This Week in History

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This Week in History, Nov 27 - Dec 3

Nov 27, 1095
Pope Urban II orders first Crusade and makes perhaps the most influential speech of the Middle Ages, giving rise to the Crusades by calling all Christians in Europe to war against Muslims in order to reclaim the Holy Land, with a cry of "Deus vult!" or "God wills it!"

Nov 28, 1520
Magellan reaches the Pacific. After sailing through the dangerous straits below South America that now bear his name, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan enters the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic.

Nov 29, 1947
U.N. votes for partition of Palestine. Despite strong Arab opposition, the United Nations votes for the partition of Palestine and the creation of an independent Jewish state.

Nov 30, 1886
Folies Bergere stage first revue. Once a hall for operettas, pantomime, political meetings, and vaudeville, the Folies Bergère in Paris introduces an elaborate revue featuring women in sensational costumes. The highly popular "Place aux Jeunes" established the Folies as the premier nightspot in Paris. In the 1890s, the Folies followed the Parisian taste for striptease and quickly gained a reputation for its spectacular nude shows. The theater spared no expense, staging revues that featured as many as 40 sets, 1,000 costumes, and an off-stage crew of some 200 people.

Dec 01, 1990
Chunnel makes breakthrough. Shortly after 11 a.m. on December 1, 1990, 132 feet below the English Channel, workers drill an opening the size of a car through a wall of rock. This was no ordinary hole--it connected the two ends of an underwater tunnel linking Great Britain with the European mainland for the first time in more than 8,000 years.

Dec 02, 2001
Enron files for bankruptcy. Enron Corporation files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New York court, sparking one of the largest corporate scandals in U.S. history.

Dec 03, 1947
A Streetcar Named Desire opens on Broadway. Marlon Brando's famous cry of "STELLA!" first booms across a Broadway stage, electrifying the audience at the Ethel Barrymore Theater during the first-ever performance of Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire.