451: Battle of the Catalaunian Plains: Roman and Visigoths forces defeat Attila the Hun in north east France, halting Hun invasion of Roman Gaul (exact date disputed) 1789: French Revolution: The Third Estate of the French Estates-General swears the Tennis Court Oath at the Palace of Versailles, swearing not to disband until a new constitution is formed 1840: American inventor Samuel Morse patents his […]
1306: The Earl of Pembroke’s army defeats Robert the Bruce’s Scottish army at the Battle of Methven 1829: Robert Peel introduces the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 into Parliament to establish a unified police force for London, the city’s 1st modern police force 1862: Slavery outlawed in US territories 1865: Union General Gordon Granger declares slaves are free in Texas, now the date the end of […]
618: Coronation of the Chinese governor Li Yuan as Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the new Emperor of China, initiating three centuries of the Tang Dynasty’s rule over China 1812: War of 1812 begins as US declares war against Britain 1815: Battle of Waterloo; Napoleon Bonaparte and France defeated by British forces under Duke of Wellington and Prussian troops under Field […]
656: Ali ibn Abu Talib elected the 4th Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate 1527: Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 5 ships and 600 men, by 1536 only 4 are still alive 1579: English navigator Francis Drake lands on the coast of California at Drakes Bay, names it “New Albion” 1631: Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, […]
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 “Ulysses”) 1963: Soviet […]
763 BC: Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history 1215: English King John signs the Magna Carta at Runnymede, near Windsor in Surrey, places limits on royal authority and puts in writing the principle that the king and his government are not above the law 1775: George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, […]
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 […]
1373: Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Perpetual Alliance (world’s oldest still in existence) signed in London between King Edward III of England and King Ferdinand I of Portugal 1866: US House of representatives passes 14th Amendment (Civil rights) 1878: Congress of Berlin begins, determines the territories of the states in the Balkan 1956: The last British troops leave the Suez Canal Zone in Egypt 2000: South Korean […]
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 […]
