41: Claudius succeeds his nephew Caligula as Roman Emperor after the latter’s assassination by officers of the Praetorian Guard 1848: James Marshall finds gold in Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California 1857: University of Calcutta founded as the first full-fledged university in South Asia 1899: Rubber heel for boots or shoes patented by American Humphrey O’Sullivan 1908: Lieutenant General Robert Baden-Powell publishes “Scouting for Boys” as a manual […]
971: War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops; Southern Han state forced to submit to the Song Dynasty. 1st regular war elephant corps in Chinese army 1368: In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule […]
1689: Prince William of Orange (future King William III of Britain), summons Convention Parliament to discuss ruling jointly with his wife Mary (daughter of exiled King James II) 1879: Battle of Rorke’s Drift: British garrison of 150 holds off 3,000-4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses and a number of other decorations were awarded to the defenders. 1905: In St Petersburg, Russia, […]
1525: Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union 1789: The 1st American novel, William Hill Brown’s “The Power of Sympathy” is published by Isaiah Thomas 1793: Louis XVI of France is executed […]
1265: First English Parliament summoned other than by royal command (in this instance by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester) mets in Westminster Hall 1841: China cedes Hong Kong to the British during the 1st Opium War 1921: Republic of Turkey declared out of remnants of Ottoman Empire 1942: Nazi officials hold the notorious Wannsee Conference in Berlin to organize the […]
379: Theodosius installed as co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire by Emperor Gratian 1812: Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo 1883: The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey 1966: Indira Gandhi elected […]
532: Nika uprising against Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople fails, 30,000 killed by troops loyal to the Emperor in the Hippodrome 1591: King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat, date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day 1788: First elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia […]
1773: Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33′ S) 1873: A group of Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War 1912: Captain Robert Scott’s expedition arrives at the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen 1946: United Nations Security Council holds its 1st meeting 1991: Operation […]
27: BC The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate 1412: The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy 1547: Ivan IV the Terrible, aged 17, crowns himself the 1st tsar of Moscow 1793: French King Louis XVI sentenced to death by the National Convention during the French Revolution 1913: British House of Commons accepts Home Rule […]
588 BC: Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah’s reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC. 1535: King Henry VIII declares himself head of the Church in England 1559: Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey 1759: British Museum opens in Montague House, London 1902: Abdulaziz Ibn Saud leads 40 men over the walls of Riyadh and takes the […]
