Battle of Edington
878 Battle of Edington: Alfred the Great and his West Saxon army defeat Viking army of Guthrum the Old [earliest possible date]
- 1312 Pope Clement V closes the Council of Vienne
- 1432 Renaissance masterpiece, The Ghent Altarpiece by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, is consecrated at St Bavo's Cathedral, Belgium, commissioned by wealthy merchants
Sack of Rome
1527 Spanish and German Imperial troops sack Rome, ending the Renaissance. Charles III, Duke of Bourbon is killed in the assault removing any restraint for the victorious soldiers.
Battle at Gogra
1529 Battle at Gogra: Mughal Emperor Babur beats Afghans and Bengals
A Bible for Every Church
1541 King Henry VIII orders a bible in English be placed in every church in England
Xavier Reaches Old Goa
1542 Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, then capital of Portuguese India
- 1598 Albert VII Archduke of Austria and Isabella, daughter of Philip II of Spain granted rule of the Habsburg Netherlands (after they marry)
- 1604 Leon VII Spanish poet's first poem is published: La Cocina
- 1626 Dutch colonist Peter Minuit organizes the purchase of Manhattan Island from Native Americans for 60 guilders worth of goods, believed to be the Canarsee Indians of the Lenape
- 1644 Johan Mauritius resigns as governor of Brazil
- 1672 Brandenburg monarch Frederik Willem signs treaty with Netherlands
Court Moves to Versailles
1682 Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles
- 1733 First international boxing match: Local fighter Bob Whittaker beats “The Venetian Gondolier”, Tito di Carni at James Figg's academy amphitheatre in Marylebone, London
- 1753 French King Louis XV observes transit of Mercury at Mendon Castle
- 1757 Battle of Prague: Frederick II of Prussia's forces defeat Austrian army
- 1787 Prince Hall establishes the first African American Masonic lodge, African Lodge No. 459, in Boston
Toussaint Louverture Changes Sides
1794 Toussaint Louverture switches sides and ambushes his former Spanish allies at Saint-Raphaël in modern-day Haiti
- 1804 Suriname sold to Great Britain (until Feb 1816)
First Steel Plough
1837 US blacksmith John Deere creates the first commercially successful self-scouring steel plow in Grand Detour, Illinois
1840 The world's first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, is first used in Great Britain
- 1844 Dutch politician Johan Thorbecke argues for the general right to vote
- 1848 Otto Tank ends slavery in Suriname colony
- 1851 American physician and inventor John Gorrie patents a "refrigeration machine" to make ice
- 1851 New slave regulations go into effect in Suriname
- 1851 San Francisco Chamber of Commerce starts
- 1853 First major US rail disaster kills 46 in Norwalk, Connecticut
Garibaldi's Mille Sets Sail
1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi's Mille sets sail from Genoa to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
- 1860 San Francisco Olympic Club becomes the first US athletic club
- 1861 Arkansas and Tennessee become the 9th and 10th states to secede from the US
- 1864 Battle of Port Walthall Junction, fought in Virginia begins (Battle of Port Walthall Junction), Union victory (US Civil War)
Battle of Wilderness
1864 Battle of Wilderness, fought in Virginia, Confederate General James Longstreet seriously injured (Overland Campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
Sherman Begins Atlanta Advance
1864 US Civil War: Union Army General Sherman begins advance to Atlanta, Georgia, during the Atlanta Campaign
- 1882 Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed and killed during the Phoenix Park Murders in Dublin
- 1882 US Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, halting Chinese immigration
1889 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) in Paris opens with the recently completed Eiffel Tower serving as the entrance arch; the elevators in the tower are not yet ready, so intrepid visitors have to climb 1,710 steps to reach the top
- 1891 Conductors on London General Omnibus Company go on strike
- 1896 Samuel Pierpont Langley flies his unpiloted Number 5 aircraft using a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River, USA. The aircraft travels almost 3/4 of a mile - ten times further than any previous heavier-than-air flying machine.
- 1902 British SS Camorta sinks in a cyclone in the Gulf of Martaban near Rangoon with the loss of about 739 lives
- 1902 Zulu assault at Holkrantz, South Africa
- 1903 Chicago White Sox commit 11 errors against Detroit Tigers but win 10-9 at South Side Park. Chicago
- 1904 American Lung Association holds its first meeting
- 1906 "Temporary" permit to erect overhead wires on Market Street, San Francisco allows United Railroads to run electric streetcars
Nicolas II Restricts Duma
1906 Tsar Nicolas II of Russia claims right to legislate by decree and restricts the power of the Duma (Russian Parliament)
- 1909 Indian nationalist Sri Aurobindo acquitted in the Alipore Bomb Case in Calcutta, India
1910 George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII
- 1913 King Nikita I of Montenegro vacates Skoetari, northern Albania
- 1914 British House of Lords rejects women's suffrage
Ruth's 1st MLB Home Run
1915 Future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth hits his first MLB home run; pitches 12 frames in Boston Red Sox 4-3 extra innings loss to New York Yankees
- 1915 German U-20 sinks Centurion south east of Ireland
- 1915 The Allies on Cape Helles launch three attacks to enlarge their beachheads; after terrible losses, they advance about three miles
- 1916 Belgian troops march into Kigali, German East Africa
- 1917 St Louis Browns pitcher Bob Groom no-hits Chicago White Sox, 3-0 at Sportsman's Park, St. Louis
- 1919 Paris Peace Conference disposes of German colonies; German East Africa is assigned to Britain and France, German South West Africa to South Africa
- 1921 Teams from the National Association Football League and the Southern New England Soccer League merge to form the American Soccer League (ASL); collapses 1933
Cobb Ties Ansons' Record
1925 Ty Cobb hits his 5th home run in two games, tying Cap Anson's record of 1884
- 1929 AL announces it will discontinue MVP award
- 1929 New York to San Francisco footrace begins
- 1933 Italy and USSR sign trade agreement
Red Sox's Record Inning
1934 MLB Boston Red Sox score 12 runs in 4th inning, including record 4 consecutive triples hit by Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell, and B Walters
- 1935 Audrey Wurdemann is the youngest person at 24 to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for "Bright Ambush"
Silver Jubilee
1935 British King George V and Queen Mary celebrate their Silver Jubilee
- 1935 KTM-AM in Los Angeles California changes call letters to KEHE (now KABC)
1937 German airship Hindenburg explodes in flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 35 of the 97 on board and one on the ground
- 1938 Dutch court sentences writer Maurits Dekker to 50 days imprisonment for "offending a friendly head of state" - Adolf Hitler
Steinbeck Wins Pulitzer
1940 Pulitzer prize awarded to John Steinbeck for "The Grapes of Wrath"
Bob Hope's 1st USO Show
1941 At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show
- 1942 Corregidor & Philippines surrender to Japanese Armies
- 1943 British First Army launches an assault on Tunis
- 1944 KJR-AM in Seattle Washington swaps calls with KOMO
- 1945 Axis Sally delivers her final propaganda broadcast to Allied troops during World War II (first was on December 11, 1941)
- 1945 General Johannes Blaskowitz surrenders German troops in Netherlands
- 1951 Pitts Pirate Cliff Chambers no-hits Boston Brave, 3-0
- 1953 MLB St. Louis Browns Alva "Bobo" Holloman, in his first start game as starting pitcher, no-hits visiting Philadelphia A's, 6-0
First Sub-Four-Minute Mile
1954 English athlete Roger Bannister becomes the first to run a sub-4-minute mile, recording 3:59.4 at Iffley Road Track in Oxford
- 1955 West Germany joins NATO
- 1956 Gus Bell (Reds) homers off Bob Miller in both ends of a double header
- 1956 WRCB TV channel 3 in Chattanooga, TN (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1957 Last broadcast of "I Love Lucy" on CBS-TV
Pulitzer Prize
1957 Pulitzer Prize for Biography awarded to John F. Kennedy for "Profiles in Courage"
President Prasad Re-Elected
1957 Rajendra Prasad re-elected President of India for a second term in a landslide
- 1959 Iceland gunboats shoot at British fishing vessels
- 1960 Students attack Dutch embassy in Jakarta
- 1960 Trotsky's murderer Jacques Mornard (Ramon Mercader) freed from prison after serving 19 years 8 months in Mexico
Civil Rights Act
1960 US President Eisenhower signs Civil Rights Act of 1960
- 1961 Omer Vanaudenhove chosen chairman of Belgium Liberal Party
- 1962 Antonio Segni elected President of Italy
- 1962 First nuclear warhead is fired from the US Polaris submarine USS Ethan Allen
- 1962 Pathet Lao breaks cease fire and conquer Nam Tha Laos
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
- 1963 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Barbara Tuchman (Guns of August)
- 1964 Joe Orton's play "Entertaining Mr Sloan" premieres in London
- 1965 Bill Lawry (210) and Bob Simpson (201) complete record opening stand of 382 in Australia's 1st innings, drawn 4th Test v West Indies in Bridgetown
- 1965 Jerry Sloan is selected by the Baltimore Bullets as the fourth overall pick of the 1965 NBA draft
- 1966 Canadian Minister of Finance announces a $20 Centennial gold coin
- 1966 Most runs scored in the 11th inning (9): Phillies score 5 to beat Pirates 8-7
- 1966 Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors Murders in England
- 1967 400 students seize administration building at Cheyney State College, Pennsylvania
- 1967 Maureen Wilton runs female world record marathon (3:15:22)
- 1967 Zakir Husain is elected the first Muslim President of India
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison
1968 Columbia Records releases "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison", the first live album by American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, recorded in January 1968
- 1968 Giants reliever Lindy McDaniel sets NL record of 225th consecutive errorless game (108 chances consecutively since June 16, 1964)
- 1968 Spain closes border to Gibraltar except to Spaniards
- 1968 Street battle between students and troops in Paris, 1,000 injured
Northern Ireland Amnesty
1969 Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Chichester-Clark announces an amnesty for all offences associated with demonstrations since 5 October 1968, resulting in the release of, among others, Ian Paisley and Ronald Bunting
Arms Crisis
1970 Irish Prime Minister Jack Lynch sacks two ministers in the Irish government over allegations of illegal arms importation
- 1970 Yuichiro Miura of Japan skis down Mount Everest
- 1972 Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara for attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order
- 1973 1st WHA championship, New England Whalers beat Win Jets, 4 games to 1
Pulitzer Prize for Music
1974 American composer Roger Sessions receives special Pulitzer Prize for his life's work in music
- 1974 Bundy victim Roberta Parks disappears from OSU, Corvallis, Ore
- 1974 Oakland A's pitcher Paul Lindblad makes an errant throw in 1st inning of 6-3 loss to Baltimore, ending his record streak of 385 consecutive errorless games
- 1974 Scotland Yard recovers the stolen Johannes Vermeer oil painting "The Guitar Player" from the cemetery at St Bartholomew-the-Great in London's financial district
- 1974 Smallest attendance at Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium (4,149)
Willy Brandt Resigns
1974 West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns amidst controversy over his aide Günter Guillaume's ties with the Stasi (East German secret service)
- 1975 Bundy victim Lynette Culver disappears from Pocatello, Idaho
- 1975 Early warnings provided by REACT (ham radio operators) means only
- 1975 Three people die in a tornado that strikes Omaha, Nebraska
- 1976 An earthquake strikes Friuli in Northern Italy, causes 989 deaths and the destruction of entire villages
- 1977 Parlophone releases live album "The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl" in UK; recorded during 1964 and 1965 tours, sound quality was of sub-par quality, but released to combat bootleg versions
- 1978 South African military enters Angola
- 1979 American Fred Markham (22) sets a bicycle speed record of 81.8 kph (50.8 mph) over 200-meter course
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1981 US expels Libyan diplomats
- 1982 Seattle Mariners Gaylord Perry becomes 15th pitcher to win 300 games
- 1984 Baltimore Oriole Cal Ripken Jr hits for cycle
- 1984 Jose Napoleon Duarte wins El Salvador presidential election
- 1985 17th NASA Space Shuttle Mission (51-B): Challenger 7 lands at Edwards AFB
Rhythm & Romance
1985 Columbia Records releases "Rhythm & Romance", the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash; produced by husband Rodney Crowell, the album was her first to feature her songwriting on a majority of the tracks
- 1986 Donald E. Pelotte becomes the first Native American Catholic bishop
- 1986 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
- 1987 American politician Gary Hart denies affair with model Donna Rice
- 1987 American televangelist Jim Bakker and Rich Dortch dismissed from Assemblies of God after revelations of an alleged rape of a church secretary
Andretti Sets Lap Record
1987 Mario Andretti sets a one-lap speed record at Indianapolis at 218.204 mph
- 1987 Miroslav Mihailovic begins 54 hours of telling jokes
- 1987 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1988 Doughnutgate incident: NJ Devils' coach Jim Schoenfeld tells referee Don Koharski to 'eat another doughnut you fat pig!,' he is suspended
- 1988 Graeme Hick scores 405 for Worcs v Somerset 35 fours 11 sixes
Botha Quits National Party
1990 Former president P. W. Botha quits South Africa's ruling National Party
- 1990 Tom Cruise is ticketed for careless operation of a vehicle in South Carolina
- 1991 Phillie Lenny Dykstra slams his sports car into 2 trees
- 1991 Seppo Raty of Finland sets javelin record to 301' 9"
- 1991 Space Shuttle STS 39 (Discovery 12) lands
- 1992 NY Met Anthony Young begins losing streak of at least 26 games
- 1993 STS-55 (Columbia) lands
Lewis TKOs Jackson
1994 British-Canadian boxer Lennox Lewis (28) TKOs American Phil Jackson (29) in 8th round for WBC heavyweight title at Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey
1994 Channel Tunnel linking Folkestone, England and Calais, France officially opens [1]
- 1994 Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait sets fire to the guest chair on NBC's "The Tonight Show" [1]
ANC's Election Victory
1994 Nelson Mandela and the ANC, finally confirmed winners in South Africa's first post apartheid election
- 1994 US House of Representatives passes the Federal Assault Weapons Ban
- 1995 Classic Sports Network begins on cable TV
- 1996 Body of former CIA Director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland eight days after his disappearance
- 1996 Guatemala's leftist guerrillas sign key accord with government of President Alvaro Arzu aimed at ending 35 years of civil war
- 1996 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Hartford, Connecticut on WCCC 106.9 FM
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
1997 12th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: The Bee Gees; Buffalo Springfield; Crosby, Stills & Nash; The Jackson Five; Joni Mitchell; Parliament-Funkadelic; The (Young) Rascals; Mahalia Jackson; Bill Monroe; and Syd Nathan
- 1997 NHL Hartford Whalers become Carolina Hurricanes
- 1997 Rick Pitino becomes coach of Boston Celtics
- 1997 The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history
- 1998 Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros batters, tying the Major League record held by Roger Clemens. He throws a one-hitter and does not walk a batter in his fifth career start.
First Pope to Enter a Mosque
2001 During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to visit a mosque
- 2002 "The Good Stuff" single released by Kenny Chesney (Billboard Song of the Year 2002)
- 2002 Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is shot and killed at close range with an illegally purchased pistol by an animal rights activist upset with Fortuyn's policies
- 2002 The Rolling Stones fly a yellow blimp emblazoned with their logo at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, NYC, to announce an upcoming international tour
Friends Finale
2004 TV sitcom "Friends" airs the series finale of its 10th and final season in the US, attracting 52.5 million viewers
- 2008 Chaiten Volcano erupts in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people
- 2009 Marco van Basten resigns as manager of Ajax after the team fails to qualify for the Champions League
- 2011 The US Department of Labor states that 244,000 jobs were created in April, with 235,000 added in February and 221,000 in March, but unemployment continues to grow, reaching 9%
- 2012 Greek parliamentary election results in 60% support for parties opposed to austerity measures
- 2013 10 people are killed and 26 people are injured after a wave of attacks across Iraq
- 2013 13 people are killed in clashes with Bangladeshi police in Dhaka
- 2013 15 people are killed and 50 are injured after a bomb detonates at a political rally in Pakistan
- 2013 Brazilian neobank Nubank founded in Brazil by David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible
- 2013 US Senate passes a bill enabling the taxation of online sales
- 2013 Wal-Mart becomes the largest company by revenue on the Fortune 500 list
- 2014 Boko Haram's leader, Abubakar Shekau, releases a 57 minute video boasting about abducting schoolgirls in Nigeria
- 2017 84 abducted schoolgirls released in exchange for Boko Haram suspects in Nigeria
- 2017 Bus crash in Arusha region, Tanzania kills 35
- 2017 France bans too thin fashion models and makes labeling of digitally enhanced photos mandatory
- 2019 French telecom company Orange and its former CEO with other executives go on trial in France for psychological harassment of their staff that unions claim resulted in 19 suicides and 12 other attempts
- 2019 One million plant and animal species are now at risk of extinction according to a major new UN report
Sandoval's Incredible Game
2019 Pablo Sandoval becomes second MLB player since 1900 to throw a scoreless outing, hit a home run and steal a base in the same game in SF Giants' 12-4 loss in Cincinnati; joins Christy Mathewson 1905
- 2019 Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei announces a moratorium on the death penalty for gay sex and adultery after worldwide condemnation over new Sharia laws
- 2019 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Englishman Judd Trump wins his first world crown beating John Higgins of Scotland, 18-9
- 2020 At least 90,000 healthcare workers worldwide infected by COVID-19, more than 260 nurses have died according to International Council of Nurses
- 2020 Former intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi sworn in as new Iraqi Prime Minister, 3rd to be nominated in six months
- 2020 Irish organization repays a 170 year old favor, raising over $2 million (to date) for US Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation badly affected by COVID-19. In 1840s Choctaw Nation sent $170 to aid Irish potato famine.
- 2020 UK becomes the first European country to report over 30,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19
- 2021 Armed police raid on drug traffickers kills 25 in Rio de Janeiro's deadliest favela operation
- 2022 Explosion at the five-star Hotel Saratoga due to suspected a gas leak in Havana, Cuba kills at least 35 people [1]
- 2023 Canadian province Alberta declares a state of emergency over unprecedented wildfires, more than 100, that have forced the evacuation of 25,000 people [1]
Coronation of Charles III
2023 Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, London - first monarch crowned in the UK in 70 years [1]
- 2024 Brandon Som wins the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for "Tripas: Poems" [1]
- 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction won by Jayne Anne Phillips for "Night Watch" set after the Civil War [1]
UK-India Trade Deal
2025 British prime minister Keir Starmer and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi sign a 'landmark' free trade agreement to lower tariffs on 99% of Indian exports to the UK [1]
