1520: Suleiman the Magnificent succeeds his father, Selim I, as Ottoman Sultan and rules until 1566 1846: Anesthetic ether is used for the first time by American dentist Dr. William Morton to extract a tooth 1862: Minister-President of Prussia Otto von Bismarck delivers his famous “Blood and Iron” speech on the unification of German territories […]
522 BC: Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta, securing his position as king of the Persian Empire 480 BC: Battle of Salamis: The Greek fleet under Themistocles defeats the Persian fleet under Xerxes I 1567: War of Religion breaks out in France as Huguenots try to kidnap King Charles IX 1829: First […]
935: Saint Wenceslas is murdered by his brother Boleslaus I of Bohemia 1066: William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, lands at Pevensey Bay in Sussex, beginning the Norman Conquest of England 1781: 9,000 American and 7,000 French troops begin the Siege of Yorktown 1887: Yellow River or Huáng Hé floods in China, killing between 900,000 […]
1066: William the Conqueror’s troops set sail from Normandy to invade England 1290: Earthquake in the Gulf of Chihli (Bohai Sea) near China reportedly kills 100,000 people 1779: John Adams is appointed to negotiate Revolutionary War peace terms with Great Britain 1821: Mexican revolutionary forces led by Agustín de Iturbide occupy Mexico City as the […]
1580: Francis Drake completes his circumnavigation of the world, sailing into Plymouth, England aboard the Golden Hind 1687: The Acropolis in Athens is attacked by the Venetian army in an attempt to eject the Turks, damaging the Parthenon 1688: City council of Amsterdam votes to support Prince William of Orange’s invasion of England, known as […]
1066: Battle of Stamford Bridge: English army under King Harold II defeats invading Norwegians led by King Harald Hardrada and Harold’s brother Tostig, who are both killed 1237: Treaty of York is signed between Kings Henry III of England and Alexander II of Scotland, establishing a boundary between the two countries that remains mostly unchanged […]
1180: With the death of Manuel I Komnenos, the last Byzantine Emperor of the Komnenian restoration, the Byzantine Empire begins its terminal decline 1493: Christopher Columbus embarks on his second expedition to the New World, setting sail with a fleet of 17 ships 1789: US Federal Judiciary Act passes, creating a six-member Supreme Court 1869: […]
1122: Concordat of Worms is agreed between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V 1821: Fall of Tripolitsa: Greek forces massacre 30,000 Turks during the Greek War of Independence 1862: Otto von Bismarck is appointed Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Prussia by King Wilhelm I 1884: American Herman Hollerith patents his mechanical […]
1692: The last eight people – Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker – are hanged for allegedly practicing witchcraft as a result of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony; 19 are hanged overall, with six other deaths caused by the hysteria 1792: […]
1621: King James I of England gives Scottish courtier and poet William Alexander a royal charter to colonize Nova Scotia 1792: French Revolution: The National Convention passes a proclamation announcing the formal abolition of the French monarchy 1898: Empress Dowager Cixi seizes power and ends the Hundred Days’ Reform in China, imprisoning the Guangxu Emperor […]
