656: Ali ibn Abu Talib elected the 4th Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate 1579: English navigator Francis Drake lands on the coast of California at Drakes Bay, names it “New Albion” [1] 1631: Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, then spends more than 20 years building her tomb, the Taj Mahal 1789: French Revolution: During the meeting […]
1779: Spain declares war on Great Britain in support of France and the USA, starting the Great Siege of Gibraltar which goes on to last 3 years, 7 months and 2 weeks 1858: Abraham Lincoln says “A house divided against itself cannot stand” accepting Illinois Republican Party’s nomination for the Senate 1904: Bloomsday (date of events in James Joyce’s novel […]
763 BC: Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history 1215: King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede, near Windsor, England 1775: George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the day after Congress establishes the force 1896: Tsunami strikes Shinto festival on beach at Sanriku, Japan; 27,000 are killed, 9,000 injured and 13,000 houses […]
1381 Richard II in England meets leaders of the Peasants’ Revolt on Blackheath. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance. 1645: Battle of Naseby, Leicestershire: “New Model Army” under Oliver Cromwell & Thomas Fairfax beat royalists forces of English King Charles I 1821: Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Ismail Pasha, general of the […]
1373: Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Alliance (world’s oldest extant) signed in London 1866: US House of representatives passes 14th Amendment (Civil rights) 1878: Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan peninsula following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 1956: The last British troops leave the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt 2000: South Korean President Kim Dae […]
1381: Peasants’ Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath 1830: Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: 34,000 French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch 1864: The Battle of Trevilian Station, the bloodiest and largest all-cavalry battle of the American Civil War in Louisa County ends with Confederate tactical victory and Union successful retreat […]
1184 BC: Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes 631: Emperor Taizong of Tang of China, sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk for the release of Chinese prisoners captured during transition from Sui to Tang from northern frontier; succeeds in freeing 80,000 1776: Continental Congress creates committee to draft a Declaration […]
1190: Third Crusade: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa drowns while crossing the Saleph River (modern Turkey) leading an army to Jerusalem 1786: A landslide dam on the Dadu River caused by earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China 1898: US Marines land in Cuba during the Spanish–American War 1916: Great Arab Revolt begins against ruling […]
68: Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide, imploring his secretary Epaphroditos 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 1549: Book of Common Prayer is adopted by the Church of England 1815: End of the Congress of Vienna: New European political situation is set 1856: 500 Mormons […]
452: Italy invaded by Attila the Hun 793: Vikings in long ships 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 in southern Iceland begins 8-month […]
