Events in History
- 3 Venus-Jupiter in conjunction-Star of Bethlehem
- 1099 Battle at Ascalon: Godfried of Broth leading the Crusaders beats Egyptians Fatimid army
- 1121 Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi
- 1164 Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.
- 1323 Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod (Russia) regulates the border for the first time
- 1332 Battle of Dupplin Moor; Scottish dynastic battle
Event of Interest
1336 English King Edward III ends wool export to Flanders
Edward III
- 1480 Battle of Otranto - Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam
Voyage of Discovery
1492 Christopher Columbus arrives in the Canary Islands on his first voyage to the New World
Christopher Columbus
Event of Interest
1553 Pope Julius III orders confiscation & burning of Jewish Talmud
Julius III
- 1588 Commander of the English fleet Lord Howard of Effingham calls off chase of the Spanish Armada off coast of Scotland
- 1588 Medemblik surrenders to Spanish army
- 1658 1st American police force forms (New Amsterdam)
- 1665 English fleet beat Dutch fleet
- 1676 1st war between American colonists & Indians ends in New England
- 1687 Charles of Lotharingen defeats Turkish leaders
- 1687 Battle of Mohacs: Ottoman invaders of Hungary routed by forces of Holy Roman Emperor under Charles of Lorraine
- 1759 Battle of Kunersdorf - Russian-Austrian army overpowers Prussians
- 1793 The Rhône départment is created when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire was split into two: Rhône and Loire (Lêre).
- 1812 Duke of Wellington's troops enter Madrid
Appointment of Interest
1813 Robert Southey is appointed British Poet Laureate by King George III
George III
- 1831 Dutch troops conquer Leuven
- 1831 Netherlands & Belgium sign peace treaty
- 1833 The town of Chicago is incorporated (population 350)
- 1851 American inventor Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine
- 1861 Skirmish at Texas - rebels are attacked by Apache Indians
- 1862 Gen John Hunt Morgan & his raiders capture Gallatin, TX
- 1863 1st cargo of lumber leaves Burrard Inlet (Vancouver, BC)
- 1865 Joseph Lister performs 1st antiseptic surgery
Event of Interest
1867 US President Andrew Johnson defies Congress suspending Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
Andrew Johnson
Edwin Stanton
- 1869 Self-proclaimed Emperor Joshua Abraham Norton of the USA issues edict abolishing the Democratic and Republican parties
Thomas Edison's Phonograph
1877 Thomas Edison completes 1st model for the phonograph, a device that recorded sound onto tinfoil cylinders
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- 1883 The last quagga (zebra subspecies with less slashes) dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
- 1898 Hawaii is formally annexed to US
Spain Declares War Against the United States
1898 Peace protocol ends Spanish–American War, signed
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- 1914 France and Great Britain declare war on Austria-Hungary
- 1914 Cavalry battle at Halen, Belgium ("Battle of the Silver Helmets")
- 1914 German 16.5"/12" guns fires on forts round Liege
- 1914 Russian troops take East-Prussia & occupy Marggrabowa
- 1915 "Of Human Bondage" by William Somerset Maugham, published
Picasso and Friends
1916 Pablo Picasso, Max Jacob, Moïse Kisling, Ortiz and Paquerette are photographed in Paris
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Event of Interest
1922 Dedication of Frederick Douglass' home in Washington, D.C. as national shrine
Frederick Douglass
- 1923 Dutch AR-leader Coair replaces De Geer as minister of finances
- 1923 Enrico Tiraboschi is 1st to swim English Channel westward
- 1925 KMA-AM in Shenandoah IA begins radio transmissions
- 1925 The first cast of Alpha Psi Omega, drawn from The Masquers of Fairmont College, West Virginia, is initiated.
Historic Invention
1930 Clarence Birdseye is granted a patent for method for quick freezing food (patent US 1773079 A)
Clarence Birdseye
- 1931 Yangtzee River floods after heavy rain crumbles dikes in China
- 1933 Cuban dictator Machado y Morales flees after military coup
- 1936 120°F (49°C), Seymour, Texas (state record)
- 1939 Sabotage suspected in 'City of San Francisco' train crash which derails near Harney, Nevada, killing 24
- 1940 Luftwaffe bombs British radar stations, loses 31 aircraft
- 1940 Netherlands starts rationing textiles
Event of Interest
1941 French Marshal Philippe Pétain gives full support to Nazi Germany
Philippe Pétain
Conference of Interest
1942 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives in Moscow for a conference with Joseph Stalin and US representative W. Averrell Harriman
Winston Churchill
Joseph Stalin
- 1942 German 1st tank leader captures Elista, Kalmukkensteppe
Event of Interest
1942 Lt General Bernard Montgomery arrives in Cairo
Bernard Montgomery
- 1943 Alleged date of the first Philadelphia Experiment test on United States Navy ship USS Eldridge.
Meeting of Interest
1944 Winston Churchill and Tito meet in Naples
Josip Broz Tito
Winston Churchill
- 1948 Court of justice sentences General Friedrich Christiansen, commander of the German Wehrmacht in the Netherlands, to 12 years imprisonment
- 1952 Hussein ibn Talal proclaimed King of Jordan
- 1953 Heavy earthquake strikes the Ionian islands, 435 killed
- 1953 Soviet Union conducts secret test of its 1st hydrogen bomb
- 1954 Senator Eddie Yost draws his 100th walk for 5th year in a row
- 1955 22nd NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 30, Cleveland 27 (75,000)
Event of Interest
1955 US President Eisenhower raises minimum wage from 75 cents to $1 an hour
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1959 1st ship firing of a Polaris missile, Observation Island
- 1959 Progressive Party under John Steytler forms in South Africa
- 1960 Echo 1, 1st communications satellite, is launched by NASA
- 1960 USAF Major Robert M White takes X-15 to an altitude of 41,600 m
- 1962 1st time 2 people in space
- 1962 Russia launches Vostok 4, Pavel Popovich, who lands safely Aug 15
- 1963 Portuguese dictator Salazar firm on African colonization
- 1964 10th time Mantle switch-hits HR in a game, one goes 502 feet
- 1964 Race riot in Elizabeth, NJ
- 1965 Dame Elizabeth Lane becomes first female English High Court judge
- 1965 Race riot in West Side of Chicago
- 1969 Battle of the Bogside: RUC officers, backed by loyalists, entered the nationalist Bogside in armoured cars and tried to suppress the riot by using CS gas, water cannon and eventually firearms; the almost continuous rioting lasted for two days
Event of Interest
1971 Syrian President Hafez al-Assad drops diplomatic relations with Jordan
Hafez al-Assad
- 1972 Last American combat ground troops leave Vietnam
- 1973 WPBA National Championship won by Betty Morris
- 1976 1st approach & lands test (ALT) of orbiter Enterprise
- 1976 Christian militia conquer Palestinian camp Tell al-Za'tar, 2000 killed
- 1977 For 2nd straight day, Oakland's Manny Sanguillen foils a no-hit bid
- 1977 High Energy Astronomy Observatory {HEAO] 1 launched into Earth's orbit by NASA
- 1977 Space shuttle Enterprise makes 1st atmospheric test flight
Birthdays in History
Christian III
1503 Christian III, King of Denmark (1534-59) and Norway (1537-59), born in Gottorf Castle, Schleswig, Denmark (d. 1559)
Christian III
- 1566 Isabella Clara Eugenia, Sovereign of the Netherlands (1598-1621), born in Palacio de Valsaín, Segovia, Spain (d. 1633)
- 1592 Willem earl of Nassau-Siegen, Dutch gov (Fort Emmerik/Heusden)
- 1604 Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shogun (d. 1651)
- 1620 Pieter Cuypers, S Neth lawyer
- 1629 Tsar Alexei I of Russia (d. 1676)
- 1647 Johann Heinrich Acker, German writer (d. 1719)
- 1686 John Balguy, English philosopher (d. 1748)
- 1744 Rowland Hill, preacher
- 1753 Thomas Bewick, England, artist (British Birds, Aesop's Fables)
- 1762 George IV, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover (1820-30), born in St James's Palace, London (d. 1830)
- 1774 Robert Southey, English writer (The Story of the Three Bears), Poet Laureate (1813-43) and biographer (Nelson), born in Bristol, England (d. 1843)
- 1778 Francis Horner, politician
- 1781 Robert Mills, American architect (Washington Monument)
- 1819 Daniel Davidson Bidwell, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1864)
- 1820 Oliver Mowat, a founder of the Canadian Confederation
- 1829 John Horace Forney, Major General (Confederate Army), (d. 1902)
- 1832 Hely Hutchinson Almond, Scottish politician, doctor and early ruby umpire, born in Glasgow
- 1833 William Price Sanders, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Frankfort, Kentucky (d. 1863)
- 1848 Macellus Emants, Dutch writer/poet (Along the Nile)
- 1849 Abbott Handerson Thayer, painter/naturalist
- 1854 Alfred Gilbert, sculptor/goldsmith
- 1856 "Diamond Jim" Brady, American financier (d. 1917)
- 1859 Katharine Lee Bates, American author (America the Beautiful), born in Falmouth, Massachusetts (d. 1929)
- 1866 Jacinto Benavente y Martínez, Spanish playwright (Nobel 1922)
- 1867 Edith Hamilton, American writer (Mythology)
- 1868 Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, 22nd Governor of New South Wales (1908-13) and Viceroy of British India (1916-21), born in London, England (d. 1933)
- 1872 Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1956)
- 1876 Mary Roberts Rinehart, American mystery writer (The Circular Staircase), born in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania (d. 1958)
- 1880 Marguerite "John" Radclyffe-Hall, author
- 1883 Jan Schouten, Dutch co-founder (Daily Trouw)/chairman (ARP)
- 1884 Frank Arthur Swinnerton, English novelist (Summer Storm, Sanctuary)
- 1885 Jean Cabannes, French physicist (d. 1959)
- 1886 Sir Keith Murdoch, Australian journalist and newspaper owner (d. 1952)
Erwin Schrödinger
1887 Erwin Schrodinger, Austrian physicist and Nobel Prize Laureate (wave mechanics), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1961)
Erwin Schrödinger
- 1888 Willem Vogt, Dutch radio pioneer/founder (AVRO)
- 1889 Zerna Sharp, American writer and educator (Dick and Jane) (d. 1981)
- 1897 Otto (von) Struve, German/US dir (Yerkes/MacDonald observatory)
- 1899 Alfred Kantorowicz, German historian (Spanish Diary)
- 1903 Frances Clode, CEO (WRVS)
- 1904 Aleksei N Romanov, son of Tsar Nicholas II [OS=July 30]
- 1904 Frank Ervin, harness racer (Hambletonian 1959, 66)
Alexei Nikolaevich
1904 Alexei Nikolaevich, last Tsarevich of Russia, born in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (d. 1918)
Alexei Nikolaevich
- 1907 James Herbert Lloyd Morrell, bishop
- 1907 Miguel Torga [Adolfo Correia da Rocha], Portuguese writer (O Quarto Dia da Criação do Mundo), born in São Martinho de Anta, Portugal (d. 1995)
- 1908 Lord Renton, QC/British government minister
- 1909 Maurice Heath, air marshal
- 1909 Richard Bare, American director
- 1910 Baroness Phillips, pres/general secretary (National Association of Women)
- 1910 Yusof bin Ishak, first President of Singapore (d. 1970)
- 1914 [Hendrik] Jan Bakker, Dutch resistance fighter/journalist (Parool)
- 1914 Gerd Buchdahl, German philosopher (d. 2001)
- 1917 Douglas Gunsekera, banker
- 1918 Margaret Burbidge, British-American astronomer & educator, born in Davenport, England
Guy Gibson
1918 Guy Gibson, British aviator who led the Dambusters (Victoria Cross), born in Simla, India (d. 1944)
Guy Gibson
- 1919 Peter Ambrose Cyprian Luke, playwright
- 1919 Vikram Sarabhai, Indian physicist (d. 1971)
- 1920 Percy Mayfield, American singer (Please Send Me Someone to Love)
- 1921 Patrick Howard-Dobson, president (Royal British Legion)
- 1922 Andre Kloos, Dutch trade union leader (NVV/VARA)
- 1922 Lord Colinbrook, British government minister
- 1924 Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (d. 1988)
- 1925 Dale Bumpers, American politician (Sen-D Arkansas, 1975-99), born in Charleston, Arkansas (d. 2016)
- 1925 Norris McWhirter, English author (founded Guinness Book of World Records), born in Winchmore Hill, England (d. 2004)
- 1925 Robin Nicholson, English metallurgist, born in Warwickshire, England
- 1925 Ross McWhirter, English author (founded Guinness Book of World Records), born in Winchmore Hill, England (d. 1975)
- 1925 George Wetherill, American scientist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
- 1926 Wallace Markfield, American writer (d. 2002)
- 1928 Charles Blackman, Australian artist
- 1930 Ronald James Herron, architect
- 1930 Jacques Tits, Belgian mathematician
George Soros
1930 George Soros [György Schwartz], Hungarian-American investor and political activist (Open Society Foundation), born in Budapest, Hungary
George Soros
- 1932 Queen Ferekit, of Thailand (Queens Day)
- 1932 Charlie O'Donnell, American game show announcer (Wheel of Fortune), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2010)
- 1934 Kenneth Eaton, Controller (British Navy)
- 1935 Karl Mickel, German writer, born in Dresden, Germany (d. 2000)
- 1936 Geoff Hamilton, gardner/journalist
- 1936 Hans Haacke, artist (Right to Life, Dripper Boxes), born in Cologne, Germany
- 1936 John Poindexter, US Chief of Staff
- 1937 Walter Dean Myers, African-American author, born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, (d. 2014)
- 1938 Anthony Joliffe, mayor of London
- 1938 Jean-Paul L'Allier, Canadian Mayor of Quebec
- 1939 Roy Romanow, Canadian politician
- 1939 Sushil Koirala, Nepalese politician, Prime Minister of Nepal (2014-2015), born in Biratnagar, Morang (d. 2016)
- 1941 Réjean Ducharme, Quebec novelist and playwright
- 1948 Graham Zellick, principal (Queen Mary & Westfield College London)
- 1949 Anthony Akerman, South Africa, director
- 1949 Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil (1990-92)
- 1949 Panagiotis Chinofotis, Greek politician
- 1951 Charles E Brady Jr, Pinehurst NC, Cmdr USN/astronaut (STS 78)
- 1951 Willie Horton, American murderer and rapist
François Hollande
1954 François Hollande, 24th President of France (Socialist: 2012-17), born in Rouen, France
François Hollande
- 1955 Ann M. Martin, American author
- 1962 Miss Cleo [Youree Dell Harris], American psychic (Psychic Readers Network), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2016)
- 1970 Anthony Swofford, American novelist
- 1972 Takanohana, Sumo yokozuna
- 1973 Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr, Iranian Shia cleric, son of Ayatollah Mohammad al-Sadr, born in Najaf, Iran
- 1973 Richard Reid, British terrorist, referred to as the "shoe bomber".
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1806 Frontiersman Davy Crockett (20) weds Polly Finley in Tennessee
Davy Crockett
Deaths in History
- 875 Louis II, king of Italy/emperor of France, dies at about 50
- 1158 Anselm of Havelberg, Brandenburg bishop of Havelberg (1129-55), dies at about 58
- 1295 Charles Martel of Anjou, Son of Charles II of Naples, dies at 23
- 1424 Yongle, Emperor of the Ming Empire (1402-24), dies at 64
- 1484 Sixtus IV [Francesco della Rovere], Pope (1471-84), dies
- 1484 George of Trebizond, Greek philosopher (b. 1395)
- 1546 Francisco de Vitoria, Spanish theology/lawyer, dies
- 1577 Thomas Smith, English diplomat and scholar (b. 1513)
- 1638 Johannes Althusius [Althaut], German lawyer, dies at about 81
- 1648 Ibrahim I, 18th Ottoman Sultan (1640-48), dies at 32
- 1654 Cornelis Haga, ambassador to Constantinople (1611-39), dies at 76
- 1660 Gilbertus van Zinnik, Flemish architect, dies at about 33
- 1674 Philippe de Champaigne, French painter, dies at 72
- 1675 Karl Rabenhaupt, German/Neth baron of Sucha/army leader, dies at 73
- 1676 King Philip [Metacomet], leader Wampanoag-indians, shot to death
- 1689 Innocent XI [Benedetto Odescalchi], Italian, Pope (1676-89), dies at 78
- 1715 Nahum Tate, English poet/playwright/poet laureate, dies
- 1728 Henricus Zwaardecroon, gov-gen of Neth-Indies, dies at 61
- 1750 Rachel Ruysch, royal painter of sovereign Johan von de Pfalz, dies
- 1778 Peregrine Bertie, 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, British general and politician (b. 1714)
- 1809 Mikhail Kamensky, Russian field marshal, dies at 71
- 1810 Etienne Louis Geoffroy, French pharmacist and entomologist, dies at 84
- 1811 John FE Acton, cruel premier of Naples, dies at 77
- 1822 Robert Stewart, 2nd marguess of Londonderry, commits suicide, dies
William Blake
1827 William Blake, English poet and artist (Songs of Innocence & Experience), dies at 69
William Blake
George Stephenson
1848 George Stephenson, English engineer known as the "Father of Railways" (Locomotion No. 1, Standard Gauge), dies of pleurisy at 67
George Stephenson
- 1849 Abraham AA "Albert" Gallatin, Min of Finance (1801-14), dies at 88
- 1857 William Daniel Conybeare, geologist, dies
- 1861 Eliphalet Remington, American firearms manufacturer (Remington Arms Co., L.L.C.), dies at 67
- 1864 Sakuma Shōzan, Japanese reformer (b. 1811)
- 1865 William Jackson Hooker, botanist, dies
- 1877 James Drummond, Scottish historical painter, (b. 1816)
- 1885 Georg Curtius, German classical linguist, dies at 65
- 1885 Helen Hunt Jackson, American author (Ramona), dies at 54
- 1891 James Russell Lowell, poet/critic/diplomat, dies
- 1896 Thomas Chamberlain, officer of the 20th Maine at the Battle of Gettysburg
- 1900 James Edward Keeler, American astronomer (rings of Saturn), dies at 42
- 1901 Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, Finnish-Swedish explorer and mineralogist, dies at 68
- 1911 Jozef Israels, painter, dies
- 1911 Petrus H Hugenholtz, Dutch reformist vicar (Levenslicht), dies at 79
John Philip Holland
1914 John Philip Holland, submarine designer, dies at 74
John Philip Holland
Arthur Griffith
1922 Arthur Griffith, Irish writer and politician who founded Sinn Féin (President of Ireland 1922), dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 51
Arthur Griffith
- 1934 Hendrik P Berlage, architect (Stock exchange Amsterdam), dies at 78
- 1935 Friedrich Schottky, German mathematician (Schottky's theorem), dies at 84
- 1938 Ludwig Borchardt, German Egyptologist, dies at 74
- 1944 Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., brother of President John F. Kennedy (b. 1915)
- 1948 Harry Brearley, English inventor (b. 1871)
- 1952 David Bergelson, Yiddish language writer (b. 1884)
Thomas Mann
1955 Thomas Mann, German writer (Dr Faustus, Nobel 1929), dies at 80
Thomas Mann
- 1955 James B. Sumner, American chemist (Nobel 1946 - discovered that enzymes can be crystallized), dies at 67
- 1968 Pieter Oud, Dutch politician and Mayor of Rotterdam (1945-52), dies at 81
- 1968 Esther Forbes, American novelist (Johnny Tremain), dies at 76
- 1973 Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
Karl Ziegler
1973 Karl Ziegler, German chemist and Nobel Laureate (polymers), dies at 74
Karl Ziegler
William Shockley
1989 William Shockley, American physicist who helped invent the transistor (1956 Nobel), who was also known for his racist eugenics views, dies of prostate cancer at 79
William Shockley
- 1990 B. Kliban, American cartoonist known for his drawings of cats, usually with horrible puns (Love to Eat Them Mousies), dies at 55
- 1992 Mazoon al-Mashani, 2nd wife of Sultan Said bin Taimur and Queen Mother of Oman, dies at about 72
- 1994 Manfred Salzgeber, German film distributor/publicist, dies at about 51
- 1996 Anthony Derrick Parsons, diplomat, dies at 73
- 1996 Victor Ambartsumian, Russian astronomer (Stalin Prize 1946, 50), dies at 87
- 1999 Jean Drapeau, Quebec politician, mayor of Montreal (b. 1916)
- 1999 John Rigby Hale, British linguist and historian, dies at 75
- 2004 Sir Godfrey Hounsfield, English electrical engineer and inventor, Nobel laureate (b. 1919)
- 2005 John Loder, co-founder of the anarcho-punk band CRASS (b. 1946)
- 2005 Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan politician (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka), dies at 73
- 2007 Mike Wieringo, American comic book artist (b. 1963)
- 2007 Ian McGeoch, Scottish Vice-Admiral with Royal Navy (submarine HMS Splendid WWII), dies at 93
- 2009 Lord John Gregson, British Labour politician and Baron, dies from injuries following a fall at 85
- 2010 Isaac Bonewits, founder of U.S. Druid organization Ar Ndraiocht Fein (b. 1949)
- 2010 Guido de Marco, 6th president of Malta, 45th President of the United Nations General Assembly (b. 1931)
- 2020 Marvin Creamer, American mariner, 1st recorded person to sail around the world without navigational instruments, dies at 104