164 BC: During Maccabbean revolt Judas Maccabaeus recaptures Jersusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah 1818: Russia’s Tsar Alexander I petitions for a Jewish state in Palestine 1906: China prohibits the opium trade 1970: General Hafez al-Assad becomes Prime Minister of Syria following military coup 1971: Battle of Garibpur: Indian troops aided by the Mukti Bahini, Bengali […]
284: Roman soldier Diocletian proclaimed Emperor by the army 762: Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire 1695: Zumbi, the last King of the Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil and ex-slave, is executed and decapitated, his head displayed on a pike to dispel any legends of his immortality 1815: Second Treaty of Paris: France and […]
1530: The Recess document resulting from the Diet of Augsburg signed by Charles V and catholic princes 1620: The Mayflower reaches Cape Cod and explores the coast 1805: Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, reaches the Pacific Ocean, first European Americans to cross the west 1863: US President Abraham Lincoln delivers his Gettysburg address beginning; “Four score and seven years ago…” […]
1477: First English dated printed book “Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers” by William Caxton 1626: St. Peter’s Basilica is consecrated, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site and becoming the world’s largest Christian basilica 1916: British General Douglas Haig finally calls off the 1st Battle of the Somme in World War I after more than 1 million soldiers had been killed or wounded […]
1558: Elizabeth I aged 25, ascends the English throne upon death of her half sister, Queen “Bloody” Mary 1800: Congress holds its 1st session in Washington, D.C. in an incomplete Capitol Building 1831: Ecuador and Venezuela separated from Greater Colombia 1855: David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls, in what is now Zambia and Zimbabwe 1869: Suez Canal in […]
534: Second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus published 1532: Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captures Inca Emperor Atahualpa after a surprise ambush at Cajamarca in the Peruvian Andes 1776: British troops capture Fort Washington during American Revolution 1945: Founding of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Source: Onthisday.com
1492: Christopher Columbus notes 1st recorded reference to tobacco 1884: European Colonization and trade in Africa is officially regulated at the international Berlin Conference, formalizing European powers “Scramble for Africa” 1904: King C. Gillette patents the Gillette razor blade 1948: Mackenzie King retires after 22 years as Prime Minister of Canada 1969: An estimated 2 million people take part in the Vietnam War Moratorium […]
1680: Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (Kirch’s Comet/Newton’s Comet) 1896: Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation 1908: Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light 1920: The Russian Bolshevik army occupies Sebastopol, ending anti-communist attempts to regain the government of Russia Source: Onthisday.com
1789: Benjamin Franklin writes “Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes” 1933: 1st modern sit-down strike by Hormel meat packers in Austin, Minnesota 1956: US Supreme court rules race separation on buses in Alabama unconstitutional 1980: US spacecraft Voyager 1 sends back 1st close-up pictures of Saturn 1985: Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in Colombia, killing 25,000 in the […]
764: Tibetan troops occupy Chang’an for 15 days, capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty 1927: Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for Joseph Stalin to consolidate complete power 1942: WWII Naval Battle of Guadalcanal begins between Allied and Japanese forces in Solomon Islands 1968: US Supreme Court: Epperson v. Arkansas, court declares unconstitutional Arkansas law banning […]
