312: Roman Emperor Constantine the Great is said to have received his famous Vision of the Cross 1795: Pinckney’s Treaty [Treaty of San Lorenzo] signed by Spain and US, establishing the southern boundary of the US and giving Americans right to navigate the Mississippi River 1962: Black Saturday during the Cuban Missile Crisis: An American […]
1850: Robert McClure sights the fabled Northwest Passage for the first time (from Banks Island towards Melville Island) 1861: Pony Express (Missouri to California) ends after 19 months 1863: International conference begins in Geneva aimed at improving medical conditions on battlefields – beginning of the Red Cross 1977: Last natural case of smallpox discovered in […]
1415: Battle of Agincourt: Henry V’s forces defeat larger French army, and the longbow defeats the armored knight (Azincourt, France) 1854: The infamous “Charge of the Light Brigade” during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War results in over 100 killed 1962: US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson demands USSR UN rep Valerian […]
1260: Qutuz, Mamluk Sultans of Egypt (1259-60), is assassinated by Baibars, a fellow Mamluk leader, who seizes power for himself 1648: Treaty of Westphalia ends The Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire; Switzerland’s independence recognized 1929: “Black Thursday”, start of stock market crash of 1929, Dow Jones Industrial Average drops 12.8% 1962: Cuban […]
42 BC: Roman Republican civil wars: Second Battle of Philippi – Brutus’s army is decisively defeated by Mark Antony and Octavian. Brutus commits suicide. 1911: 1st aerial reconnaissance mission is flown by an Italian pilot over Turkish lines during the Italo-Turkish War 1942: During WWII, Britain launches major offensive at El Alamein, Egypt 1977: Paleontologist […]
1633: Battle of Liaoluo Bay: Dutch East India Company defeated by Chinese Ming naval forces in southern Fujian sea 1721: Tsar Peter the Great titles himself “Emperor of All Russia” 1879: Thomas Edison perfects carbonized cotton filament light bulb 1884: International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. adopts Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) worldwide, creating 24 international […]
1805: Battle of Trafalgar: British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats combined French and Spanish fleet. Nelson shot and killed during battle. 1854: Florence Nightingale with a staff of 38 nurses is sent to the Crimean War 1944 World War II: US troops capture Aachen, 1st large German city to fall 1948: UN rejects Russian proposal to destroy […]
1097 1st Crusaders arrive in Antioch during the First Crusade 1603 Chinese uprising in the Philippines fails after 23,000 killed 1803 US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase 1917 US suffragette Alice Paul begins a 7 month jail sentence for peacefully picketing in support of the women’s Suffrage (right to vote) Amendment at the White House […]
202 BC: Battle of Zama: Hannibal Barca and the Carthaginian army are defeated by Roman legions under Scipio Africanus, ending 2nd Punic War 1781: British forces under General Charles Cornwallis sign terms of surrender to George Washington and Comte de Rochambeau at Yorktown at 2 pm, ending the US Revolutionary War 1926: Russian Politburo throws […]
1009: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is destroyed by the Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who hacks the Church’s foundations down to bedrock 1685: French King Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes cancelling rights of French Protestants 1867: Alaska Purchase: US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia, having paid $7.2 million […]
