1813: Battle of Leipzig, largest battle in Europe prior to WWI, Napoleon’s forces defeated by Prussia, Austria and Russia 1900: Great Britain and Germany sign the Anglo-German Treaty, agreeing to maintain territorial integrity of China and support ‘open door’ policy called for by US Secretary of State 1934: Mao Zedong and 25,000 troops begin their 6,000 mile Long March from […]
1581: Commissioned by Catherine de’ Medici, the 1st ballet “Ballet Comique de la Reine” is staged in Paris 1582: Gregorian calendar introduced in Spain, Portugal and pontifical states, after skipping 10 days after Oct 4 to sync the calendar 1815: Napoleon Bonaparte arrives on island of St Helena to begin his exile 1969: Vietnam Moratorium Day; millions nationwide protest the war 1993: Nelson […]
1066: Battle of Hastings: William, Duke of Normandy and his Norman army defeat the English forces of Harold II who is killed in the battle 1322: Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats King Edward II of England at Byland, forcing Edward to accept Scotland’s independence 1774: 1st Continental Congress makes Declaration of Colonial Rights in Philadelphia 1867: 15th and last Tokugawa Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu […]
54: Nero succeeds Claudius as Roman Emperor 1307: French King Philip IV has Grand Master Jacques de Molay and Knights Templar arrested and charged of idolatry and corruption 1884: Greenwich in London established as the universal time meridian of longitude 1924: Mecca falls without struggle to Saudi forces led by Abdulaziz Ibn Saud 1943: Italy declares war on former Axis partner Germany 1944: US 1st […]
539 BC: The army of Cyrus the Great of Persia takes Babylon 1279: Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, founder of Nichiren Buddhism, inscribes the Dai-Gohonzon 1492: Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall on a Caribbean island he names San Salvador (likely Watling Island, Bahamas). The explorer believes he has reached East Asia (OS 21 Oct) 1864: War of the Triple […]
1138: Earthquake in Aleppo, Syria, kills an estimated 230,000 1634: Burchardi flood – “the second Grote Mandrenke” kills about 15,000 in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany 1737: Earthquake reported to have killed 300,000 and destroyed half of Calcutta in India. Now thought to have been an exaggerated account of a hurricane which claimed 3,000 of the city’s estimated […]
680: Al-Hussein (Al-Ḥusayn ibn) and his followers killed at Karbala by army of Yazid, the Umayyad caliph, on the way to Kufa 1780: Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000 to 30,000 in the Caribbean, hitting Barbados first. Atlantic’s deadliest recorded hurricane. 1954: Ho Chi Minh enters Hanoi after withdrawal of French troops 1957: A fire at the Windscale nuclear plant […]
768: Charlemagne and his brother Carloman I are crowned Kings of The Franks 1000: Leif Ericson discovers “Vinland” (possibly L’Anse aux Meadows, Canada) reputedly becoming first European to reach North America 1446: The Hangul alphabet is published in Korea 1831: Ioannis Kapodistrias, first Head of State of modern Greece, assassinated in Nafplion 1941: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves an atomic program that […]
1480: Great standing on the Ugra river, standoff between forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde, and Ivan III Grand Prince of all Rus, Tataro-Mongols retreat, leads to disintegration of the Horde 1856: The Second Opium War or second Anglo-Chinese War: begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River 1856: The Second Opium War or second Anglo-Chinese […]
1571: Battle of Lepanto: Holy League of southern European nations destroy Ottoman fleet in significant loss off Western Greece 1737: A cyclone causes 40 foot waves that are believed to have killed 300,000 in Calcutta, India 1763: George III of Great Britain issues Proclamation of 1763, closing lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlement […]
