October 30

1961 - The Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb - with an estimated force of 58-megatons.

The Soviets called this monster the 'Tsar Bomba.'  And bomba it was - the largest man-made explosive device ever!

Which surely is enough to be the greatest event on this day.

1270 - The Seventh Crusade ended with the Treaty of Barbary.

This ended another tactical failure by the Crusaders, who never could have won the Crusades, because the logistics of ruling the region were impossible for the West.

It's important for people to understand the Crusades were a strategic victory, however...Even though the result was unintentional.

Islam swept through Southwest Asia, North Africa, parts of Eastern Europe, and Spain...The Crusades played a large role in keeping the Muslim Horde from overrunning all of Europe.

If Islam didn't have to fight the Crusaders in the Middle East, it's likely they would have invaded all of Europe, and at least possible they could have succeeded...This is important to keep in mind with the current Islamists. We will either fight them in their homeland or ours.

Also, the Crusaders brought much information and knowledge back from the Middle East; information lost after the fall of Rome; information which helped bring and end to the Dark/Middle Ages in Europe - leading to the Renaissance.
 
1650 - In a court case, the members of the Society of Friends were first called Quakers because of the admonition of their founder George Fox to "quake and tremble at the word of God."

I'm not a religio, but I love this kind of stuff.
 
1918 - Turkey signed an armistice with the Allies, agreeing to end hostilities at noon October 31:  WWI.

WWI was winding down, but the world woke up to the reality of the Hell created in the previous four years.

Europe was a mess, and the Middle East was about to be transformed...For the better part of the previous 400-years the Islamic World had been ruled by the Ottoman Turks, which was about to change.

The Ottoman Empire was dissolved, and the peace which ended the war proved to be a 'Peace to End All Peace.' I highly recommend you read this book.
 
1938 - Millions of Americans were panicked by the radio broadcast of 'The War of the Worlds,' a book by H.G. Wells dramatized by Orson Welles.

This sounds illogical, but the country was on pins and needles...Asia was at war, Europe was about to explode, the Great Depression was in it's ninth year, and the Red Scare was ever present. Try to imagine if these factors were all present in our time.

Actually, it isn't that hard, especially considering the some of those factors are more or less present now.
 
1945 - The U.S. announced the end of shoe rationing:  WWII.

Rationing during wartime? How un-American!

I'm just practicing for my ACLU registration test...SOB's.
 
1988 - Responding to Republican attempts to pin the term "Liberal" on him, Democrat Michael Dukakis declared on the campaign trail, "Yes, I am a Liberal, in the tradition of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy."

What a joke!! These three Democrat presidents would be considered Conservatives by today’s standards. And it’s not even close.

Dukakis (and every Democrat nominee after Kennedy) should properly call themselves “Liberals in the tradition of Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter”...A stigma no one wants to be stuck with.
 
1990 - The Iraqi News Agency quoted Saddam Hussein, saying Iraq was making final preparations for war, and that he expected an attack by the United States and its allies within days.

GHW Bush should have taken care of Hussein when he had the chance...And Clinton should have as well.