48 BC: Caesar’s Civil War: Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey the Great at the Battle of Pharsalus, forcing Pompey to flee to Egypt 378: Battle of Adrianople: Gothic rebel army defeats Roman forces under Emperor Valens, who is killed 1790: Robert Gray’s Columbia Rediviva returns to Boston after a 3-year journey as the first American […]
1509: Emperor Krishnadeva Raya is crowned, beginning the rejuvenation of the Vijayanagara Empire in southern India 1609: Galileo Galilei presents his telescope to the Venetian Senate in Venice 1786: US Congress unanimously chooses the dollar as the monetary unit for the United States of America 1945: Soviet Union declares war on Japan during World War […]
1461: Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor 1714: Battle of Gangut: Russian Navy wins its first major victory during the Great Northern War against Sweden 1782: Commander of the Continental Army, George Washington, creates two Honorary Badges of Distinction and a Badge of Military Merit (now the […]
1497: Italian explorer John Cabot returns to Bristol from North America, likely Newfoundland, becoming the first European known to do so since the Vikings 1661: The Treaty of The Hague is signed, under which the Dutch Republic relinquishes its claims to Dutch Brazil to Portugal in exchange for the equivalent of 63 metric tons of […]
910: The last major Viking army to raid England, led by King Edward and Earl Æthelred, is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex 1305: Scottish resistance leader William Wallace is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution 1583: Humphrey Gilbert […]
1558: The first printing of the Zohar in Spain popularizes the Jewish study of Kabbalah 1821: Russian Antarctic expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen returns to Kronstadt after being the first to circumnavigate Antarctica 1914: US President Woodrow Wilson issues his “Proclamation of Neutrality” to keep the United States out of the war in […]
1492: Christopher Columbus, with Juan de la Cosa as second-in-command, sets sail on his first voyage with three ships: Santa María, Pinta, and Niña from Palos de la Frontera, Spain, for the “Indies” 1596: German astronomer and priest David Fabricius discovers the light variation of Mira, the first variable star 1914: Germany invades Belgium and […]
338 BC: Macedonian army led by Philip II defeats the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony over Greece and the Aegean Sea 216 BC: Second Punic War, Battle of Cannae: Carthaginian army led by Hannibal defeats a numerically superior Roman army under the command of consuls Lucius […]
527: Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire after the death of his uncle Justin I 1086: Results of the Domesday inquiry are presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation and the Great Domesday are historically contestable) 1774: English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in […]
1620: Pilgrim Fathers depart Leiden, Netherlands, for England on their way to America British Royal Field Artillery gunners hauling an 18-pounder field gun out of the mudBattle of Passchendaele 1917: World War I’s Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) begins and lasts until November 6, 1917, causing approximately 500,000 casualties 1961: Israel welcomes its […]
