1184 BC: Troy is sacked and burned during the Trojan War, according to calculations by Eratosthenes 631: Emperor Taizong of Tang sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk for the release of Chinese prisoners captured on the northern frontier during the transition from the Sui to Tang dynasty and succeeds in freeing 80,000 […]
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 Epaphroditus 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, halting Arab expansion in Western Europe 1549: Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England 1815: Congress […]
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, ending 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 Sun Yat-Sen 1944: […]
1873: Sultan Barghash bin Said, under British pressure, closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in present-day Tanzania 1947: US Secretary of State George C. Marshall outlines the “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Western Europe 1963: A state of siege is declared in Iran, and Ayatollah Khomeini is arrested 1967: Six-Day War begins between Israel and […]
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: […]
1621: Dutch West India Company receives charter for the West Indies (the Americas, Caribbean and West Africa) 1929: Chile and Peru sign the Treaty of Lima, finally resolving their border dispute from the War of the Pacific (1879–83). Chile keeps Arica and Peru regains Tacna. 1943: A mob of 60 from the Los Angeles Naval […]
455: King Gaiseric and the Vandals sack Rome, looting continues for 14 days 1862: Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate armies of North Virginia during the American Civil War 1896: Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy in the United Kingdom 1953: Coronation […]
