31 BC: Battle of Actium: decisive naval battle that effectively ends the Roman Republic. Octavian’s forces defeat those under Mark Antony and Cleopatra off the western coast of Greece. 1192: Sultan Saladin and King Richard the Lionheart of England sign treaty over Jerusalem, at end of the Third Crusade 1666: Great Fire of London begins at 2am in Pudding Lane, 80% of London is destroyed 1792: September Massacres of […]
1715: King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years—the longest of any major European monarch. 1878: 1st female telephone operator starts work, Emma Nutt for the Edwin Holmes Telephone Despatch Company in Boston 1905: Wilfrid Laurier oversees Alberta and Saskatchewan joining the Confederation of Canada 1939: World War II starts when Germany invades Poland by attacking the Free […]
1142: Possible date for establishment of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) League – with the aid of Hiawatha and Deganawidah 1888: The body of Jack the Ripper’s first victim, Mary Ann Nichols, is found in Whitechapel in London’s East End 1917: In China, Sun Yat-sen and his supporters’ ‘rump’ parliament establishes a military government and elects Sun Yat-sen as commander-in-Chief 1945: The Liberal Party […]
1146: European leaders outlaw crossbow, intending to end war for all time 1363: Beginning of the Battle of Lake Poyang; two Chinese rebel leaders Chen Youliang and Zhu Yuanzhang are pitted against each other in what was one of the largest naval battles in history during Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty 1590: Tokugawa Ieyasu enters Edo Castle (Traditional Japanese date: August […]
1526: Battle of Mohács: In a decisive battle the Hungarian Empire is conquered by the Ottoman Empire led by Suleiman the Magnificent 1825: Portugal recognizes the Independence of Brazil 1842: Great Britain and China sign Treaty of Nanking, ending the Opium war 1862: Second Battle of Bull Run, fought in Manassas, Virginia begins, Confederate victory (US Civil War) 1949: USSR performs […]
1189: Third Crusade: the Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan 1609: English explorer Henry Hudson, discovers and explores Delaware Bay 1830: 1st American built locomotive, “Tom Thumb” races a horse-drawn car from Stockton and Stokes stagecoach company from Baltimore to Ellicott Mills. Let history record that due to mechanical problems the horse won! 1845: Scientific American […]
479 BC: Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Plataea, Persian forces led by Mardonius routed by Greek army under Pausanias; together with Greek success at Battle of Mycale halts Persian invasion of Greece 479 BC: Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Mycale won by Greek forces over Persian naval troops on Ionian coast, double victory with that at Plataea ends Persian […]
1346: Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III’s English longbows defeat Philip VI’s army, cannons used for first time in battle 1682: English astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet named after him 1873: First free kindergarten in the U.S. started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri 1924: The Catastrophe of Smyrna: known as the […]
1609: Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers 1718: Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans founded 1768: Captain James Cook departs from Plymouth, England, on his first voyage on board the Endeavour, bound for the Pacific Ocean 1894: Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague and publishes his findings in The Lancet 1944: General Charles de […]
79: Believed until 2018 to be the date of the massive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius which buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, killing untold thousands. Latest evidence suggests the eruption occurred after 17 October. [1] [2] 410: Rome overrun by Visigoths under Alaric I for the first time in nearly 800 years, seen as the fall of the […]
