1242: Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice 1722: Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen is the first European to discover Easter Island / Rapa Nui in the southeastern Pacific 1818: In the Battle of Maipú, Chile’s independence movement – led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín – win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards […]
1581: Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard Golden Hind at Deptford 1655: Battle at Postage Farina, Tunis: English fleet beats Barbary pirates 1789: 1st US Congress begins regular sessions during George Washington’s presidency at Federal Hall, NYC (ending 1791) 1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty signed in Washington, D.C. 1968: US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James […]
1645: English Long Parliament passes the Self-Denying Ordinance, limiting regional armies, significant step toward New Model Army 1922: Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party by an ailing Vladimir Lenin 1948: US President Harry Truman signs Marshall Plan ($5B aid to 16 European countries) 1973: 1st mobile phone call is made in downtown Manhattan, NYC by Motorola employee Martin […]
1453: Turkish forces under Sultan Mehmed II begin the siege of Constantinople (İstanbul), which falls May 29 1513: Explorer Juan Ponce de León claims Florida for Spain as the first known European to reach Florida 1792: The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint and authorizing the $10 Eagle, $5 half-Eagle & 2.50 quarter-Eagle gold coins & silver dollar, ½ […]
527: Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne 1748: Ruins of Pompeii rediscovered by Spaniard Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre 1952: Big Bang theory proposed in Physical Review by Alpher, Bethe & George Gamow 1974: Ayatollah Khomeini calls for an Islamic Republic in Iran 1976: Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs found Apple Computer in the garage of Jobs’ parents house in […]
1146: Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine are present and join the Crusade 1492: Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon issue the Alhambra Decree which expels Jews from their kingdoms 1657: English Parliament makes the Humble Petition to Lord Protector Oliver […]
240 BC: 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet 1856: The Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Paris ending the Crimean War 1867: Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 ($109 million in 2018), roughly 2 cents an acre 1870: 15th Amendment to the US constitution is adopted, […]
845: Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving 1549: The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded 1901: Edmund Barton is elected Prime Minister in Australia’s first parliamentary election 1912: Captain Robert Falcon Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry […]
364: Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor 1854: Britain and France declare war on Russia during the Crimean War 1939: Spanish Civil War ends, Madrid falls to the Nationalists headed by Francisco Franco 1946: Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power. […]
1513: Spaniard Juan Ponce de León and his expedition first sight Florida 1625: Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland ascends the English throne 1914: 1st successful non-direct blood transfusion is performed by Dr. Albert Hustin in Brussels 1958: Nikita Khrushchev becomes Soviet Premier as well as First Secretary of the Communist Party 1977: 583 die in aviation’s worst ever disaster when […]
