Events in History
Victory in Battle
1176 Battle at Legnano: Lombard League beats Frederick Barbarossa and the Holy Roman Empire
Frederick Barbarossa
Event of Interest
1453 Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire falls to the Turks under Mehmed II; ends the Byzantine Empire
Mehmed the Conqueror
Event of Interest
1630 John Winthrop begins "History of New England"
John Winthrop
- 1652 Battle of Goodwin Sands, off Folkestone, Kent: English 'General at Sea' Robert Blake drives out Dutch fleet under Lieutenant Admiral Maarten Tromp
Event of Interest
1660 On his 30th birthday Charles II returns to London from exile in the Netherlands to claim the English throne after the Puritan Commonwealth comes to an end
Charles II
- 1677 Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and local Native American
- 1692 Battle at La Hogue: English and Dutch fleet beat France
- 1692 Royal Hospital Chelsea Founder's Day first celebrated
- 1721 South Carolina formally incorporated as a royal colony
- 1727 Peter II becomes Tsar of Russia aged 11
- 1733 The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld in Quebec City
- 1753 Joseph Haydn's "Krumme Teufel" premieres
Event of Interest
1765 Patrick Henry's historic speech against the Stamp Act, answering a cry of "Treason!" with, "If this be treason, make the most of it!"
Patrick Henry
Constitution of the United States
1790 Rhode Island becomes last of original 13 colonies ratifying US Constitution
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Conference of Interest
1851 Sojourner Truth addresses 1st Black Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio
Sojourner Truth
Event of Interest
1861 Dorothea Dix offers help in setting up hospitals for the Union Army
Dorothea Dix
Event of Interest
1886 American chemist John Pemberton begins to advertise Coca-Cola
John Pemberton
- 1889 August Strindberg's "Hemsoborna" premieres in Copenhagen
- 1900 Trademark "Escalator" registered by Otis Elevator Co
- 1902 Dutch State Mine law forms
- 1903 May coup d'etat: Alexander Obrenovich, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization
- 1905 Pogrom against Jewish community in Brisk Lithuania
- 1909 Frank "Home Run" Baker's 1st career home run
- 1910 Pope's encyclical on Editae Saepe, against church reformers
- 1912 15 young women are fired by Curtis Publishing in Philadelphia for dancing the "Turkey Trot" during their lunch break
- 1912 Ballets Russes premieres their ballet L'après-midi d'un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun) in Paris, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky
- 1914 Ship rams Canadian ship Empress of Ireland on St Lawrence River; 1,024 die
- 1916 Official flag of President of the United States adopted
- 1916 US forces invade Dominican Republic, stay until 1924
- 1919 Charles Strite files patent for the pop-up toaster
Historic Expedition
1919 Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, that when light passes a large body, gravity will bend the rays confirmed by Arthur Eddington's expedition to photograph a solar eclipse on the island of Principe, West Africa
Albert Einstein
- 1919 The Republic of Prekmurje founded - a short-lived, unrecognised state, which on June 6, 1919 was incorporated into the newly established Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed "Yugoslavia" in 1929)
- 1922 Ecuador becomes independent
- 1924 AEK Athens FC is established on the anniversary of the siege of Constantinople by the Turks
- 1928 Fritz von Opel reaches 200 kph in experimental rocket car
- 1932 The Bonus Army of World War I veterans begins to assemble in Washington, D.C. to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
- 1935 French liner Normandie begins its maiden voyage, arrived in NYC on June 3rd
- 1935 Hague local museum opens
- 1940 Arthur Seyss-Inquart installed as Reich commissar of The Hague, Netherlands
- 1940 In WWII, Germans capture Ostend & Ypres in Belgium and Lille in France
Event of Interest
1943 Confederacy of Algiers (Churchill-Marshall-Eisenhower)
Dwight D. Eisenhower
- 1943 Meat and cheese rationed in US
- 1944 British troops occupy Aprilia, Italy
- 1945 US 1st Marine division conquers Shuri Castle, Okinawa
- 1946 KVP wins Provincial National election in Netherlands
- 1951 1st North Pole flight in single engine plane-CF Blair
- 1952 2nd Round Conference between Dutch Antilles & Suriname ends
Tenzing Norgay on the Summit of Mount Everest
1953 Edmund Hillary (NZ) and Tenzing Norgay (Nepal) are first to reach the summit of Mount Everest as part of a British Expedition
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Event of Interest
1959 Charles de Gaulle forms French government
Charles de Gaulle
- 1959 Saunders-Roe SR.N1, the first practical hovercraft, performs its first engine run
- 1967 Australian Paul McManus water skis barefoot for 1:30:19
- 1968 US Truth in Lending Act signed into law
- 1968 UN resolves sanctions on white-minority-ruled Rhodesia
- 1969 Britain's Trans-Arctic expedition makes 1st crossing of Arctic Sea ice
- 1969 General strike in Cordoba, Argentina, leading to the Cordobazo civil unrest
- 1970 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- 1972 The Official IRA announce a ceasefire
- 1973 Thomas Bradley elected 1st African American mayor of Los Angeles, California
- 1973 Columbia Records fires president Clive Davis for misappropriating $100,000 in funds, Davis will start Arista records
- 1974 Northern Ireland is brought under direct rule from Westminster
- 1976 Only HR of Joe Niekro's 22-year career, comes off brother Phil
- 1977 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1978 US 1st class postage rises to 15 cents (13 cents for 3 years)
- 1978 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1979 Bishop Abel Muzorewa is sworn in as Zimbabwe's 1st black Prime Minister
- 1979 Radio's 1st rock network "Source" premieres
- 1980 53rd National Spelling Bee: Jacques Bailly wins spelling elucubrate
- 1980 Attempted assassination on Vernon Jordan Jr National Urban League president
Event of Interest
1980 JMW Turner's "Juliet & Her Nurse" sold for $6,400,000 in NYC
J. M. W. Turner
- 1981 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1982 1st papal visit to Britain since 1531
- 1982 Pentagon plans 1st strategy to fight a nuclear war
- 1986 59th National Spelling Bee: Jon Pennington wins spelling odontalgia
- 1988 Pakistan President Zia ul-Haq dismisses government and disbands parliament
Goddess of Democracy
1989 Student pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, China construct a replica of the Statue of Liberty, naming it the Goddess of Democracy
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Birthdays in History
Charles II
1630 Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1660-85), born in St James's Palace, London (d. 1685)
Charles II
- 1673 Cornelis van Bijnkershoek, Dutch jurist who helped develop international law along positivist lines, born in Middelburg, Netherlands (d. 1743)
- 1675 Humphry Ditton, English mathematician, born in Salisbury, England (d. 1715)
- 1716 Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French zoologist, born in Montbard, Côte-d'Or, France (d. 1800)
- 1722 James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish politician, born in Drogheda, Louth, Ireland (d. 1773)
Patrick Henry
1736 Patrick Henry, American Revolutionary and Founding Father famous for his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, born in Studley, Colony of Virginia, British America (d. 1799)
Patrick Henry
- 1773 Princess Sophia of Gloucester, great-granddaughter of King George II of Great Britain and niece of King George III, born in Mayfair, Middlesex (d. 1844)
- 1794 Johann Heinrich von Mädler, German astronomer (published the most complete map of the Moon of the time, Mappa Selenographica, 4 vol. with Wilhelm Beer), born in Berlin (d. 1874)
- 1810 Erasmus Darwin Keyes, American banker, businessman and Major General (Union Army), born in Brinfield, Massachusetts (d. 1895)
- 1810 Solomon Meredith, American politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Guilford County, North Carolina (d. 1875)
- 1823 John H. Balsley, American carpenter and inventor (a practical folding wooden stepladder), born in Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania (d. 1895)
- 1824 Cadmus M. Wilcox, American Major General (Confederate Army - American Civil War), born in Wayne County, North Carolina (d. 1890)
- 1825 David Bell Birney, American businessman, lawyer, and Major General (Union Army), born in Huntsville, Alabama (d. 1864)
- 1826 Ebenezer Butterick, American inventor (tissue paper dress pattern), born in Sterling, Massachusetts (d. 1903)
- 1827 Reuben Lindsay Walker, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Logan, Virginia (d. 1890)
- 1837 Alexander de Savornin Lohman, Dutch minister and party leader (CHU), born in Groningen, Netherlands (d. 1924)
- 1840 Hans Makart, Austrian painter (Plague in Florenz), born in Salzburg, Austria (d. 1884)
- 1841 Sylvester Magee, last living American slave and oldest person who ever lived, born in North Carolina (d. 1971)
- 1846 Albert Apponyi, Hungarian politician (Minister of Religion and Education of Hungary), born in Vienna, Austrian Empire (d. 1933)
- 1864 A H Borgesius, Dutch amateur astronomer
- 1874 G. K. Chesterton [Gilbert Keith], English writer (Man Who Made Gold), born in London, England
- 1880 Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (Decline of West), born in Blankenburg, Duchy of Brunswick, German Empire (d. 1936)
- 1882 Doris Ulmann, American photographer best known for her portraits of the people of Appalachia, born in NYC, New York (d. 1934)
- 1885 Erwin Finlay-Freundlich, British astronomer (theory of relativity), born in Biebrich, Germany (d. 1964)
- 1892 Alfonsina Storni, Argentine poet (La inquietud del rosal), born in Sala Capriasca, Switzerland (d. 1938)
- 1894 Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director (Der blaue Engel), born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (d. 1969)
- 1896 George L. Funke, Dutch botanist (Flower Physiology), born in The Hague, Netherlands
- 1904 Ronald Russell, British journalist, author and Conservative politician, born in Seahouses, Northumberland (d. 1974)
- 1904 Robert Knox, bacteriologist
T. H. White
1906 T. H. White, English novelist (England Have My Bones) and author of the King Arthur novels,, born in Bombay, British India (d. 1964)
T. H. White
Dorothy Hodgkin
1910 Dorothy Hodgkin, British chemist who developed protein crystallography, 3rd woman to win a Nobel Prize (1964), born in Cairo, Egypt (d. 1994)
Dorothy Hodgkin
- 1911 James Marjoribanks, British ambassador to the European Economic Community, born in Colinton, Scotland (d. 2002)
- 1911 Ralph Louis Wain, British agricultural scientist, born in Hyde, Cheshire (d. 2000)
- 1912 Jan Hanlo, Dutch poet (Go to the Mosque), born in Bandung, Dutch East Indies (d. 1969)
- 1912 Lucie Aubrac [Bernard], history teacher and French resistance member, born in Paris, France (d. 2007)
- 1913 Douglas Black, Scottish physician and medical scientist (played a key role in the development of the National Health Service), born in Delting, Shetland (d. 2002)
Tenzing Norgay
1914 Tenzing Norgay, Tibetan climber who was the 1st to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953 with Edmund Hillary (exact date of birth unknown, but he celebrated on the 29th), born in either northeastern Nepal or Tibet (d. 1986)
Tenzing Norgay
John F. Kennedy
1917 John F. Kennedy, 35th US President (1961-1963) and Senator (D-Mass), born in Brookline, Massachusetts (d. 1963)
John F. Kennedy
- 1920 Robin Haydon, British diplomat, born in Wandsworth, England (d. 1999)
- 1921 George Terry, British chief constable (Sussex England) (d. 1995)
- 1923 John Parker, 6th Earl of Morley, British peer and soldier, born in Saltram House, Devon (d. 2015)
- 1923 Richard Worsley, British Army officer, born in Ballywalter, County Down, Northern Ireland (d. 2013)
- 1925 Sir Kenneth Couzens, British Deputy Chairman of the British Coal Board
- 1927 Carl Toms, British stage designer (1 Million BC, Moon Zero Two), born in Nottinghamshire, England (d. 1999)
- 1927 Dick Hillenius, Dutch biologist and writer, born in Amsterdam (d. 1987)
- 1927 Trevor Holdsworth, CEO (National Power), born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England (d. 2010)
- 1928 Felix Rohatyn, American investment banker (NY Big MAC Bonds), born in Vienna, Austria
- 1929 Anthony Grant, British MP
- 1929 Peter Higgs, Newcastle upon Tyne, British theoretical physicist (Nobel, 2013)
- 1932 Paul R. Ehrlich, American biologist and author who founded the group Zero Population Growth, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1935 André Brink, South African writer (Dry White Season), born in Vrede, Free State
- 1935 Denis Worrall, South African politician and leader (DP), born in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa
- 1935 Martin Garrod, Commandant General Royal Marines, born in Darjeeling, India (d. 2009))
- 1937 Charles W. Pickering, American judge (Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi), born in Laurel, Mississippi
- 1940 Farooq Leghari, 8th President of Pakistan (1993-97), born in Choti Zareen, British India (d. 2010)
- 1941 Doug Scott, English mountaineer (first ascent of south-west face of Mount Everest), born in Nottingham, England (d. 2020) [1]
- 1942 Pierre Bourque, Canadian politician (40th Mayor of Montreal), born in Montreal, Quebec
- 1943 Robert W. Edgar, American businessman and politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 7th district), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2013)
- 1943 E Thomas Coleman, (Rep-R-MO, 1976- )
- 1943 Terry Pavey, editor (TV Times)
- 1944 Quentin Davies, MP (C)
- 1945 Lord Fraser of Carmyllie, Minister of State (Scotland)
- 1946 Fernando Buesa, Basque politician (d. 2000)
- 1947 Mark Nelson, crew member (Biosphere 2), born in Brooklyn, New York
- 1947 Gene Robinson, American ecclesiastic
- 1951 Peter Chernin, President of News Corporation
- 1952 Louise Cooper, UK, sci-fi author (Nemesis, Inferno, Infanta, Nocturne)
- 1955 John Hinckley Jr., American man who attempted to assassinate US President Ronald Reagan in 1981, born in Ardmore, Oklahoma
- 1955 Sut Jhally, Kenyan-born American educator
- 1957 Jeb Hensarling, American politician
- 1958 Willem Holleeder, Dutch criminal
- 1970 Natarsha Belling, Australian news presenter
- 1972 Közi, Japanese visual kei artist
- 1979 Casey Sheehan, American soldier; son of Cindy Sheehan (d. 2004)
- 1989 Danielle Riley Keough, grand daughter of Elvis Presley
Weddings in History
- 1506 Earl Willem I van Nassau-Dillenburg weds countess Walburg van Egmont
Wedding of Interest
1849 Bacteriologist Louis Pasteur (26) weds secretary Marie Laurent (23) in Strasbourg, France
Louis Pasteur
Wedding of Interest
1884 Irish writer Oscar Wilde marries Constance Lloyd at St. James Church, Paddington, London
Oscar Wilde
Wedding of Interest
1939 Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (25) weds Aliza Arnold
Menachem Begin
Wedding of Interest
1949 President of Egypt Anwar Sadat (30) weds human rights activist Jehan Raouf (16) in Egypt
Anwar Sadat
Wedding of Interest
1978 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (24) weds school teacher Anna Friedmann
Ben Bernanke
- 2010 "Survivor: Fiji" winner Earl Cole (39) weds pharmacist Shelley Lee at the St. Regis Princeville Resort on Kauai
Deaths in History
- 1259 Christopher I, King of Denmark (1252-59), dies at about 40 (b. 1219)
- 1379 Henry II, King of Castile and León (1369-79), dies at 45
- 1405 Philippe de Mézières, advisor to Charles V of France
- 1425 Hongxi Emperor [Zhu Gaochi], fourth Emperor of Ming Dynasty of China, dies at 46
- 1453 Constantine XI Dragases, last Byzantine Emperor, dies at 49
Bartolomeu Dias
1500 Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer (1st European to round Cape of Good Hope), drowns at 48 or 49
Bartolomeu Dias
- 1511 Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, Spanish Governor of the Indies (1501-09), dies at 50 or 51
- 1544 Jacobus Latomus [Jasques Masson], Belgian inquisitor, dies at about 68
- 1546 Cardinal Beaton, English archbishop of St Andrews, murdered in St Andrews Castle at 52
- 1593 John Penry, English congressionalist, executed
- 1629 Arnold Baert, Flemish lawyer/member of Great Council, dies at about 74
- 1660 Gyorgy Rákóczi II, prince of Transylvania, dies in battle
- 1660 Peter Scriverius, lawyer/historian, dies at 44
- 1660 Frans van Schooten, Dutch mathematician (b. 1615)
- 1691 Cornelis Tromp, Dutch naval officer and son of Maarten Tromp, dies at 61
- 1788 Jacques Aliamet, French etcher and engraver, dies at 61
- 1790 Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (b. 1718)
- 1796 Carl Fredrik Pechlin, Swedish politician (b. 1720)
- 1814 Joséphine de Beauharnais, first wife of Napoleon I and first Empress of France (1804-14), dies of pneumonia aged 50
- 1815 Cornelis de Gijselaar, politician/patriot, dies at 64
- 1816 Madame Louverture, widow of Haiti's leader Toussaint Louverture, dies
- 1829 Humphry Davy, English chemist, studied electro-chemistry, invented the Davy lamp), dies at 50
- 1847 Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French general and marshal, dies at 80
- 1866 Winfield Scott, American army general (Union) and presidential candidate, dies at 79
- 1866 Henry Darwin Rogers, American Geologist (theory of mountain building, first geological mapping of Pennsylvania), dies at 57
- 1868 Michael Obrenovich III, Prince of Serbia (b. 1823)
- 1868 Levi Lincoln, Jr., American lawyer and 13th Governor of Massachusetts (1825-34), dies at 85
- 1869 Philippe Vandermaelen, Flemish cartographer/publisher, dies at 73
- 1872 John Gill Shorter, American politician (17th Governor of Alabama), dies at 54
- 1877 John Lothrop Motley, American historian and author (The Rise of the Dutch Republic), dies at 63
- 1882 Vasily Perov, Russian painter (b. 1833)
- 1883 Albrecht of Prussia, mistress of John van Rossum, dies at 73
- 1883 Princess Marianne of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau and daughter of King Willem I, dies at 73
- 1885 Alfred Meissner, Austrian poet (Ziska), dies at 62
- 1892 Baha'u'llah [Mirza HA Noeri], Persian founder (Baha'i), dies at 74
- 1896 Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist, dies at 81
- 1897 Julius von Sachs, German botanist and naturalist, dies at 64
- 1903 Bruce Price, American architect, dies at 57
William Schwenck Gilbert
1911 William Schwenck Gilbert, English dramatist (Gilbert & Sullivan), dies at 74
William Schwenck Gilbert
- 1914 Paul von Mauser, German weapon designer, dies at 75
- 1919 Robert Bacon, American politician (39th United States Secretary of State), dies at 58
- 1921 Horace Porter, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 84
- 1924 Pierre-Paul Cambon, French diplomat (Madrid/London), dies
- 1939 Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic saint and foundress of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, dies of a carcinoma at 74
- 1942 Akiko Yosano, Japanese poet (Tangled Hair), dies at 63
- 1946 Martin Gottfried Weiss, Commandant of Dachau concentration camp (b. 1905)
- 1955 Daniel G van Beuningen, art collector, dies at 78
- 1956 Albert H Edelkoort, theologist (Christusverwachting), dies at 65
- 1958 Juan Ramon Jiménez, Spanish poet (Nobel 1956), dies at 76
- 1970 John Gunther, author/host (John Gunther's High Road), dies at 68
- 1970 Eve Hesse, German born Jewish American sculptor dies of a brain tumour aged 34
- 1972 Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-born mechanical engineer (b. 1878)
- 1973 Eric Applewhite, entertainer, dies
- 1977 Ba Maw, Burmese politician (b. 1893)
- 1979 John H. Wood, Jr., American federal judge (b. 1916)
- 1983 Arvīds Pelše, Soviet Latvian statesman (b. 1899)
- 1987 Alain Vincx, Belgian stuntman, dies in an accident at 40
- 1987 Charan Singh, Indian politician, 5th Prime Minister of India (1979-80), dies at 84
- 1992 Ruby Middleton Forsythe, African-American teacher (50 years in 1 room school in SC), dies at 86
- 1993 Tiny Hofman, Amsterdam activist (Nieuwmarkt), dies at 68
- 1994 Erich Honecker, German politician, Head of State of East Germany (1971-89), dies in Chile at 81
- 1994 Harry Levin, American literary scholar, dies at 81
- 1994 Joseph Janni, producer, dies at 78
- 1995 Margaret Chase Smith, American politician (U.S. Senator from Maine), dies at 97
- 1997 John Sengstacke, publisher (Defender), dies at 84
- 1998 Barry M. Goldwater, American politician (U.S. Senator from Arizona, 1953-65, 1969-87; Republican presidential candidate, 1964), dies at 89
- 2002 Mildred Benson, American writer (b. 1905)
- 2004 Archibald Cox, American lawyer and special prosecutor (Watergate), dies at 92
- 2004 Samuel Dash, American Congressional counsel (b. 1925)
- 2005 María de los Ángeles Alvariño González, Spanish marine biologist and oceanographer, dies at 88
- 2006 Steve Mizerak, American pool player (b. 1944)
- 2006 Jacques Bouchard, Canadian advertising executive, dies at 75
- 2007 Lois Browne-Evans, Bermudian Politician (stroke) (b. 1927)
- 2007 Posteal Laskey, American convicted murderer widely believed to be the Cincinnati Strangler, dies of natural causes (b. 1938)
- 2008 Dianne Odell, American medical figure (b. 1947)
- 2011 Ferenc Mádl, Hungarian politician, President of Hungary (b. 1931)
- 2011 Bill Clements, American politician, Governor of Texas (1987-91), dies at 94
- 2011 Sergei Bagapsh, Abkhazian president (b. 1949)
- 2014 Karlheinz Böhm, Austrian actor, dies at 86
Manuel Noriega
2017 Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and dictator (1983-89), dies at 83
Manuel Noriega