Events 1 - 200 of 370
- 69 Batavian nobleman Gaius Julius Civilis proclaimed emperor of Syria
- 251 The Battle of Abrittus in the Balkans won by the Goths against the Romans. Roman Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus are killed
- 649 Pope Martinus I elected to succeed Theodore I
- 1097 1st Crusaders defeat Sultan Kilidj Arslan of Nicea
- 1200 In China, sunglasses are invented
- 1233 Earl Otto II van Gelre grants Arnhem state justice
- 1252 King Alfonso X 'the Wise', King of Castile & Leon crowned
- 1253 Battle at Westkapelle-Floris the Guardian beats Gwijde van Dampierre
- 1347 Engagement of Count Louis of Male to Margaretha, daughter of Jan III
- 1390 French and Genuese armada sails out against barbarian pirates
- 1517 1st burning of Protestants at the stake in the Netherlands
- 1517 Inquisitor Adrian Boeyens (pope Adrianus VI) becomes cardinal
- 1535 Sir Thomas More goes on trial in England charged with treason
- 1543 England & Scotland sign peace treaty of Greenwich
- 1569 Latvian Parliament accepts Union of Lublin, incorporating it into Poland
- 1600 Prince Maurits' army occupies Newport Flanders Netherlands
- 1674 Spain, France & Netherlands form Triple Alliance
- 1689 Matsuo Basho, zen poet, leaves for 150 days journey on Honshu, Japan
Victory in Battle
1690 Army of Protestant King William III defeats deposed Roman Catholic King James II in Battle of Boyne in Ireland
Historic Event
1698 Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal founded by Marguerite Bourgeoys canonically constituted a community
Historic Event
1745 Warship Elisabeth joins Bonnie Prince Charlie's frigate Doutelle [OS]
- 1747 Battle at Lafeld: France force beats British and Dutch army in Belgium during the Austrian War of Succession
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 1st vote on Declaration of Independence for Britain's North American colonies
- 1810 Louis Napoleon abdicates as king of the Netherlands
- 1816 French frigate Medusa wrecked; basis of Géricault's painting "Raft of the Medusa"
- 1820 1st edition of newspaper "Courrier de la Meuse" published in the Netherlands
- 1823 9th US Postmaster General: John McLean of Ohio takes office
- 1823 United Provinces of Central America gain independence from Mexico
- 1831 Admiral James C Ross reaches magnetic North Pole
Historic Event
1836 US President Andrew Jackson announces to Congress bequest by James Smithson of 100,000 gold sovereigns to found institution in Washington.
- 1841 Mammoth Cave National Park established with 45,310 acres, including world's largest cave network in Kentucky, US [1]
- 1847 1st US postage stamps go on sale, 5 cent Franklin and 10 cent Washington, NYC
- 1850 At least 626 ships lie at anchor around San Francisco Bay
- 1858 1st Canadian coins minted (1, 5, 10 and 20 cent)
Historic Event
1858 The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society
- 1859 1st intercollegiate baseball game, Amherst beats Williams 66-32 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
- 1859 Balloon covers a record 809 miles over St Louis
- 1861 1st public schoolhouse opens at Washington and Mason St, San Francisco
- 1861 US War Department decrees that Kansas and Tennessee are to be canvassed for volunteers
Historic Event
1862 Alexander II of Russia grants Jews right to publish books
- 1862 Battle at Booneville Mississippi: Confederate superior power driven out
- 1862 Battle of Malvern Hill [Poindexter's Farm], day 7 of 7 days battles, Union forces repel Confederate attack, Tactical Union victory (US Civil War)
- 1862 The Russian State Library is founded in Moscow
- 1862 US Internal Revenue Law imposes 1st federal taxes on inheritance, tobacco and on incomes over $600 (progressive rate)
- 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Lee's northward advance halted
- 1863 Free city delivery of mail begins in 49 US cities; postage 3 cents per oz
- 1863 Slavery abolished in Dutch territories including Sint Maarten, Suriname and the Dutch Antilles, (now marked as Keti Koti Day in Suriname and the Netherlands)
Historic Event
1867 The Dominion of Canada is formed, comprising the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario & Quebec, with John A. Macdonald serving as the first Prime Minister
Historic Event
1873 Henry Ossian Flipper of Georgia enters West Point Military Academy
- 1873 Prince Edward Island becomes 7th Canadian province
- 1874 1st US kidnapping for ransom, 4-year-old Charles Ross, $20,000
- 1874 1st zoo in the United States opens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1874 Dutch 1st Chamber accepts law governing child labor in factories
- 1875 Universal Postal Union comes into effect after established in the Bern treaty, to organize international mail services
- 1877 1st edition of "Amsterdammer" published
- 1878 Canada joins the Universal Postal Union
- 1879 Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower
- 1879 Ex-khedive Ismael Pasha sails from Alexandria to Naples
- 1881 1st international telephone conversation, Calais, Maine to St Stephen, New Brunswick
- 1881 General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Army's organisation, comes into effect
- 1881 US Assay Office in St Louis, Missouri opens
- 1883 ANWB forms in Utrecht, the Netherlands
- 1885 The United States terminates reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada
Historic Event
1889 Frederick Douglass named US Minister to Haiti
Historic Event
1896 Wilfrid Laurier sworn in as 1st French speaking Prime Minister of Canada
- 1897 Bronx acquires Hutton Square
Historic Event
1898 Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders charge up San Juan Hill
- 1899 Gideon Society established to place bibles in hotels
- 1899 San Francisco City Hall turned over to city, after 29 years of building
- 1901 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Arthur Gore beats defending 4-time champion R.F. Doherty 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 for his 1st of 3 Wimbledon singles titles
- 1902 Ranji (230) & Newham (153) add 344 for 7th wkt, Sussex v Essex
- 1902 US Congress passes the Philippines Government Act, providing that the Philippines be governed by a commission appointed by the President, with consent from the senate; Filipinos are to be treated as citizens of their land, no the USA
- 1903 Tour de France: Inaugural race begins in Montgeron, a south-eastern suburb of Paris
1st US Olympic Games
1904 III Summer (Modern) Olympic Games open in St Louis, the first held in the United States
- 1904 Willie Anderson becomes the first 2-time Western Open golf champion, beating fellow Scot Alex Smith by 4 strokes at Michigan's Kent CC
Historic Event
1905 Albert Einstein introduces his theory of special relativity
- 1907 The Orange River Colony, known as the Orange Free State, is granted self-government by the British
- 1908 "SOS" (· · · – – – · · ·) distress signal becomes the worldwide standard for help
- 1910 Chicago's White Sox Park (later Comiskey Park) opens - St Louis Browns beat White Sox, 2-0
- 1910 Union of South Africa becomes a dominion
- 1911 Proclamation removes "Dei Gratia" (by the Grace of God) from Canadian coins
- 1911 The German gunboat 'Panther' arrives off Agadir allegedly to protect German interests and nationals in Morocco
- 1913 Serbia and Greece declare war on Bulgaria
Historic Event
1914 General J. B. M. Hertzog founds the Free State National Party
- 1915 Australia begins Commonwealth Lighthouse Service
- 1915 Australian Survey Corps becomes part of Military Forces
- 1916 1st of 4 fatal Jersey Shore shark attacks occur at Beach Haven when Charles Vansant (25) bled to death, challenging previous scientific belief that sharks never hurt humans, and sparking popular fear over sharks which persists today
- 1916 British court martial for the Easter uprising
- 1916 Coca-Cola brings current coke formula to the market
Five Miles of Mud Costs a Million Casualties
1916 First day of the Battle of the Somme: the British Army suffers its worst day, losing 19,240 men (WWI)
Sports History
1916 Pittsburgh shortstop Honus Wagner, at 42 and 4 months, connects at Cincinnati to become the oldest to hit an inside-the-park HR; Pirates beat Reds, 2-1
- 1917 257cm-mirror for Mount Wilson Observatory mounted
- 1917 In contravention of state law, Robins (Dodgers) play their 1st Sunday MLB game in Brooklyn; owner and manager arrested but escape with a fine; Robins edge Philadelphia, 3-2
- 1917 Race riots in East St Louis, Illinois (40 to 200 reported killed)
- 1917 Reds' Fred Toney pitches 2 complete games in doubleheader victories over Pirates, allows 3 hits each game, fewest allowed by any pitcher winning 2 MLB games in one day
- 1919 SVV Scheveningen soccer club is established in the Dutch seaside town
- 1919 US 1st class postage drops from 3 cents to 2 cents
- 1920 British Open Men's Golf, Royal Cinque Ports GC: Scotsman George Duncan erases 13 stroke deficit after 36 holes to win his only major title; first Open played since WWII
- 1920 Sir Herbert Samuel takes over as high commissioner over Palestine, where Arab resistance to the British mandate continues
- 1920 St Louis Cardinals become tenants of their AL rival St Louis Browns, as they abandon Robison Field midway through the MLB season and return to Sportsman's Park
Sports History
1920 Washington Senators pitching legend Walter Johnson no-hits Boston Red Sox 1-0 at Fenway Park, the only no-hitter of his illustrious career
- 1920 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: French superstar Suzanne Lenglen beats Dorothea Chambers 6-3, 6-0 to complete a sweep after taking the women's & mixed doubles titles
- 1921 The Communist Party of China is founded and Chen Duxiu elected its leader
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1921 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Suzanne Lenglen of France beats doubles specialist Elizabeth Ryan 6-2, 6-0 for her 3rd straight Wimbledon singles title
- 1923 1st permanent radio network-AT&T (WEAF NY & WMAF Mass)
- 1924 Dircet regular transcontinental airmail service between New York and San Francisco forms
- 1925 SDAP wins 4 chairs in Dutch Second-Parliamentary election
- 1925 Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs created in UK
- 1926 Canada restores gold standard
- 1929 US Immigration law of 1924 in effect
- 1930 Great Britain signs accord for Independence of Iraq
- 1931 Cleveland Municipal Stadium (MLB: Indians, NFL: Browns, 78,189 capacity) opens; demolished 1996
- 1931 Ice vending machines introduced in Los Angeles 25 lbs, 15 cents
- 1931 Trans African Railway in use (Benguela, Angola-Jadotville, Congo)
Historic Event
1931 US President Herbert Hoover places a one year moratorium on war debt payments
Presidential Convention
1932 NY Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated for president at Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois
- 1932 NY newspaper Evening Standard goes bankrupt
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1932 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Helen Wills Moody beats fellow American Helen Jacobs 6-3, 6-1 for her 5th of 8 titles
- 1933 114°F (45.6°C), Las Animas, Colorado (state record, tied in 1954; broken in 2019)
- 1933 German nazi regime declares that married women shouldn't work
- 1933 Strauss & von Hofmannsthal's opera "Arabella," premieres at the Semperoper Opera House in Dresden, Germany
- 1933 The Canadian Parliament suspends all Chinese immigration.
- 1934 1st x-ray photo of entire body, taken by Arthur Fuchs of Eastman-Kodak Company in Rochester, New York
- 1934 Brookfield Zoo opens in Chicago, Illinois
- 1935 Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANP, General Dutch Press Agency) forms in Amsterdam
- 1936 AVRO radio broadcast studios in Hilversum opens
- 1936 Watchfulness Committee forms in Amsterdam
- 1937 Rev Martin Niemöller arrested in Nazi Germany for activities against the State
Historic Event
1937 Spanish bishops support Francisco Franco and his fascist movement
- 1938 The South African Press Association (SAPA) is established as a non-governmental institution by South Africa's major newspapers to facilitate the sharing of news, both national and international
- 1938 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Don Budge beats England's Henry Austin 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 for the 3rd leg of his Grand Slam
- 1940 Australia refuses entry to Dutch Jewish refugees
- 1941 1st commercial TV licenses granted-W2XBS-WNBT (NBC) & WCBW (CBS), NYC
- 1941 Bulova Watch Co pays $9 for 1st ever network TV commercial
Baseball Record
1941 NY outfielder Joe DiMaggio, on way to a record 56, ties Willie Keeler's 44 game MLB hit streak in a 9-2 win over Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium
- 1941 WCBW (now WCBS) TV channel 2 in NY, NY (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1941 WNBT TV (W2XBS, Now WNBC) channel 4 in NYC (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1942 WWI: German troops conquer Black Sea port city of Sevastopol, Crimea, after a 250 battle; Russia takes it back in 1944
- 1943 "Pay-as-you-go" - 1st withholding tax from paychecks
- 1944 2,500+ killed in London/SE England by German flying bombs
Conference of Interest
1944 Bretton Woods Conference starts, dominated by Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes and leads to establishment of the IMF and the World Bank
Historic Event
1944 General Eisenhower visits front in Normandy
- 1944 German officer Claus von Stauffenberg promoted to colonel
- 1944 US headquarter moves to Colombières Normandy
- 1944 Von Rundstedt against Keitel: "Sign peace, idiots!"
- 1945 55th Postmaster General: Robert E Hannegan of Mo takes office
- 1945 Allies troop land on Balikpapan
Baseball Record
1945 First MLB superstar to return from WW II, Hank Greenberg homers in his 1st game (Detroit beats Philadelphia A's 9-5)
Historic Event
1946 The last White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke cedes Sarawak to the British Crown
- 1946 US drops atom bomb on Bikini atoll (4th atomic explosion)
- 1947 192m long passenger ship Willem Ruys (Achille Lauro) launched
- 1947 Basketball Association of America (BAA), which later became the National Basketball Association (NBA), holds its inaugural college player draft
- 1947 British Dominion Affairs office becomes Commonwealth Relations office
Cricket History
1948 Australian cricket captain Don Bradman scores 128 in 141 mins with 15 fours in a tour match vs Surry
Sports History
1948 Brooklyn's future Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella debuts with 3 hits in a 6-4 loss to the rival NY Giants
- 1948 NYC subway fare goes to 10 cents, bus fare to 7 cents and combo fare at 12 cents
- 1949 WBRC TV channel 6 in Birmingham, AL (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1949 WCCO TV channel 4 in Minneapolis-St Paul, MN (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1949 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American Ted Schroeder beats Jaroslav Drobný 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 for his only Wimbledon singles title
- 1950 1st 407 US soldiers flown to South Korea
Theatrical Finale
1950 Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill's "Lost in the Stars", based on Alan Paton's novel "Cry the Beloved Country", closes at Music Box Theater, NYC, after 281 performances
- 1950 NYC bus fare rises to 10 cents equal to subway fare, combo fare at 15 cents
- 1950 WHBF TV channel 4 in Rock Island, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting
Sports History
1951 Cleveland Indians veteran hurler Bob Feller pitches his 3rd career no-hitter beating Detroit Tigers, 2-1
- 1952 English architect Michael Ventris says he has solved one of the 20th century's greatest linguistic riddles, by deciphering Linear B in BBC interview. Is an ancient form of Greek on clay tablets from Minoan palace of Knossos. [1]
- 1952 The first NASCAR Grand National event is run outside of the US with Buddy Shuman winning the 200-lap race at Stamford Park, Ontario, Canada
- 1953 KLAS TV channel 8 in Las Vegas, NV (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KTVH (now KWCH) TV channel 12 in Hutchinson-Wichita, KS (CBS) begins
- 1954 WDBO (now WCPX) TV channel 6 in Orlando, FL (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1955 KOTA TV channel 3 in Rapid City, SD (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting
Wimbledon Men's Tennis
1955 Wimbledon Men's Tennis: American Tony Trabert beats Kurt Nielsen of Denmark 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 for his only Wimbledon success
TV Show Appearance
1956 Elvis Presley, wearing a tuxedo, appears on Steve Allen Show
- 1956 Ibrahim Hashiroe succeeds Said el-Moefti as premier of Jordan
Sports History
1956 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Wakonda CC: Beverly Hanson wins by 4 strokes from Louise Suggs; second of her 3 major titles
- 1957 International Geophysical Year begins (until Dec 31, 1958)
- 1957 WRLP TV channel 32 in Greenfield/Keene/Brat, Massachusetts (IND) begins broadcasting
- 1958 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada via microwave
- 1959 Heinrich Lubke elected President of West Germany
- 1959 Israeli Knesset agrees to weapon sales to West Germany
- 1959 The Party of the African Federation (PFA) holds its constitutive conference.
- 1959 World Refugee Year begins
- 1959 WVTV TV channel 18 in Milwaukee, WI (IND) begins broadcasting
Music History
1960 Benjamin Britten's cantata "Carmen Baseliense" premieres in Basel, Switzerland
Historic Event
1960 Fidel Castro nationalizes Esso, Shell & Texaco in Cuba