- 763 BC Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history
- 778 Willibald, Abbot of Heidenheim, dictates his pilgrimage to the Holy Land fifty years before, to nun Hugburc, who records this and biographies of Willibald and his brother - the first known English woman writer [1]
- 923 Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy
Conquest of Valencia
1094 Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar [El Cid] occupies Valencia on the Moren
- 1184 Magnus V Erlingsson, King of Norway (1156–1184), dies in the Battle of Fimreite
1215 King John of England signs the Magna Carta at Runnymede near Windsor in Surrey, limiting royal authority and establishing the principle that the king and his government are not above the law
1219 According to legend, Dannebrog, the flag of Denmark and the oldest national flag in the world falls from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse (now Tallinn) in Estonia and turns the Danes' luck
- 1219 Battle of Lyndanisse won by King Valdemar II and his Danish forces during their invasion of Estonia
- 1246 Battle at Leitha river between Hungarian forces of King Béla IV of Hungary and Austrian army of Duke Frederick II - Austrian victory but Frederick is killed
- 1246 The death of Duke Frederick II at the Battle of the Leitha River, ends the Babenberg dynasty in Austria
- 1389 Ottomans defeat the Serbian army in the bloody Battle of Kosovo, opening the way for the Ottoman conquest of Southeastern Europe. Large losses on both sides including Sultan Murad and Serbian leader Prince Lazar. (NS date)
- 1567 Battle at Carberry, Scotland: Protestant troops beat Earl Bothwell's army
- 1567 Republic of Genoa expels Jews from its whole territory
William Declared an Outlaw
1580 Phillip II of Spain declares William I of Orange an outlaw and places a bounty on his head of 25,000 crowns
- 1598 Battle of San Juan: British forces led by Sir George Clifford attack Spanish-held San Juan, capturing the citadel El Moro and holding for 65 days [1]
Charles I Disbands Parliament
1626 King Charles I disbands English parliament
- 1643 Able Tasman returns to Batavia after discovering Tasmania and New Zealand and completing (without realising it) a circumnavigation of Australia
- 1667 The first fully documented human blood transfusion is performed by French physician Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys when a small amount of sheep blood is transfused into a 15-year-old boy, who survives the procedure
- 1675 Battle of Rathenow: First engagement between the forces of Brandenburg-Prussia and Sweden, resulting in a Brandenburg victory
- 1715 Ottoman army lands at Acrocorinth, beginning their reconquest of the Morea (Peloponnese)
- 1741 Captain Vitus Bering leaves Petropavlovsk, sailing to America
- 1762 Austria uses 1st paper currency
Commander-in-Chief George Washington
1775 George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army a day after Congress establishes the force
- 1785 Two French balloonists die in the world's first fatal aviation accident
- 1791 Spaniard Jose Maria Narvaez is the first European to explore the Strait of Georgia (British Columbia)
- 1804 Twelfth Amendment to the US Constitution, establishing the procedure for electing the President and Vice President, ratified in Congress
- 1808 Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain
Auspicious Incident
1826 Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II abolishes the elite Janissary corps executing thousands for treason to make way for a more modern army
- 1834 Rioters in Safed Palestine kills many Jews
- 1836 Arkansas becomes 25th state of the Union
Frémont Explores the Oregon Trail
1842 John C. Frémont sets off from Kansas River on his first expedition of the Oregon Trail with frontierman Kit Carson as his guide
- 1846 Oregon Treaty signed, setting US-British boundary at 49°N
- 1851 Jacob Fussell, Baltimore dairyman, sets up 1st ice-cream factory
- 1857 San Francisco Water Works organized
- 1859 Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers
- 1860 1st White settlement in Idaho (Franklin)
- 1861 Johnston evacuates Harpers Ferry
- 1863 Second Battle at Winchester Virginia, ends in Federal defeat; 1350 casualties
- 1864 -17] Skirmish at Gilgal Church, Georgia
Battle of Petersburg
1864 Battle of Petersburg begins as General Ulysses S. Grant assaults the Confederate line at the important Southern rail center of Petersburg
- 1864 Capt Mendell begins building 640m long ponton bridge over James River, Virginia
Arlington Military Cemetery
1864 Robert E. Lee's home area (Arlington, Virginia) becomes a military cemetery
- 1864 US Congress passes legislation equalizing pay for Black soldiers
- 1866 Prussia attacks Austria
- 1867 Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine located in Montana
- 1869 Mike McCoole (US) defeats Tom Allen (England) in bare-knuckle bout
- 1871 Phoebe Couzins becomes the first woman to graduate from a US collegiate law school
- 1876 Sara Spencer (R) is 1st woman to address a US presidential convention
- 1876 Tsunamis after earthquake floods NE coast of Japan, kills 28,000
1878 World's first moving pictures captured on camera using 12 cameras, each taking one picture, to determine if all four of a horse's hooves leave the ground
1st National Health Insurance
1883 Germany becomes the first country to introduce a national system of social and health insurance passing "The Act on Health Insurance for Blue-collar Workers" under Otto von Bismarck [1]
- 1887 Carlisle D Graham survives 2nd ride in a barrel down Niagara Falls
- 1887 NY Giants beat Philadelphia Phillies 29-1
- 1887 Stanley's expedition reaches Yambuya waterfalls Congo
- 1894 Phillies beat Cincinnati Reds, 21-8
- 1896 A tsunami strikes a Shinto festival on the beach at Sanriku, Japan; 27,000 people are killed, 9,000 are injured, and 13,000 houses are destroyed
- 1897 Liberals/social-democrats win Dutch 2nd Parliamentary election
- 1898 US House of Representatives passes resolution to annex Hawaii
- 1898 US marines attack Spanish off Guantánamo, Cuba
- 1902 Canada's Maritime Provinces switch from Eastern to Atlantic time
- 1902 Minor League's most lopsided baseball game: Corsicana 51; Texarkana 3 Justin Clark of Corsicana, Texas minors hits 8 home runs in 1 game
- 1903 The Serbian Assembly meets and elects Prince Peter Karageorgevich king
- 1904 Side-wheeler passenger paddlesteamer "General Slocum" burns in NY's East River (1,031 die)
Typhoid Mary Identified
1907 Researcher George Soper publishes the results of his investigation into recent typhoid outbreaks in the New York area and announces that Mary Mallon [Typhoid Mary] is the likely source of the outbreak
- 1907 The 2nd Hague Peace Conference meets in an attempt to stop the arms race; Germany resists, but conference does make important rules around the rights of neutral powers
- 1908 World congress for Women's rights opens in Amsterdam
- 1909 Representatives from England, Australia, and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference
- 1911 Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), later known as IBM is incorporated, in Endicott, New York
- 1913 The Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippine concludes
- 1915 US government mints 1st $50 gold pieces, for Panama Pacific Expo
Boeing Model 1
1916 Boeing Model 1 [B & W Seaplane], Boeing's first aircraft product, flies for the first time
- 1916 Boys Scouts of America forms
- 1917 In order to calm troubled relations with Ireland, the British grant amnesty to the Prisoners taken during the Easter Rising of 1916
- 1918 1" of snow falls in Northern Pennsylvania
- 1919 Alcock and Brown land in Ireland, completing the first non-stop Atlantic flight
- 1920 African American circus workers, Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson and Isaac McGhie are taken from jail and lynched by a white mob of thousands in Duluth, Minnesota
- 1920 De Zweef soccer team forms in Nijverdal
1st African-American Female Pilot
1921 Bessie Coleman earns her pilot license in France becoming the 1st African-American woman and Native American to hold one
- 1923 Belgium's Theunis government falls because of mine, post and railroad strike
- 1924 1st transmission of radio Bloemendaal
1924 Ford Motor Company manufactures its 10 millionth automobile
- 1925 MLB Philadelphia As go into bottom of 8th inning trailing 15-4, then score 13 times to defeat Cleveland Indians 17-15, at Shibe Park
Cobb's Record Steal
1928 Philadelphia Athletics baseball star Ty Cobb, steals home for a record 54th time
- 1929 First time NY Curb Stock Exchange transacts more business than the NY Exchange
- 1931 Poland and USSR sign friendship and trade treaty
- 1934 Great Smokey Mountains National Park on the border between North Carolina and Tennessee is dedicated
- 1938 1st night game at Brooklyn Ebbets Field; Cincinnati Reds Johnny Vander Meer hurls unprecedented 2nd consecutive no-hitter in 6-0 win over the Dodgers
- 1940 38 Italian Fiat bombers bomb Luc-en-Province
- 1940 Bread and flour are rationed in Holland
- 1940 German troops occupy Paris as French resistance to the German invasion crumbles
- 1940 Soviet Army occupies Lithuania
- 1943 Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) forms in Chicago, Illinois
- 1943 Race riot in Beaumont, Texas erupts killing 2
- 1944 US forces begin invasion of Saipan in Pacific
- 1945 Dutch political party ANJV established in Concert building, Amsterdam
- 1948 First night game at Briggs Stadium, Detroit: Tigers beat Philadelphia A's, 4-1
- 1948 WPIX TV channel 11 in NYC, NY (IND) begins broadcasting
- 1948 WTNH TV channel 8 in New Haven, CT (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1949 Phils Eddie Waitkus, shot by Ruth Steinhagen, 19, at Eddgewater Hotel
Boxing Title Fight
1951 Joe Louis scored his last knock out victory
- 1953 Browns end Yankees win streak at 18 & Browns 14-game losing streak
- 1953 NY Yankees first baseman Johnny Mize is 93rd MLB player to get 2,000 hits
- 1953 NYC Transit Authority forms
- 1953 WLFI TV channel 18 in Lafayette, IN (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1954 Great Britain's 2 biggest steel factories nationalized
- 1954 UEFA (Union des Associations Européennes de Football) is formed in Basel, Switzerland
- 1955 Australia score 8-758 v West Indies at Kingston, their best ever
1st Operation Alert
1955 The Eisenhower administration stages the first annual "Operation Alert" (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA's preparations for a nuclear attack
- 1955 The International Olympic Committee votes to award Rome the rights to host the 1960 Summer Olympic Games
- 1957 42.01 cm (16.54") of rainfall, East St Louis, Ill (state record)
Baseball Trade
1957 MLB New York Yankees trade Billy Martin and Ralph Terry to Kansas City Athletics for Ryne Duran
- 1959 Galapagos Islands are made Ecuador's first national park, banning the capture of species [1]
- 1961 Expansion Washington Senators are 30-30, latest date an expansion team will be at .500, Washington will lose their next 10 games
- 1962 Phillies score 10 runs in an inning against Reds en route to 13-8 win
- 1962 South Africa passes a bill setting death penalty for many crimes
- 1962 Students for a Democratic Society complete the Port Huron Statement
- 1962 WWUP TV channel 10 in Sault Ste Marie, MI (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1963 "Sukiyaki" sung by Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto, hits #1
- 1963 American Leonard "Buddy" Edelen runs world record marathon (2:14:28) at Polytechnic Marathon (from Windsor to Chiswick, England)
Baseball History
1963 MLB San Francisco Giants future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal no-hits Houston Colt .45s, 1-0
- 1964 Last French troops leave Algeria
Like a Rolling Stone
1965 Bob Dylan records the single "Like a Rolling Stone" (#1 in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time")
Baseball Record
1965 Detroit pitcher Denny McLain in relief strikes out first 7 batters faced & records 14 in 6 2/3 innings in Tigers 6-5 win over Boston Red Sox; Bill Freehan ties catcher record of 19 putouts
- 1965 South Africa begins economic boycott of Dutch products
- 1966 Mexican record temperature of 52.5 °C (126.5 °F) in the shade is recorded in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora
Reagan Liberalizes Abortion
1967 Governor Reagan signs liberalized California abortion bill
- 1968 "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" by Ohio Express hits #4
- 1969 "Hee Haw" with Roy Clark & Buck Owens premieres on CBS TV
- 1969 Mets help their power needs by adding first baseman Donn Clendenon
- 1969 The Campaign for Social Justice publish a second edition of 'Northern Ireland The Plain Truth' which set out the allegations of discrimination against Catholics by Unionists in the region
- 1971 Vernon E Jordan Jr, appointed exec director of National Urban League
- 1972 Rock fall inside Vierzy Tunnel (France) causes 2 train crash; 107 die
- 1972 The Social Democratic and Labour Party meet Secretary of State for Northern Ireland W Whitelaw, to present the IRA's conditions for a meeting
- 1972 West German police arrested RAF leader Ulrike Meinhof
Let’s Get It On
1973 “Let’s Get It On” single released by Marvin Gaye (Billboard R&B Song of the Year, 1973; No. 4 overall)
All the President's Men
1974 "All the President's Men" by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward detailing their Watergate investigation is published by Simon and Schuster in the US
Back Home Again
1974 "Back Home Again" 8th studio album by John Denver is released (Billboard Album of the Year, 1975)
The Streak Hits #1
1974 Novelty song "The Streak" by Ray Stevens hits #1 on UK pop chart
- 1974 Robert Wilson, Alan Lloyd and Michael Galasso's musical theatre work "A Letter for Queen Victoria" premieres at Caio Melisso Theater, Spoleto, Italy
- 1976 In a blockbuster MLB trade, NY Yankees send May, Martinez, Pagan, MacGregor & Demsey to Baltimore Orioles for Holtzman, Alexander, Grant Jackson, Elrod Henrick & Jim Freeman
- 1976 Rain out! Astrodome cancels game heavy rains make it difficult for visiting team and umpires to get through flooded streets to the stadium
- 1977 Spain holds its first free elections since 1936 (41 years)
- 1977 Wim Polak becomes mayor of Amsterdam
- 1978 Belgian government resigns
- 1978 Italy's President Giovanni Leone resigns due to the Lockheed affair
- 1978 Soyuz 29 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6; they stay 139 days
- 1979 First space shuttle SRB qualification test firing lasts 122 seconds
- 1980 Jorge Orta of Cleveland gets 6 hits in a baseball game
1980 US Open Men's Golf, Baltusrol GC: Jack Nicklaus sets new tournament scoring record 272 (-8) to win his 4th Open title, 2 strokes ahead of Isao Aoki of Japan
- 1982 Riots occur in Argentina after the country is defeated in the Falklands Island War
- 1982 Supreme Court rules all children, regardless of citizenship, are entitled to a public education
Black Adder Premieres
1983 "Black Adder" TV comedy premieres starring Rowan Atkinson and Tony Robinson and written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson on BBC1
- 1983 Supreme Court strikes down state and local restrictions on abortion
- 1984 "Thicke Of The Night" TV Talk Show last airs in syndication
Hearns KOs Durán
1984 American boxer Thomas Hearns retains WBC light middleweight title with 2 round KO of Roberto Durán of Panama at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas; marks first time in his illustrious career Durán knocked out
- 1985 "Pryor's Place" children's show last airs on CBS-TV
- 1985 En route to Halley's Comet, USSR's Vega 2 drops lander on Venus
Thomas KOs Weaver
1985 Pinklon Thomas KOs Mike Weaver in 8 for heavyweight boxing title
- 1985 Rembrandt's painting Danaë is attacked by man later judged insane; he throws sulfuric acid on the canvas and cuts it twice with his knife
- 1985 Russian space probe Vega 2 lands on Venus
1986 Pravda announces high-level Chernobyl staff fired for stupidity
- 1987 Bettino Craxi's Socialist Party wins election in Italy
- 1987 Michael Spinks TKOs Gerry Cooney in 5 for The Ring heavyweight boxing title at Convention Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
- 1988 NASA launches space vehicle S-213
- 1988 Turkish premier Özal meets Greek premier Papandreou in Athens
- 1989 Baltimore Orioles pull their 9th triple play (vs Yankees)
- 1991 Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supports Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois
- 1991 Climactic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the second-largest volcanic eruption on Earth in the 20th century
- 1992 Dan Quayle, relying on faulty card, erroneously instructs Trenton NJ, elementary student to spell "potato," "potatoe" during spelling bee
- 1992 Erie Sailors (Fla Marlin farm team) 1st game beat Jamestown 6-5 in 13
- 1992 First Berlin Air Show in 60 years
- 1992 Ghana Airways inaugurates flights to JFK Airport (NYC)
- 1992 Jeff Reardon breaks Rollie Fingers' save record with #342
- 1992 MLB Pittsburgh Pirates' Jeff King is 5th to be thrown out twice trying to steal in one inning - until a review of the rules determined his first steal attempt was nullified by an interference call [1]
- 1994 Disney's animated musical film "The Lion King" opens in theaters with $42 million
- 1994 New York Giants cut Super Bowl XXI MVP quarterback Phil Simms after 15 years service with the NFL club
- 1995 Mark Ilott takes 9-19 incl all lbw hat-trick, Essex v Northants
- 1995 Northants all out 46 v Essex & wins game next day
- 1996 IRA bomb in Manchester wrecks city centre at 11.17am, injuring 200
Naomi Campbell Overdoses
1997 British model Naomi Campbell hospitalized due to drug overdose
- 2001 ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum sign a letter of intent for a natural gas to liquids (GTL) project that would be the largest in the world
Laagan Premieres
2001 Indian epic "Laagan" directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, starring Aamir Khan and Gracy Singh premieres
- 2002 Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses Earth by 75,000 miles (120,000 km), about one-third of the distance between Earth and the Moon
- 2006 Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument (Papahānaumokuākea) established, at 582,578 square miles one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world [1]
- 2008 62nd Tony Awards: "In the Heights" (musical) & "August: Osage County" (play) win
- 2011 Stanley Cup Final, Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC: Boston Bruins defeat Vancouver Canucks, 4-0 for 4-3 series win; Bruins end 39-year Stanley Cup drought
- 2012 Apple I computer sells for a record $374,500
- 2012 Five Dutch banks, including ING, receive credit rating downgrades of one or two notches
800 Years Since the Signing of the Magna Carta
2015 800 year anniversary of "the birthplace of modern democracy", the signing of the Magna Carta by King John at Runymede, England
Jeb Bush Runs for President
2015 Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida, announces he will run for the US Presidency in Miami
- 2015 Remains of a 2,000 year old women dubbed "the sleeping beauty" are announced discovered in Northern Ethiopia from ancient kingdom of Aksum
- 2015 Stanley Cup Final, United Center, Chicago, IL: Chicago Blackhawks defeat Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-0 for a 4-2 series victory; Blackhawks' 6th Championship
- 2017 New record set for price of a parking lot in Hong Kong - $664,000
Film & TV History
2017 Rebel Wilson wins defamation case against Bauer Media at The Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne
Grenfell Tower fire
2017 Scotland Yard launches criminal inquiry and British Prime Minister Theresa May announces a public inquiry a day after the Grenfell Tower fire
- 2018 Glasgow School of Art, designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh burns down, four years after a previous fire
Elizabeth Holmes Charged with Fraud
2018 Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes charged with fraud over company's blood tests
- 2018 World Cup: Portugal 3. Spain 3 - Cristiano Renaldo scores hat-trick - 4th player to score in 4 different WC's - 1st to score in 8 consecutive major tournaments
- 2019 Anthony Davis's opera "The Central Park Five" premieres at the Long Beach Opera Company, California (Pulitzer Prize for Music 2020) [1]
Babe Ruth's Jersey Sells for Record
2019 Baseball jersey belonging to Babe Ruth becomes most expensive sports memorabilia when it sells for $5.64 million at an auction in New York
NBA Trade
2019 In a blockbuster NBA trade, the New Orleans Pelicans send forward Anthony Davis to the LA Lakers for Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart & 3 future 1st round draft picks including 2019 #4
- 2020 In landmark decision US Supreme Court rules 6-3 that gay and transgender workers cannot be discriminated against in the workplace
- 2020 New COVID-19 cluster of more than 100 cases in Beijing called a 'significant event' by WHO
Maria Ressa's Libel Trial
2020 Philippines journalist and 'Time Person of the Year' Maria Ressa found guilty of cyber libel in Manila amid claims charges politically motivated
2021 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warns of possible food shortages and COVID-19 restrictions while addressing national conference
2021 NY Governor Andrew Cuomo announces a "return to life as we know it" lifting all COVID-19 restrictions after the state passes 70% vaccinated with one dose
- 2021 US death toll from COVID-19 tops 600,000 (Johns Hopkins), with 65% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose
- 2022 Black Death, the 14th century plague, originated in Kyrgyzstan, according to new DNA research taken from burials at Lake Issyk Kul [1]
- 2022 US Federal Reserve raises interest rates by 0.75, the largest increase since 1994 in attempt to control rising inflation [1]
- 2023 Cyclone Biparjoy makes landfall as a category 1 storm along India’s Gujarat coast with both India and Pakistan evacuating over 180,000 people out of its path [1]
Partygate Report
2023 Damning report by UK government committee finds former PM Boris Johnson misled parliament over 'Partygate' Covid-19 breaches [1]
- 2023 Massachusetts Air National Guard Jack Teixeira indicted by US federal grand jury for leaking classified documents on social media sites [1]
- 2023 Record-breaking outbreak of dengue fever in Peru has caused 248 deaths and over 146,000 cases, forcing Health Minister Rosa Gutiérrez, to resign [1]
- 2023 Water pumped from underground reservoirs has shifted Earth's axis at the North Pole by 4.36 cm a year, with over 2 trillion tons of water extracted from 1993 to 2010 [1]
- 2025 Armand "Mondo" Duplantis sets a new pole vault world record of 6.28m at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm, Sweden, surpassing his previous world record of 6.27m [1]
- 2025 Peaceful protest of 100,000 to 150,000 people marches in The Hague, Netherlands, demanding the Dutch government take action against Israel's military campaign in Palestine [1]
