538: Witiges, King of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome, retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of victorious Byzantine General Belisarius 1455: First record of Johannes Gutenberg’s Bible, letter dated this day by Enea Silvio Piccolomini refers to the bible printed a year before 1642: Abel Tasman is the 1st European to sight New Zealand, viewing […]
843: Icon veneration officially re-instated in Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople 1502: Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524) 1918: Moscow becomes capital of revolutionary Russia 1966: Military coup led by Indonesian General Suharto breaks out 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev replaces Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader 2011: 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 130 km (80 miles) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami […]
241 BC: First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands – The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end 1783: USS Alliance under Captain Barry fights and wins last naval battle of US Revolutionary War off Cape Canaveral 1861: West African political leader El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, […]
141 BC: Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years 1522: Martin Luther begins preaching his “Invocavit Sermons” in the German city of Wittenberg, reminding citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence and thus helping bring to a close the revolutionary stage […]
1531: Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of Church in England by the Convocation of Canterbury 1817: The New York Stock Exchange is founded 1867: British North America Act is passed in the House of Commons, serves as Canada’s constitution for more than 100 years 1917: Russian “February Revolution” begins in earnest with protests celebrating International Woman’s Day and riots […]
161: Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, an unprecedented political arrangement in the Roman Empire 1530: English King Henry VIII’s divorce request is denied by the Pope 1876: Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for the telephone in the US 1912: Roald Amundsen announces his discovery of the South Pole (located 14 December 1911) 1936: Adolf Hitler breaks the […]
1479 Treaty of Alcaçovas: Portugal gives the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for claims in West Africa 1836 Battle of the Alamo: After 13 days of fighting 1,500-3,000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the Texan defenders, killing 182-257 Texans including William Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett 1857 Dred Scott Decision: US Supreme Court rules Africans cannot be US citizens 1869: Dmitri […]
363: Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign that brings about his own death 1046: Persian scholar Naser Khosrow begins the 7 year Middle Eastern journey which he will later describe in his book Safarnama 1496: English King Henry VII grants John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) a commission to […]
1238: Battle of the Sit River: Mongol forces of Batu Khan overcome Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal near Yaroslavl in Russia, ending Russian resistance 1801: Thomas Jefferson is the first US President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. 1861: Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th US President 1902: American Automobile Association (AAA) founded in Chicago 1933: Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated as 32nd US […]
1575: Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi 1857: Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China 1861: Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs and granting them the full rights of free citizens [O.S. Feb 19] 1887: Anne Sullivan begins teaching 6 year old blind-deaf Helen Keller 1917: 1st major strike of the […]
