1373: Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Perpetual Alliance (world’s oldest still in existence) is signed in London between King Edward III of England and King Ferdinand I of Portugal 1866: US House of Representatives passes the 14th Amendment (Civil Rights) 1878: Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the […]
1770: Patent for the ‘Spinning Jenny’, the first multiple spinning machine that revolutionizes cotton spinning, is granted to English weaver James Hargreaves [1] 1830: Beginning of French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers at Sidi Ferruch 1864: Battle of Trevilian Station, the bloodiest and largest all-cavalry battle of the […]
1184 BC: Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes 631: Emperor Taizong of Tang of China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk for the release of Chinese prisoners captured during transition from Sui to Tang from northern frontier; succeeds in freeing 80,000 1776: Continental Congress creates committee […]
1190: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa drowns while crossing the Saleph River in modern-day Turkey, leading an army to Jerusalem during the Third Crusade 1786: A landslide dam on the Dadu River, caused by an earthquake ten days earlier, collapses and kills 100,000 in Sichuan province, China 1898: US Marines land in Cuba during […]
68: Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos to slit his throat to evade a Senate-imposed death by flogging 721: Odo of Aquitaine defeats a Umayyad Muslim army at the Battle of Toulouse, checks Arab expansion in Western Europe 1549: Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England 1815: End […]
452: Attila the Hun invades Italy 793: Vikings in longships from modern-day Norway plunder St. Cuthbert’s monastery on Lindisfarne Island off the northeast coast of England, capturing and killing monks 1191: King Richard I of England arrives at Acre in modern-day Israel to join the Siege of Acre during the Third Crusade 1783: Laki volcano […]
1494: Treaty of Tordesillas: Spain and Portugal divide the New World along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands off the west coast of Africa 1628: English King Charles I ratifies the Petition of Right 1654: Louis XIV is crowned King of France 1753: British Museum is founded by an Act of […]
1523: Gustav Vasa is elected King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union 1716: French transport the first African slaves to Louisiana 1916: The death of Yuan Shikai, ruler of much of China since 1912, causes central government to virtually collapse in the face of pressure from warlords, and from political reformers including […]
1873: Sultan Bargash bin Said under British pressure closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania 1947: US Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Western Europe 1963: State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested 1967: Six-Day War begins between Israel and the neighboring Arab states […]
1760: The Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive in Nova Scotia, Canada, to claim land taken from the Acadians 1940: British complete the “Miracle of Dunkirk” by evacuating 338,226 allied troops from France via a flotilla of over 800 vessels including Royal Navy destroyers, merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and even lifeboats 1989: […]
