4 days Ago By Firstpost
On April 18, 1906, a powerful earthquake, estimated to be nearly 8.0 in magnitude, hit San Francisco. It was the most deadly quake in American history.
Fires broke out soon after, tearing through large parts of the city. Around 3,000 people lost their lives, and nearly 30,000 buildings were destroyed. Also on this day in 1983, a suicide bomber attacked the US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
Driving a van full of explosives, the attacker killed 63 people, including 17 Americans. Meanwhile, in 1956, American film star Grace Kelly left her career in Hollywood to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco. After their wedding, she became Princess of Monaco.
If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers’ ongoing series, History Today , will be your one-stop destination to explore key events. At 5:13 a.m.
on April 18, 1906, an earthquake struck San Francisco, California. Around 3,000 people were killed, and many buildings collapsed across the city. The earthquake was caused by movement along the San Andreas Fault, which ran for nearly 275 miles.
Shaking was felt from southern Oregon all the way down to Los Angeles. Just after 5 in the morning, a sound described as “like the roar of 10,000 lions” rose as the ground began to shake. Cable cars came to a sudden stop, City Hall fell apart, and the glass roof of the Palace Hotel shattered, raining fragments into the courtyard.
Not long after the quake, a huge fire broke out. It started near Montgomery Street and the South of Market area, and spread through Russian Hill, Chinatown, North Beach, and Telegraph Hill. The fire burned for four days before heavy rain finally put it out.
Roughly 28,000 buildings were lost to the flames, and the damage was estimated at $350 million. By April 23, the last of the fires had been put out. Authorities began the long job of rebuilding the ruined city.
It is believed that some 3,000 people died from the quake and the fires that followed. Nearly 30,000 buildings were lost, wiping out most homes and almost the entire central business area. In the years that followed, much of San Francisco was rebuilt using designs that were better able to withstand earthquakes and fire.
The city’s rebuild also included new plans for public spaces and development. On this day in 1983, a suicide bomber blew up a car packed with explosives outside the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The blast killed 63 people, including the attacker and 17 Americans, and left the building nearly destroyed.
The bombing was a reaction to the US military’s involvement in Lebanon. A civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1975, as Palestinian and left-wing Muslim fighters clashed against the Christian Phalange Party, Maronite Christians, and other factions. Over the following years, attempts by Syria, Israel, and the United Nations to calm the violence did not succeed.
Then, on August 20, 1982, a multinational force including US Marines arrived in Beirut to help oversee the withdrawal of Palestinian fighters. The Marines left on September 10, but returned later that month, on September 29, after a Christian militia carried out a massacre in Palestinian refugee camps. The next day, the first US Marine was killed while trying to defuse a bomb.
On April 18, 1983, the US embassy in Beirut was bombed. Later that year, on October 23, Lebanese militants bypassed security and drove a lorry filled with explosives into the US Marine barracks, killing 241 American service members. At nearly the same time, 58 French soldiers were killed in another suicide bombing.
On February 7, 1984, US President Ronald Reagan said the country would pull out of the peacekeeping mission. By February 26, the last group of US Marines had left Beirut. On this day in 1956, American film actress Grace Kelly, 26, married Prince Rainier of Monaco, 32, in what was dubbed the “royal wedding of the century” watched by more than 30 million viewers on live television.
Kelly had featured in 11 films before leaving the industry behind. Their civil ceremony was held on April 18, 1956, followed by a grand religious service the next day. The civil ceremony took place inside the royal palace in Monaco, with close friends, family, and dignitaries in attendance.
The following day, a far bigger service was held at St Nicholas Cathedral, where a High Mass was celebrated before 700 guests. Kelly’s bridal gown was a present from MGM Studios, designed by Helen Rose and assembled by the studio’s costume team. According to LIFE Magazine , it was made using 25 yards of silk taffeta, 100 yards of silk net, delicate rose-point lace dating back 125 years, and countless tiny pearls.
Kelly later donated the dress to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The royal couple had three children, Caroline, Albert, and Stephanie, and Princess Grace devoted much of her time to cultural and charitable causes. 1942: During World War II, 16 B-25 bombers from the US Army Air Force launched an air raid over Tokyo and several other Japanese cities in the first attack on the Japanese mainland.
1955: Physicist Albert Einstein passed away in Princeton, New Jersey, at the age of 76. 1980: Zimbabwe became fully independent from the United Kingdom. 1991: Kerala became the first state in India to achieve total literacy.
2014: An avalanche on Mt. Everest killed 16 Nepali mountaineering guides, making it one of the deadliest accidents on the mountain. 2015: A ship carrying migrants from Africa sank in the Mediterranean off Libya, with as many as 700 believed to have drowned.
2016: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “Hamilton” won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama..
