- 936 Louis IV [Louis of Overseas], crowned King of France
- 1179 The Norwegian Battle of Kalvskinnet outside Nidaros. Earl Erling Skakke is killed, and the battle changes the tide of the civil war
- 1205 Pope Innocent III fires Adolf I as archbishop of Cologne
Jewish Badge Decreed
1269 King Louis IX of France decrees all Jews must wear a yellow badge in public or be fined 10 livres of silver
- 1286 Rabbi Mir of Rothenbur imprisoned in the fortress of Ensisheim, Alsace, by King Rudolf I (he died there seven years later)
Battle of Methven
1306 The Earl of Pembroke's army defeats Robert the Bruce's Scottish army at the Battle of Methven
French Postal Service
1464 French King Louis XI forms postal service
- 1572 Garrison under Dutch Resisteance leader Adrian van Swieten occupies Oudewater
- 1586 English colonists sailed from Roanoke Island, North Carolina
- 1588 Spanish Armada heavily damaged in storms in the Bay of Biscay along the Galician coast of Spain, some ships return to A Coruña for repairs
- 1603 Merga Bien arrested for witchcraft in Fulda, Germany, part of Fulda witch trials. She and about 250 people later burned at the stake.
Battle of Sorel
1610 Samuel de Champlain and his French army defeat the Mohawk people at the Battle of Sorel in New France, present-day Sorel-Tracy, Quebec
- 1631 Peace of Cherasco: Charles de Gonzaga-Nevers becomes Duke of Mantua
- 1669 Polish parliament selects Litouwer Michael Wisniopwiecki as king
- 1754 Albany Congress held by seven British colonies & Iroquois indians
- 1770 Swedish theologian and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg reports the completion of the Second Coming of Christ in his work True Christian Religion
Continental Army Leaves Valley Forge
1778 George Washington's Continental Army troops finally leave Valley Forge, their winter encampment
- 1790 French Revolution: The National Assembly issues a decree abolishing the titles, orders and other privileges of the French nobility
- 1807 Russian Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos during Russo-Turkish War
- 1816 Battle of Seven Oaks between North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company, near Winnipeg, Manitoba
1819 HMS Kite chases the steamship SS Savannah on its historic voyage across the Atlantic for 3 hours off the coast of Ireland believing it to be on fire. Unable to catch the steamship HMS Kite fires warning shots forcing it to stop and be inspected to the amazement of the British.
- 1821 Decisive defeat of the Greek revolutionary society Philikí Etaireía by the Ottomans at Drăgăşani (in Wallachia)
Il viaggio a Reims
1825 Gioachino Rossini's opera "Il viaggio a Reims" (The Journey to Reims) premieres in celebration of the coronation of French King Charles X
1829 Robert Peel introduces the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 into Parliament to establish a unified police force for London, the city's first modern police force
- 1835 New Orleans gives US government Jackson Square to be used as a mint
- 1846 First officially recognized baseball game (played by Cartwright Rules) - NY Nine defeats the NY Knickerbockers 23-1 in Hoboken, New Jersey
- 1861 Anaheim Post Office established
- 1861 Francis Pierpont is elected provisional governor of West Virginia
- 1862 Slavery is outlawed in US territories
- 1863 Battle at Middleburg, Virginia, with 100+ casualties
- 1864 CSS "Alabama" sunk by USS "Kearsarge" off Cherbourg, France
- 1864 Skirmish at Pine Knob, Georgia
1865 Union General Gordon Granger declares slaves free in Texas, now the date the end of slavery is celebrated across the US as Juneteenth
- 1867 1st Belmont Stakes: Gilbert Gilpatrick aboard Ruthless wins in 3:05
- 1868 Major General E. R. S. Canby removes mayor of Columbia, South Carolina
- 1875 Formal opening of US Marine Hospital at Presidio in San Francisco
- 1875 The Herzegovinian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire begins
- 1881 Muhammad Ahmad becomes Mahdi of Sudan
- 1897 MLB Baltimore Orioles outfielder Wee Willie Keeler's then-record 44 game hitting streak ends
- 1903 New York Central Railroad begins building Grand Central Terminal, designed by the architectural firms of Reed & Stem (overall) and Warren & Wetmore (exterior) [1]
- 1909 First baseball game played under lights, an exhibition between local Elks lodge teams in Cincinnati, Ohio
- 1910 Father's Day is celebrated for the first time, in Spokane, Washington
- 1912 Tennessee University is established (as the Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State Normal School for Negroes), in Nashville, Tennessee
- 1913 Natives Land Act, Act No 27, passed in South Africa: confines Africans to hopelessly overcrowded reserves and deprives them of rights to purchase land outside the native reserves
- 1914 Hillcrest Mine Disaster: explosion at Hillcrest mine, Alberta, kills 189 men in Canada's worst mining disaster [1]
- 1917 The British Royal Family, which has had strong German ties since George I, renounces its German names and titles and adopts the name of Windsor
- 1919 Opposed to dismemberment of Turkey by the Allies, Mustafa Kemal declares his Turkish Nationalist Congress, headquartered in Ankara, independent of Constantinople
- 1921 Census held in Great Britain
- 1921 Turks and Christians of Palestine sign a friendship treaty against Jews
- 1923 Comic Strip "Moon Mullins" debuts
- 1924 Paavo Nurmi runs world record 1500m of 3:52.6; 50 minutes later sets 5,000m WR 14:28.2; also runs WR 3-mile time 14:02.00 within that event in Finnish Olympic trials in Helsinki
- 1926 DeFord Bailey is 1st African American to perform on Nashville's "Grand Ole Opry"
- 1931 First photoelectric cell installed commercially, in West Haven, Connecticut
- 1932 First concert given in San Francisco's Stern Grove
- 1932 Hailstones kill 200 in Hunan Province, China
- 1933 Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss' government bans Nazi organizations
- 1934 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created
- 1936 Dutch Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn denies relation with German call-girl
Schmeling KOs Louis
1936 German boxer Max Schmeling KOs up-and-coming American heavyweight Joe Louis in 12 rounds at Yankee Stadium, New York
McCarthy All-Star Manager
1936 Joe McCarthy is named to manage AL All-Stars, rather than high-strung Mickey Cochrane, who is very close to a nervous breakdown
Nationalists Enter Bilbao
1937 Francisco Franco's Nationalist troops take Bilbao during their victorious Biscay Campaign in the Basques region during the Civil War
- 1937 LPGA Western Open Women's Golf, Beverly CC: Helen Hicks wins the first of her 2 major titles, defeating amateur Bea Barrett 6 & 5 in the final
Robert Johnson Vitagraph Session
1937 Second of two legendary recording sessions by Delta Blues musician Robert Johnson with producer Don Law at the Vitagraph Studios, Dallas, Texas
- 1938 "Olympian Flyer" express train crashes in Montana, killing 47
- 1938 FIFA World Cup Final, Stade Olympique de Colombes, Paris, France: Luigi Colausig & Silvio Piola each score 2 goals as Italy beats Hungary, 4-1
- 1938 MLB Cincinnati Reds pitcher Johnny Vander Meer extends his string of hitless baseball innings to 21 2/3 before Debs Garms singles for Boston in 4th
Rommel Occupies Cherbourg
1940 German 7th Armoured division under command of Rommel occupies Cherbourg
Germans Seize Dutch Assets
1940 Hermann Goering orders seizure of Dutch horses, car, buses and ships
- 1941 Romania orders Jewish evacuation of Darabani
Curse of Timur
1941 Soviet anthropologist Mikhail Gerasimov opens the tomb of Timurid Empire founder Timur and allegedly finds an inscription stating that whoever opens the tomb shall "unleash an invader more terrible than I." Three days later, Germany invades the Soviet Union.
Two Ocean Navy Expansion Act
1941 US President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Two Ocean Navy Expansion Act - increases the size of US Navy by 70%
- 1943 NFL's Philadelphia Eagles & Pittsburgh Steelers merge, (dissolves on Dec 5)
- 1944 Day one of the two-day Battle of the Philippine Sea, US naval forces defeat the Japanese fleet in World War II
Capa's Magnificent Eleven
1944 Five of the "The Magnificent Eleven" photos taken by Robert Capa during the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach, Normandy first published in "Life Magazine"
- 1944 French troops free Elba
- 1944 Heavy air raid on US fleet at Guam "Turkey Shoot"
- 1944 Japanese troops conquer Changsha China
- 1945 El Teniente Mine accident [Smoke Tragedy] 355 men die from smoke inhalation from a fire in the Andes, Chile
- 1946 First TV sports and boxing spectacular, Joe Louis KOs Billy Conn in a match broadcast across New York
- 1947 First plane (F-80) to exceed 600 mph (1,004 kph) - Albert Boyd, Muroc, California
- 1948 Panama and Costa Rica recognize Israel
- 1952 "I've Got A Secret" debuts on CBS-TV with Garry Moore as host
- 1952 Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine no-hits Chicago Cubs, 5-0
- 1953 Albert W Dent elected president of US National Health Council
- 1953 WCSC TV channel 5 in Charleston, South Carolina (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1953 WTPA (now WHTM) TV channel 27 in Harrisburg, PA (ABC) 1st broadcast
- 1954 Taz, the Tasmanian Devil, a Warner Bros. cartoon character created by Robert McKimson and Warren Foster, debuts in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series in "Devil May Hare"
- 1955 Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 in 15 innings; ties longest shutout in club history
Event of Interest
1959 US Senate rejects Eisenhower's appointment of Lewis Strauss as Secretary of Commerce
- 1960 1st Copa Libertadores Final, Asunción: Luis Cubilla scores 83' equaliser for Peñarol of Uruguay for 1-1 draw against Olimpia (Paraguay); win 2-1 on aggregate after taking 1st-leg 1-0 in Montevideo
Sports History
1961 Charlie Finley, changes A's manager Joe Gordon (26-33) for Hank Bauer
- 1961 Kuwait declares independence from the United Kingdom
Baseball Record
1961 New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris hits his 25th of 61 HRs
- 1961 US Supreme Court struck down a provision in Maryland's constitution requiring state office holders to believe in God
- 1963 Charter members of Canadian Football Hall of Fame chosen
- 1963 Greek government of Pipinolis forms
- 1963 Two Russian space missions return to Earth
Music History
1964 Ameican folk singer Bob Dylan completes his first UK tour
- 1964 Cambuur Leeuwarden BVO soccer team forms in Leeuwarden
Event of Interest
1964 Luther Burbank Home and Gardens, home of the famous horticulturist, is designated a National Historical Landmark in Santa Rosa, California
Coup d'état
1965 Algerian coup under colonel Houari Boumedienne removes president Ahmed Ben Bella from power
- 1965 KYW-AM in Cleveland Ohio returns call letters to Philadelphia
Music History
1967 Paul McCartney admits that he took LSD in a statement to Independent Television News (ITN); he was tha last Beatle to experiment with the drug, but first to speak about it publicly
- 1968 50,000 participate in Solidarity Day March of Poor People's Campaign
- 1969 State troopers ordered to Cairo Ill, to quell racial disturbances
- 1970 Conservatives led by Edward Heath win British parliamentary election
Ball Four
1970 Jim Bouton's controversial baseball diary "Ball Four" is published
- 1970 Russian cosmonauts Andriyan Nikolayev and Vitaly Sevastyanov return after nearly 18 days in Soyuz 9, the longest crewed spaceflight at the time until Soyuz 11 surpasses it
- 1970 The international Patent Cooperation Treaty is signed
Music History
1971 Carole King starts a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with the double A-sided single "It's Too Late / I Feel The Earth Move."
- 1971 Mayor declares state of emergency in Columbus Georgia due to racial disturbance
- 1972 -29] Tropical storm Agnes upgraded to a hurricane, makes landfall in Panama City (would kill 128)
- 1972 A Catholic civilian is shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in the Cracked Cup Social Club, Belfast
- 1972 Hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers face flight delays and cancellations after pilots threaten to strike over hijack fears
- 1972 Secretary of State for Northern Ireland William Whitelaw concedes 'special category' status, or 'political status' for paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland
- 1973 "The Rocky Horror Show" stage production first opens in London written by Richard O'Brian and directed by Jim Sharman and starring Tim Curry
Sports History
1973 Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds) and Willie Davis (LA Dodgers) both record 2,000th MLB career hit; Rose, a single in 4-0 win vs SF Giants; Davis, a HR in 3-0 win vs Atlanta Braves
- 1974 KC Royals pitcher Steve Busby throws his 2nd career no-hitter; beats Milwaukee Brewers, 2-0
- 1974 Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) suspends constitution
- 1976 US Viking 1 goes into Martian orbit after 10-month flight from Earth
- 1977 MLB Boston Red Sox set 3-game record of 16 home runs, all against New York Yankees
Event of Interest
1977 Pope Paul VI makes 19th-cen bishop John Neumann 1st US male saint
Garfield Debuts
1978 Garfield, created by Jim Davis, first appears as a comic strip
Sports History
1979 In NYC 36,211 show up to witness return of Billy Martin as manager of the New York Yankees
- 1979 Mali's constitution goes into effect
- 1980 Battle between police and demonstrators in Capetown, 34 killed
- 1981 Boeing commercial Chinook 2-rotor helicopter is certified
- 1981 European Space Agency's Ariane carries 2 satellites into orbit
- 1981 Heaviest known orange (2.5 kg) exhibited, Nelspruit, South Africa
- 1981 India's APPLE satellite, 1st to be stabilized on 3 axes, launched
- 1982 The body of God's Banker, Roberto Calvi is found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London
- 1984 1st live TV appearance by Chief Justice Warren Burger (Nightline)
- 1987 ETA bomb attack in Barcelona, 15 killed
1987 Gay Kelleway rides 12-1 shot Sprowston Boy to win the two-mile six-furlong Queen Alexandra Stakes; becomes first female jockey to ride a winner at England’s Royal Ascot Racecourse
- 1987 Supreme Court rules school teaching evolution need not teach creation
- 1988 32 divers finish cycling underwater on a standard tricycle, to complete 116.66 mi in 75 hrs 20 mins
- 1988 Namphy takes control of Haitian government
- 1988 World's then largest sausage completed at 13 1/8 miles long
- 1989 Barry Switzer resigns as head coach of Oklahoma's football team
Event of Interest
1990 Grupo Carso, S.A. de C.V., founded by Carlos Slim is listed on the Mexico Stock Exchange
- 1991 NY Yankee Steve Howe records his 1st major league save since 1987
Film & TV History
1991 Two of actress Mia Farrow's daughters are arrested for shoplifting lingerie
- 1992 Guardian Angel Curtis Sliwa is shot twice in NYC
- 1992 Inkhata-blood bath in Boipatong South-Africa
- 1992 NY Yankees 1st game in Baltimore Oriole's Camden Yards
- 1994 Ernesto Samper elected president of Colombia
- 1994 Tigers tie record of hitting HRs in 25th consecutive games
Event of Interest
1999 At about 4:30 pm, Stephen King is hit by a car on the shoulder of Route 5, in Lovell, Maine. He would suffer numerous injuries, including a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of his right leg, scalp laceration and a broken hip
1999 Stanley Cup, Marine Midland Arena, Buffalo, NY: Dallas Stars edge Buffalo Sabres, 2-1 in triple overtime for 4-2 series win; Brett Hull clinches series with infamous "No Goal" ruling
Sports History
2005 Michael Schumacher wins controversial United States Formula 1 Grand Prix where only 6 of 20 cars complete the race amongst ridicule of F1 safety and tyre rules
- 2006 Prime ministers of several northern European nations participate in a ceremonial "laying of the first stone" at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Spitsbergen, Norway
- 2006 Stanley Cup Final, PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC: Carolina Hurricanes beat Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 for a 4-3 series victory; Hurricane's first Championship
Music Concert
2008 Ringo Starr's tenth All-Starr Band debuts in concert; members include: Billy Squier, Colin Hay, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, Hamish Stuart, and Gregg Bissonette
- 2012 A man is beheaded for witchcraft and sorcery in Saudi Arabia
- 2012 Antonis Samaras, the leader of the New Democracy party in Greece, forms a coalition government
- 2013 48 people are killed by armed bandits in Zamfara State, Nigeria
Sports History
2013 Jerry Sloan returns to the Utah Jazz as an adviser and scouting consultant
Transformers: Age of Extinction
2014 "Transformers: Age of Extinction" directed by Michael Bay and starring Mark Wahlberg premieres in Hong Kong. Highest grossing film of 2014 ($1.104 billion)
Event of Interest
2014 Felipe VI ascends to the Spanish throne after the abdication of his father King Juan Carlos
Inside Out
2015 Pixar's animated film "Inside Out" is released with voices by Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Bill Hader and Mindy Kaling
- 2015 The right-wing Venstre block wins the 2015 Danish general election
Sports History
2016 Alex Puccio undergoes spinal fusion surgery due to a herniated disk
- 2017 Bexit negotiations begin between United Kingdom and the European Union in Brussels
- 2017 First full genetic study of cats published in "Nature Ecology and Evolution," reveals they were domesticated 9,000 years ago and are descended from one species, the African wildcat
- 2017 Record 65.6 million people displaced around the world in 2016 reported by UN refugee agency
- 2017 Russia warns the US it will target US and allied aircraft over Syria after US fighter shoots down Syrian warplane
- 2018 Canada's Senate votes to legalize recreational marijuana use, first major economy to do so
- 2018 England smash the highest score (481/6) in one day international cricket history in a 242 run defeat of Australia (239) at Trent Bridge
- 2018 General Electric is dropped form the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the last original member from 1907
Event of Interest
2018 US ambassador Nikki Haley announces the US is leaving the UN Human Rights Council
Film & TV History
2019 First debate for a decade in Congress over reparations for slavery with Danny Glover one of the witnesses
Event of Interest
2019 Oklahoma writer Joy Harjo is named the first Native American US Poet Laureate by the Library of Congress
- 2019 UN says over 70 million people in the world are displaced, asylum seekers or refugees around the world, their highest-ever number in 70 years
- 2019 US NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere found guilty in New York court of racketeering, sex trafficking and fraud
- 2019 US Senators receive a classified briefing on possible UFO sightings by the US Navy
Event of Interest
2020 Australian government and companies suffer a months-long state-based cyber attack according to PM Scott Morrison
- 2020 Columbia Records releases "Rough and Rowdy Ways", the 39th studio album by singer-songwriter Bob Dylan
Music History
2020 Jason Mraz announces he will donate all profits from his album "Look for the Good" to Black Lives Matter and other organizations
- 2022 Colombian elects its first leftist President, former member of the M-19 guerrilla movement Gustavo Petro [1]
- 2022 French President Emmanuel Marcon's centralist coalition loses its ruling majority in the National Assembly after gains by the right and the left in legislative elections [1]
- 2022 US Center for Disease Control recommends COVID-19 vaccines for kids aged 6-months to 5 years [1]
- 2023 Heatwave with temperatures between 42C and 47C in Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, with a controversy erupting after official suggests dozens have died because of it [1]
- 2023 Historians' study commissioned by Dutch parliament finds rulers William III, William IV and William V made more than €545m profit from Dutch colonies, including through slavery in Africa and Asia [1]
- 2023 Search and rescue mission begins for the Titan submarine on an expedition to explore the wreck of the Titanic in the North Atlantic [1]
- 2023 UN adopts first-ever legally binding international treaty to govern the high seas (Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty) [1]
- 2024 A law requiring classrooms display the Ten Commandments signed into law by Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry - first state to do so [1]
- 2024 At least 550 people are reported to have died on hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, as temperatures topped 51.8 degrees C (125.2 F) [1]
Ramaphosa's Second Term
2024 Cyril Ramaphosa is sworn in for a second term as President of South Africa in Pretoria, at the head of a coalition government [1]
North Korean–Russian Treaty
2024 Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong-un sign a pact to "provide mutual assistance in case of aggression" in Pyongyang, bringing the countries the closest since the Cold War [1]
- 2024 World's oldest wine, a white, revealed inside a 1st century CE Roman funeral urn mixed with a man's ashes in a mausoleum in Carmona, Spain [1]
