1492: 1st Spanish settlement La Navidad in the New World is founded by Christopher Columbus (modern Môle-Saint-Nicolas in Haiti) 1620: Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [OS: Dec 16] 1792: Trial of French King Louis XVI, court hears the kings defense brought by Raymond Desèze 1825: Decembrist uprising in Russia against Tsar Nicholas I […]
1: 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus 800: Pope Leo III crowns Charles the Great (Charlemagne), Roman Emperor 1066: William the Conqueror is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, completing the Norman conquest of England 1741: Astronomer Anders Celsius introduces Centigrade temperature scale 1868: Despite bitter opposition, US President Andrew Johnson grants unconditional pardon to all persons involved in Southern rebellion (Civil War) 1991: Mikhail […]
1565: Compromise of the Nobles in Habsburg Netherlands closes against inquisition 1814: Treaty of Ghent signed, ending the War of 1812 between the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies 1936: 1st radioactive isotope medicine administered in Berkeley, California 1943: US President FDR appoints General Eisenhower Supreme Commander of the Allied forces Source: Onthisday.com
962: Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under future Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist 1688: King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch flees to France from William of Orange 1783: US General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to Congress 1888: Vincent van Gogh cuts off his […]
1790: Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) 1877: Thomas Edison’s Phonograph is announced by Scientific American 1885: Itō Hirobumi, a samurai, becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan 1989: After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu 1990: Lech Wałęsa sworn in as Poland’s […]
1898: Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium 1968: Apollo 8: 1st manned Moon voyage launched with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders 1988: Lockerbie disaster: A terrorist bomb destroys Pan Am Flight 103 mid-air, over Scotland; kills all 259 passengers and crew on board, and 11 people on the ground 1991: Soviet Union formally dissolves as 11 of 12 republics sign […]
1522: Suleiman the Magnificent accepts surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle in Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta. 1803: French flag lowered in New Orleans to mark the formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase from France to USA, purchased for $15M 1812: “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” or “Children’s […]
1776: Thomas Paine publishes his 1st “American Crisis” essay beginning “These are the times that try men’s souls” (date disputed) 1783: William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24 1932: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) begins transmitting overseas 1958: 1st radio broadcast from space, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower Christmas message “to all mankind, America’s wish for peace […]
218 BC: Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal’s Carthaginian army heavily defeat Roman forces on Italian soil 1271: Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” (元 yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China 1603: First fleet of the Dutch East India Company under Admiral Steven van der Haghen departs for the East-Indies 1642: Abel Tasman’s […]
1398: Tamerlane captures and sacks Delhi, defeating Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud’s armies by setting camels loaded with hay alight and charging them at the Sultan’s armored elephants 1526: Pope Clemens VII publishes decree Cum ad zero – forms Inquisition 1788: Russian army of Grigory Potemkin occupies Ocharov 1903: The Wright brothers make the 1st sustained motorized aircraft flight at 10:35 AM, piloted […]
