1536: Anne Boleyn, second wife of English King Henry VIII, is beheaded at the Tower of London on charges of adultery, incest and treason 1643: Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Harbor form the United Colonies of New England 1649: England is declared a Commonwealth by an act of the Rump Parliament making England a […]
1291: After 100 years of Crusader control, the last Crusader stronghold of Acre is reconquered and destroyed by the Mamluks under Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil 1804: Napoléon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of France by the French Senate 1896: Khodynka Tragedy: A stampeding crowd on Khodynka Field, Moscow, during the festivities for coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas […]
1792: Twenty-four merchants form the New York Stock Exchange at 70 Wall Street 1803 :John Hawkins and Richard French patent the Reaping Machine 1861: The first color photograph, of a tartan ribbon is shown by Scottish scientist James Clerk Maxwell to the Royal Institution in London 1973: US Senate Watergate Committee begins its hearings into […]
1868: US Senate fails to impeach President Andrew Johnson by one vote 1920: French heroine Joan of Arc is canonized as a saint by Pope Benedict XV 1943: Operation Chastise: No. 617 Squadron RAF begins the famous Dambusters Raid, bombing the Möhne and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley with bouncing bombs 1944: 1st of […]
1252: Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad exstirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition 1618: German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovers the third of his three planetary laws, the “harmonic law” 1841: First emigrant wagon train to make it to California leaves Independence, Missouri on a 1,730 […]
1787: Delegates gather in Philadelphia to draw up the Constitution of the United States 1796: English country doctor Edward Jenner administers his revolutionary cowpox-based vaccine for smallpox, in Berkeley, Gloucestershire 1804: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s expedition sets out from St. Louis for the Pacific Coast, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson 1853: Land surveyor, newspaper publisher […]
1787 First Fleet headed by Arthur Phillip sets sails with 11 ships of convicts for Botany Bay, Australia [1] 1830 Republic of Ecuador is founded, with Juan Jose Flores as president 1940 Winston Churchill says “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” in his first speech as Prime Minister to British […]
1789: William Wilberforce makes his first major speech on abolition in the UK House of Commons, reasoning the slave trade morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice 1940: Nazi blitzkrieg and conquest of France begins with German forces crossing the Muese River 1943: Axis forces in North Africa surrender 2002: Former US President Jimmy […]
330: Newly built city of Constantinople (Byzantium) dedicated to Emperor Constantine the Great, becomes the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire 1189: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa and 100,000 crusaders depart Regensburg for the Third Crusade 1751: Pennsylvania Hospital founded by Dr. Thomas Bond and Benjamin Franklin, in Philadelphia 1812: British Prime Minister Spencer […]
1497: Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci leaves for his first voyage to the New World (disputed) 1775: Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for 1st time 1801: First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America (1st US foreign war) 1857: Indian Mutiny against […]
