1854: French and British forces bombard Sevastopol for the first time during the Crimean War 1907: Guglielmo Marconi’s company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland 1943: Burma Railway, built by Allied POWs and Asian laborers, is completed for use by the Japanese army 1973: OPEC […]
1813: Battle of Leipzig begins; the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I, sees Napoleon’s forces defeated by Prussia, Austria, and Russia after 3 days [1] 1900: Great Britain and Germany sign the Yangtze Agreement, agreeing to maintain the territorial integrity of China and support the “Open Door” policy called for by the […]
1581: The first ballet “Ballet Comique de la Reine,” commissioned by Catherine de Medici, is staged in Paris Pope Gregory XIII with the calendar that was to make his nameGregory Conquers Julius Caesar 1582: Gregorian calendar is introduced in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal States after skipping 10 days from October 4 to sync the […]
1066 Battle of Hastings: William, Duke of Normandy and his Norman army defeat the English forces of Harold II, who is killed in the battle 1322 Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at the Battle of Old Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland’s independence 1774 First Continental Congress makes Declaration […]
54: Nero succeeds Claudius as the Emperor of the Roman Empire; Agrippina the Younger is thought to have murdered Claudius, her husband, with poisonous mushrooms to secure the succession for her son Nero 1307: French King Philip IV has Grand Master Jacques de Molay and the Knights Templar arrested and charged with idolatry and corruption […]
539 BC: Army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon 1279: Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon 1492: Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall on a Caribbean island he names San Salvador (likely Watling Island, Bahamas); the explorer believes he has reached East Asia (OS 21 Oct) 1864: Brazilian […]
1138: Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills an estimated 230,000 people 1634: Burchardi flood, known as the second “Grote Mandrenke,” kills about 15,000 people in North Friesland, Denmark, and Germany 1737: An earthquake is reported to have killed 300,000 people and destroyed half of Calcutta in India; now thought to have been an exaggerated account of […]
1780: The Great Hurricane of 1780 hits Barbados and goes on to kill 20,000 to 30,000 people in the Caribbean, making it the deadliest recorded hurricane in the Atlantic 1871: The Great Chicago Fire is finally extinguished after three days, leaving approximately 300 dead, 100,000 homeless, and causing $222 million in damage 1911: Chinese revolutionaries […]
768: Charlemagne and his brother Carloman I are both crowned King of the Franks 1000: Leif Erikson reaches “Vinland” (possibly L’Anse aux Meadows, Canada), reputedly becoming the first European to reach North America 1446: Korean Hangul alphabet is first published by King Sejong the Great 1941: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves an atomic program […]
1480: Great Stand on the Ugra River: Standoff between forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and Ivan III, Grand Prince of all Rus, ends with a Tatar-Mongol retreat, leading to the disintegration of the Horde 1769: Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand for the first time near present-day Gisborne on the […]
