trials concern those who were accused of witchcraft and their accusers, Matt Goldish's new book, "Science and Specters" at Salem, turns the spotlight on the judges. They were, after all, the men who decided to accept these accusations and move the trials forward. Historians have long wondered wh…

Musicals have sought to bring history to life onstage, with varying degrees of creative license. These are our top ten musicals based on real-life people and events that have shaped the theatre.Written by Lauren Henry. Narrated by Nicholas Breyfogle. Video production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast i…

Presented by Lydia Walker, Provost Scholar Assistant Professor, Seth Andre Myers Chair in Global Military History, in the Department of History at The Ohio State University.After the Second World War, national self-determination became a recognized international norm, yet it only extended to former colonies. Groups within postcolonial states that m…

In the Year of Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo negotiated independence from Belgium to the rhythm of the country’s greatest export: Congolese rumba. The wildly popular and meaningful genre became a soundtrack to global change.Written by Emily Hardick. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Production by Laura Seeger and Dr. Nicholas B…

Alice in Wonderland, the little girl created by Oxford mathematician and logician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll, came to life in 1865. While her pinafore and his frockcoat and long wavy hair, which were old fashioned even for their time, catch our eye and distance them from us on the other side of the tumultuous 20th century…

Few phenomena are so steeped in wonder as the total solar eclipse. Cultures through history have heralded eclipses as portentous, ominous events. Written by Matthew Smith. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and text versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/solar-eclipses-american-history. Video production by…

The date, October 23, 1956, marked the beginning of the ill-fated revolution that ended with the re-imposition of Communist rule and the flight of some 200,000 Hungarians to Western Europe and the United States. It remains a somber anniversary of heroism in defeat that continues to resonate with Hungarians across the globe.Written by Harrison King.…

Public memory of the battle for Manila includes a mixture of gratitude toward the Americans, nationalistic defiance, and horror. The liberation claimed the lives of a thousand Americans, 16,000 Japanese, and 100,000 Manileños, one tenth of the population.Written by Gregory Kupsky. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions o…

On December 18, 1898, the Jeantaud electric vehicle set the world’s first automotive land speed record of 63.13 km/hr (39.2 mph) over the course of a single kilometer. Although the only electric vehicle at the competition, the Jeantaud handily beat its gasoline-powered competition at the Parc Agricole d’Achères outside Paris. The Jeantaud electric …

After World War II, canned foods became more and more common, along with a smorgasbord of other pre-prepared, processed foods: Jellos, TV dinners, frozen peas, dehydrated juices, and eventually Tangs. On May 12th, 1965, Donald Goerke invented SpaghettiOs, the round, canned cousins of spaghetti. By 2010, over 150 million cans of SpaghettiOs were sol…

The Soviet-German front that opened with Operation Barbarossa proved to be the decisive theater of the Second World War. Written by Ian Johnson. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are available at ⁠https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/operation-barbarossa⁠. Production by Katherine Weiss, Dr. Nicholas B.…

When we think about Martian explorers today, we mostly hear about two rovers that trawl small zones of the planet: the Opportunity rover that exceeded a marathon's distance in 2015, and the Curiosity rover that is trying to track down habitability in the planet's ancient past. Neither of these rovers would have been possible, however, without the M…

On April 6, 1896, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games filled a refurbished Panathenaic stadium to its 50,000 capacity, with similar numbers of spectators thronging the adjacent streets and surrounding hillsides.Written by John R. and Margaret M. Gold. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are avail…

President Harry Truman signed the European Recovery Act into law on April 3, 1948. The Marshall Plan, as it’s more commonly known, was intended to revive the economies of war-torn Western Europe. Extending nearly $13 billion to primarily France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and West Germany, the program was an ambitious foreign aid effort and an unpr…

On April 20th, 1914, Colorado state militiamen attacked a massive tent colony erected by striking miners and their families who had been evicted from their company homes, killing eighteen of them, including women and children. The attack sparked a pitched battle. Between September 1913 and the end of April 1914, 75-100 people were killed and dozens…

Espionage has become more complex and increasingly valuable. The times change, but spies remain. Here are ten of history’s top spies.Written by Robert J. Kodosky. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/connecting-history/top-ten-origins-spies-lies-and-moles-oh-my. …

On March 12, 2004, South Korea’s then President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached, a historic first for the Republic.Written by David Fields and Jinwan Park. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/impeachment-roh-moo-hyun-and-patterns-south-korean-politics. Productio…

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, a monk and professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, circulated his 95 Theses—95 statements critiquing what he saw as papal abuses of power.Written by Karen Spierling. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Textual and video versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestone…

When Idi Amin, commander of the Ugandan Army, seized power in Uganda on 25 January 1971, there was hope among many Ugandans that a new beginning beckoned.Written by Richard Reid. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Textual and video versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/idi-amins-uganda-coup-1971. Video pr…

Fossey replaced a fallacious stereotype of a King Kong-like, violent gorilla with an almost idealized image of a gorilla that was intelligent, family-oriented and peaceful.Written by Rob Schubert. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Textual and video versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/december-2015-dian…

Sixty years ago this May, the U.S. Border Patrol enacted “Operation Wetback,” a campaign to deport Mexican workers who were in the country illegally. The program succeeded in rounding up over 1 million people, most of them men. Regardless of one’s views on the matter, we would be wise to recognize that the current crisis has its historical origins …

On October 30, 1974, the so-called “Rumble in the Jungle,” George Foreman’s 1974 heavyweight title defense against Muhammad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire took place. The fight was a major turning point in the careers of both men, particularly Ali.Written by Marc Horger. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textural versions of this podcast ar…

Friedan’s book encouraged women to break free of what she called “the feminine mystique,” a concept insisting that women’s true fulfillment was to be found through dedication to household labor and their roles as wives and mothers.Written by Susan Hartmann. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are avail…

Although observations and attempted treatments of diabetes date back to ancient times, the most important milestone occurred when a new treatment—insulin injection—was first successfully used on January 23, 1922.Written by Jim Harris. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/r…

Beginning on November 20, 1945, the International Military Tribunal consisting of representatives from the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union—the four major Allied powers—worked together to bring 22 former Nazi leaders and their organizations to justice.Written by Francine Hirsch. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A te…

Augustus had an almost unmatched impact on Roman politics, culture, and society and—through the widespread influence of Rome—on the way modern countries structure and imagine themselves.Written by Brendan McCarthy. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/august-201…

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing trends that put at risk the viability of many colleges and universities, as well as that of the towns and cities in which they are located. With the post-COVID-19 shift to more remote work, and millions of people moving to more affordable and livable cities, a place that wants to attract talent will requir…

Few place names in American history produce such a visceral response as Pearl Harbor, the Hawaiian bay that housed the U.S. Pacific Fleet in 1941.Written by Greg Hope. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/december-2016-pearl-harbor. Video production by Laura Seege…

On July 28, 1951, representatives of 26 states, meeting in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations, signed the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Written by Eric H. Limbach. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/defining-refugees-1921-and-1951…

Rosetta Tharpe crossed many boundaries: of genre (playing both gospel and secular music), of gender (playing in a “male” style on a “male” instrument), and even of sexuality.Written by Delano Lopez. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this podcast is available at https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/march-2015-mother-rock-and…

On July 1, 1927, the Nicaraguan revolutionary leader Augusto Nicolás Calderón de Sandino, a.k.a. Augusto “César” Sandino, proclaimed his manifesto extolling continued Nicaraguan resistance against U.S. intervention in his country.Written by Craig Verniest. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A textual version of this video is available at https…

Besides the Wilsonian internationalists, who wanted the Treaty and Covenant ratified unchanged, there were those who wanted to add so-called reservations to the treaties: conditions to U.S. acceptance and participation in the League that the other signatories would have to accept.Written by Thomas W. Bottelier. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogl…

On Sunday, 18 March 1962 the Algerian War for Independence came to an end. At least, on paper. That paper, simply entitled “Declarations Drawn up in Common Agreement,” was signed in a town on the French side of Lake Geneva better known for its bottled water than its role in diplomatic history: Evian-les-Bains.Written by Andrew H. Bellisari. Narrati…

Facing the harrowing task of rebuilding a life in the wake of the Holocaust, many Jewish survivors, community and religious leaders, and Allied soldiers viewed marriage between Jewish women and military personnel as a way to move forward after unspeakable loss. Proponents believed that these unions were more than just a ticket out of war-torn Europ…

On March 9, 1848, the twenty-three members of the Hanau People’s Commission—leading citizens of the small German city on the Main River, upstream from Frankfurt—declared their participation in the quickly-spreading upheaval of the March Revolutions of 1848. Written by Eric H. Limbach. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video production by Kath…

Conflict has defined Arab-Israeli relationships for many decades, with the interstate warfare of the 1940s-1980s giving way in the 1990s and after to a roiling confrontation between the State of Israel and the Palestinian people of the Israeli-occupied territories.Since the 1940s, the United States has striven to contain, manage, or resolve the con…

Here, David Harmon offers ten “Moments of Insight” that he has had in the parks over the years. The list should be understood as a representative sample of the kinds of introspective experiences the parks offer, rather than as a ranking of the best—something that really is impossible, since all of us bring different sets of values and expectations …

On May 23rd 1951, the "Seventeen Point Agreement of the Central People’s Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" was signed. This agreement legitimized claims of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over Tibet and retroactively justified the previous year’s military invasion of eastern Tibet by…

The rural roads that led to our planet-changing global economy ran through the American South. Acclaimed scholar Bart Elmore explores that region's impact on the interconnected histories of business and ecological change. He uses the histories of five southern firms—Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, Walmart, FedEx and Bank of America—to investigate the en…

Fifty years ago, in December 1969, the Provisional IRA was born from the widespread religious violence that had wracked the six counties of Northern Ireland since the preceding August. From modest beginnings, the Provisionals became the most important and dangerous separatist paramilitary group during the thirty-year conflict in Northern Ireland kn…

In the early morning of May 13, 1862, several enslaved crewmembers of the Confederate steamer CSS Planter boarded the vessel along with their families. Taking advantage of the fact that their white officers had left the ship against regulations, they successfully maneuvered the ship through the Charleston harbor, past Confederate fortifications, an…

Japan’s Meiji Restoration, or Meiji Ishin, occurred on January 3, 1868, and marked the return of the Japanese emperor to a position of power for the first time in more than 500 years.Written by Tristan Grunow. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Video and textual versions of this podcast are available at https://origins.osu.edu/read/japans-meij…

In 1975, the first United Nations World Conference on Women took place between 19 June and 2 July in Mexico City, bringing together individuals from a wide range of backgrounds with the goal of promoting gender equality. The World Conference of Women (WCW) was the capstone event of International Women’s Year, the UN’s response to the transnational …

The Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920, stating “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”Written by By Maxine Wagenhoffer. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Textual and video versions of this podcast ar…

After John, Paul, George and Ringo brought the British Invasion across the Atlantic, rock and roll saw a resurgence that helped cement what many people called “race music” as a core part of American identity.Written by Karen Robertson. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Audio production by Laura Seeger, Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle, and Cody Patt…

On June 28th, 1969 a belligerent and diverse crowd led an uprising at New York’s Stonewall Inn. The event has become iconic in popular memory as the spark for a new radical lesbian and gay activism. Written by Marc Arenberg. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Podcast production by Cody Patton, Laura Seeger, and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Textu…

Among the many states with eugenics legislation, Virginia is infamous for its legal campaign to forcibly sterilize Carrie Buck in 1927 and thereby entrench sterilization abuse as the law of the land.Written by Alexandra Fair. Narration by Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. Podcast production by Laura Seeger, Cody Patton, and Dr. Nicholas B. Breyfogle. A vi…