Important October anniversaries for GCSE Historians!

The following important events from our study of Elizabethan England, the USA 1910-29 and Germany 1919-1991, all took place in October. Why not revise each topic on their anniversary?

October 1, 1908 – Henry Ford‘s Model T, a “universal car” designed for the masses, went on sale for the first time.

October 1, 1938 – Hitler’s troops occupied the Sudetenland – a part of Czechoslovakia. In an effort to avoid war, the leaders of Britain and France had agreed to give this German-speaking area to Hitler, who later broke the agreement and occupied all of Czechoslovakia.

October 3, 1990 – After 45 years of Cold War division, East and West Germany were reunited as the Federal Republic of Germany

October 6, 1927 – The first “talkie” opened in New York. ‘The Jazz Singer’ starring Al Jolson was the first full-length feature film using spoken dialogue.

October 10, 1562 – Elizabeth I nearly dies of smallpox!

October 19, 1987 – “Black Monday” occurred on Wall Street as stocks plunged a record 22.6%, the largest one-day drop in stock market history.

October 24, 1929 – “Black Thursday” occurred on Wall Street as nearly 13 million shares were sold in panic selling. Five days later “Black Tuesday” saw 16 million shares sold.

October 24, 1931 – Chicago gangster “Scarface” Al Capone was sentenced to 11 years in jail for Federal income tax evasion.

October 26, 1586 – Mary Queen of Scots was found guilty of her involvement in the Babington plot.

October 28, 1918 – At the end of the First World War, a mutiny broke out in the German navy at Kiel. The uprising spread to Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck, resulting in a general strike in Berlin which brought down Kaiser Wilhelm II, who abdicated the following month.

October 28, 1919 – Prohibition began in the U.S. with the passage of the National Prohibition (Volstead) Act by Congress. Sales of drinks containing more than one half of one percent of alcohol became illegal.

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