1633: Galileo Galilei forced to recant his Copernican views that the Earth orbits the Sun by the Pope (Vatican only admits it was wrong on Oct 31, 1992!) 1675: Royal Greenwich Observatory established in England by Charles II 1772: Somerset v Stewart court case finds slavery unsupported by English common law, encouraging the abolitionist movement 1848: Beginning of the June Days […]
1788: US Constitution comes into effect when New Hampshire is the 9th state to ratify it 1854: First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands (Crimean War) 1948: Lord Mountbatten resigns as Governor General of India (formerly the last Viceroy) 1990: 7.7 Manjil-Rudbar Earthquake with hundreds of aftershocks hits Iran; killing about 50,000 1993: English mathematician Andrew Wiles […]
451: Battle of the Catalaunian Plains: Roman and Visigoths forces defeat Attila the Hun in north east France, alting Hun invasion of Roman Gaul (exact date disputed) 1214: The University of Oxford receives its charter 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 […]
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, world’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 slavery […]
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 and France defeated by British forces under Wellington and Prussian troops under Blucher 1928 American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes […]
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 […]
