30 BC: Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to Octavian’s invasion of Egypt 1178: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa is crowned King of Burgundy 1419: First Defenestration of Prague: Anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, storm Prague Town Hall […]
1588: The “Invincible” Spanish Armada is sighted approaching England, and several skirmishes follow, forcing the invading fleet to make a long and costly retreat around Scotland and Ireland 1609: Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, New York, setting the stage for French-Iroquois conflicts for the next 150 years 1848: Irish […]
1794: French Revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other leaders of “the Terror” are guillotined to thunderous cheers in Paris 1914: Austria-Hungary decides against mediation and declares war on Serbia, the first declaration of war of World War I 1917: Silent Parade organized by James Weldon Johnson, 10,000 African Americans march on Fifth Avenue in […]
1793: Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie completes the first European east-to-west crossing of America north of Mexico 1921: Congresswoman Alice Mary Robertson becomes the first woman to preside over the floor of US House of Representatives 1969: NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar module, carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, lands on the surface of the Moon. Seven […]
1595: Astronomer Johannes Kepler has an epiphany and develops his theory of the geometrical basis of the universe while teaching in Graz, Austria 1843: Steamship SS Great Britain is launched, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it is the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull or screw propeller and the largest vessel afloat in the […]
64: Great Fire of Rome begins under the Emperor Nero 1334: Bishop of Florence blesses the first foundation stone for the new campanile (bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral, designed by artist Giotto di Bondone 1925: Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf, original title was the catchy “Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, […]
180: Six residents of Carthage, North Africa, are executed for being Christian, the earliest recorded instance of Christianity in the region 1203: The Siege of Constantinople begins during the Fourth Crusade, as Roman Catholic Crusaders, aboard a Venetian fleet, attack the city 1762: Empress Catherine II becomes Tsarina of Russia following the murder of Tsar […]
622: Islamic Era begins: Muhammad and his followers begin migration from Mecca to Medina (Hijra) 1054: The Great Schism between Western and Eastern churches begins when Roman Cardinal Humbert issues a bull of excommunication against Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople, on the altar of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople 1517: copy of Martin Luther’s 95 theses, […]
1099: City of Jerusalem is captured and plundered by Christian forces during the First Crusade 1381: John Ball, a leader in the Peasants’ Revolt, is hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England 1410: Battle of Grunwald (First Battle of Tannenburg, Battle of Žalgiris), one of Medieval Europe’s largest battles during […]
1789: Bastille Day – the French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris, now celebrated as France’s national day 1798: US Sedition Act prohibits “any false, scandalous, and malicious writing” about the government 1850: First public demonstration of ice made via refrigeration by Florida physician John Gorrie 1933: All non-Nazi political […]
