Events in History
Roman Empire
8 Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus
Tiberius
- 435 Deposed Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, exiled by Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt
Santa María
1492 Christopher Columbus sets sail on his first voyage with three ships, Santa María, Pinta and Niña from Palos de la Frontera, Spain for the "Indies"
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- 1527 First known letter sent from North America by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland
- 1529 "Peace of the Ladies" (Treaty of Cambrai) made between Holy Roman Empire and the French, negotiated by Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria
- 1557 Dutch States-General meet at Valenciennes
- 1596 David Fabricius discovers light variation of Mira (1st variable star)
- 1635 Tokugawa Iemitsu, 3rd Tokugawa shogun, establishes alternate attendance (sankin kotai) feudal daimyōs spend 1 year at Edo Castle (Tokyo) and 1 year at their feudal manor, while their families remain in Tokyo as hostages (Traditional Japanese Date: June 21)
- 1640 2,000 men VOC-army surrounds the city of Malacca
- 1640 Zorilla's "Bire el Ojo" premieres in Toledo
- 1645 Battle of Allersheim: French defeat Bavarians
- 1650 Viceroy Willem II and Amsterdam reach accord about standing army
- 1676 Nathaniel Bacon publishes "Declaration of People of Virginia"
- 1678 Robert LaSalle builds 1st ship in America, Griffon
- 1692 Battle at Steenkerke: French beat English/Dutch army
- 1704 English/Dutch fleet under Rooke/Callenburgh occupy Gibraltar
- 1708 Battle at Trencsén: Austria beats Hungarian rebellion army
- 1778 Teatro alla Scala opens in Milan
- 1797 Emperor Francis I permits Jews who served in military in "Countries of Bohemian Crown" to marry non Jews
Victory in Battle
1798 Battle of the Nile: British Admiral Horatio Nelson forces the remnants of the French fleet to surrender, concluding a decisive victory for the British who capture or destroy 11 French ships of the line and 2 frigates
Horatio Nelson
Historic Expedition
1804 Naturalist Alexander von Humboldt lands at Bordeaux, France completing his 5 year expedition to Latin America
Alexander von Humboldt
- 1833 HMS Beagle reaches river mouth of Rio Negro
- 1855 Rotterdam-Gouda railway opens
- 1860 The Second Maori War begins in New Zealand
- 1861 Federal fleet bombards Galveston, Texas
- 1863 Governor Seymour asks Lincoln to suspend draft in NY
- 1880 American Canoe Association founded at Lake George, NY, first Commodore William L. Alden
- 1881 Boers signs Convention of Pretoria: Transvaal semi-autonomous
- 1882 US Congress passes 1st law restricting immigration
Harvey Firestone
- 1904 British journalist Francis Younghusband visits forbidden city Lhasa
- 1907 Emperor Wilhelm (Germany) meets with Tsar Nicholas (Russia) to discuss Germany's plan to build a railroad to Baghdad; the discussion helps move Russia towards Britain and eventually the Triple Alliance
- 1908 French brothers Amadee and Jean Bouyssonie discover the fossil remains of a nearly complete 60,000 year-old Neanderthal man 'Old man of La Chappelle' at La Chappelle-aux-Saints, France
- 1913 Wheatland Hop Riot on a California farm, 4 die in one of the first farm labour disputes
- 1914 1st unofficial trip through the Panama Canal by the SS Christobel
- 1914 Belgium rejects demand to allow free crossing for German Army leading to their invasion hours later
- 1914 French fleet sails to North Africa
- 1914 German battle cruiser Goeben leaves Messina
- 1914 Germany invades Belgium and declares war on France, beginning World War I
- 1914 World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through Churches forms
- 1914 British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey famously remarks "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time."
- 1918 The first allied troops land at Archangel, the Russian port on the White Seas
- 1921 1st aerial crop dusting in Troy, Ohio, to kill caterpillars
Event of Interest
1923 Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes 30th US President upon death of President Warren G. Harding
Calvin Coolidge
Event of Interest
1934 Adolf Hitler merges the offices of German Chancellor and President, declaring himself "Führer" (leader)
Adolf Hitler
Event of Interest
1939 Jean Genet's "Ondine" premieres in Paris
Jean Genet
George S. Patton
- 1943 Nazi occupiers attack city of Orel, leave it on fire
Eduard Wirths
- 1944 General Montgomery visits general Dempsey's headquarter
- 1944 Allied troops under Lieutenant-General Joseph Stilwell take Myitkyina, Burma
- 1946 Belgian government of Huysmans forms
- 1948 FDR advisor Alger Hiss accused of being a "communist"
- 1949 Republic Indonesia proclaims cease fire
- 1951 William H Jackson ends term as deputy director of CIA
- 1953 Frank Blair becomes news anchor of "Today Show"
- 1954 1st VTOL (Vertical Take-off & Land) flown
- 1955 Hurricane Connie begins pounding US for 11 days
- 1957 British offensive against imam Galeb Ben Ali of Oman
- 1958 USS Nautilus reaches North Pole, 1st submarine to achieve submarine transit of North Pole
- 1959 50 killed in uprising in Guinea-Bissau
- 1960 Niger gains independence from France
- 1960 Lee Petty and his sons, Richard & Maurice race against each other for the first and only time at Dixie Speedway in Birmingham, Alabama; Richard 2nd, Lee 3rd
- 1962 29th Chicago College All-Star Game: Green Bay 42, All-Stars 20, 65,000 at Soldier Field
- 1963 Allan Sherman releases "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh"
- 1967 45,000 US soldiers sent to Vietnam
- 1967 James Law rides entire NYC subway in 22 hrs 12 minutes
- 1968 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1970 Christopher Hampton's "Philanthropist" premieres in London
- 1970 Hurricane "Celia" becomes most expensive Gulf storm in history
- 1970 Mairiam Hargrave of Yorkshire passes her driving test on 40th try
Event of Interest
1972 British premier Edward Heath proclaims emergency crisis due to dock strike
Edward Heath
- 1972 Chozen-ji/Intl Zen Dojo founded by Omori Sogen Roshi, in Hawaii
- 1972 US Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union to limit the use of missile systems capable of defending against missile-delivered nuclear weapons
- 1973 Flash fire kills 51 at amusement park (Isle of Man, UK)
- 1973 National People's party wins Dutch Antilles National elections
- 1975 500 drown when 2 river boats collide and sink in China's West River
- 1975 Louisiana Superdome is dedicated
- 1975 Poland and West Germany reach accord about returning ethnic Germans
- 1977 Radio Shack introduces the TRS-80 personal computer, within weeks thousands were ordered
- 1977 United States Senate Hearing on MKULTRA.
- 1978 11th Commonwealth Games open in Edmonton, Canada
- 1979 Fastest jai-alai shot (188 mph), Jose Arieto at Newport Jai Alai, Rhode Island
- 1979 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Event of Interest
1981 13,000 Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) begin their strike; US President Ronald Reagan offers ultimatum to workers: 'if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated'
Ronald Reagan
- 1981 France performs nuclear test in Pacific
- 1981 Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front-Suxxali Reew Mi.
- 1983 John Sain of South Bend, Indiana, builds 3.91 m house of cards
- 1983 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1984 365.7 million shares traded in NY Stock Exchange
Birthdays in History
- 1509 Étienne Dolet, French scholar and printer, born in Orléans, France (d. 1546)
- 1692 John Henley, English clergyman, born in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England (d. 1759)
- 1753 Charles Stanhope, 3rd earl Stanhope, English radical politician and scientist, born in London (d. 1816)
- 1770 Frederik Willem III, King of Prussia (1797-1840), born in Potsdam, Prussia (d. 1840)
- 1803 Joseph Paxton, English landscape architect (Crystal Palace), born in Milton Bryan, Bedfordshire (d. 1865)
- 1808 Hamilton Fish, American politician (Governor of New York), born in NYC, New York (d. 1893)
Elisha Otis
1811 Elisha Otis, American founder of the Otis Elevator Company and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails, born in Halifax, Vermont (d. 1861)
Elisha Otis
- 1816 John E. Smith, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Berne, Switzerland (d. 1897)
- 1817 Archduke Albrecht of Austria, Duke of Teschen (Battle at Custozza), born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1895)
- 1818 Joseph Schadde, Flemish architect (New Stock exchange Antwerp), born in Antwerp (d. 1894)
- 1820 William Miller, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Ithaca, New York (d. 1909)
- 1823 Thomas Francis Meagre, Irish nationalist and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Waterford, Ireland (d. 1867)
- 1824 William Burnham Woods, American politician, judge, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Newark, Ohio (d. 1887)
- 1833 Auguste Schmidt, German teacher and feminist, born in Breslau, Germany (d. 1902)
- 1847 Jan de Louter, Dutch lawyer and tutor of Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, born in Amersfoort, Netherlands (d. 1932)
- 1850 Paulus Adrianus Daum, Dutch writer, founder and editor (Batavian Newspaper), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1898)
- 1850 Reginald Heber Roe, 1st Vice-Chancellor of the University of Queensland and 2nd Headmaster of Brisbane Grammar School, born in Blandford, Dorset, England (d. 1926)
- 1851 Isabella Caroline Somerset, British philanthropist, temperance leader and campaigner for women's rights, born in London (d. 1921)
- 1856 Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia, born in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia (d. 1919)
- 1860 William Kennedy Dickson, Scottish inventor (devised an early motion picture camera), born in Le Minihic-sur-Rance, Brittany, France (d. 1935)
Stanley Baldwin
1867 Stanley Baldwin, British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1923-24, 1924-29, 1935-37), born in Bewdley, England (d. 1947)
Stanley Baldwin
- 1871 Vernon Louis Parrington, American author (Romantic Revolution, Pulitzer 1928), born in Aurora, Illinois (d. 1929)
- 1872 Haakon VII, King of Norway (1905-57), born in Charlottenlund Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1957)
- 1873 Albert Marie Leon Adolphe de Bassompierre, Belgian ambassador to Tokyo (1921-39) (d. 1956)
- 1874 Eugène Baie, Belgian author (Sub rosa et sub umbra), born in Anderlecht, Belgium (d. 1963)
- 1887 Rupert Brooke, British WW I poet (Lithuania, The Soldier), born in Rugby, England (d. 1915)
- 1894 Johan van Maarseveen, Dutch Minister of Justice and Internal minister, born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1951)
- 1898 Karl Kehrle, Benedictine monk and beekeeper, born in Mittelbiberach, Germany (d. 1996)
- 1900 Arnold Struycken, Dutch lawyer, born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1955)
- 1900 Ernie Pyle, American journalist and war correspondent during WW II (Pulitzer Prize 1944), born in Dana, Indiana (d. 1945)
John T. Scopes
1900 John T. Scopes, American teacher convicted for teaching evolution (Scopes "monkey trial" 1925), born in Paducah, Kentucky (d. 1970)
John T. Scopes
- 1901 Stefan Wyszyński, Polish Cardinal, born in Zuzela, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (d. 1981)
- 1902 Habib Bourguiba, 1st president of Tunisia (1957-87), born in Monastir, Regency of Tunisia (d. 2000)
- 1902 Regina Jonas, German first woman rabbi, born in Berlin, German Empire (d. 1944)
- 1904 Clifford D. Simak, American sci-fi author (Hugo, Empire, Way Station), born in Millville, Wisconsin (d. 1988)
- 1905 Maggie Kuhn, American activist and co-founder (Gray Panthers), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1995)
- 1906 Leonhard Huizinga, Dutch journalist and writer (Adriaan & Olivier), born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1980)
- 1907 Ernesto Geisel, 29th President of Brazil (1974-79), born in Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (d. 1996)
- 1914 Rik Slabbinck, Flemish painter, born in Bruges, Belgium (d. 1991)
- 1915 Sal Santen, Dutch writer (You Are Jewish People), born in Amsterdam (d. 1998)
- 1918 James MacGregor Burns, American political writer (The Lion & the Fox), born in Melrose, Massachusetts (d. 2014)
- 1918 Sidney Gottlieb, American CIA official, born in The Bronx, New York (d. 1999)
- 1920 P. D. James [Phyllis Dorothy], Baroness James of Holland Park, English crime writer (Cover Her Face), born in Oxford, England (d. 2014)
- 1920 Elmar Tampõld, Estonian-Canadian architect, born in Kärdla, Estonia (d. 2013)
- 1921 Hayden Carruth, American poet (The Crow and the Heart), born in Waterbury, Connecticut (d. 2008)
- 1922 Robert Sumner, American evangelist and author, born in Norwich, New York (d. 2016)
- 1923 Anne Klein, American fashion designer (Anne Klein II), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 1974)
- 1923 Roger Foulon, Belgian writer (Un été dans la Fagne), born in Thuin, Belgium (d. 2008)
- 1923 Shenouda III of Alexandria, Pope of the Coptic Christianity, born in Abnub, Asyut Governorate, Egypt (d. 2012)
- 1924 Leon Uris, American novelist (Exodus, QB VII, Battle Cry), born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 2003)
- 1924 Max van der Stoel, Dutch politician and Minister of Foreign Affairs (PvdA), born in Voorschoten, Netherlands (d. 2011)
- 1929 Bethel Leslie, American entertainer (Capt Newman MD, Rabbit Trap), born in NYC, New York (d. 1999)
- 1933 Thé Tjong-Khing, Dutch illustrator of children books (Miep Diekman), born in Purworedjo, Java
- 1935 Georgy Shonin, Soviet cosmonaut (Soyuz 6), born in Odessa, Ukraine (d. 1997)
- 1935 Richard Lamm, American politician (38th Governor of Colorado), born in Madison, Wisconsin
- 1937 Diane Wakoski, American poet (Motorcycle Betrayal), born in Whittier, California
- 1940 John W. Carlin, American politician (40th Governor of Kansas), born in Salina, Kansas
- 1946 Jack Straw, British politician (Member of Parliament for Blackburn), born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex
- 1949 Reed Waller, American comic book author (Omaha the Cat Dancer)
- 1950 John Landis, American director (Animal House, Michael Jackson's Thriller video), born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1951 Hans Schlegel, German astronaut (STS 55), born in Überlingen, Germany
- 1952 Aleksandr A Volkov, Russian colonel/cosmonaut
- 1952 Frank Schaeffer, American author (Crazy for God), born in Champéry, Switzerland
- 1956 Abhisit Vejjajiva, 27th Prime Minister of Thailand (2008-11), born in Wallsend, Northumberland, England
- 1959 Koichi Tanaka, Japanese scientist (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2002), born in Toyama, Japan
- 1964 Joan E Higginbotham, American engineer and NASA astronaut, born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1970 Masahiro Sakurai, Japanese video game developer, born in Musashimurayama, Tokyo, Japan
- 1973 Jay Cutler, American bodybuilder (4x Mr. Olympia winner - 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010), born in Sterling, Massachusetts
- 1986 Charlotte Casiraghi, Daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco, born in Princess Grace Hospital Centre, La Colle, Monaco
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1824 Inventor Charles Goodyear (23) weds Clarissa Beecher
Charles Goodyear
Wedding of Interest
2000 British PM Gordon Brown (49) weds Sarah Jane Macaulay (36) in North Queensferry, Fife
Gordon Brown
Deaths in History
- 808 P'ang Yun [Layman P'ang], Exemplary Zen practitioner, dies in China
- 1387 Olaf V Haakonsson, King of Denmark (1376-87)/Norway (1380-87), dies
- 1460 King James II of Scotland (b. 1430)
- 1527 Scaramuccia Trivulzio, Italian cardinal
- 1530 Philibert Chalon, prince of Orange/viceroy of Naples, dies
- 1546 Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect, dies at 62
- 1546 Étienne Dolet, French scholar and printer, dies on his 37th birthday
- 1604 Bernardino de Mendoza, Spanish military commander
- 1621 Guillaume du Vair, French writer and thinker, dies at 65
- 1667 Francesco Borromini, Italian sculptor and architect, dies at 67
- 1712 Joshua Barnes, English scholar (b. 1654)
- 1720 Anthonie Heinsius, Dutch statesman (b. 1641)
- 1721 Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-born British sculptor and woodcarver, dies at 73
- 1761 Johann Matthias Gesner, German classical scholar, dies at 70
- 1773 Stanisław Konarski, Polish writer (b. 1700)
- 1779 Henry Kobell, Dutch painter and cartoonist, dies at 27
- 1780 Etienne B de Condillac, French philosopher (sensualism), dies at 64
Richard Arkwright
1792 Richard Arkwright, English industrialist and inventor (created the spinning frame), dies at 59
Richard Arkwright
- 1797 Jeffrey Amherst, English gov-gen of America, dies at 80
- 1802 Henry DFL, prince of Prussia/general/diplomat, dies
- 1805 Christopher Anstey, English poet (The New Bath Guide), dies at 80
- 1811 Sebastiaan C Nederburgh, Dutch dir-gen of East Indies Co, dies at 49
- 1823 Jacob Abraham de Mist, Dutch statesman, dies at 74
- 1833 Stoffel Muller, Dutch sect leader, dies
- 1839 Dorothea von Schlegel, German novelist (Florentin), dies at 74
- 1857 Eugène Sue, French novelist (b. 1804)
- 1867 Philipp August Böckh, German scholar and antiquarian (b. 1785)
- 1879 Joseph Severn, English painter (b. 1793)
- 1894 George Inness, American landscape painter (Delaware Water Gap), dies at 69
- 1907 August Saint-Gaudens, Irish/US sculptor (Mrs Henry Adams), dies at 59
- 1910 Nicolas Kinet, Belgian pilot, dies
- 1916 Roger Casement, Irish diplomat, ardent Irish nationalist (Easter uprising 1916) and poet, hanged after conviction for treason by the British at 51
- 1917 Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (Frobenius–Stickelberger formulae), dies at 67
- 1918 Albert P Hahn, Dutch political cartoonist (Het Volk), dies at 41
Joseph Conrad
1924 Joseph Conrad, Polish/British writer (Heart of Darkness), dies at 66
Joseph Conrad
- 1929 Thorstein Veblen, American economist (Theory of the Leisure Class-1899), dies at 72
- 1929 Emil Berliner, German-born telephone and recording pioneer (b. 1851)
- 1938 Alexander Malyschkin, writer, dies
- 1942 Richard Willstätter, German chemist (Nobel 1915), dies at 69
- 1944 Felix Nussbaum, German painter (Widerstandskunst), dies in Auschwitz
- 1944 Felka Platek, wife of painter Felix Nussbaum, dies in Auschwitz
- 1948 Albert F Pollard, British historian (Evolution of parliament), dies at 78
- 1957 John Vernou "Black Jack" Bouvier, father of Jacqueline Kennedy, dies of cancer
- 1964 Flannery O'Connor, writer (Good Man is Hard to Find), dies at 39
- 1968 Constantine Rokossovski, vice-premier of Poland (1952-56), dies at 71
- 1973 Richard Marshall, U.S. Army general (b. 1895)
- 1977 Makarios III [Michail Mouskos], Greek Cypriot clergyman and politician, dies at 63
- 1978 Ezzedin Kalak, Palestinian PLO representative in Paris, murdered
- 1979 Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1899)
- 1981 Roberto Peci, Italian brother of Red Brigade leader, murdered at 25
- 1984 Vladimir Tendryakov, Russian writer (Three, Seven, Ace), dies at 60
- 1986 Paul de Groot, Dutch communist politician (CPN) and editor (The Truth), dies at 87
- 1990 Florida Edwards, dies of pneumonia at 79
- 1992 Wang Hongwen, vice-President Chinese Comm Party (1973-76), dies
- 1994 Carel van Dillen, resistance fighter, dies at 77
- 1994 Christy Henrich, US turnster, dies of anorexia nervosa at 22
- 1994 Hidalgo Moya, American architect and designer (Skylon), dies at 74
- 1994 John van Raay [John Oradi], radio-imitator (Paul Flanders)
- 1995 Marcus Chenault, killer of Martin Luther King Jr's mother, dies at 54
- 1995 Edward Whittemore, American writer (b. 1933)
- 1997 Pietro Rizzuto, Canadian politician (b. 1934)
- 1999 Rodney William "Rod" Ansell, Australian bushman and inspiration for "Crocodile Dundee", dies following a shootout with police officers at 44
- 2000 Michael Meyer, English novelist and translator, dies at 79
Henri Cartier-Bresson
2004 Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer, dies at 95
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
2008 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer, Nobel Prize for Literature 1970, dies at 89
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
- 2008 Skip Caray, American TV and radio broadcaster (b. 1939)
- 2013 Farman Fatehpuri [Syed Dildar Ali], Urdu scholar, linguist, critic and author, dies of natural causes at 87
- 2015 Les Munro, New Zealand WWII pilot (Dambusters), dies at 96
- 2015 Robert Conquest, English historian and poet (The Great Terror), dies at 98
- 2017 Theodore "Ted" Stanley, American anesthesiologist and medical entrepreneur (created the fentanyl lollipop), dies at 77
- 2020 John Hume, Northern Irish politician (jointly awarded Nobel Peace Prize for Good Friday Agreement), dies at 83 [1]
- 2020 Ralph Barbieri, American sports radio personality (KNBR San Francisco; 'The Razor and Mr. T' 1996-2012), dies of Parkinson's disease at 74