What Happened Today

From the middle of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire's leadership was obsessed with the "Armenian Question," or how to deal with the particular Christian community in the Caucasus. Fortified by nationalism and Pan-Islamism, as well as being under the stress of World War I, the Ottoman government, led by the "Three Pashas" in a triumvirate dictatorship, ordered the arrest of about 250 leaders and intellectuals of the Armenian community in Istanbul. This act would launch the Armenian genocide. While the removal of intellectuals and community leaders dealt a blow to the Armenian community, the real goal was wiping out Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in general, which was achieved almost immediately. The Ottoman Empire basically marched large numbers of Armenians over miles, then allowed them to be raped, murdered, or forced to work to death. Taking away the leaders of the community was an attempt to keep the action quiet. Instead, it made many people aware of what the Ottoman government was doing on the international stage, but not enough to stop the Armenian genocide.

By the mid-1980s, the Coca-Cola Company was losing market share, facing dwindling sales in stores, and standing as the second choice cola to Pepsi among younger consumers. So the Coca-Cola Company, particularly President Roberto Goizueta, decided to change the formula for Coca-Cola. Backed by extensive market research and a whole hearted commitment from the company leadership, a new sweeter formula, best known as New Coke, was introduced on April 23, 1985. It turned out to be a disaster. Consumers were angry and organized boycotts. Many people just informally decided not to have the new formula. Angry calls and letters informed Coca-Cola that the choice to make New Coke was a drastic mistake. After just 77 days, in the middle of July, Coke went back and reintroduced what was now "Classic Coca-Cola." Remarkably, after that, Coca-Cola's sales increased and improved the company's fortunes. New Coke would later become Coke II, and was finally discontinued in 2002.

When Major League Baseball says something is an "all time record," they specifically mean "since April 22, 1876." That was when the Boston Red Stockings and the Philadelphia Athletics squared off at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia in the first game of the then brand new National League. The National League was the brainchild of the President of the Chicago Base Ball Club, William Hulbert. Hulbert had decided in 1875 to buy what was essentially an All-Star team, largely buying players from the Boston and Philadelphia teams. Knowing that the National Association would not abide by these actions, Hulbert created a brand new eight team league that was more exclusive and more able to enforce contracts for players. Although the first National League game would inaugurate the body that would develop baseball into America's Pastime, many things about the game at the time made it seem like it would never last. In fact, the Philadelphia team that inaugurated the league didn't make it through the first season. But eventually, the Chicago team led the league to preeminence in American sports and entertainment.

As far as world changing battles go, the Battle of San Jacinto was not a grand clash of epic armies. Instead, a few hundred Texans overwhelmed a force of over 1,000 Mexican troops in about 18 minutes. The Battle of San Jacinto did, however, ensure that Texas would become independent from Mexico, as it ended the Texas Revolution. The battle was the only major engagement between a Mexican and a Texan army since the significant victory by Mexican President Jose Santa Anna de Lopez at the Alamo. Texan General Sam Houston had been organizing a significant retreat in the meantime, as he needed some way to arm, train, and gather his forces. Eventually, Santa Anna reached Houston's army near Buffalo Bayou. Santa Anna then camped and waited for reinforcements. Strangely, he picked a terrible, enclosed location near a wooded marsh. So when Santa Anna allowed his troops to rest on the afternoon of April 21, his forces were overwhelmed. After being captured the next day, Santa Anna had no choice but to agree to Texan independence.

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were social outcasts who were obsessed with video games, possessed criminal records, and harbored hatred for their fellow Columbine High School students. Yet when they opened fire with semi-automatic weapons on their classmates at the school outside Denver, they became something else entirely, or maybe they approached what they were always trending towards anyway. What is certain is they could have done much more damage than killing the 13 people they did. They planted a handful of bombs which did not detonate. They also fired at will, largely avoiding fatal shots, but firing so many round with their weapons that they managed to kill an astonishing number. After less than an hour, the two turned their weapons on themselves, committing suicide. In the aftermath of the Columbine massacre, conversations about violent video games, dark music, and school security began to dominate the conversation about Harris and Klebold's motive. In actuality, the two were obsessed with violent fantasies to an unusual degree and had remarkable access to semi-automatic weapons.

When a truck bomb went off by the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, one-third of the building was blown apart. Although sorting the debris, finding survivors, and locating remains took days, the devastation was immediately apparent. Also, the evidence surrounding the truck bomb directly leads to the identification of Tim McVeigh as the bomber. Coincidentally, Tim McVeigh was pulled over in Perry, Oklahoma for driving without a license plates and was subsequently arrested on a concealed weapons charge. McVeigh did very little to deny his guilt, and Federal authorities also focus on McVeigh's accomplice Terry Nichols. McVeigh's rationale for bombing a Federal building would quickly be unraveled. McVeigh was heavily influenced by the right wing militia movement and white nationalist ideology, especially the writings of William Luther Pierce, which discussed a coming revolutionary race war that would overthrow the Federal government. McVeigh even wanted to say he had to bomb a Federal building out of necessity. Instead, he was easily found guilty and sentenced to death, a sentence carried out in 2001.

In the early morning hours of April 18, 1906, the city of San Francisco was awoken to intense shaking. That shaking was the result of one of the most destructive earthquakes in American history. Although very large, much later estimated at 7.8 magnitude, the key thing about the San Francisco earthquake was that it hit the city almost directly and that it created a large number of fires as well as destruction from the quake. Some 3,00 people died, although the exact number is unknown because the Chinese dead were not counted. More strikingly, three quarters of the city were destroyed, while almost 300,000 people were left homeless. The fires burned for three days, and the insurance claims totaled over $250 million in 1906 money. Yet the city rebuilt quite quickly, largely along the same city plan as existed before. Additionally, the entire world heard about it almost instantly, and relief efforts were helped by the fact that many people offered up contributions. The devastation of the earthquake also brought about major changes in the approach to understanding earthquakes.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion was, on almost every level, a disaster. The idea was that an elite group of Cuban exiles would lead an invasion of Cuba, with the assistance of the US and the CIA, which would then overthrow the Communist backed government of Fidel Castro, who took power in 1959. On the other hand, the invasion force, known as Brigade 2506, was only about 1,300 strong and had to face off against the entire Cuban Army. Furthermore, the invasion plan, which had been debated by the US Government for a year across two Presidential Administrations, was so straightforward that the Cubans were well aware of the invasion. Thus, when the initial landing party hit the Bay of Pigs, they found the beaches floodlit. Despite air and naval support, the invasion got no further than the beaches and was easily pushed back by Cuban forces after three days. Although there were heavy losses, Cuba clearly came out the best. Fidel Castro's political authority was strengthened, Cuba moved closer to the Soviet Union, and the U.S. was embarrassed on the international stage.

Jacobitism was, at its most basic, the cause to return the Stuart line to the thrones of England and Scotland. In 1688, James II and VII of England and Scotland was deposed after having a son whom he planned to raise Catholic, which resulted in his son-in-law and daughter taking the throne as William and Mary. By 1745, Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, was the Jacobite claimant against the second Hanoverian King of Great Britain, George II, and he launched an invasion through Scotland. Charles Stuart was initially successful, marching to Derby in the Midlands, but then turned back to Scotland. By 1746, Prince William, Duke of Cumberland led an army to chase down the Jacobite army. They met in battle at a marsh near Inverness known as Culloden. Charles' army, poorly equipped and more poorly led, the combined force of Highland Clans, Irishmen serving in the French Army, and ineffective commanders was routed by the Government army. This defeat at the Battle of Culloden not only ended the Jacobite Rising of '45, but also serious Jacobitism and Scottish Highland culture.

The RMS Titanic was more than simply the largest passenger ship in the world. It was the signature part of the White Star Line's fleet, a magnificent hotel that could travel across the Atlantic. Although not necessarily billed as "unsinkable," it was somehow beyond a normal ship that would be vulnerable to the normal problems of transatlantic travel. Yet it managed to run into an iceberg like any other ship, and it went down like any other ship could have, except when the Titanic went down there were more people on the ship. Of the 2200 people on board, only 700 or so made it to the lifeboats. Late on April 14, the ship hit an iceberg that burst its starboard hull, causing multiple breaches and destroying watertight compartments. There were not enough lifeboats to hold the capacity, the crew was ill trained to put everyone on lifeboats, and its radio system could have been used better. All of these problems contributed to one of the largest maritime disasters in history, which led to a number of changes in maritime travel. More importantly, the Titanic became a cultural touchstone.