1099: City of Jerusalem is captured and plundered by Christian forces during the First Crusade 1381: John Ball, a leader in the Peasants’ Revolt, is hung, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II of England 1410: Battle of Grunwald (First Battle of Tannenburg, Battle of Žalgiris), one of Medieval Europe’s largest battles during Poland-Lithuanian Teutonic War. Polish King Władysław […]
1789: Bastille Day – the French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille Prison in Paris (now celebrated as France’s national day) 1798: US Sedition Act prohibits “false, scandalous & malicious” writing against government 1850: 1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration by Florida physician John Gorrie 1933: All non-Nazi parties are banned in Germany 1941: 6,000 Lithuanian Jews […]
1772: Captain James Cook begins his second voyage to the South Seas aboard HMS Resolution to search for Terra Australis (Southern continent) 1832: Source of Mississippi River discovered by American geographer Henry Schoolcraft 1835: Swedish-American inventor John Ericsson files for a patent for his screw propeller design 1870: King Wilhelm I of Prussia sends the “Emser Depeche (Ems Telegram)” to Otto von Bismarck who publishes an edited version […]
1679: Britain’s King Charles II ratifies Habeas Corpus Act allowing prisoners right to be imprisoned to be examined by a court 1690: Battle of Boyne: in Ireland, Protestant King William III defeats English Catholic King James II 1790: French Revolution: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy is adopted, putting the Catholic Church in France under the control of the state 1804: Former United States […]
1405: Chinese fleet commander Zheng He sets sail on his first major expedition, to the Spice Islands, leading 208 vessels, including 62 treasure ships with 27,800 sailors 1533: Pope Clement VII excommunicates England’s King Henry VIII 1818: English poet John Keats writes “In the Cottage Where Burns is Born”, “Lines Written in the Highlands”, and “Gadfly” 1877: Kate Edger becomes New Zealand’s first woman […]
1778: American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the Kingdom of Great Britain 1940: Battle of Britain begins as Nazi forces attack shipping convoys in the English Channel 1985: French foreign intelligence agents blow up the Greenpeace boat Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbor, New Zealand to prevent it interfering with French nuclear tests in the South Pacific. Dutch photographer Fernando […]
1401: Turko-Mongol ruler Tamerlane (Timur) destroys Baghdad, killing 20,000 1790: Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund – in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet 1868: Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights 1893: Daniel Hale Williams repairs the torn pericardium of […]
1099: First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on 1497: Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama departs on his first voyage, will become the 1st European to reach India by sea 1777: Independent Vermont introduces a new constitution, prohibiting slavery 1800: Dr Benjamin Waterhouse gives 1st cowpox vaccination in the US to […]
1520: Battle of Otumba, Mexico: Hernán Cortés and the Tlaxcalans defeat a numerically superior Aztec force 1807: French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte and Russian Tsar Alexander I meet on a raft in the middle of the Neman River and sign the first Treaty of Tilsit 1937: Japanese and Chinese troops clash at the Marco Polo Bridge, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War 1947: Alleged and disputed Roswell UFO […]
1348: Papal bull of Pope Clement VI issued during the Black Death stating Jews not to blame and urging their protection 1775: Congress issues a “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms”, written by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson, it lists American grievances but denies any intent to be independent 1785: US Congress unanimously resolves the name of […]
