Archives

1610: Galileo Galilei discovers the first three moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa and Ganymede 1714: Typewriter patented by Englishman Henry Mill (built years later) 1941: New Fourth Army Incident: Chinese Kuomintang forces under orders from Chiang Kai-shek fire on surrounded Communist New Fourth Army at Maolin, Anhui Province, killing or capturing 7,000 troops 1953: US […]

1649: The English Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial for treason and other “high crimes” 1912: Geophysicist and meteorologist Alfred Wegener presents his controversial theory of continental drift in a lecture at the Geological Association (Geologischen Vereinigung) at the Senckenberg-Museum, Frankfurt 1941: US President Franklin Roosevelt makes his “Four Freedoms” speech (freedom […]

1477: Battle of Nancy: Swiss Confederacy led by René II decisively defeats the Duchy of Burgundy, 7,000+ killed including the Duke of Burgundy Charles the Bold 1781: British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia 1919: German Workers’ Party forms, precursor to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) 1930: Mao Zedong writes […]

1847: Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government 1865: New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad St, near Wall Street in New York City 1959: USSR’s Luna 1 (Mechta) becomes the 1st spacecraft to leave Earth’s gravity 1961: Longest recorded strike ends as the Danish […]

1496: Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine 1521: Martin Luther is excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church for failing to recant parts of his Ninety-five Theses which started the Protestant Reformation 1777: General George Washington’s revolutionary army defeats British forces at Battle of Princeton, New Jersey 1925: Benito Mussolini […]

366: The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire 1492: Muhammad XII, the last Emir of Granada, surrenders his city to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel I of Castile, ending both the Reconquista and centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula 1570: Tsar Ivan the Terrible’s march […]

45 BC: The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time, by edict of Roman consul Julius Caesar 630: Prophet Muhammad sets out with an army 10,000 strong to conquer Mecca 1758: The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature establish the “starting point” for standardized species names across the animal kingdom, based on the binomial nomenclature […]

406: 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mainz, beginning invasion of Gallia 1703: Genroku earthquake off the coast of Japan, near Edo (modern-day Tokyo), kills thousands and triggers a large tsunami killing thousands more 1744: English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth’s nutation motion or wobble 1775: Battle of Quebec: American […]

1460: Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield (Northern England), Duke of York killed and his forces soundly defeated by forces of King Henry VI 1906: The All-India Muslim League is founded in Dacca, East Bengal, British India Empire, later laid down the foundations of Pakistan 1922: Creation of the USSR formally proclaimed in Moscow […]