533: Byzantine General Belisarius defeats the Vandals, under King Gelimer, at the Battle of Ticameron 1256: Hulagu Khan captures and destroys Hashshashin stronghold at Alamut, in present-day Iran, part of the Mongol offensive on Islamic southwest Asia 1488: Bartolomeu Dias returns to Portugal after becoming 1st known European to sail round the Cape of Good […]
644: Uthman ibn Affan, companion of Muhammad, is appointed the 3rd Caliph of Islam 1287: During St. Lucia’s Flood in Northwest Netherlands the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with loss of over 50,000 lives. Fifth largest recorded flood in history 1542: Princess Mary Stuart succeeds her father James V and becomes Queen Mary I of Scotland at […]
1577: Francis Drake sets sail from England on an epic three year circumnavigation of the world aboard the ‘Pelican’ (later renamed the ‘Golden Hind’) 1636: The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. Recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard. 1642: Dutch explorer […]
627: Battle of Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius defeats Sassanid forces during the Byzantine-Sassanid War Marconi with his telegraphic box of tricksMarconi’s Dream: Telegraphy Without Wires 1901: Guglielmo Marconi sends the first transatlantic radio signal, from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, Canada 1925: Last Qajar Shah of Iran is deposed; Reza Shah Pahlavi takes over 1946: […]
1282: Llywelyn ab Gruffydd the last native and independent Prince of Wales is killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge at Cilmeri, near Builth Wells, south Wales by forces of Edward I of England. Reigned from 1259 and is known as Llywelyn the Last. 1620: Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to […]
1520: Martin Luther publicly burns papal edict demanding he recant 1684: Isaac Newton’s derivation of Kepler’s laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper “De motu corporum in gyrum” (On the motion of bodies in an orbit), is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley. 1799: Metric system is first adopted in […]
536: Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire. 1212: Frederick II (later also Holy Roman Emperor) crowned King of Germany in Mainz. 1968: Douglas Engelbart demonstrates in “The Mother of All Demos” the computer system NLS (oN-Line System) to a live audience […]
1863: Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South 1941: US and Britain declare war on Japan, US enters World War II President Roosevelt delivers the “Day of Infamy” speech to a joint session of CongressFDR’s Day of Infamy Speech 1941: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his famous “Day […]
43 BC: Roman orator and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated in Formiae by soldiers under the command of Mark Antony 1909: Inventor Leo Baekeland patents the first thermosetting plastic, Bakelite, sparking the birth of the plastics industry 1941: Imperial Japanese Navy with 353 planes attacks the US fleet at Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii, […]
1240: Mongols led by Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kyiv after an eight-day siege; out of 50,000 people in the city, only 2,000 survive 1865: 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery except as a punishment for crime where the party has been duly convicted 1877: Thomas Edison enters the offices […]
