Events in History
- 939 The Major Occultation, or Ghaybat el-Kubra of Muhammad al-Mahdi
- 1099 First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on
When The Bells Rang Out For Freedom
1283 War of the Sicilian Vespers: Battle of Malta
Read the Article >>
Event of Interest
1497 Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage, becoming the 1st European to reach India by sea
Vasco da Gama
- 1579 Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan
Event of Interest
1663 King Charles II of England grants a charter to Rhode Island
Charles II
- 1672 William III is appointed stadholder by the States General in the Netherlands
- 1680 The first confirmed tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts
- 1693 NYC authorizes 1st police uniforms in American colonies
- 1709 Battle of Poltava; Russians defeat Swedes, end of Swedish empire as a major power
- 1716 Great Northern War: Battle of Dynekilen, a Danish-Norwegian force under Peter Tordenskjold traps and defeats Swedish force
- 1758 British and Colonial assault on French forces at Fort Ticonderoga, New York
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 Colonel John Nixon gives the 1st public reading of the Declaration of Independence to an assemblage of citizens in Philadelphia
Learn More >>
- 1777 Independent Vermont introduces a new constitution, prohibiting slavery
- 1778 George Washington headquarters at West Point for his Continental Army
- 1792 France declares war on Prussia
- 1796 US State Department issues 1st US passport
- 1797 1st US senator (William Blount of Tennessee) expelled by impeachment
- 1800 Dr Benjamin Waterhouse gives 1st cowpox vaccination in the US to his son to prevent smallpox
- 1805 American Bill Richmond knocks out Jack Holmes, Kilburn Wells, England
- 1816 Frost in Waltham, Massachusetts during "year without a summer"
- 1822 Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom
- 1833 Russia and Turkey sign defense treaty
Liberty Bell
1835 Liberty Bell cracks (again)
Learn More >>
Event of Interest
1836 Charles Darwin reaches Saint Helena in HMS Beagle and takes up lodgings near the tomb of Napoleon
Charles Darwin
Event of Interest
1853 Commodore Matthew C. Perry sails his frigate Susquehanna into Tokyo Bay, opening Japan to Western influence and trade
Matthew C. Perry
Event of Interest
1862 US Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act signed by Abraham Lincoln (not enforced)
Abraham Lincoln
- 1862 Theodore R. Timby is granted a US patent for discharging guns in a revolving turret, using electricity
- 1864 The Shinsengumi sabotage the Choshu-han shishi's planned attack on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya. This event is known as Ikedaya Jiken.
- 1870 US Congress authorizes registration of trademarks
- 1870 Governor Holden of North Carolina declares Casswell County to be in a state of insurrection
- 1874 The Mounties (North West Mounted Police) begin their March West from Fort Dufferin
- 1889 John L Sullivan KOs Jake Kilrain in 75 rounds (last bare-knuckle bout)
- 1889 Wall Street Journal begins publishing
- 1891 61°F, highest temperature for July 1891, in Baltimore and Philadelphia
- 1892 American Psychological Association organized in Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
- 1892 St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892
- 1895 Delagoa Bay Railway opens in South Africa
Presidential Convention
1896 William Jennings Bryan's "cross of gold" speech at Democratic convention in Chicago
William Jennings Bryan
Event of Interest
1896 Charles Tupper resigns as Prime Minister of Canada after losing the June 23rd election, his 69-day term the shortest in Canadian history
Charles Tupper
Battle of Interest
1898 US battle fleet under Admiral George Dewey occupies Isla Grande at Manila
George Dewey
- 1898 The shooting death of crime boss Soapy Smith releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip
- 1905 Part of Angel Island in San Francisco Bay allocated for Immigration Detention Center
- 1905 The soldiers of the Russian battleship "Potemkin" who mutinied, surrender to Romanian authorities, who turn ship over to Russian authorities soon after
- 1907 Florenz Ziegfeld staged 1st `Follies' on NY Theater roof
- 1908 Uprisings spread throughout Turkey
- 1911 Nan Aspinwall is 1st woman to make solo transcontinenal trip by horse
- 1912 G E V Crutchley (Oxford) 99 retired measles v Cambridge
- 1912 Giants Rube Marquard loses after winning 21 straight
Historic Invention
1913 Alfred Carlton Gilbert's patent for the Erector Set is issued, it becomes one of the most popular toys of all time
Alfred Carlton Gilbert
Event of Interest
1915 The Germans reply to US President Woodrow Wilson's second Lusitania note by saying that Americans may sail on clearly marked neutral ships, but Germany does not deal with Wilson's other demands
Woodrow Wilson
- 1919 US President Woodrow Wilson returns to NYC from Versailles Peace Conference
Event of Interest
1923 Warren G. Harding becomes 1st sitting US President to visit Alaska (Metlakahtla)
Warren G. Harding
- 1923 Walter Mittelholzer flies Junkers F-13 to Spitsbergen/Oostland
- 1932 Depression low point of Dow Jones Industrial Average, 41.22
- 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe scores his 100th 100, Yorkshire v Gloucshire
- 1933 Public Works Administration becomes effective
- 1941 All Jews living in Baltic States are obligated to wear a Jewish Star
- 1943 4th day of battle at Kursk: General Model uses last tank reserve
- 1943 British air raid sinks U-232
Meeting of Interest
1943 Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging (Dutch National Socialist Movement) leader Anton Mussert meets with Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
- 1943 US invasion fleet passes Bizerta Tunisia
- 1944 British troops march into Caen, Normandy
- 1944 Japanese kamikaze attacks on US lines at Saipan
- 1947 Demolition begins for UN HQ in NYC
- 1947 Reports are broadcast that a UFO has crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico
- 1948 500th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated in Moscow
- 1949 The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No 55 prohibiting marriage or a sexual relationship between White people and people of other race groups is passed in South Africa
- 1950 33.4 cm rain fall at York, Nebraska (state record)
Event of Interest
1950 General Douglas MacArthur named commander-in-chief of UN forces in Korea
Douglas MacArthur
Event of Interest
1957 Irish premier Eamon de Valera arrests Sinn Féin leaders
Éamon de Valera
Conference of Interest
1957 First Pugwash Conference, the "Thinkers Lodge" held on nuclear disarmament at Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada, founded by Joseph Rotblat and hosted by Cyrus Eaton
Cyrus Eaton
- 1961 Fred Trueman takes 5-0 in 24 balls to rip through Aussies
- 1961 Portuguese steamer "Save" breaks up off Mozambique, 227 die
- 1963 Reports of Charlie Finley's intention to move KC A's to Oakland
- 1963 US bans all monetary transactions with Cuba
- 1965 Joe Morgan is 1st Houston player with 6 hits in a game
- 1966 US airline strike (until Aug 19th)
- 1966 King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi
- 1967 Helen Weston of Detroit rolls a record 4,585 in 24 games
- 1968 Israeli-Egyptian artillery duel along Suez Canal
- 1969 US troop withdrawal begins in Vietnam
- 1969 IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer
- 1971 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1971 During street disturbances, British soldiers shoot dead two Catholic civilians in Free Derry; riots erupt, the Social Democratic and Labour Party withdraw from Stormont in protest
- 1972 US sells grain to USSR for $750 million
- 1974 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Event of Interest
1975 Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin visits West Germany
Yitzhak Rabin
Election of Interest
1975 US President Gerald Ford announced he'll seek Republican presidential nomination
Gerald Ford
Birthdays in History
- 1528 Emanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy/governor of Netherland
- 1545 Don Carlos, son of Spanish King Philip II
- 1593 Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian baroque painter, born in Rome (d. 1653)
- 1621 Jean de la Fontaine, French poet (Fables), born in Château-Thierry, Aisne, France (d. 1695)
- 1760 Christian Kramp, French mathematician (d. 1826)
- 1766 Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (d. 1842)
- 1792 Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, queen of Bavaria (d. 1854)
- 1809 Ljudwit Gaj, Croatian writer/poet (Pjesma iz Zagorja)
- 1819 Alexander Hays, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Franklin, Pennsylvania (d. 1864)
- 1819 Francis Leopold McClintock, British naval officer and explorer (d. 1907)
- 1821 Jozef Lies, Flemish painter, born in Antwerp (d. 1865)
- 1821 William Harvey Lamb Wallace, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Urbana, Ohio (d. 1862)
- 1824 Waldimir "Kriz" Krzyzanowski, Polish-American engineer, politician, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland (d. 1887)
- 1826 Benjamin Henry Grierson, American Major General (Union Army), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1911)
- 1826 Robert Kingston Scott, American governor of South Carolina (1868-1872) and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania (d. 1900)
- 1829 Pierre A Vicomte de Ponson du Terrail, French serial writer
- 1830 Frederick William Seward, United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1915)
- 1830 Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Altenburg (d. 1911)
John Pemberton
1831 John Pemberton, American pharmacist (inventor of Coca-Cola), born in Knoxville, Georgia (d. 1888)
John Pemberton
- 1836 Joseph Chamberlain, British minister of Commerce/Colonies
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
1838 Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and inventor (rigid dirigibles) who founded the Zeppelin airship company, born in Konstanz, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany (d. 1917)
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
John D. Rockefeller
1839 John D. Rockefeller, American industrialist and founder of Standard Oil, born in Richford, New York (d. 1937)
John D. Rockefeller
- 1844 Mary Johnson Lincoln, educator (Boston Cooking School)
- 1851 Arthur J Evans, English archaeologist (Crete)
- 1857 Alfred Binet, French child psychologist who invented the first practical IQ test (Binet–Simon test), born in Nice, France (d. 1911)
- 1867 Kathe Kollwitz, German print maker/sculptor (Bauernkrieg)
- 1869 William V Moody, American poet (Death of Eve, Faith Healer)
- 1870 Marie C of Zeggelen, Dutch novelist (Koloniaaltje)
- 1871 Kornelis ter Laan, 1st Dutch socialist mayor (Zaandam)
- 1882 John Anderson, 1st Viscount Waverley, British civil servant, politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1943-45), born in Midlothian, Scotland (d. 1945)
- 1885 Emil Bloch, German philosopher
- 1890 Walter Hasenvlever, German writer, born in Aachen (d. 1940)
- 1891 Elisabeth Zernike, Dutch writer (Poor Part, Bruidstijd)
- 1891 Josef Hora, Czech writer/poet (Working Day)
- 1892 Richard Aldington, writer
- 1892 Pavel Korin, Russian painter (d. 1967)
- 1893 Fritz Perls, father of Gestalt therapy
- 1894 Clemens VI Trefois, Flemish architect/sociologist
- 1895 Anton G J van de Velde, Flemish writer/director (God & the Worms)
- 1898 Alec Waugh, English novelist (Island in the Sun); brother of Evelyn, born in London, England (d. 1981)
- 1899 David Eli Lilienthal, US government organizer (Wisconsin)
- 1901 Donald Benjamin Harden, archaeologist
- 1904 Henri Cartan, French mathematician, born in Nancy (d. 2008)
- 1906 Philip Johnson, Cortalyou architect, born in Cleveland, Ohio
- 1907 George W Romney, (Gov-R-Mich)/US Secretary of HUD (1969-73)
Nelson Rockefeller
1908 Nelson Rockefeller, American politician (Vice President: 1974-1977; Governor of New York (R), 1959-73), born in Bar Harbor, Maine (d. 1979)
Nelson Rockefeller
- 1909 Petar Segedin, Croatian novelist (Holy Devil)
- 1910 Govan AM Mbeki, South African leader (ANC/SACP)
- 1914 Jyoti Basu, Indian politician
- 1919 Walter Scheel, German politician, West German Foreign Minister and President, born in Solingen (d. 2016)
- 1920 Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish toy manufacturer (Lego Group) (d. 1995)
- 1926 Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Swiss-American author and psychiatrist (On Death and Dying), born in Zürich, Switzerland (d. 2004)
- 1926 John Dingell, American politician (D-Michigan, 1955-2015), born in Colorado Springs, Colorado (d. 2019)
- 1927 Maurice Hayes, Irish politician
- 1928 Carol Henry, choreographer (Garry Moore Show), born in Newark, New Jersey
- 1929 Shirley Ann Grau, author (Keepers of the House)
- 1930 Valeri Aleksandrovich Yazdovsky, Russian cosmonaut
- 1933 Antonio Lamer, French Canadian lawyer and chief justice
- 1934 Ed Lumley, Canadian corporate executive and former politician
- 1935 Vitali Ivanovich Sevastiyanov, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 9, 18B)
- 1938 Marian Ackerman, women's rights advocacy administrator
- 1942 Phil Gramm, (Sen-R Texas, 1985- )
- 1943 Faye Wattleton, sociologist/pres (Planned Parenthood), born in St Louis, Missouri
- 1945 Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician
- 1947 Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian founder of Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
- 1947 Jenny Diski, English writer (Stranger on a Train), born in London (d. 2016)
- 1949 Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-born celebrity chef, born in Sankt Veit an der Glan, Austria
- 1952 Anna Quindlen, American columnist
- 1958 Tzipi Livni, Israeli politician, born in Tel Aviv
- 1958 Andreas Carlgren, Swedish politician
- 1964 Maryalice Demler, TV journalist and anchor, Miss New York (1991), born in North Tonawanda, New York
- 1968 Akio Suyama, Japanese seiyu
- 1973 Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Indian founder and CEO of mobile payments company Paytm, born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1800 Prime Minister of UK George Canning (30) weds heiress Joan Scott
George Canning
Wedding of Interest
1830 Magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (24) weds Josèphe Cecile
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin
Wedding of Interest
1835 Mathematician Ada Lovelace [Ada Byron] (19) weds Earl of Lovelace, William King (30)
Ada Lovelace
Wedding of Interest
1891 Future US President Warren G. Harding (25) weds publisher Florence DeWolfe (30) in Marion, Ohio
Warren G. Harding
- 1972 English prince Richard marries Birgitte of Deurs (Henriksen)
Deaths in History
- 810 Pepin, son of Charlemagne, King of Italy, dies (birth date unknown)
- 975 Edgar, King of England (959-75), dies
- 1115 Peter the Hermit, French priest, led the People's Crusade, dies at about 64
- 1153 Eugene III, [Bernardo], Italian Pope (1145-53), dies
- 1253 Thibaud IV, poet/count of Champagne/King of Navarra, dies
- 1496 Benedetto Bonfiglio, Italian painter, dies
- 1531 Tilman Riemenschneider, German sculptor, dies at 71
Diego de Almagro
1538 Diego de Almagro, Spanish conquistador of Chile and Peru, executed at Las Salinas at about 63
Diego de Almagro
- 1623 Gregory XV, [Alessandro Ludovisi], bishop of Bologna/Pope, dies at 69
- 1656 Alexander van der Capellen, mister of Aartsbergen, dies at about 64
- 1679 Samuel J Columbus, Swedish poet (Odae Sveticae), dies
- 1689 Edward Wooster, English Connecticut pioneer (b. 1622)
- 1695 Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer (discovered Saturn's rings) and scientist (dynamics), dies at 66
- 1716 Robert South, English churchman (b. 1634)
- 1721 Elihu Yale, English merchant and philanthropist (benefactor of Yale University), dies at 72
- 1726 John Ker, Scottish spy (b. 1673)
- 1784 Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist (b. 1735)
- 1788 Armand de Vignerot du Plessis, French marshal and statesman, 3rd Duke of Richilieu, dies at 92
- 1822 Percy Bysshe Shelley, English romantic poet (Prometheus unbound), drowns at 29
- 1826 Luther Martin, American statesman (b. 1748)
- 1850 Prince Adolphus, 1st Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)
- 1855 William Parry, English Arctic explorer (Parry Channel), dies at 64
- 1859 Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway (1844-59), dies at 60
- 1863 Francis Kenrick, Irish-American Archbishop of Baltimore (1851-63), dies at 65
- 1870 John D Zocher Jr, architect (Soestdijk Palace), dies at 79
- 1895 Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (b. 1821)
- 1898 Soapy Smith, American con artist (b. 1860)
- 1909 Gaston AA marquis de Gallifet, Fren min of War (1899-1900), dies at 79
- 1911 Ira Erastus Davenport, American magician, claimed to be a spirit medium, dies at 51
- 1913 Louis Hémon, French novelist (Maria Chapdelaine), dies at 32
- 1917 Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
- 1930 Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (1906-12), dies at 74
- 1933 Anthony Hope, British author (b. 1863)
- 1934 Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer, dies at 1934
- 1939 [Henry] Havelock Ellis, English sexologist (Man & Woman), dies at 80
- 1941 Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, senator, historian and orientalist (b. 1874)
- 1943 Harry Oakes, Canadian ruler of Bahamas, murdered
- 1943 Jean Moulin, French hero of the Résistance during World War II, executed at 44
- 1943 Guillermo Valencia, Colombian poet, translator and statesman, dies at 69
- 1949 Antun Sa'ada, Syrian rightwing politician, executed in Lebanon
- 1950 Othmar Spann, Austrian economist and sociologist (Wahre State), dies at 71
- 1956 Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, dutch min of Justice (Nobel 54), dies
- 1956 Giovanni Papini, Italian author/poet (Un Uomo Finito), dies at 75
- 1957 Grace Goodhue Coolidge, American First Lady (1923-29), dies at 78
- 1957 William Adlington Cadbury, English chocolate maker, dies at 89
- 1959 Dale Buisand & Chester Ovnand killed in Viet Cong attack, becoming the second and third Americans killed in the Vietnam War
- 1962 Georges Bataille, French writer and philosopher (b. 1897)
Fatima Jinnah
1967 Fatima Jinnah, Mother of Pakistan, sister and close adviser of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, dies officially of a heart failure at 73 but rumors of foul play by the military junta persist
Fatima Jinnah
- 1969 Charmian Clift, Australian writer and essayist, dies at 45
- 1977 Rie Cramer, Dutch writer and illustrator, dies at 89
- 1979 Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1906)
- 1979 Robert B. Woodward, American organic chemist (Nobel 1965), dies at 62
- 1982 Virginia Hall [Goillot], American spy with British Special Operations during WWII (1940-1966), dies at 76
- 1985 Gardner Cowles Jr, US publisher (Look Magazine), dies at 82
- 1985 Simon Kuznets, American economist (Nobel 1971), dies at 84
- 1987 Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet (Versos humanos), dies at 90
- 1987 Lionel Chevrier, Canadian politician (Canadian Member of Parliament), dies at 84
- 1994 Christian-Jaque, French director (Babette s'and va-t-and guerre), dies
Kim Il-sung
1994 Kim Il-sung, Founder, dictator and Supreme Leader of North-Korea (1948-94), dies of a heart attack at 82
Kim Il-sung
- 1994 Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American entrepreneur and explorer (b. 1927)
- 1995 Elizabeth Adams, madam, dies at 65
- 1996 Amschel Rothschild, British banker (executive chairman of Rothschild Asset Management of the Rothschild banking family of England), dies at 41
- 1996 Ernest Armstrong, British politician (L) and teacher, dies at 81
- 1996 Thomas Mitchell, architect and engineer, dies at 90
- 1999 Pete Conrad, American astronaut (b. 1930)
- 2000 FM-2030 [Fereidoun M. Esfandiary], Iranian-American author and transhumanist (Are You a Transhuman?), dies at 69
- 2004 Paula Danziger, American author (b. 1944)
- 2007 Chandra Shekhar, Indian politician, 8th Prime Minister of India (1990-91), dies at 80
- 2011 Mary Fenech Adami, First Lady of Malta (b. 1933)
Betty Ford
2011 Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (1974-77) and founder of the Betty Ford Center clinic, dies at 93
Betty Ford