SortStack #2984 — 2034-08-10

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. Mount Vesuvius erupts and buries the Roman city of Pompeii 79

   The famous 'bodies' of Pompeii are plaster casts: excavators poured plaster into hollows left in the ash where victims' bodies had decayed.

2. William the Conqueror defeats King Harold at the Battle of Hastings 1066

   The Bayeux Tapestry — actually an embroidery nearly 70 meters long — tells the story, including Harold's famous (and disputed) arrow in the eye.

3. The American colonies declare independence from Britain 1776

   Most delegates didn't sign the Declaration until August. John Adams predicted Americans would forever celebrate the second of July.

4. The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show 1964

   An estimated 73 million Americans watched — roughly forty percent of the US population — launching the British Invasion overnight.

5. Reactor four explodes at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant 1986

   The Soviet Union stayed silent until radiation set off alarms at a Swedish plant over 1,000 km away — workers' shoes triggered the detectors.

6. Nations adopt the Paris Agreement on climate change 2015

   Negotiators from 196 parties agreed to pursue limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — the gavel came down to a standing ovation in a Paris suburb.

← All puzzles · Play today’s SortStack