• HISTORY
    15 February 2024: This day in history

    399: BC Philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death by the city of Athens for corrupting the minds of the youth of the city and for impiety 590: Khosrau II, the last great Sasanian king is crowned King of Persia 1763: Austria, Prussia and Saxony sign the Treaty of Hubertusburg, marking the end of the French and […]

  • HISTORY
    14 February 2024: This day in history

    1014: Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry II Holy Roman Emperor 1076: Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (for the 1st time) 1797: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: British fleet under Admiral Sir John Jervis defeats larger Spanish fleet under Admiral Don José de Córdoba y Ramos near Cape St. Vincent, Portugal. Captain […]

  • HISTORY
    13 February 2024: This day in history

    1258: Baghdad, then a city of 1 million, falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed, tens of thousands slaughtered, ending the Islamic Golden Age 1601: Fleet of five British East India Company vessels departs on their 1st voyage from London, led by Sir James John Lancaster commanding the “Red Dragon”; journey takes […]

  • HISTORY
    12 February 2024: This day in history

    1700: The Great Northern War begins in Northern Europe between Denmark–Norway, Saxony and Russia and the Swedish Empire. 1912: The last Qing Emperor of China, Puyi (age 6) abdicates after losing the support of the Chinese people and thus the “mandate of heaven” 1947: French fashion designer Christian Dior presents his first influential collection, named […]

  • HISTORY
    11 February 2024: This day in history

    660 BC: Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu 1858: First vision of the Virgin Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes, France 1929: Vatican City, the world’s smallest country, is made an enclave of Rome 1975: Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for leadership of the British Conservative Party 1990: Nelson Mandela is […]

  • HISTORY
    10 February 2024: This day in history

    60: St Paul thought to have been shipwrecked at Malta 1720: Edmond Halley appointed as the second Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory 1763: Treaty of Paris ends French-Indian War, France surrenders Canada to Great Britain 1824: Simón Bolívar named dictator by the Congress of Peru 1906: British battleship HMS Dreadnought launches after only 100 […]

  • HISTORY
    9 February 2024: This day in history

    1775: British Parliament declares Massachusetts colony in rebellion 1897: Invasion of Benin City by British Expedition force, the city is burnt and looted, marks the end of the Nigerian Kingdom of Benin formed in the 11th century 1904: Japanese torpedo boats make a surprise attack on Russian ships Port Arthur naval base, Manchuria, beginning the […]

  • HISTORY
    8 February 2024: This day in history

    1587: Mary, Queen of Scots, is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle aged 44 after being convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot 1672: Isaac Newton reads first optics paper before the Royal Society in London 1807: Battle of Eylau ends inconclusively between Napoleon’s forces and the Russian Empire, first battle Napoleon isn’t […]

  • HISTORY
    7 February 2024: This day in history

    1301: Edward of Caernarfon (later Edward II) becomes the first English Prince of Wales 1842: Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien 1856: Colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the 1st piece of legislation (the Electoral Act of 1856) anywhere in the world providing […]

  • HISTORY
    6 February 2024: This day in history

    1508: Maximilian I proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor, first Emperor in centuries not crowned by the Pope 1778: Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance signed in Paris, between the United States and France, the first negotiated by the United States. The first established formal diplomatic and commercial relations and the second formed […]