1346: Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III’s English longbows defeat Philip VI’s army, cannons used for first time in battle 1682: English astronomer Edmond Halley first observes the comet named after him 1873: First free kindergarten in the U.S. started by Susan Blow in Carondelet, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri 1924: The Catastrophe of Smyrna: known as the […]
1609: Galileo demonstrates his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers, including to the Doge (ruler) of Venice, Leonardo Donato 1718: Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans founded 1768: Captain James Cook departs from Plymouth, England, on his first voyage on board the Endeavour, bound for the Pacific Ocean 1894: Japanese scientist Shibasaburo Kitasato discovers the infectious agent of the bubonic plague […]
79: Believed until 2018 to be the date of the massive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius which buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, killing untold thousands. Latest evidence suggests the eruption occurred after 17 October. 410: Rome overrun by Visigoths under Alaric I for the first time in nearly 800 years, seen as the fall of the […]
1305: Scottish patriot William Wallace is executed for high treason by Edward I of England at Smithfield, London 1542: Rabbi Joseph Caro completes his commentary of Tur Code 1850: 1st US National Women’s Rights Convention convenes in Worcester, Massachusetts 1942: Battle of Stalingrad: 600 Luftwaffe planes bomb Stalingrad (40,000 die) 1943: 50th day of Battle of Kursk, USSR: Largest tank battle in history ends […]
1485: Battle of Bosworth Field: Henry Tudor’s forces defeat English King Richard III during last battle in the Wars of the Roses. Richard is killed, the last English monarch to die in battle. 1639: Madras (now Chennai), India, founded by the British East India Company on sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers 1642: English Civil War begins between […]
1461: Empire of Trebizond surrenders to forces of Sultan Mehmet II – last Byzantine Empire remnant to fall. Emperor David exiled and later murdered. 1620: Mayflower sets sail from Southampton, England, with 102 Pilgrims 1900: The Boxer Rebellion: In China, the Empress, her family and court retainers flee while foreign troops move through Peking in an attempt to quell […]
1281: During Kublai Khan’s second Mongol invasion of Japan his invading Chinese fleet of 3,500 vessels disappears in a typhoon near Japan 1842: Second Seminole War declared over by US Army Colonel Worth, after nearly 7 years; more than 3000 Seminole Nation survivors re-located from Florida to Oklahoma, only about 300 allowed to remain 1945: V-J Day, Japan surrenders unconditionally to […]
1521: Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés capture Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc in Tenochtitlan marking the end of the Aztec Empire 1536: Buddhist monks from Kyōto’s Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto in the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance. (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1536). 1642: Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovers Mars’ southern polar cap 1788: Prussia joins Anglo-Dutch alliance to form Triple Alliance to […]
1121: Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi 1480: Battle of Otranto – Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam 1851: American inventor Isaac Singer patents the sewing machine 1908: Henry Ford’s company builds the first Model T car 1981: IBM introduces its first […]
3114: BC The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins 1945: Allies refuse Japan’s offer to surrender on the condition that Emperor Hirohito retains his status 1954: Formal peace treaty ends over 7 yrs of fighting in Indochina between the French and the Communist Viet Minh 1988: Al-Qaeda formed at a meeting between Osama bin […]
