Today in History: December 14th AMUNDSEN REACHES SOUTH POLE: December 14, 1911 Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole, beating his British rival, Robert Falcon Scott.Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, was one of the great figures in polar exploration. In 1897, he was first mate on a Belgian expedition that was the first ever to winter in the Antarctic. In 1903, he guided the 47-ton sloop Gjöa through the Northwest Passage and around the Canadian coast, the first navigator to accomplish the treacherous journey. Amundsen planned to be the first man to the North Pole, and he was about to embark in 1909 when he learned that the American Robert Peary had achieved the feat.Amundsen completed his preparations and in June 1910 sailed instead for Antarctica, where the English explorer Robert F. Scott was also headed with the aim of reaching the South Pole. In early 1911, Amundsen sailed his ship into Antarctica's Bay of Whales and set up base camp 60 miles closer to the pole than Scott. In October, both explorers set off--Amundsen using sleigh dogs, and Scott employing Siberian motor sledges, Siberian ponies, and dogs. On December 14, 1911, Amundsen's expedition won the race to the Pole and returned safely to base camp in late January.Scott's expedition was less fortunate. The motor sleds broke down, the ponies had to be shot, and the dog teams were sent back as Scott and four companions continued on foot. On January 18, 1912, they reached the pole only to find that Amundsen had preceded them by over a month. Weather on the return journey was exceptionally bad--two members perished--and a storm later trapped Scott and the other two survivors in their tent only 11 miles from their base camp. Scott's frozen body was found later that year.After his historic Antarctic journey, Amundsen established a successful shipping business. He later made attempts to become the first explorer to fly over the North Pole. In 1925, in an airplane, he flew within 150 miles of the goal. In 1926, he passed over the North Pole in a dirigible just three days after American explorer Richard E. Byrd had apparently done so in an aircraft. In 1996, a diary that Byrd had kept on the flight was found that seemed to suggest that the he had turned back 150 miles short of its goal because of an oil leak, making Amundsen's dirigible expedition the first flight over the North Pole.In 1928, Amundsen lost his life while trying to rescue a fellow explorer whose dirigible had crashed at sea near Spitsbergen, Norway. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MORE GENERAL INTEREST 1799 George Washington dies 1900 The birth of quantum theory historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272964&day=10272979 AUTOMOTIVE 1947 Stock Car Racing Organized historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=automotive&month=10272964&day=10272979 CIVIL WAR 1863 Lincoln pardons his sister-in-law historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=civil&month=10272964&day=10272979 COLD WAR 1980 CIA issues warning about Soviet arms sales to Third World nations historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=coldwar&month=10272964&day=10272979 CRIME 1874 An unsatisfactory end to a kidnapping historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=crime&month=10272964&day=10272979 ENTERTAINMENT 1944 National Velvet opens historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment&month=10272964&day=10272979 LITERARY 1640 Aphra Behn is baptized historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=literary&month=10272964&day=10272979 OLD WEST 1799 George Washington dies at Mount Vernon historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=oldwest&month=10272964&day=10272979 VIETNAM WAR 1961 Kennedy announces intent to increase aid to South Vietnam historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=vietnamwar&month=10272964&day=10272979 WALL STREET 1995 Boeing Strike Ends historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=wallstreet&month=10272964&day=10272979 WORLD WAR I 1918 New king renounces Finnish throne historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwari&month=10272964&day=10272979 WORLD WAR II 1939 USSR expelled from the League of Nations historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwarii&month=10272964&day=10272979