- 70 Walls of upper city of Jerusalem battered down by Roman army
Norman Invasion of England
1066 William the Conqueror's troops set sail from Normandy to conquer England
- 1290 Earthquake in the Gulf of Chihli (Bohai Sea) near China, reportedly kills 100,000 people
- 1312 Duke of Brabant John II signs the Charter of Kortenberg creating a Parliament of Kortenberg (The Lords of Kortenberg)
- 1331 Battle of Płowce: Kingdom of Poland defeats the Teutonic Order in a strategic victory
- 1540 Pope Paul III officially recognizes the Society of Jesus (Jesuit) co-founded by Ignatius of Loyola as a religious order of the Catholic church
- 1590 Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history
- 1605 The armies of Sweden are utterly defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm
- 1694 Hurricane hits Carlisle Bay Barbados; 27 British ships sink & 3,000 die
- 1717 French founder of Detroit Antoine de Lamothe Cadillac is imprisoned in the Bastille for speaking “against the government of the state and the colonies ” (freed 1718) [1]
John Adams the Peace Negotiator
1779 John Adams appointed to negotiate Revolutionary War peace terms with Great Britain
- 1794 French troops conquer Dutch fortress Fort Crèvecoeur after a short siege
Battle of Bussaco
1810 Battle of Bussaco: Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portuguese Army defeats a larger French force led by Marshal André Masséna with the French suffering 4,500 dead and wounded
Mexican War of Independence Ends
1821 Mexican revolutionary forces led by Agustín de Iturbide occupy Mexico City as Spanish withdraw, bringing an end to the Mexican War of Independence
Rosetta Stone
1822 French scholar Jean-François Champollion announces he has deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics using the Rosetta Stone
Locomotion No. 1
1825 George Stephenson's "Locomotion No. 1" becomes the 1st steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in England
- 1830 Dutch army leaves Brussels, after hundreds killed
War Breaks Out Behind Uncle Tom's Cabin
1852 George Aiken's play "Uncle Tom's Cabin" an adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous anti-slavery novel premieres in Troy, New York
- 1854 French fishing vessel SS Vesta collides with American passenger paddle-wheel ship SS Arctic off Newfoundland in heavy fog, sinking the larger passenger ship; 322 killed, most of the survivors were crew members
- 1855 George Frederick Bristow's "Rip Van Winkle", 2nd American opera, opens in NYC
- 1863 Jo Shelby's cavalry in action at Moffat's Station, Arkansas
- 1864 Battle at Pilot Knob (Ft Davidson) Missouri: 1700 killed or injured
Centralia Massacre
1864 Centralia Massacre: Pro-Confederate guerrillas led by William T. Anderson with Jesse James loot Centralia and attack a train on the North Missouri Railroad, executing 24 Union soldiers. Later the same day the guerillas defeat the newly formed 39th Missouri Infantry Regiment, killing 123 of its 147 solders.
British Golf Open
1879 British Open Men's Golf, St Andrews: Scotsman Jamie Anderson wins by 3 shots from countrymen Jamie Allen & Andrew Kirkaldy; 3rd consecutive title
- 1881 Chicago Cubs beat Troy 10-8 before record small "crowd" of 12
- 1892 Book matches are patented by Diamond Match Company
- 1894 Aqueduct racetrack opens in NY
- 1900 Victory Theater (Republic, Belasco) opens at 207 W 42nd St NYC
- 1903 Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
- 1905 Boston's Bill Dinneen no-hits Chicago White Sox, 2-0
E=mc²
1905 The physics journal Annalen der Physik publishes Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
1st Model T Produced
1908 Henry Ford's first Ford Model T automobile leaves the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan
Naval Oil Reserves
1909 US President William Howard Taft sets aside some 3 million acres of oil-rich public land (including Teapot Dome, Wyoming) for conservation purposes
- 1910 1st test flight of a twin-engined airplane (France)
Memphis Blues
1912 W. C. Handy publishes "Memphis Blues", considered the 1st blues song
- 1919 British troops withdraw from the North Russian town of Archangelsk after fighting Bolsheviks/Soviets
- 1919 Democratic National Committee votes to allow female members
- 1919 Pitcher Bob Shawkey sets then Yank record with 15 strike-outs
- 1921 American swimmer Johnny Weismuller sets his first 2 world records in the 100m and 150yd freestyle events the A.A.U. Nationals meet in Brighton Beach, NY
- 1921 MLB NY Yankees beat Cleveland Indians 21-7 at Polo Grounds, NYC
Abdication of Constantine I
1922 King Constantine I of Greece abdicates
- 1923 Italian troops leave occupied Corfu
Lou Gehrig's 1st HR
1923 NY Yankee Lou Gehrig hits 1st of his 493 HRs
Baseball Record
1930 Chicago Cub's Hack Wilson's 2 HRs give him NL record 56 HRs
- 1930 US Amateur Championship Men's Golf, Merion GC: Bobby Jones scores an 8 & 7 win over Eugene V. Homans to win his 5th National Amateur title and clinch golf's Grand Slam
Baseball History
1931 Closest NL batting race ends; St. Louis Cardinals Chick Hafey's .34889 beats NY Giants Bill Terry .34861 [1]
- 1931 MLB's Lou Gehrig completes his 6th straight season, playing in every game (.3486) Jim Bottomley (.3481)
- 1935 Chicago Cubs win 21st consecutive game & clinch NL pennant
- 1936 Boston Redskins and Brooklyn Dodgers play one of only 4 penalty free games in NFL history; Boston wins 14-3 at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn
Baseball History
1936 First baseman Walter Alston plays in his only major league game for the St. Louis Cardinals; manages Brooklyn/LA Dodgers for 23 years
Siege of the Alcázar
1936 Francisco Franco's nationalist Army of Africa captures the Alcázar of Toledo after a two month siege
- 1936 Netherlands leave Gold Standard/devaluate guilder
- 1937 1st Santa Claus Training School opens (Albion NY)
- 1937 Balinese Tiger declared extinct
- 1938 British ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth" launches at Clydebank, Scotland
- 1938 Jewish lawyers forbidden to practise in Germany
- 1938 League of Nations declares Japan the aggressor against China
- 1939 Warsaw surrenders to Germans after 19 days of resistance
- 1939 White Sox host 1st "day-night" doubleheader, lose twice to Cleveland, 5-2 & 7-5
- 1940 55 German aircraft shot down above England
- 1940 Black leaders protest discrimination in US armed forces
Floyd Giebells 1st Game
1940 Floyd Giebells, 1st game, 2-0 pennant clinching beating Bob Feller
- 1940 Nazi Germany, Italy & Japan sign 10 year formal alliance (Axis)
- 1940 Yankees, lose to A's & eliminated from pennant for 1st time since 1935
Appointment of Interest
1941 Reinhard Heydrich, "butcher of Prague," appointed SS-general (Gruppenfuehrer)
1st Liberty Ship
1941 US President Roosevelt launches the 1st Liberty ship, freighter SS Patrick Henry
Music History
1942 Glenn Miller and his Orchestra give their final performance at Central Theater in Passaic, New Jersey; Miller disbanded the group as he joined the US Army
- 1942 Heavy German assault in Stalingrad
- 1942 NY Giants beat Wash Redskins 14-7 without making a 1st down
- 1942 St Louis Cards win NL pennant on last day of season
- 1943 Anti-fascism opposition begins in Naples
- 1943 Dutch opposition newspaper "The Slogan" publishes KZ-Lower letter
- 1944 Helmond & Oss Neth liberated
- 1945 Baldwin Bergerson's musical "Carib Song" opens at Adelphi Theater, NYC; runs for 36 performances
MacArthur Meets Hirohito
1945 US General and head of the Allied occupation of Japan, Douglas MacArthur, meets Emperor Hirohito in Tokyo for the first time
Boxing Title Fight
1950 Heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles defeats Joe Louis in 15 in Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
- 1951 Persian troops occupy oil refinery at Abadan
- 1953 Baltimore Colt Bert Rechichar kicks a 56-yard field goal
- 1953 KCMO (now KCTV) TV channel 5 in Kansas City, MO (CBS) begins
- 1953 KNOE TV channel 8 in Monroe-West Monroe, LA (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KOLO TV channel 8 in Reno, NV (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KQTV TV channel 2 in Saint Joseph, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 St Louis Browns play last game in Sportsman's Park, losing 100th game
- 1953 Typhoon destroys one third of Nagoya, Japan
- 1953 WHBQ TV channel 13 in Memphis, Tennessee (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WMAZ TV channel 13 in Macon, GA (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WTOK TV channel 11 in Meridian, MS (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
The Tonight Show
1954 "The Tonight Show" premieres on NBC, hosted by Steve Allen
- 1954 1st African American Supreme Court page is CV Bush
- 1954 School integration begins in Washington, D.C. & Baltimore Md public schools
- 1956 Great Britain commences 'Operation Buffalo' testing four nuclear fission bombs at Maralinga, South Australia
- 1957 American MLB San Francisco Giants rent Pacific Coast League San Francisco Seals Stadium until Candlestick Park is built in 1960
- 1959 Braves & Dodgers finish in a tie (86-68)
Event of Interest
1959 Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev concludes his US visit
- 1960 Europe's 1st "moving pavement" (travelator), opens at Bank station on the London Underground
Baseball Record
1961 Sandy Koufax sets NL strikeout season record at 269
- 1961 Sierre Leone becomes 100th member of UN
- 1962 Military uprising under Col Abdullah as-Sallal North Yemen
Silent Spring
1962 Rachel Carson publishes "Silent Spring" about the deleterious impacts of pesticide use in the US on the environment
- 1962 US sells Israel Hawk anti-aircraft missiles
- 1963 At 10:59 AM census clock, records US population at 190,000,000
Event of Interest
1963 Lee Harvey Oswald visits Cuban consulate in Mexico City, seeking a visa
- 1964 Despite 3 HRs by Johnny Callison, Phils are 14-8 losers to Braves
- 1964 Findings of the Warren Commission into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy released, finds Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone
- 1964 Phillies 7th straight loses sends them into 2nd place
Baseball Record
1967 Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jim Bunning ties NL record of 5, 1-0 losses in a year
- 1967 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1968 "Hair" opens in London
- 1968 Cardinals' super pitcher Bob Gibson's 13th shutout of year
- 1968 France denies UK entry into common market
- 1970 Ken Boswell sets 2nd baseman record of 85 games without an error
- 1971 Tripartite talks involving the prime ministers of Northern Ireland, Britain, and the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland take place at Chequers, England
- 1971 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1972 1st NHL exhibition game at Nassau Coliseum; NY Rangers beat NY Islanders, 6-4
The Way We Were
1973 Barbra Streisand releases single "The Way We Were" (Billboard Song of the Year, 1974)
Baseball Record
1973 Nolan Ryan strikes out 16 in 11 innings, for record 383 of season
- 1973 Soyuz 12 carries 2 cosmonauts into Earth orbit (2 days)
- 1973 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1974 -10/26] Rome: 4th bishop synod
- 1974 Australian National Gallery buys W de Kooning's "Woman V" for $850,000
- 1975 Government De Uyl recalls Dutch ambassador from Spain
- 1976 TV drama “Dawn: Portrait of A Teenage Runaway", starring Eve Plumb premieres on US network NBC
- 1977 Phillies clinch 2nd straight NL East Division title
- 1978 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1978 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
Music History
1979 Elton John, sick with flu, collapses in the Hollywood Universal Amphitheater
- 1979 US Congress' final approval to create Department of Education
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1980 Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.
- 1980 WHOT (Brooklyn New York pirate radio station) begins on 1620 AM & 92.5 FM
- 1981 Frank Lazarus and Dick Vosburgh's musical double feature "A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine" closes at Royale Theatre, NYC, after 588 performances and 2 Tony Awards
- 1981 Iran defends its besieged port of Abadan, driving back Iraqi forces
- 1982 Cards clinching NL East title
Film & TV History
1982 Filming begins on "Never Say Never Again" with Sean Connery playing James Bond for the final time
- 1982 Jan Wolkers awarded but refuses Constantine Huygens-prize
- 1982 John Palmer becomes news anchor of Today Show
- 1983 South African worker's union leader Curnick Ndlovu freed from prison after 19 years
Sports History
1983 Tim Raines is 1st since Ty Cobb to steal 70 & drive in 70 runs
Sports History
1987 Atlanta Braves Phil Niekro's final MLB appearance, he surrenders for 5 runs in 3 innings against the San Francisco Giants
- 1987 NFL players' strike begins in the US
- 1987 Ryder Cup Golf, Muirfield Village GC: Europe beats US, 15-13; after 13-0 unbeaten record spanning 60 years, US loses for first time on home soil
Olympic Gold
1988 American diver Greg Louganis wins the 10m platform gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; wraps up diving double after also taking out the 3m springboard gold
- 1988 Canadian Finn class sailor Lawrence Lemieux abandons race 5 to assist injured competitor after being in 2nd place; selfless act is awarded with the Pierre de Coubertin medal
World Record
1988 Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson is disqualified from the Seoul Olympics 100m after his urine sample found to contain steroid stanozolol; American Carl Lewis awarded gold medal and world record 9.92
- 1988 East German cyclist Olaf Ludwig wins the men's road race in 4:32:22 at the Seoul Olympics; beats West German pair Bernd Gröne & Christian Henn
- 1988 Grand jury evidence shows Tawana Brawley fabricated rape story
- 1988 Senate votes for major federal tax code changes
Event of Interest
1988 The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded in Burma (Myanmar)
- 1989 Oakland wins AL West & SF wins NL West title
- 1989 Sony purchases Columbia Pictures for $3.4 billion cash
- 1990 American punk rocker Dee Dee Ramone arrested for marijuana possession in Washington Square Park, NYC
- 1990 Deposed emir of Kuwait address UN General Assembly
- 1990 Gunman holds 33 people (killing 1) hostage in Berkeley Calif
- 1990 Senate Judiciary committee approves Souter's Supreme Court
Greg LeMond Honored
1990 Tour de France champion Greg LeMond visits White House
- 1990 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1991 "Princesses" premieres on CBS TV
- 1991 1st scheduled NHL exhibition game in St Petersburg Fla, is cancelled due to poor ice conditions (NY Islanders vs Boston Bruins)
Event of Interest
1991 US President George H. W. Bush decides to end full-time B-52 bombers alert
- 1992 ASPCA stops Santeria ceremony in Bronx halts sacrifice of 42 animals
- 1992 LA Dodgers for 1st time in history clinch last place
- 1992 Pittsburgh Pirates win their 3rd straight NL East title
- 1992 Seattle's Randy Johnson ties AL record for lefties with 18 strike outs
- 1993 Actor Daniel Day-Lewis pleads guilty to speeding charges
Cracker
1993 British crime series "Cracker" created by Jimmy McGovern starring Robbie Coltrane debuts on ITV in the UK
- 1993 The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
- 1996 Baltimore Oriole Roberto Alomar spits in face of umpire John Hirschbeck
- 1996 In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
- 1996 The Julie N. tanker skip crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
Election of Interest
1998 German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's CDU/CSU party suffers a heavy defeat in federal elections to Gerard Schroder's SPD party
Olympic Gold
2000 United States baseball team, managed by Tommy Lasorda, wins Olympic Gold Medal in Sydney, Australia
- 2001 At its two-day meeting in Vienna, OPEC decides to keep its production quotas unchanged at 23.2 million barrels per day, despite crude oil being at its lowest price levels since 1999
- 2002 Timor-Leste (East Timor) joins the United Nations.
- 2003 Smart 1 satellite is launched by the European Space Agency from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, for a moon orbit.
- 2005 Atlanta Braves clinch their 14th straight division title thanks to Philadelphia's loss to the New York Mets
- 2006 MLB Boston Red Sox honor former player Johnny Pesky by officially naming Fenway Park's right-field foul pole "Pesky's Pole"
- 2008 CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
Sports History
2008 Greg Maddux wins his final start of his career (#355)
Merkel Wins Federal Election
2009 German Federal elections return Angela Merkel for second term as Chancellor at head of center-right coalition government
- 2012 The 2004 Japanese discovery of the 133th element has been confirmed
- 2012 The Mars Curiosity rover discovers what evidence of a fast-moving streambed-in Mars
- 2012 UN publicly releases documents from China and Japan detailing their contesting claims for the Senkoku Islands
- 2013 19 people are killed and 45 are injured in a bus bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan
- 2013 60 people are killed after a building collapses in Mumbai, India