October 29 has served as the backdrop for revolutions, national rebirths, the start of international conflicts, financial panic of "Black Tuesday", and even the seemingly quiet moment that laid the groundwork for the modern internet.
1929: Black Tuesday brings about the Great Depression
October 29, 1929, marks the infamous Black Tuesday. The exchange had the last dramatic meltdown of the Wall Street Crash, and it was a massive selling of stocks that finally hit the New York Stock Exchange. There are over 16 million shares that changed hands. It is a record volume for that time. The market lost billions of dollars in value with the back-and-forth hype. This crash obliterated the remaining faith of investors and thus is generally perceived as the beginning of the Great Depression, which was the deepest and longest economic downfall of the Western world.
1923: The Republic of Turkey is proclaimed
This day in 1923 marks the official proclamation of the Republic of Turkey. It came through as an assertion of national sovereignty after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and was followed by a war of independence. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Turkey, was the guiding light of the new republic, which laid down a secular and modern state, thereby completely changing the cultural and political landscape of the area.
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1956: The Suez crisis begins
The Suez Crisis was a major international military and political confrontation during the Cold War era that commenced on October 29, 1956. It started with the invasion of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula by Israel. This invasion was a part of the plan of Britain and France. They wanted to re-establish their control over the Suez Canal that had just been nationalised. The crisis not only broke international alliances but also left the European colonial powers humiliated. It was a significant change in global power distribution.
1969: The first ARPANET link is established
ARPANET was established on October 29, 1969, and it later became known as the basis of the modern Internet. The engineers at UCLA were successful in sending the first message to a computer situated at the Stanford Research Institute. The word "LOGIN" was meant to be sent. The letters "LO" went through before the system crashed, but a new digital era had been established.
1998: John Glenn returns to space
John Glenn, who became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, at the age of 77, returned to space with the Space Shuttle Discovery on October 29. He became the oldest space tourist at that time, representing the legacy of curiosity and the commitment to scientific research that is across all ages.
October 29th is a day when economic downfall is placed beside the creation of people and the unstoppable development of technology. It witnessed a stock market panic that affected the economy for a decade from the instant the first communication between two computers. This shows how moments of country crisis and human creativity can be linked together for eternity with one specific date on the calendar.
