 "A screengrab from the first ever video uploaded on YouTube featuring one of the founders Jawed Karim at the San Diego zoo. YouTube")
Whenever we want to learn something new or spend some of our free time, the first place that comes to mind is YouTube. It was on April 23, 2005 that the first ever video was uploaded on YouTube. The video titled ‘Me at the zoo’ was a 19-second video, featuring Jawed Karim, one of the co founders of YouTube.
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.
On this day in 1969, Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a 25-year-old Palestinian immigrant, was sentenced to death for the assassination of US Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy. Meanwhile, the Vietnam War veterans launched a five-day demonstration in Washington, DC. More than 1,000 soldiers, dressed in military fatigues and medals gave speeches and engaged in acts of civil disobedience.
Here is all that happened across the world on this day.
First ever YouTube video
The initial video was uploaded to the YouTube platform on this day in 2005, bearing the title “Me at the Zoo,” signified the inception of a digital revolution that transformed the way people consumed content. The video saw one of the founders Jawed Karim takinga trip to the zoo.
The 19-seconds-long video saw Karim standing in front of elephants at the San Diego Zoo where he casually talks about elephants and their “really, really, really long trunks.” Though seemingly mundane, this short video was a groundbreaking moment in internet history.
At its inception, YouTube represented a novel concept - a platform accessible to any individual with internet connectivity to upload and disseminate video content, thereby possessing the potential to reach a global audience.
What began as a modest startup, YouTube was acquired by Google in 2006 for a sum of $1.65 billion and has since grown to host billions of videos and users globally. However, its origins can be traced back to a brief and unassuming video featuring a young man at a zoological park, commenting on elephants.
Sirhan Sirhan receives the death penalty for assassinating Robert F Kennedy
It was on this day in 1969, when a 25-year-old Palestinian immigrant was sentenced to death for assassinating US Senator and presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy in 1968. Sirhan Bishara Sirhan’s sentencing followed a dramatic and widely publicised trial that gripped the nation less than a year after Kennedy’s tragic death.
Robert F Kennedy was shot on June 5, 1968, at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, shortly after delivering a victory speech following the California Democratic primary. Sirhan had concealed himself in a kitchen pantry and opened fire at close range. Kennedy was hit multiple times and died the next day. Five others were also wounded. Sirhan was apprehended at the scene, gun in hand and later confessed to the crime.
During the legal proceedings, the prosecution presented substantial evidence, including eyewitness accounts and Sirhan’s own handwritten notes expressing his animosity towards Kennedy’s support for Israel. Following a three-month trial, during which Sirhan’s lawyers argued he was mentally unstable at the time of the murder, he was convicted on April 17, 1969.
On April 23, 1969, the jury recommended the death penalty and the judge sentenced Sirhan to death in the gas chamber. However, in 1972, the California Supreme Court abolished the death penalty and Sirhan’s sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Sirhan was a Palestinian immigrant born in Jerusalem in 1944 and moved to the United States with his family as a boy. He attended high school in California. He later stated he killed Robert Kennedy because the senator had supported Israel in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
Vietnam War veterans protest
The Vietnam War was unlike any other war that America had been a part of. War veterans who returned home were not celebrated but faced indifference, stigma, or even hostility due to growing anti-war sentiment. Due to this numerous veterans organized protests across the United States to demand recognition, respect, and proper care.
One of the most powerful demonstrations occurred on this day in April 1971, when more than 1,000 Vietnam War veterans converged on Washington, DC. They held a week-long protest known as “Dewey Canyon III”, organised by the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Dressed in military fatigues and medals, veterans gave speeches and even engaged in acts of civil disobedience.
In a powerful act of protest, veterans assembled near the Capitol, casting their war medals and ribbons onto the steps, publicly renouncing them. Many delivered heartfelt speeches, expressing deep moral anger over US military actions in Vietnam and the mistreatment of veterans at home. The protest aimed to draw attention not only to the horrors of the war but also to the lack of support for returning soldiers, many of whom struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), unemployment, and inadequate medical care. Veterans demanded better healthcare, acknowledgement of the psychological impact of war, and an end to US involvement in Vietnam.
This Day, That Year
On this day in 1984, US Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret Heckler announced that researchers had found what was believed to be the virus that causes AIDS
In 1858, German physicist Max Planck, who originated quantum theory, was born in Kiel.