Battle of the Granicus
334 BC The Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus
- 760 14th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
League of Cognac
1526 Pope Clement VII, France, Genoa, Venice, Florence & Milan form Anti-French League of Cognac
Peace of Lubeck
1629 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Peace of Lubeck
- 1659 France, England & Netherlands sign "Hedges Concerto" treaty
- 1690 San Francisco De Los Tejas Mission founded by the Spanish on San Pedro Creek - first Spanish mission in East Texas (later relocated) [1]
- 1702 Commission for the first Census of Iceland issued - first modern census, carried out by Professor Árni Magnússon and Vice Chancellor Páll Vídalín (1702-3) [1]
- 1720 Foundation stone laid for German Baroque palace the Würzburg Residence (completed 1744)
- 1746 Russia and Austria sign treaty of cooperation
- 1761 1st life insurance policy in North America issued in Philadelphia
- 1762 Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg, reaffirming the status quo that existed before the Seven Years' War
- 1766 Istanbul earthquake with estimated magnitude of 7.1, causes widespread extensive damage, followed by a significant tsunami
- 1784 Ceylonese student leader Pieter Quint Ondaatje demands democracy
- 1803 1st US public library opens in Connecticut
Aaron Burr Tried for Treason
1807 Former US Vice President Aaron Burr is tried for treason in Richmond, Virginia (acquitted)
- 1807 Townsend Speakman 1st sells fruit-flavored carbonated drinks in Philadelphia
'Ship in Distress' Sails Into History Books
1819 The SS Savannah sets sail from Savanah Harbor in Georgia on an historic journey to become the 1st steam propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic
- 1826 HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage to survey Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego
- 1840 The transporting of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished
- 1842 Farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discover Howe Caverns in New York state when they stumble upon a large gaping hole in the ground
- 1843 1st wagon train with 700 - 1000 migrants, departs Independence, Missouri for Oregon
Lincoln's Patent
1849 Abraham Lincoln receives a patent (only US President to do so) for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
- 1856 Violence in the US Senate, South Carolina rep Brooks uses a cane on Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner
- 1858 Confederación Granadina (now Colombia) forms
- 1863 War Department establishes Bureau of Colored Troops
- 1864 Battle of North Anna River, Virginia (Totopotamy River, Haw's Shop, Hanovertown)
- 1868 Train robbery at Marshfield, Indiana by the Reno Brothers Gang, who make off with $98,000
- 1872 Amnesty Act restores civil rights to Southerners (except for 500)
- 1888 Leroy Buffington patents a system to build skyscrapers
- 1892 Dr Washington Sheffield invents the toothpaste tube
- 1893 Montreal Athletic Association beat Ottawa Generals 2-1, in 1st Cup Game
- 1897 The Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames, in London, England officially opens
- 1900 Associated Press organizes in NYC as nonprofit news cooperative
Treaty of Interest
1902 US President Theodore Roosevelt signs a treaty with Mexico under which both countries agree to submit a long-standing dispute over interest payments to the Court of Arbitration at The Hague
- 1903 Launch of the White Star Liner SS Ionic.
- 1905 Royal Academy in Delft Holland becomes Technical High School
- 1906 A British garrison leaves Esquimalt, on the Pacific coast, after a military occupation that began in 1858: the last British soldiers stationed in Canada
- 1906 Wright Brothers are granted a patent for their "flying machine," having applied for one 3 years earlier (patent no. 821,393)
- 1907 Albert Trott takes two hat-tricks in an innings, Middlesex v Somerset
- 1909 1st San Francisco fireboat, David Scannell, launched
- 1915 Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, only mountain other than Mount St. Helens, to erupt in the continental US during the 20th century
- 1915 Local train collides with troop train killing 226 in Gretna, Scotland
- 1916 Battle of Verdun: French troops assault Fort Douaumont but fail to recapture it after hours of dogged fighting
Wood Sample Dating
1919 A. E. Douglass establishes the relative dates of two archaeological sites using ancient wood samples, marking a major step forward in the dating of archaeological sites
Chinese History
1926 Chiang Kai-shek replaces communists in Guomindang China
- 1926 Dutch Communist Party expels David Wijnkoop
- 1927 8.3 Nan-Shan earthquake strikes Tsinghai, China, over 40,900 killed
- 1928 US Congress accept Jones-White Merchant Naval Act
- 1933 First modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster by Aldie and John Mackay saw "something resembling a whale"
- 1933 World Trade Day/National Maritime Day 1st celebrated
- 1936 Aer Lingus (Aer Loingeas) is founded by the Irish government as the national airline of the Republic of Ireland
Pact of Steel
1939 Germany's Adolf Hitler and Italy's Benito Mussolini sign the "Pact of Steel" formalizing the 1936 alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis
- 1940 Dutch Premier De Geer begins working with Nazis
Event of Interest
1940 UK Premier Winston Churchill flies to Paris to decide with General Maxime Weygand a strategy to save the city
- 1941 British troops attack Baghdad
- 1942 Mexico declares war on Nazi-Germany & Japan
- 1942 The Steel Workers Organizing Committee disbands, and a new trade union, the United Steelworkers, is formed
- 1943 RAF scatters 1st copies of "The Flying Hollander"
- 1945 6th US Marine division reaches suburbs of Naha Okinawa
- 1945 NSB-Fuhrer Rost van Tonningen makes failed suicide attempt
- 1946 First US rocket (WAC Corporal) to reach edge of space fired from White Sands Missile Range New Mexico
- 1947 "Truman Doctrine" goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece
- 1947 1st US ballistic missile fired
- 1950 Celal Bayar elected President of Turkey
- 1950 Dutch poet Gerrit Achterberg wins PC Hooft prize
Event of Interest
1953 US President Eisenhower signs Offshore Oil Bill
- 1954 Robert Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan is Bar Mitzvahed
- 1957 South Africa's government approves race separation in universities
- 1958 Influential modernist skyscraper the Seagram Building designed by Mies van der Rohe officially opens in Manhattan, New York
- 1959 Benjamin O Davis Jr becomes 1st black major general in US Air Force
- 1960 A magnitude 9.4-9.6 earthquake strikes near the city of Valdivia in Chile, the strongest ever recorded, causing multiple tsunamis and killing 1,000-7,000 people
- 1960 Tsunami generated by a magnitude 9.4-9.6 earthquake in Chile strikes Hilo, Hawaii at 01:04 AM, severely damaging virtually all coastal towns between the 37th and 44th parallels
- 1961 1st revolving restaurant (Top Of The Needle in Seattle) opens
- 1962 Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board
- 1962 Major Robert A Rushworth, USAF, takes X-15 to 30,600m
- 1962 Netherlands telephone network becomes completely automated
- 1963 Greek parliament leader Lambrakis injured
- 1965 Mad Dog Vachon beats Igor Vodic in Omaha, to become NWA champ
Event of Interest
1967 Egyptian President Nasser closes the Straits of Tiran to Israel
- 1967 Fire at L'Innovation department store kills 322 (Brussels, Belgium)
- 1969 Stafford & Cernan pilot Apollo 10 LEM 9.4 mi(15km) above lunar surface
- 1970 Arab terrorists kill 9 children & 3 adults on a school bus
- 1970 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1971 A British soldier is killed by members of the Official Irish Republican Army in Belfast
- 1972 Ceylon becomes Republic of Sri Lanka as its constitution is ratified
- 1972 Over 400 women in Derry attack the offices of Official Sinn Féin in Derry, North Ireland, following the shooting of William Best by the Official Irish Republican Army
- 1972 Ton Sijbrands becomes world checkers champion
- 1972 US President Nixon begins visit to Moscow
- 1973 President Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up
- 1974 Ruffian begins her racing career as a filly and dies 14 months later
- 1974 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1976 NASA launches space vehicle S-179
The Orient Express
1977 Final European scheduled run of the Orient Express (after 94 years)
Election of Interest
1979 Canadians elect conservatives, Joseph Clark replaces Pierre Trudeau as the 16th Prime Minister of Canada
- 1979 Commencement of 1st ICC Trophy (PNG v East Africa & Singapore v Argentina)
- 1981 Soyuz 40 returns to Earth
- 1985 US sailor Michael L Walker arrested for spying for USSR
- 1987 30 killed in a Texas tornado
- 1988 Károly Grósz succeeds party leader Janos Kádár in Hungary
- 1990 Dow Jones avg hits a record 2,852.23
- 1990 Microsoft releases Windows 3.0
- 1990 North & South Yemen merge to form Republic of Yemen
- 1991 Roh Jai Bong resigns as premier of South Korea
- 1992 India launches its Agni rocket
- 1997 "Closer" play by Patrick Marber starring Clive Owen, opens at the Royal National Theatre in London
- 1997 Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial
Event of Interest
1998 Lewinsky scandal: a federal judge rules that United States Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the scandal, involving President Bill Clinton
- 2002 American civil rights movement: a jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church
- 2002 The remains of missing Chandra Levy are found in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C.
PM Manmohan Singh
2004 Manmohan Singh becomes the 13th Prime Minister of India
- 2004 The U.S. town of Hallam, Nebraska, is wiped out by a powerful F4 tornado that broke a width record at an astounding 2.5 miles wide. It also kills one local resident.
- 2006 Results from the Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006 are announced. 55.4% of voters vote to become independent from the Serbia and Montenegro Union.
Copernicus Reburied
2010 Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus' remains are reburied in Frombork Cathedral, Poland after a 200 year search for his tomb
- 2011 An EF5 Tornado strikes the US city of Joplin, Missouri killing at least 158 people, the single deadliest US tornado since modern record keeping began in 1950
- 2012 14 people die and 30 are injured in train collision in India
- 2013 British Army Fusilier Lee Rigby is murdered near the Royal Artillery Barracks in London by two Islamic terrorists, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale.
- 2014 Royal Thai Armed Forces, led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha stage a coup in Thailand, suspending the kingdom's constitution and taking control of the government, the 12th since the country's first coup in 1932
- 2015 Ireland becomes 1st country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote
- 2016 Independent Alexander Van der Bellen defeats Freedom Party's Norbert Hofer by just 31,000 votes to become President in Austrian elections
Event of Interest
2016 US President Barack Obama arrives in Vietman for a 3 day tour
- 2017 Japanese researchers from University of Yamanashi report birth of mice from freeze-dried sperm stored on the International Space Station
- 2017 South Africa's Western Cape province declares a drought disaster - worst for 113 years
- 2018 Australian court finds Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson guilty of covering up sexual abuse in 1970s, most senior Catholic priest to be convicted
Event of Interest
2018 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is questioned by members of the European parliament in Brussels in wake of its security scandal
- 2018 New York Stock Exchange announces Stacey Cunningham will be its first woman head in its 226-year history
- 2018 Outbreak of Nipah virus confirmed to have killed 10 including a nurse in Kozhikode, India
- 2018 Stacey Abrams is the first black woman to be nominated as US state governor - for Georgia
Indonesian Election Protest
2019 Protests break out in Jakarta, Indonesia against the re-election of President Joko Widodo, killing six people and injuring 200
- 2019 UN General Assembly votes for a motion condemning UK occupation of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean and for them to reunite with nearby Mauritius
- 2019 Washington State becomes the 1st US state to legalize composting human bodies
- 2020 China unveils new national security legislation against Hong Kong at its annual legislative session
- 2020 Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi killing 97 with just two survivors
- 2021 Mount Nyiragongo erupts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, sending rivers of lava towards the nearby city of Goma, prompting evacuations
- 2022 Report released on sexual abuse in US Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant denomination, details 20 years of suppressing many allegations [1]
- 2023 New deal cutting water usage of the Colorado River agreed by California, Arizona and Nevada, aims to conserve 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026 [1]
- 2023 US and Papua New Guinea bilateral defense cooperation agreement signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Prime Minister James Marape in Port Moresby, as US and China strive for influence in the region [1]