962: Under future Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo and recover the tattered tunic of John the Baptist during the Arab–Byzantine wars 1688: King James II, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, flees to France from William of Orange 1783: US General George Washington resigns his military commission as Commander-in-Chief […]
1790: Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail is stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) 1885: Samurai Itō Hirobumi becomes the first Prime Minister of Japan 1989: After 23 years of dictatorial rule, Romania ousts communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu from power 1990: Labor activist Lech Wałęsa is sworn […]
1620: Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [OS: Dec 11] [some sources disagree, and OS/NS adds to confusion, could be +/- several days] 1898: Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium 1968: First manned Moon voyage launched with Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders aboard […]
1522: Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle in Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta. 1803: French flag lowered in New Orleans to signify the formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase from France to the United States, purchased for $15 […]
1776: Thomas Paine publishes his first “American Crisis” essay beginning “These are the times that try men’s souls” (date disputed) 1783: William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at age 24 1932: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) begins transmitting overseas 1958: First radio broadcast from space, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends […]
218 BC: Battle of the Trebia: Hannibal’s Carthaginian army heavily defeats Roman forces on Italian soil during the Second Punic War 1271: Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” (元 yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China 1603: First fleet of the Dutch East India Company under Admiral Steven van der […]
1398: Tamerlane captures and sacks Delhi, defeating Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud’s armies by setting camels loaded with hay alight and charging them at the Sultan’s armored elephants 1531: Pope Clement VII publishes papal bull “Cum ad nihil magis”, authorizing the Inquisition into Portugal at Evora, Coimbra and Lisbon; rescinded in 1535 1788: Russian army led by […]
755: An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Lushan Rebellion during the Chinese Tang dynasty 1598: Battle of Noryang Point: In the final naval battle of the Imjin War, the allied Korean and Chinese fleets decisively defeat the Japanese 1653: Parliamentarian General Oliver Cromwell appointed as Lord Protector of England, […]
533: Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandals led by King Gelimer at the Battle of Tricamarum 1256: Hulagu Khan captures and destroys the Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut in present-day Iran as part of the Mongol offensive in Southwest Asia 1488: Bartolomeu Dias returns to Portugal after becoming the first known European to sail around the […]
644: Uthman ibn Affan, a companion of Muhammad, is appointed the third caliph of Islam (644-656) 1287: During St. Lucia’s Flood in northwest Netherlands, the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with the loss of over 50,000 lives, the fifth largest recorded flood in history 1542: Princess Mary Stuart succeeds her father James V and becomes Queen Mary […]
