1787: Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up US Constitution 1796: English country doctor Edward Jenner administers the first inoculation against smallpox, using cowpox pus, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire 1804: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s expedition commissioned by Thomas Jefferson sets out from St Louis for Pacific Coast 1948: Israel declares independence from British administration Source: Onthisday.com
1787 Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of criminals to Botany Bay, Australia 1830 Republic of Ecuador is founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president 1934 Great dustbowl storm sweeps across US prairies 1940 Winston Churchill says “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” in his first speech as Prime Minister to British House of Commons […]
1789: William Wilberforce makes his first major speech on abolition in the UK House of Commons, reasoning the slave trade morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice 1940: Nazi blitzkrieg and conquest of France begins with the crossing of the Muese River 1943: Axis forces in North Africa surrender 2002: Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel […]
By Iphigenie Moraitini The concept of “friendly fire”—or, when some ally accidentally fires on you—was invented to highlight one of the perhaps most maddening things about war: It is confusing. It is an ugly big mess. In fact, some people have been known to joke that the only reason soldiers wear a uniform is, so […]
330: Constantinople (Byzantium) becomes the capital of the Roman Empire 1189: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg for the Third Crusade 1751: Pennsylvania Hospital founded by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin 1924: Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie begin their first joint venture (later merge into Mercedes-Benz) 1995: More than 170 countries agree to extend the Nuclear Nonproliferation […]
1497: Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World (disputed) 1775: Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for 1st time 1801: First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (1st US foreign war) 1857: Indian mutiny against rule by the British East India Company […]
1386: Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England (oldest diplomatic alliance in the world still in force) 1865: President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end; this is the commonly accepted end date of the American Civil War 1901: The First Australian Parliament opens in Melbourne, though the first working session will not […]
1660: English parliament declares Charles Stuart to be King Charles II of England 1835: 1st installment of Hans Christian Andersen “Fairy Tales” published by C. A. Reitzel in Copenhagen, Denmark 1895: China cedes Taiwan to Japan under Treaty of Shimonoseki 1902: Mount Pelée on the French overseas island of Martinique erupts, wiping out the city of Saint-Pierre, killing 30,000 and leaving only two […]
1429 English siege of Orleans broken by Joan of Arc and the French army 1867: Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel Patents Dynamite in England, the first of three patents he would receive for the explosive material 1912: Columbia University approves plans for awarding the Pulitzer Prize in several categories, after established by Joseph Pulitzer 1915: RMS Lusitania sunk by German submarine off the southern coast […]
1626: Dutch colonist Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of goods, believed to have been Canarsee Indians of the Lenape 1840: World’s first adhesive postage stamp, the “Penny Black”, is first used in Great Britain 1889: Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as […]
