558 Dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople collapses, Justinian I immediately orders it rebuilt
Travels of William of Rubruck
1253 Flemish friar William of Rubruck sets off to convert the Mongols to Christianity, a mission ordered by French king Louis IX - one of the most famous travel accounts in the Medieval world
- 1274 Second Council of Lyon (14th ecumenical council) opens, convened by Pope Gregory X
- 1355 1,200 Jews of Toledo, Spain killed by Count Henry of Trastamara
Siege of Orléans Broken
1429 English siege of Orleans broken by Joan of Arc and the French army
- 1487 Portuguese explorer Pêro da Covilhã departs Santarém on a mission to India and Abyssinia - succeeds in reaching both, laying the ground for future Portuguese voyages of exploration
- 1579 Congress of Cologne forms in the Netherlands
- 1638 Cornelis Gooyer establishes the first permanent Dutch settlement on Mauritius, then uninhabited
- 1649 First English translation of the Qur'an "Alcoran of Mahomet" is published in London by Alexander Ross, based on a French translation
- 1660 Isaac B. Fubine of Savoy in The Hague patents macaroni
- 1663 Theatre Royal opens in Drury Lane, London
Palace of Versailles
1664 Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles
- 1697 Stockholm's medieval royal castle is destroyed by fire, the Codex Gigas (world's largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript) survives by being thrown out a window
Penn Begins Emancipation Meetings
1700 William Penn begins monthly meetings for blacks advocating emancipation
- 1718 The city of New Orleans is founded by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville
- 1727 Jews are expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia
- 1748 French troops conquer Maastricht in the War of the Austrian Succession
King Alaungphaya's Golden Letter
1756 Burmese King Alaungphaya sends his Golden Letter on rolled gold to King George II of Great Britain detailing trade proposals [1]
- 1765 HMS Victory launched; Admiral Nelson's flagship at Trafalgar, 40 years later
- 1771 Samuel Hearne explores Copper Mine River of Canada
- 1775 Turkish state of Bukovina secedes from Austria
- 1792 Captain Robert Gray is the first European to discover Grays Harbor (Washington state)
- 1794 Influential Gothic romance "The Mysteries of Udolpho" is published by Ann Ratcliffe in London
- 1800 Indiana Territory organized
- 1817 Japanese Emperor Kōkaku abdicates in favour of his son Emperor Ninkō
Beethoven's 9th Symphony
1824 Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th (Choral) Symphony, often regarded as his greatest work, with libretto by poet Friedrich von Schiller, premieres at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, Austria [1]
- 1832 Greece becomes independent, Otto of Bavaria is chosen as king
- 1836 The settlement of Mayagüez elevates Puerto Rico to the royal status of villa by the government of Spain
- 1840 Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317
Poems by Brontë Sisters
1846 First printed copies of "Poems" by Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Brontë are received, published under the pseudonyms Acton, Currer, and Ellis Bell (two copies sold)
- 1847 American Medical Association founded in Philadelphia
- 1848 Prussians stop insurrection in Varsovia
- 1856 Argentina and Brazil sign a navigation pact
- 1861 Riot occurs between pro-secessionist & Union supporters in Knoxville, Tennessee
- 1862 Battle of West Point, Virginia at Eltham's Landing, Barnhamsville
- 1862 Much of Enschede, Netherlands, destroyed by fire
- 1862 South Dakota Historical Society is founded as the Old Settlers Association of Dakota Territory; organization renamed after statehood attained in 1890
- 1864 Battle of Wilderness ends inconclusively in Virginia, Union losses 17,666; Confederates 7,500
- 1864 Skirmish at Port Walthall Junction, Virginia (Drewry's Bluff)
Attack on Bismarck
1866 German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is seriously wounded in an assassination attempt
- 1867 Blacks stage ride-in to protest segregation in New Orleans
1867 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patents dynamite in England, the first of three patents he receives for the explosive material
- 1873 US marines attack Panama
- 1875 German SS Schiller sinks near Scilly Islands, 312 killed
- 1877 Cincinnati Enquirer first uses term "bullpen" to indicate baseball field foul territory where late-coming spectators were herded like cattle
- 1885 John E. W. Thompson named US minister to Haiti
- 1888 Édouard Lalo's opera "Le roi d'Ys" premieres in Paris
- 1891 Battle in Bunyoro: British Captain Frederick Lugard stops Muslim rebellion, 300 killed
- 1895 Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the world's first radio receiver in St. Petersburg. Celebrated as Radio Day in Russia.
- 1902 La Soufrière volcano on St Vincent kills 1,680 people
- 1904 Flexible Flyer trademark registered
- 1907 Central American Court of Justice inaugurated in San Jose, Costa Rica - first standing tribunal for International Law in the world [1]
- 1907 Charles Collier wins 1st Isle of Man TT Race: (38.22 mph)
- 1908 Emperor Franz-Joseph celebrates his golden jubilee with festivities throughout the Austro-Hungarian empire
- 1909 Construction begins on first 100 houses in Ahuzat Bayit (Tel Aviv)
Plans for Pulitzer Prize
1912 Columbia University approves plans to award the Pulitzer Prize in several categories, after establishment by Joseph Pulitzer
- 1913 An ambassadorial conference in St Petersburg, Russia, awards the town of Silistria to Rumania in compensation for Bulgaria's other territorial gains in the First Balkan War
- 1913 British House of Commons rejects women's right to vote
- 1913 Plot by English suffragettes to blow up part of St Paul's cathedral thwarted when the bomb is discovered [1]
- 1914 US Congress establishes Mother's Day
1915 RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine off the southern coast of Ireland, with 1,198 lives lost
Ruth Leads Victory
1917 In a testament to his pitching ability, future Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Babe Ruth leads Boston Red Sox to a 1-0 victory against Washington Senators legend Walter Johnson
- 1919 A draft of the Versailles Treaty is shown to the Germans
- 1920 USSR recognizes Georgia's independence
- 1922 Belgian soccer team defeats Netherlands: 1-2
- 1922 MLB New York Giants Jesse Barnes throws a no-hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies, in 2-0 win
- 1923 Mine strike at Belgian Borinage railroad
- 1924 Peruvian Torre forms APRA, Alianza Popular Revolutionaria Americana
- 1925 1st projection planetarium opens at Deutsche Museum in Munich, Germany
- 1925 MBA Pittsburgh Pirate shortstop Glenn Wright makes an unassisted triple play
- 1925 Phillies have their 8th game postponed in a row
- 1927 Angelos Sikelianos organizes the first Delphic Festival in Delphi to celebrate the ancient Greek Delphic ideal
- 1927 SF Municipal Airport (Mills Field) dedicated
The Bridge of the Luis Rey
1928 Pulitzer prize awarded to Thornton Wilder for his novel "The Bridge of San Luis Rey"
- 1928 United Kingdom lowers the voting age for women from 30 to 21
- 1930 Duleepsinhji scores 333 for Sussex v Northants in 330 mins
- 1934 Part of Khabarovsk becomes a Jewish Autnomous Region
Juliana Canal
1934 Princess Juliana of the Netherlands opens Juliana Canal between Maastricht and Maasbracht
- 1934 Pulitzer prize awarded to Sidney Kingsley for his play "Men in White"
- 1934 World's largest pearl (6.4 kg) found at Palawan, Philippines
- 1938 Dutch Minister of Justice Goseling calls fugitives of Nazi-Germany "undesired strangers"
- 1940 British House of Commons begins its Norway Debate on the conduct of the war after Germany invades Norway, leads to Winston Churchill becoming Prime Minister
Chattanooga Choo Choo
1941 Glenn Miller records "Chattanooga Choo Choo" for RCA, it becomes 1st record to be designated "gold"
- 1942 Battle of Coral Sea ends stopping Japanese expansion
- 1942 Nazi decree orders all Jewish pregnant women of Kovno Ghetto executed
- 1943 British 11th Hussars occupy Tunis
- 1943 Dutch men 18-35 obliged to report to labor camps
- 1943 US 1st Armour division occupies Ferryville, Tunisia
- 1943 US 9th Infantry division occupies Bizerta/Bensert, Tunisia
Attatck on Tito Hideout
1944 German assault on Tito's hideout in Drvar, Bosnia
Negro Baseball League Forms
1945 Branch Rickey announces formation of the US Negro Baseball League
1945 German Third Reich General Alfred Jodl signs documents of surrender to the Allies at Reims, France; Soviet Union refuses to recognize it
- 1945 John Hersey is awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Bell for Adano"
- 1945 Princess Irene Brigade moves into The Hague, Netherlands
- 1945 SS open fire on crowd in Amsterdam, killing 22
- 1945 World War II: British troops enter Utrecht, Netherlands
- 1946 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees
- 1946 William H. Hastie is inaugurated as the first Black governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands
- 1947 "Kraft Television Theater" premieres on NBC
- 1947 Paraguayian government unleashes contra revolt
- 1948 Nazi collaborator V-Mann Antonius van de Waals sentenced to death
- 1949 Roem–Van Roijen Agreement negotiated in Jakarta between Indonesian Republican Mohammad Roem and Jan Herman van Roijen for Netherlands - paves the way for independence
- 1951 International Olympic committee allows Russia to participate in 1952 Olympics
- 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction awarded to Conrad Richter, for his novel "The Town"
- 1952 The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer
- 1953 Record 537-kg swordfish is caught by L.E. Marron in Chile
- 1954 French surrender to Vietminh after 55-day siege at Dien Bien Phu
- 1954 US, Great Britain & France reject Russian membership of NATO
- 1955 USSR signs peace treaty with France & Great Britain
- 1955 West European Union established
- 1956 Battle at Oran, Algeria, kills 300
- 1956 New York Giants Bill White homers in his 1st Major League at bat
Pulitzer Prize
1956 Pulitzer Prize for Drama awarded to Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett for their play "The Diary of Anne Frank"
- 1957 MLB Cleveland Indians pitcher Herb Score is hit in the face by a line drive by New York Yankees Gil McDougald at Municipal Stadium; Score misses the rest of the season
- 1958 US Air Force Major Howard Johnson sets world aircraft altitude record in a Lockhead F-104 Starfighter at 27,810 m
Roy Campanella Night
1959 "Roy Campanella Night" Largest baseball crowd at 93,103 at the LA Coliseum see Yankees beat Dodgers 6-2 in exhibition game
- 1960 Dodgers Larry & Norm Sherry are baseball's 10th brother battery
- 1960 LA Dodger Norm Sherry's 11th HR wins the game for brother Larry
- 1962 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction awarded to Theodore H. White for "The Making of the President 1960"
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Christmas Island
- 1963 SETC Telstar 2 launched (apogee 6,700 miles (10,800 km))
- 1965 WAOW TV channel 9 in Wausau, Wisconsin (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1966 Mamas & Papas' "Monday Monday" hits #1
- 1966 NY Yankees fire manager Johnny Keane
- 1969 Lt General Robert E Cushman, Jr, USMC, becomes deputy director of CIA
- 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction awarded to Eudora Welty for "Optimist's Daughter"
- 1974 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry awarded to Robert Lowell for "Dolphin"
- 1975 Small Astronomy Satellite Explorer 53 launched to study X-rays
- 1979 5th UNCTAD-conference opens in Manila
- 1979 Gary Roenicke hits into Orioles 13th triple play (Oakland)
- 1980 Paul Geidel Jr, American murderer, and longest-serving prison inmate in the United States, paroled after 68 years, 296 days, at the age of 86.
- 1980 Samm-Art Williams' "Home" premieres in NYC
- 1980 Yugoslav President Josip Tito is buried
- 1982 Californian federal jury rules NFL violates antitrust laws in preventing Oakland Raiders move to Los Angeles Coliseum
- 1982 IBM releases PC-DOS version 1.1
- 1982 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1983 August Hoffman performs record 29,051 consecutive sit-ups
1984 $180m out-of-court settlement reached in Agent Orange suit
- 1986 Iraq bombs a Tehran oil refiner
- 1986 Phillies outfielder Garry Maddox, retires
- 1987 105°F in Sacramento, California
Television Finale
1987 Diane Chambers' (Shelley Long) final episode on TV comedy "Cheers"
- 1988 USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1989 Mark Merrony (Wales) cycles for 30 mins in Nepal at 21,030 feet
Panamanian General Election
1989 Panamanian voters reject dictator Manuel Noriega's bid for presidency
- 1991 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
- 1991 Haryana beat Bombay in the Ranji Cricket Trophy final by 2 runs
- 1992 27th Amendment to US Constitution is ratified; bars increases to congressional pay from taking effect until after an intervening election [1] [2]
- 1992 5 NYC cops arrested in Hauppauge, Long Island, for selling cocaine
Ángel Cordero Jr. Retires
1992 Champion Puerto Rican jockey Ángel Cordero Jr. retires after winning 7,057 thoroughbred horse races
- 1992 US space shuttle STS-49 launched, the maiden voyage of Endeavour
- 1993 South Africa agrees to multi-racial elections
- 1994 Denver Nuggets become NBA's 1st #8 seed to beat a #1 seed (Seattle)
1994 Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" is recovered 3 months after it was stolen
- 1995 Twins beat Indians 10-9 in 17 innings, 6 hours & 36 minutes
- 1996 Comedian Martin Lawrence suffers a nervous breakdown
- 1997 Expos scores 13 in 6th at Giants
- 1997 Galileo, 4th Ganymede Flyby (Orbit 8)
The Fifth Element
1997 Science fiction film "The Fifth Element" written and directed by Luc Besson, starring Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich is released. Then the most expensive European film ever made.
- 1998 Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $US40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the then largest industrial merger in history
- 1999 Guinea-Bissau President João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira is ousted in a military coup
- 1999 Jury finds "The Jenny Jones Show" and Warner Bros. liable in death of Scott Amedure, after purposely deceiving Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later kills Amedure, jury awards Amedure's family $25 million
- 1999 Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade
Papal Visit
1999 Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054
- 2002 China Northern Airlines Flight 6136, operated by an MD-82, plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing all 112 people on board
- 2003 Arsenal thrash Southampton, 6-1 at Highbury to start Gunners' amazing English Premier League record 49-game unbeaten streak; ends 24 October, 2004 with 2-0 defeat at Manchester United
Hat-Trick for Thierry Henry
2006 On the final day of the Premier League season, Thierry Henry scores a hat-trick against Wigan Athletic in the last match played at Highbury
- 2007 Ehud Netzer of Hebrew University announces he has discovered the tomb of Herod the Great at Herodium, West Bank
Event of Interest
2008 Dmitry Medvedev is sworn in as the 3rd President of the Russian Federation
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
2011 "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides", directed by Rob Marshall, starring Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz, premieres in - opening weekend makes $350.6m
- 2012 NATO air strike kills 14 and woulds 6 civilians in Afghanistan's Badghis Province
- 2012 Paeleoclimatological research claims dinosaur flatulence may have warmed the earth
Putin's Third Term
2012 Vladimir Putin sworn in for third six-year term as President of Russia
- 2013 20 people are killed and 36 are injured after a gas tanker explodes in Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico
- 2013 4 people are killed after the Mayon Volcano erupts in the Philippines
- 2013 55 people are killed by a Boko Haram attack in Nigeria
- 2013 8 people are killed and a dozen are injured after bear attacks in Orissa, India
- 2013 Delaware becomes the 11th US State to legalize same-sex marriage
- 2013 Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 set record highs
- 2013 Italian cargo ship Jolly Nero crashes into the port of Genoa, killing seven people
- 2014 Fighting between pro-Russian and Kiev forces continue amid fears internationally of a civil war in Ukraine
Election of Interest
2015 British General Elections: Conservative Party win outright majority and David Cameron returns as Prime Minister
- 2017 "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion" becomes the highest-grossing Indian box office film ever, earning $120 million
MTV Movie & TV Awards
2017 MTV becomes the first major awards show to adopt gender-neutral categories, with Emma Watson winning Best Film Actor and Millie Bobby Brown winning Best TV Actor
- 2018 Global tourism accounts for 8% of the world's carbon emissions according to a University of Sydney study
Event of Interest
2018 Iran-Contra figure Oliver North announced as the new President of the US National Rifle Association
Met Gala: Heavenly Bodies
2018 Met Gala, "Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination" is hosted by Anna Wintour, Amal Clooney, Donatella Versace and Rihanna wearing a Pope-inspired outfit
- 2018 More mudslides in Rwanda kill 18 people bringing the year's death toll to 200
- 2018 Vladimir Putin is sworn in as Russian President for another 6 years
- 2018 World Snooker Championship, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield: Welshman Mark Williams beats John Higgins of Scotland, 18-16; as promised, does his press conference in the nude
- 2019 Denver is the first US city to decriminalize psilocybin "magic mushrooms"
- 2019 Hackers seize control of the computer system of the US city of Baltimore, demanding a ransom in Bitcoins to unlock them
- 2019 Turkish electoral body decides to re-run the Istanbul mayoral election, won by the opposition, amid worldwide criticism
- 2019 Venezuela's Congress strips opposition lawmakers of immunity and accuses them of treason
- 2020 Toxic leak at Indian chemical factory near Visakhapatnam kills at least 13 and injures many when it tried to reopen after lockdown
- 2020 UK economy heading for its worst crash in 300 years (-14%), since 1706, according to Bank of England forecast
- 2020 US Father and son arrested for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, after video of the killing surfaces
- 2020 US unemployment claims hit 33.3 million or 20% of the workforce, vs two months ago unemployment 3.5%, a 50-year low
- 2021 Cincinnati Reds pitcher Wade Miley no-hits Cleveland Indians, 3-0 at Progressive Field, Cleveland
- 2021 Former police officer and suspected serial killer Hugo Ernesto Osorio Chávez arrested in Chalchuapa, El Salvador, after a mass grave of 15-40 bodies found at his house
Philadelphia Museum of Art
2021 Philadelphia Museum of Art unveils major interior renovation and expansion designed by American architect Frank Gehry
- 2021 Ransomware attack on US Colonial pipeline by the DarkSide criminal group stops supply to half of east coast
- 2021 The World Health Organization approves the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm, its first made by a non-western country
- 2022 Afghan women issued decree to cover their faces in public (hijab reaching head to toe) by Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or her male guardian faces criminal punishment [1]
Music History
2022 Berklee College of Music bestows honorary doctorates to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr; bassist Chuck Rainey; composer James Newton Howard; and R&B singer Lalah Hathaway
- 2023 Man rams car into group of migrants waiting at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas, killing eight people and injuring at least 10 [1]
- 2023 Syria is readmitted into the influential Arab League, more than ten year after being thrown out for repressing pro-democracy protesters [1]
- 2024 Israeli forces seize control of Gaza's Rafah crossing into Egypt after Hamas announce they are accepting a cease-fire proposal [1]
Stormy Daniels Testifies
2024 Stormy Daniels testifies in court to a 2006 sexual encounter with Donald Trump as part of a hush money trial against Trump [1]
- 2024 Vladimir Putin sworn in for his fifth term as Russian President at the Grand Kremlin Palace, Moscow, in a ceremony boycotted by many world leaders [1]
- 2025 Conclave to elect new Pope begins with 133 cardinal electors
- 2025 India launches airstrikes on multiple locations in Pakistan, killing at least eight people; Pakistan declares a state of emergency, calls the strikes an act of war, and launches retaliatory strikes on India, killing three [1]
