Events in History
- 1517 Gelderse crowd robber murders population of Asperen
Event of Interest
1536 French navigator Jacques Cartier returns to Saint-Malo from Canada
Jacques Cartier
- 1541 Estevão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Christovão da Gama, with orders to help the Emperor of Ethiopia defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi who has invaded his Empire
- 1553 Battle at Sievershausen Solingen: van Saksen beats Alcibiades
- 1572 19 Catholic priests hanged in Gorcum
- 1609 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
- 1672 William III inaugurated as viceroy of Holland/Zealand
- 1686 Germany, Sweden and Spain sign anti-French League of Augsburg
Battle of Interest
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie's warship Elisabeth battles HMS Lion
Bonnie Prince Charlie
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops (NY)
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- 1780 Denmark declares neutrality
- 1789 French Revolution: the National Assembly renames itself the National Constituent Assembly
- 1790 Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund - in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet
- 1795 James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt
- 1800 Mt Vernon Gardens becomes site of 1st summer theater in US
Treaty of Interest
1807 Second Treaty of Tilsit signed by France, Russia and Prussia
Napoléon Bonaparte
Event of Interest
1815 King Louis XVIII leaves Ghent for France
Louis XVIII
Event of Interest
1815 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord takes office as the first Prime Minister of France
Talleyrand
- 1816 Argentina declares independence from Spain
- 1835 St Etienne-Lyons railway opens in France
- 1842 Notary Stamp Law passes
- 1846 Captain Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (San Francisco) for US
- 1846 The territory of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (39 mi² or about 100 km²) is returned to Virginia through an Act of Congress
- 1852 Fire destroys 1,100 construction sites in Montreal, Canada
- 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry and four US Navy vessels visit Japan to force them to open up to American trade and end their policy of isolation
- 1860 Temperature hits 115°F in Fort Scott and 112°F in Topeka, Kansas
- 1862 General John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Kentucky
- 1863 John Hunt Morgan's cavalry aid into Indiana [->JUL 13]
- 1863 Union troops enter Port Hudson
- 1864 Battle of Monocacy, Maryland, confederate forces led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early
Historic Expedition
1867 An unsuccessful expedition led by E.D Young sets out to search for Dr David Livingstone (Scottish missionary and explorer)
David Livingstone
- 1868 1st African American cabinet member in South Carolina, Francis L Cardozo as Secretary of State
- 1868 Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights
- 1872 Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine
- 1878 American inventor Henry Tibbe patents an improved corncob pipe design
Event of Interest
1893 Daniel Hale Williams III repairs the torn pericardium of a knife wound patient, James Cornish, without penicillin or blood transfusion
Daniel Williams
- 1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is established by the British House of Commons
- 1908 CHU (Christian Historic Union) Dutch political party forms
- 1910 Walter Brookins becomes 1st to pilot an airplane to 1 mile altitude
- 1914 1st US duplicate auction bridge championship held, Lake Placid, NY
- 1915 Germany surrenders South West Africa to Union of South Africa
- 1916 1st cargo submarine to cross Atlantic arrives in US from Germany
HMS Vanguard Disaster
1917 British battleship HMS Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow (the result of an internal explosion of faulty cordite), killing 804
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Event of Interest
1926 Chiang Kai-shek appointed to national-revolutionary supreme commander in China
Chiang Kai-shek
Event of Interest
1934 SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler takes command of German Concentration Camps
Heinrich Himmler
- 1940 German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms
- 1941 Dutch-American Physicist Abraham Pais is awarded his Ph.D. in Holland five days before a Nazi deadline banning Jews from receiving degrees
- 1943 5th day of battle at Kursk: Germans occupy Verchopenje
- 1943 British air raid sinks U-435
- 1944 In World War II, US troops secure Saipan as Japan falls
- 1944 U-740 sunk by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft
Engagement of Interest
1947 Engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten
Prince Philip
Event of Interest
1947 Spain votes for Franco monarchy
Francisco Franco
Event of Interest
1951 US President Harry Truman asks Congress to formally end state of war with Germany
Harry Truman
Event of Interest
1955 The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London on the need to avoid nuclear war
Bertrand Russell
Albert Einstein
Event of Interest
1962 Andy Warhol's first West Coast gallery exhibition in the Ferus Gallery of Los Angeles
Andy Warhol
- 1963 Crusher Lisowski beats Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
- 1965 John Edrich completes 310* v NZ in 532 minutes, 52 fours 5 sixes
- 1965 Senators Frank Howard ties record with 7 strikeouts in DH
- 1968 15.68" (39.83 cm) of rainfall, Columbus, Mississippi (state 24-hour record)
- 1970 In Atlanta, Chief-No-ka-homa is joined by cousin Chief Round-the-Horn
Event of Interest
1971 Henry Kissinger visits the People's Republic of China to negotiate a detente between the US and China
Henry Kissinger
- 1972 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Event of Interest
1972 Kwame Nkrumah, re-buried in Nkroful, Ghana
Kwame Nkrumah
Election of Interest
1974 Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian parliamentary election
Pierre Trudeau
- 1975 The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that paves way for a (albeit highly restricted) multi-party system
- 1976 England all out for 71 v WI at Old Trafford, Holding 14 5-7-17-5
- 1976 Houston Astro Larry Dierker no-hits Montreal Expos, 6-0
- 1976 Uganda asks UN to condemn Israeli hostage rescue raid on Entebbe
- 1978 American Nazi Party holds a rally at Marquette Park, Chicago
- 1978 Nearly 100,000 demonstrators march on Washington, D.C. for ERA
- 1979 Dr Walter Massey named director of Argonne National Laboratory
Birthdays in History
- 1511 Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway, born in Lauenburg Castle, Germany (d. 1571)
- 1513 John van Hembyze, Flemish Calvinist, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1584)
- 1577 Thomas West, 3rd & 12th Baron De La Warr, English Jamestown colonist and Governor of Virginia, born in Wherwell, Hampshire, England (d. 1618)
- 1578 Ferdinand II, King of Bohemia & Hungary and German Emperor (1619-37), born in Graz, Austria (d. 1637)
- 1589 John of Saint Thomas [Juan Poinset], Portuguese theologist, born in Lisbon, Portugal (d. 1644)
- 1654 Emperor Reigen, 112th Emperor of Japan, born in Kyoto, Japan (d. 1732)
- 1689 Alexis Piron, French dramatist (La Métromanie), born Dijon, France (d. 1773)
- 1721 Johann Nikolaus Götz, German poet (Die Mädcheninsel), born in Worms, Germany (d. 1781)
- 1753 William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland, born in England (d. 1825)
- 1764 Ann Radcliffe, English Gothic novelist (The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Romance of the Forest), born in London (d. 1823)
- 1766 Johanna Schopenhauer, German writer and mother of Arthur Schopenhauer, born in Gdańsk, Royal Prussia, Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (d. 1838)
- 1766 Jacob Perkins, American inventor, born in Newburyport, Massachusetts (d. 1849)
- 1775 Matthew Lewis, English novelist (The Monk), born in London (d. 1818)
- 1777 Henry Hallam, British lawyer and historian (d. 1859)
- 1786 Sophie Hélène Béatrix, Princess of France, daughter of Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette, born in Palace of Versailles, France (d. 1787)
- 1800 Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German pathologist, born in Fürth, Bavaria (d. 1885)
- 1802 Thomas Davenport, American iventor (invented 1st commercial electric motor), born in Williamstown, Vermont (d. 1837)
- 1808 Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier, born in Mason County, Kentucky (d. 1887)
Elias Howe
1819 Elias Howe, American inventor (invented sewing machine), born in Spencer, Massachusetts (d. 1867)
Elias Howe
- 1825 Jules Oppert, French-German Assyriologist (decodes characters), born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1905)
- 1828 Luigi Oreglia di Santo Stefano, Italian Catholic churchman and last surviving cardinal of Pius IX, born in Bene Vagienna, Italy (d. 1913)
- 1831 Johan Philip van der Kellen, Dutch stamp cutter, lithographer and writer, born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1906)
- 1836 Camille de Renesse, Belgian nobleman and entrepreneur, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1904)
- 1848 Robert I, Duke of Parma, last ruling Duke of Parma, born in Florence, Tuscany (d. 1907)
- 1856 Daniel Guggenheim, American mining magnate and philanthropist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1930)
- 1857 Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden (1907-18), born in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden (d. 1928)
- 1858 Franz Boas, German-American anthropologist and linguist (Mind of Primitive Man), born in Minden, Westphalia, Prussia (d. 1942)
- 1879 Friedrich Adler, Austrian socialist politician, revolutionary and murderer of premier Storgkh, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1960)
- 1879 Carlos Chagas, Brazilian sanitary physician, born in Oliveira, Minas Gerais, Empire of Brazil (d. 1934)
- 1887 Samuel Eliot Morison, American historian (Admiral of the Ocean Sea), born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 1976)
- 1889 Léo Dandurand, American-Canadian hockey executive, born in Bourbonnais, Illinois (d. 1964)
- 1894 Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist (Nobel 1978), born in Kronshtadt, Russian Empire (d. 1984)
- 1898 Gerard Walschap, Flemish writer (Mary, Revolt in Congo), born in Londerzeel, Belgium (d. 1989)
- 1901 Barbara Cartland, English romance author (Camfield #69), born in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England (d. 2000)
- 1902 Gerhard Pohl, German writer (Crazy Ferdinand), born in Trachenberg, Silesia (d. 1966)
- 1905 Myles Horton, American educator and Civil Rights Movement teacher, born in Savannah, Tennessee (d. 1990)
- 1906 Beene Dubbelboer, Dutch writer (Secret Resistance), born in Tweede Exloërmond, Netherlands (d. 1982)
- 1908 Rasheed Turabi, Pakistani scholar, orator and philosopher, born in Hyderabad, India (d. 1973)
- 1911 Simon Fraser [Shimi], Lord Lovat, Scottish 25th head of clan Fraser and cattle breeder, born in Inverness, Scotland (d. 1995)
- 1911 Mervyn Peake, British writer and illustrator (Gormenghast books), born in Lushan District, Jiangxi, China (d. 1968)
- 1911 John Archibald Wheeler, American physicist (first American involved in the theoretical development of the atomic bomb), born in Jacksonville, Florida (d. 2008)
- 1914 Willi Stoph, German politician (Prime Minister of German Democratic Republic 1964-73), born in Schöneberg, Berlin, Germany (d. 1999)
Edward Heath
1916 Edward Heath, British Prime Minister (Conservative: 1970-74), born in Broadstairs, England (d. 2005)
Edward Heath
- 1918 Rowley Israel Arenstein, South African attorney and communist
- 1919 Peggy Braithwaite, lighthouse-keeper, born on Piel Island (d. 1996)
- 1921 Jacob J. Hage, Dutch farmer and WW II resistance fighter
- 1922 Hassan II [Mawlāy al-Ḥasan Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf], King of Morocco (1961-99), born in Rabat, Morocco (d. 1999)
- 1925 Peter Ludwig, German businessman and art collector, born in Koblenz, Germany (d. 1996)
- 1925 Tom Luken, American politician (U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio), born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 2018)
- 1926 Ben Roy Mottelson, American-Danish physicist (Nobel 1975), born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1926 Murphy Anderson, American comic artist (DC Comics), born in Asheville, North Carolina (d. 2015)
- 1926 Mathilde Krim, American medical researcher and founding chairman of amfAR (Foundation for AIDS Research), born in Como, Italy (d. 2018)
- 1932 Donald Rumsfeld, American politician (involved in Watergate), born in Chicago, Illinois
- 1933 Oliver Sacks, English Neurologist and author (Awakenings), born in London (d. 2015)
Michael Graves
1934 Michael Graves, American postmodernist architect, born in Indianapolis, Indiana
Michael Graves
David Hockney
1937 David Hockney, English artist (Pop Art), born in Bradford, England
David Hockney
- 1941 James Scott, director (Strike it Rich)
- 1941 Scotty Baesler, American politician (U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky), born in Lexington, Kentucky
- 1942 Hermann Burger, Swiss poet and writer, born in Menziken, Switzerland (d. 1989)
- 1942 Paul B. Henry, American professor of political science and politician from the U.S. state of Michigan, born in Chicago, Illinois (d.1993)
- 1943 John H. Casper, USAF and astronaut (STS 36, 54, 62, 77), born in Greenville, South Carolina
- 1944 Glen Cook, American sci-fi author (Shadowline, Star's End), born in NYC, New York
- 1945 Dean Koontz, American sci-fi author (Star Quest, Beastchild), born in Everett, Pennsylvania
- 1945 Lewis F. Payne Jr., American politician (Rep-D-Virginia), born in Amherst, Virginia
- 1945 Root Boy Slim [Foster MacKenzie III], American entertainer, born in Asheville, North Carolina (d. 1993)
- 1946 Joe Micelli, American rocker, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- 1948 Hassan Wirajuda, Indonesian politician (15th Foreign Minister of Indonesia), born in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia
Viktor Yanukovych
1950 Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian politician (President of Ukraine from 2010 until overthrow in 2014 revolution), born in Yenakiyevo, Ukraine
Viktor Yanukovych
- 1953 Dave Camp, American politician (U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan), born in Midland, Michigan
- 1953 Irina D Latysheva, Russian cosmonaut, born in Moscow, Russia
- 1953 Thomas Ligotti, American author (Songs of a Dead Dreamer), born in Detroit, Michigan
- 1955 Sergei Krichevsky, Ukrainian cosmonaut, born in Primorya, Russia
- 1957 Tim Kring, American writer and producer, born in El Dorado County, California
- 1959 Clive Stafford Smith, British human-rights lawyer, born in Cambridge
- 1960 Christopher J "Gus" Loria, Major USMC/astronaut, born in Newton, Massachusetts
- 1960 Wanda Vazquez, Puerto Rico attorney and Governor of Puerto Rio (2019-), born in San Juan, Puerto Rico
- 1965 Jason Rhoades, American installation artist (d. 2006)
- 1967 Gunnar Axén, Swedish politician
- 1968 Lars Gyllenhaal, Swedish author
- 1970 Masami Tsuda, Japanese manga author
- 1971 Marc Andreessen, American software developer
- 1974 Sian Berry, British politician (Green Part), born in Cheltenham, England
- 1982 Ashly DelGrosso, American ballroom dancer
- 1982 Alecko Eskandarian, Armenian-American footballer
- 1986 Dominic Cervi, American footballer
Weddings in History
Wedding of Interest
1735 Author, poet, critic and lexicographer and writer of the first English dictionary Dr. Samuel Johnson (25) marries the widow Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter, 21 years his senior
Samuel Johnson
Wedding of Interest
1842 American writer "The Scarlett Letter" Nathaniel Hawthorne (38) marries painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody (33) in the Peabody's home, Boston
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Divorces in History
Divorce of Interest
1540 English King Henry VIII annuls his 6 month marriage to his 4th wife Anne of Cleves, on the grounds of non-consummation and her pre-contract to Francis of Lorraine
Anne of Cleves
Henry VIII
Deaths in History
- 1228 Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1386 Leopold III, Duke of Austria (1365-68), dies at 34
- 1441 Jan/Johannes van Eyck, Flemish painter (Lamb Gods), dies
- 1553 Maurice, Elector of Saxony (b. 1521)
- 1639 Entonius Walaeus, Dutch Calvinist theologist, dies at 65
- 1654 Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, Bohemia and Hungary, dies of smallpox at 20
- 1677 Angelus Silesius [Johann Scheffer], German medical/mystic poet, dies
- 1696 Waclaw Potocki, Polish poet (Wojna Chocimska), dies
- 1704 Yan Ruoqu, Chinese scholar of Qing dynasty, dies at 67
- 1706 Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, French Canadian sailor and explorer (b. 1661)
- 1716 Joseph Sauveur, French sound engineer, dies at 63
- 1737 de' Medici, last Medici-grand duke of Toscane, dies
- 1742 John Oldmixon, English historian (b. 1673)
- 1746 Philip V, King of Spain (1700-24, 1724-46), dies at 62
- 1755 Edward Braddock, British General, mortally wounded at Fort Duquesne during French & Indian War. Dies 13th July.
- 1756 Pieter Langendijk, Dutch painter, etcher and playwright (Wiskunstenaars), dies at 72
- 1766 Jonathan Mayhew, American Congregational minister, dies at 45
- 1795 Henry Seymour Conway, British general and statesman (b. 1721)
- 1797 Edmund Burke, British author/parliament leader (Reflections), dies at 68
- 1805 Georg W "Franz" Panzer, German vicar/librarian, dies at 76
- 1828 Gilbert Stuart, American portrait painter (unfinished portrait of George Washington), dies at 72
- 1843 Washington Allston, American painter (pioneer of America's Romantic movement of landscape painting) and author, dies at 63
- 1845 Jacob earl of Rechteren/Appeltern, gov of Gelderland, dies at 57
- 1850 Sajjid Ali Mohammed Bab, Persian founder of Babism
Zachary Taylor
1850 Zachary Taylor, 12th US President (1849-50), dies in the White House at 65
Zachary Taylor
Amedeo Avogadro
1856 Amedeo Avogadro, Italian scientist who contributed to molecular theory, including what is known as Avogadro's law (6.022 x 10 ^ 23), dies at 79
Amedeo Avogadro
- 1856 James Strang, Mormon splinter group leader (b. 1813)
- 1875 Francis Preston Blair Jr, famed St Louis lawyer, dies at 54
- 1880 Paul Broca, French brain surgeon and anthropologist (located speech center), dies at 56
- 1882 Ignacio Carrera Pinto, Chilean war hero(b. 1848)
- 1893 George Christopher Cato, Natal pioneer and first mayor of Durban South Africa, dies at 79
- 1903 Alphonse François Renard, Belgian geologist, dies at 60
- 1909 Kasimir Felix Badeni, Premier of Polish/Austria (1895-97), dies at 62
- 1923 William R. Day, American diplomat and Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, dies at 74
King C. Gillette
1932 King C. Gillette, American businessman and inventor of inexpensive and disposable safety razor blades, dies at 77
King C. Gillette
Eugen Fischer
1967 Eugen Fischer, Nazi physician, dies at 93
Eugen Fischer
Earl Warren
1974 Earl Warren, Governor of California and 14th US Supreme Court Chief Justice (1953-69), dies at 83
Earl Warren
Alice Paul
1977 Alice Paul, American suffragist (National Woman's Party), dies at 92
Alice Paul
- 1977 Loren Eiseley, American anthropologist and natural science writer (The Unexpected Universe), dies at 69
- 1978 Abdul Razak al-Naif, premier of Iraq, murdered
- 1979 Cornelia Otis Skinner, dies at 78
- 1981 Wilhelm H C Tenhaeff, para-psychologist, dies at 87
- 1983 Keith Wickenden, British Politician (b. 1932)
- 1985 Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (b. 1896)
- 1985 Jimmy Kinnon, Scottish founder of Narcotics Anonymous (b. 1911)
- 1986 Karl-Heinz Beckurts, West german Siemens manager, murdered
- 1986 Le Duan, Vietnamese politician, dies at 78
- 1988 Anthony Holland, AIDS sufferer committed suicide at 60
- 1988 Barbara Woodhouse, dog trainer, dies at 78 of a stroke
- 1990 Brigitte D'Ortschy, German author, trnslator and Zen teacher Sanbo Kyodan line, dies in Japan at 69
- 1993 Jaap Meijer, Dutch historian and rabbi in Paramaribo, dies at 80
- 1995 Jacques Molicard, translator and navigator, dies at 62
- 1995 James Cameron Tudor, politician, dies at 66
- 1995 John Eric Tieman, production Manager (The Guardian), dies at 67
- 1995 Fenton Morley, British parish priest who chaired the Church of England Morley Commission, dies at 83
- 1996 Douglas G Chapman, biomathematical statistician, dies at 76
- 1996 Melvin Belli, American lawyer known as "The King of Torts" and "Melvin Bellicose", dies at 88
- 1996 Peter Martini, British journalist, dies at 31
- 1996 Susan Cowdy, British ornithologist, dies at 81
- 1999 Robert de Cotret, Canadian politician (b. 1944)
- 2002 Laurence Janifer, American writer (b. 1933)
- 2002 Kenneth Snowman, British jeweller and antiquarian, dies at 82
- 2004 Chuck Cadman, Canadian politician (b. 1948)
- 2004 Paul Klebnikov, American journalist (b. 1963)
- 2005 Rafiq Zakaria, Indian politician and Islamic religious cleric, dies at 86
- 2008 Séamus Brennan, Irish Fianna Fáil politician and Minister, dies of cancer at 60
- 2010 Jessica Anderson, Australian novelist (b. 1916)
- 2010 Vonetta McGee, American actress, dies from cardiac arrest at 65
- 2012 Terepai Maoate, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, dies from prostate cancer at 78
- 2012 Eugênio de Araújo Sales, Brazilian Roman Catholic cardinal, dies at 91
- 2016 Robert Nye, British novelist and poet (Falstaff), dies at 77
- 2018 Lord Carrington [Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington], British conservative politician, former British Foreign Secretary (1979-82) and NATO Secretary General (1984-8), dies at 99