Today's Historical Events
- 1098 Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul
- 1119 Battle of Sarmada - Emir Ilghazi defeats French Crusaders
- 1245 1st Council of Lyon (13th ecumenical council) opens
- 1389 Ottomans defeat Serbian army in the bloody Battle of Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe
- 1485 Gent/Brugge/Ieper recognize Maximilian of Austria as regent of Netherlands
- 1524 Duke of Bourbon occupies Province
- 1575 Spanish troops conquer Buren
- 1593 Earl Mauritius conquers Geertruidenberg
- 1629 Peace of Alès: Rights of French huguenots limited
- 1635 French colony of Guadeloupe established in the Caribbean
- 1651 Battle of Beresteczko between Poles and Ukrainians starts.
- 1675 Battle at Fehrbellin: Brandenburg army beats Sweden
- 1675 King Philip's War: Colonial militia destroys Wampanoag settlement at Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island, in response to recent attacks at Swansea, Massachusetts
Historic Siege
1691 Siege of Cuneo ends in a French defeat and a loss of 700–800 troops after Imperial cavalry arrives to relieve forces led by Duke of Savoy Victor Amadeus II (Nine Years' War)
Historic Event
1762 Russian Tsarina Catherine II seizes power, declaring herself sovereign ruler of Russia
- 1770 Quakers open a school for blacks in Philadelphia
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 Final draft of Declaration of Independence submitted to Continental Congress
- 1776 Charleston, South Carolina repulses British sea attack
- 1778 Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey (General Washington beats Clinton)
- 1778 Mary Ludwig Hayes "Molly Pitcher" aids American patriots
- 1807 British troops land at Ensenada, Argentina
- 1820 Tomato is proven to be non-poisonous by Colonel Robert Gibbon eating a tomato on steps of courthouse in Salem, New Jersey
- 1832 Gerrit Moll measures noise of guns
- 1833 Three missionaries of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society obtain permission from Chief Moshoeshoe (Moshesh) to found a mission station in Basutoland (now Lesotho)
Coronation of Queen Victoria
1838 Coronation of Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey, London
- 1841 The Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris premieres the ballet Giselle
- 1846 Saxophone is patented by Antoine-Joseph "Adolfe" Sax
- 1855 The Sigma Chi Fraternity was founded at Miami University
- 1859 1st dog show held, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England
- 1861 Leipzig Observatory discovers short-period (6.2 yrs) Comet d'Arrest
- 1862 Day 4 of 7 Day Battle of Savage's Station [Garnett's Farm] in Virginia
- 1865 The Army of the Potomac is disbanded
- 1869 Amsterdam typographer strike
- 1870 U.S. Congress creates federal holidays (New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day), initially applicable only to federal employees
- 1874 Freedmen's Bank closes
- 1887 Phillies most lopsided shut-out beating Indianapolis 24-0
- 1892 Phillies tie club record of 16 straight victories
- 1894 Labor Day established as a holiday for US federal employees
- 1894 The Natal Legislature plans to introduce the Indian Franchise Bill, South Africa
- 1895 El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua form Central American Union
Historic Event
1895 French painter Paul Gauguin leaves France for Tahiti for the second time
- 1897 Marquis C de Bonchamps' expedition reaches Gore Ethiopia
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1897 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: England's Blanche Bingley-Hillyard wins her 4th title beating Charlotte Cooper 5-7, 7-5, 6-2
- 1902 US Congress authorizes Louisiana Purchase Expo $1 gold coin
- 1902 US buys concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million
- 1902 Germany, Italy, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire renew their Triple Alliance for six more years
- 1904 International Anti-Military Cooperation (IAMV) forms in Amsterdam
- 1904 SS Norge runs aground and sinks off Rockall, North Atlantic, more than 635 die, largest maritime loss of life until Titanic
- 1904 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Reigning champion Dorothea Chambers beats Charlotte Cooper 6-0, 6-3
Sports History
1907 Nationals steal a record 13 bases off catcher Branch Rickey
- 1909 1st French air show, Concours d'Avation opens
- 1911 Joseph Caillaux forms government in France
Assassination
1914 Assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife Sophie by Bosnian-Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, setting off chain of alliances that begin WWI
Signing of the Treaty of Versailles
1919 Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI and establishing the League of Nations, is signed in France
Historic Event
1923 Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of the Netherlands state visit to London
- 1924 Test cricket umpire debut for Frank Chester, v South Africa at Lord's
- 1924 Tornado strikes Sandusky and Lorain, Ohio, killing 93
- 1926 Mercedes Benz forms when the world's oldest automobile manufacturers DMG and Benz & Cie merge
- 1928 Alfred E Smith (NY-Governor) nominated for US President at Democratic Convention
- 1928 Friedrich Schmiedl attempts rocket mail in Austria (unsuccessful)
Music History
1928 Louis Armstrong makes 78 recording of "West End Blues"
- 1930 1st night game in Detroit at newly built Hamtramck Stadium as Negro League Detroit Stars take on KC Monarchs
Historic Event
1934 Adolf Hitler flies to Essen, Germany for "Night of Long Knives"
- 1935 Earl Averill's consecutive-game streak ends at 673
- 1939 Pan Am opens southern route transatlantic air service (Dixie Clipper)
- 1939 Yanks hit 13 HRs, sweep A's 23-2 & 10-0
- 1940 "Quiz Kids?" premieres on radio
- 1940 Romania cedes Bessarabia to Soviet Union
- 1941 German and Romanian soldiers kill 11,000 Jews in Kishinev
- 1941 German troops occupy Galicia, Poland
- 1942 Col-gen Von Hoth' 6th Pantser enters Voronezj
- 1945 Polish Provisional government of National Unity set up by Soviets
- 1946 Enrico de Nicola becomes 1st President of Italy
- 1946 Permanent radio play-by-play of Cleveland Indians games begins
- 1947 "Temptation" (Tim-Tayshun) by Red Ingle with Jo Stafford hits #1
- 1948 British begin airlift “Operation Plainfare” to West Berlin
- 1950 "Michael Todd's Peep Show" opens at Winter Garden NYC for 278 performances
- 1950 North Korean forces capture Seoul, South Korea in opening phase of the Korean War
- 1951 "Amos 'n' Andy" premieres on CBS TV
US Women's Golf Open
1953 US Open Women's Golf, CC of Rochester: Betsy Rawls wins an 18-hole Sunday playoff by 6 strokes over runner-up Jackie Pung
Sports History
1957 Frick overrules and names Stan Musial, Willie Mays, & Hank Aaron to team
- 1958 American swimmer Nancy Ramey sets world record for 100m butterfly in 1:09.6 in Los Angeles, California
- 1958 US Open Women's Golf, Forest Lake CC: Mickey Wright wins 1st of 4 Open titles by 5 from Louise Suggs; 1st player to win Open & LPGA in same year
- 1959 Phils Wally Post is only outfielder to throw out 2 runners in an inning twice (Losing to Giants 6-0)
- 1959 Meldrim trestle disaster; freight train derails over Ogeechee River in Georgia causing IPG tanks to explode killing 23
- 1960 10.40" (26.42 cm) of rainfall, Dunmor, Kentucky (state 24-hour record)
- 1961 Phils and San Francisco set then record longest night game (5h11m) 7-7 15 innings tie
- 1962 Thalidomide drug banned in Netherlands
- 1963 Belaunde Terry inaugurated as President of Peru
Historic Event
1963 Nikita Khrushchev visits East Berlin
Historic Event
1965 1st US ground combat forces in Vietnam authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson
Music History
1967 George Harrison is fined £6 for speeding
- 1967 Israel annexes East Jerusalem
- 1968 Daniel Ellsberg indicted for leaking Pentagon Papers
- 1969 Police carry out an early morning raid on gay bar Stonewall Inn, Greenwich Village, NY; about 400 to 1,000 patrons riot against police, it lasts 3 days. Beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement
- 1969 John Hampshire scores 107 on Test cricket debut v WI at Lord's
- 1970 Around 500 Catholic workers at the Harland and Wolff shipyard are forced to leave their work by Protestant employees as serious rioting continues in Belfast
Sports History
1971 US Supreme Court (8-0) overturns draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali
- 1973 Lawsuit in Detroit challenges Little League's "no girls" rule
Hall of Fame
1973 Black Sports Hall of Fame forms: Paul Robeson, Elgin Baylor, Jesse Owens, Jim Brown, Wilma Rudolph, Joe Louis and Althea Gibson elected
- 1973 New Zealand ship HMNZS Otago sails for Mururoa nuclear test zone after France’s refusal to accept an International Court of Justice injunction against its atmospheric nuclear testing
- 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly elections take place
- 1974 Fall of earth and rocks kill 200 (Quebrada Blanca Canyon, Colombia)
Music Single
1974 Paul McCartney & Wings release singles "Band on the Run" and "Zoo Gang" in UK
- 1975 Reigning PGA Championship winner Lee Trevino and playing partners Jerry Heard, Bobby Nichols, Jim Ahern and Tony Jacklin are struck by lightning at Western Open; suffer minor burns
- 1975 The South African rugby team beats France 33-18 in Pretoria
- 1976 1st woman was admitted to Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado
- 1976 Three British mercenaries are sentenced to death for their part in the Angolan civil war
- 1977 Billy Hunter becomes Rangers' 4th manager in 6 days
- 1977 Supreme Court allows Federal control of Nixon tapes papers
- 1977 The United Party, main political opposition party in South Africa, is formally disbanded by the majority faction after members leave the party to join other new political parties
- 1978 UNICEF chooses rock group Kansas as Ambassadors of Goodwill
- 1978 Supreme Court orders Cal medical school to admit Allan Bakke a white man claiming reverse discrimination when application was rejected
- 1979 OPEC raises oil prices 24%
- 1980 NYC transit fare rises from 50 cents to 60 cents
- 1980 The South African Springbok rugby team lead by Morné du Plessis beats the British Lions 12-10 in Port Elizabeth to lead 3-0 in the series
- 1981 "Piaf" closes at Plymouth Theater NYC after 165 performances
- 1981 74 government officials die in attack on Islamic Republican Party conference in Tehran, Iran, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti
Historic Event
1982 Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, name their baby "William"
- 1983 Bridge section along I-95 in Greenwich, Connecticut collapses, killing 3
- 1983 NASA launches Galaxy-A
- 1984 Former member of South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), Jeannette Schoon, and her six-year-old daughter, Katryn, are killed by a letter bomb at Lubango, in northern Angola
- 1984 17th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Hotel San Diego
- 1985 Discovery ferried back to Kennedy Space Center via Bergstrom AFB, Tx
- 1986 Irish population condemns divorce
- 1986 Kenneth and Nellie Pike challenge Ala Dem runoff win by AG C Graddick
- 1986 West European leaders, meeting in the Netherlands, delay indefinitely imposing economic sanctions against South Africa
- 1987 "Dreamgirls" opens at Ambassador Theater NYC for 177 performances
- 1987 Boston outfielder Don Baylor sets MLB career hit-by-pitch mark at 244 when plunked by Rick Rhoden in Red Sox, 6-2 win over NY Yankees
Contract of Interest
1988 Mike Tyson sues to break contract with manager Bill Cayton
Daytime Emmy Awards
1990 Emmy 17th Daytime Award presentation - Susan Lucci loses for 11th time
- 1991 South Africa signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
- 1992 2 earthquakes, including 3rd strongest in US (7.4) rock California
- 1992 Burharnuddin Rabbani becomes president of Afghanistan
- 1992 Italian government of Amato forms
- 1992 LA Police commissioner Daryl Gates steps down
- 1992 US Dream Team beats Cuba in 1st exhibition basketball game, 133-57
- 1992 The Constitution of Estonia is signed into law
Sports History
1994 NY Met Pitcher Dwight Gooden suspended for 60 days due to drug charges
Sports History
1994 Jonah Lomu becomes the youngest-ever All Black at 19 yrs 45 days playing rugby for New Zealand against France in Christchurch
- 1994 NHL Draft: Windsor Spitfires (OHL) defenceman Ed Jovanovski first pick by Florida Panthers
- 1995 NJ Devils Stanley Cup Victory Party, admidst rumours they were moving to Nashville, goalie Chris Terreri holds up "Nashville? NO WAY!" sign
- 1995 NBA draft: Maryland power forward Joe Smith first pick by Golden State Warriors
Film Release
1996 "Nutty Professor" starring Eddie Murphy opens in theaters in the USA
- 1996 The Constitution of Ukraine is signed into law.
- 1997 "Master Class" closes at Golden Theater NYC after 601 performances
- 1997 Kandor and Ebb's musical "Steel Pier" closes at Richard Rodgers Theater, NYC after 76 performances
- 1997 TV evangelist Robert Schuller attacks a flight attendant
- 2000 Cuban exile Elián González returns to Cuba following a Supreme Court order.
- 2000 NBA Draft: Cincinnati power forward Kenyon Martin first pick by New Jersey Nets
- 2002 In South Africa, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Treatment Action Campaign table a national HIV/AIDS treatment plan in the National Economic, Development and Labour Council
Glastonbury Festival
2002 Glastonbury Festival in Pilton, England opens: Coldplay, and Rod Stewart headline; other performers include Roger Waters, Isaac Hayes, Ani DiFranco, The Charletons, and The White Stripes
Film Premiere
2003 "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl", directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, premieres at Disneyland
- 2004 Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia join the European Exchange Rate Mechanism
- 2004 The 17th NATO Summit starts in Istanbul.
- 2004 Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation
- 2005 A final design for Manhattan's Freedom Tower is formally unveiled
- 2005 NBA Draft: Utah center Andrew Bogut first pick by Milwaukee Bucks
- 2006 The Republic of Montenegro admitted as the 192nd Member of the United Nations by General Assembly resolution 60/264
- 2006 NBA Draft: Benetton Treviso (Italy) power forward Andrea Bargnani first pick by Toronto Raptors
- 2007 Craig Biggio of the Houston Astros becomes the 27th member of the 3000 hit club, going 5 for 5 against the Colorado Rockies
- 2007 NBA Draft: Ohio State center Greg Oden first pick by Portland Trail Blazers
Historic Event
2009 Professor Stephen Hawking hosts a 'party for time travellers' at the University of Cambridge, not sending out the invites until after the party
Election of Interest
2011 Christine Lagarde becomes the 1st women to be elected head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Sports History
2013 Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole's final "Sportscentre" broadcast on TSN
- 2015 David Sweat shot and captured near Canadian border. 2nd prisoner to escape maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility June 6
- 2015 Greek Credit Crisis: Greek government says banks closed for a week and ATM withdrawals restricted after European Central Bank refused to supply emergency funds
- 2015 US Senior Open Men's Golf, Del Paso CC: Jeff Maggert shoots final round 65 (-5) to win by 2 strokes from defending champion Colin Montgomerie of Scotland
- 2016 Suicide bombings and gun attacks at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport kill 42 and wound more than 200
- 2017 Wilshire Grand Center becomes the tallest building in Los Angeles and in the US west of the Mississippi at 1,100 ft
Historic Event
2017 China’s president, Xi Jinping begins 3 day trip to Hong Kong to mark 20 years since the territory handed back to China
Film Premiere
2017 "Spider-man: Homecoming" directed by Jon Watts starring Tom Holland, Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr. premieres in Los Angeles
- 2018 Lone gunman attacks offices of Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, killing nine
- 2018 Power company uncovers Neolithic wooden trackway 2,300 years old in Suffolk, England. One of the largest archaeological digs in Europe at 16,000 square meters
- 2018 Employee charged with attempted poisoning of colleague's sandwich in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, Germany, leading authorities to investigate 21 other suspicious deaths
- 2018 Amsterdam elects its first-ever woman mayor Femke Halsema since its first mayor in 1343
- 2018 Fire starts on Winter Hill on Lancashire moorland, England, lit by arson
- 2018 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo declared "largely contained" by World Health Organization, first outbreak to use new Merck vaccine
- 2019 Highest-ever temperature recorded in France 45.9C in Gallargues-le-Montueux, southern France
- 2019 The EU and South American trade bloc Mercosur agree historic trade deal, the EU's biggest to date
- 2019 3,400 year old Bronze Age palace from the Mittani Empire uncovered on the banks of the Tigris River, due to lack of rainfall dropping the water level in the Mosul Dam reservoir
- 2020 Global death toll from COVID-19 passes 500,000, doubling in less than two months (Johns Hopkins)
- 2020 COVID-19 cases surge in southern and western US states with California, Texas and Florida closing bars, Arizona reports 20% of tests returning as positive
- 2020 50th anniversary of 1st Gay Pride march in New York City marked around the world
- 2021 Tigray Defense Forces retake Tigray's regional capital of Mekelle in Ethiopia's Tigray War. The Ethiopian government declares a unilateral ceasefire to save face but neither side sticks to it. [1]
- 2021 US Supreme Court declines to hear school's appeal in transgender bathroom case made by Gavin Grimm in Virginia, upholding an earlier decision it was discriminatory
- 2021 AirCar, prototype flying car capable of flying 1,000km (600 miles), at height of 8,200ft (2,500m), completes 35 min test flight between Nitra and Bratislava airports in Slovakia
- 2021 Mexico's Supreme Court decriminalizes marijuana use by adults
