• Flashback
  • Posts
  • Berlin Wall / Manhattan Project / Bonnie and Clyde

Berlin Wall / Manhattan Project / Bonnie and Clyde

On This Day (August 13): Your quick daily trip back in time.

Author

Fatih Taskiran
August 13, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

In partnership with

🌟Editor's Note

Good morning. It's Wednesday, Aug. 13, and we're discovering the rise of the Berlin Wall, the beginning of the Manhattan Project, the legendary Bonnie and Clyde movie, and much more.

Oh, you can’t miss today's Strange Times story, which will blow your mind. Hint: related to today’s Final Words.

  • First time here? Join 10,000+ smart readers waking up with Flashback.

  • Enjoying this? Share it → It’s good karma. 💌

  • Got something to say? Hit reply. We read and respond to all emails.

🚀 Time Machine

-1521

The Aztec Empire ended when Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés captured Cuauhtémoc in Tenochtitlan.

-1536

Buddhist monks from Kyoto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples during the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance. (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1536)

-1642

Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered the southern polar cap of Mars.

-1788

-1937

The Second Sino-Japanese War begins with the Battle of Shanghai, which will last three months and involve a million soldiers.

-1942

The Manhattan Project commences under the direction of US General Leslie Groves to develop an atomic bomb.

-1961

Around midnight, East German soldiers started laying barbed wire and bricks between East Berlin and the democratic western section.

-1967

-1981

Reagan signs the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA), a package of tax cuts and budget cuts that set the tone for trickle-down economics.

📷 Snapshot

Here's what economy class looked like on a commercial Boeing 747, 1966

Learn from this investor’s $100m mistake

In 2010, a Grammy-winning artist passed on investing $200K in an emerging real estate disruptor. That stake could be worth $100+ million today.

One year later, another real estate disruptor, Zillow, went public. This time, everyday investors had regrets, missing pre-IPO gains.

Now, a new real estate innovator, Pacaso – founded by a former Zillow exec – is disrupting a $1.3T market. And unlike the others, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

Pacaso’s co-ownership model has generated $1B+ in luxury home sales and service fees, earned $110M+ in gross profits to date, and received backing from the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.

💬 Final Words

❝

I’ll show you that it won’t shoot. *

🦄 *Strange Times

The True Story of Johnny Ace's Fatal Backstage Dare

Johnny Ace should’ve been crowned for his velvet tenor, not a backstage dare. The 25-year-old Memphis R&B star (a Beale Streeter with B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland) was drinking between sets and flashing a .32-caliber revolver he liked to play with. Despite the "Russian roulette" myth, witnesses said it was reckless bravado: “It's okay! Gun's not loaded… see?” He put it to his head and fired—barely an hour after reportedly buying a new ‘55 Oldsmobile.

The city turned out in force: 5,000 mourners attended his funeral at Clayborn Temple AME on January 2. "Pledging My Love" hit No. 1 on the R&B chart for 10 weeks, and Johnny Ace became the first artist to reach the Billboard pop charts after his death—the king who might’ve been.

🏆 FlashQuiz

Reply

or to participate.