1689: Prince William of Orange (future King William III of Britain), summons Convention Parliament to discuss ruling jointly with his wife Mary (daughter of exiled King James II) 1879: Battle of Rorke’s Drift: British garrison of 150 holds off 3,000-4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses and a number of other decorations were awarded to the […]
1525: Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union 1789: The 1st American novel, William Hill Brown’s “The Power of Sympathy” is published by Isaiah Thomas 1793: Louis XVI […]
1265: First English Parliament summoned other than by royal command, in this instance by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. Meets in Westminster Hall. 1841: China cedes Hong Kong to the British during the First Opium War 1921: Republic of Turkey declared out of remnants of the Ottoman Empire 1942: Nazi officials hold the notorious […]
379: Theodosius installed as co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire by Emperor Gratian 1812: Peninsular War: After a ten day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the Light and third divisions to storm Ciudad Rodrigo 1883: The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service […]
532: Nika uprising against Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople fails, 30,000 killed by troops loyal to the Emperor in the Hippodrome 1591: King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat, date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day 1788: First elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 […]
1773: Captain James Cook becomes the first to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33′ S) 1873: Modoc warriors defeats the United States Army in the First Battle of the Stronghold, a part of the Modoc War 1912: Captain Robert Scott’s expedition arrives at the South Pole, one month after Roald Amundsen 1920: First day of prohibition […]
27 BC: The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate 1412: The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy 1547: Ivan the Terrible, aged 17, crowns himself the 1st tsar of Moscow 1605: The first edition of “El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha” (Book One […]
588 BC: Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah’s reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC. 1535: King Henry VIII declares himself head of the Church in England 1559: Elizabeth I crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey 1759: British Museum opens in Montague House, London 1902: Abdulaziz Ibn Saud […]
1526: Charles V and Francis I sign the Treaty of Madrid, forcing Francis to give up claims to Burgundy, Italy and Flanders 1641: Dutch East India Company conquers the city of Malacca, 7,000 killed 1724: Spanish King Philip V abdicates throne 1761: Third Battle of Panipat: In one of the largest battles of the century, […]
532: Nika riots begin in Constantinople, a revolt against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I that leaves half the city burned and thousands dead. The riots were prompted by the failed execution of chariot racing supporters and only stopped after Empress Theodora refused to flee, forcing her husband to act decisively. 1888: The National Geographic Society is […]
