In November 1922 Howard Carter peered into Tutankhamun's tomb; just over a month later the USSR was founded.
The events
- Discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb1922 · Valley of the Kings, Luxor. On 4 November 1922 Howard Carter's workmen cleared a step leading to a sealed tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Three weeks later Carter peered in by candlelight and, asked by Lord Carnarvon whether he could see anything, replied: 'Yes, wonderful things.' The tomb held more than 5,000 objects, including a gold mask of about 10 kg. The find set off worldwide Egyptomania.
- Formation of the USSR1922 · Moscow. On 30 December 1922 the Russian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR, Byelorussian SSR and Transcaucasian SFSR signed the treaty creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The USSR became the world's largest state by area and a leading force of the 20th century.
More amazing facts
- 1903 · 1961 · 1969 Just 58 years separate the Wright brothers' first flight from Gagarin's, and 66 from the Moon landing — some who saw the first airplanes lived to see the Moon.
- 1908 1908: the Tunguska blast flattened 2,000 km² of Siberian forest, and the Messina earthquake killed some 80,000 people.
- 1914 Passenger pigeons once numbered in the billions, but the last one, Martha, died on 1 September 1914 — a month after World War I began.
- 1927 · 1952 The last wild European bison was killed in the Caucasus in 1927.
- 1936 The thylacine was granted protection on 10 July 1936; the last known animal died at Hobart Zoo on 7 September — just 59 days later.
- 1938 Three months after the Munich Agreement, Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in Berlin discovered the fission of uranium.