• Home
• Articles
• Dates
• Days
• Today in History
• Topics
• Quiz

Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 169

1425 BC - Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, dies (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty).
417 - Zosimus becomes bishop of Rome
537 - Goths lay siege to Rome
843 - Icon worship officially re-instated in Aya Sofia Constantinople
928 - Trpimir II succeeds to the Croatian throne.
1302 - Romeo & Juliet's wedding day, according to Shakespeare
1387 - The Battle of Castagnaro begins.
1502 - Tebriz] shah Ismail I of Persia crowned
1513 - Giovanni de' Medici chosen Pope Leo X
1563 - League of High Nobles routes 2nd protest against King Philip II
1567 - Geuzen army leaves Walcheren to return to Oosterweel
1597 - Land guardian Albrecht occupies Amiens on France
1598 - Countess Charlotte of Nassau marries duke Claude de la Tremoille
1649 - Treaty of Rueil destroys 1st Fronde-uprising
1649 - The Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
1665 - NY approves new code guaranteeing Protestants religious rights
1669 - Volcano Etna in Italy erupts killing 15,000
1702 - 1st English daily newspaper "Daily Courant," publishes
1708 - Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
1779 - US army Corps of Engineers established (1st time)
1789 - Benjamin Banneker with L'Enfant begin to lay out Washington DC
1791 - Samuel Mulliken, Phila, is 1st to obtain more than 1 US patent
1794 - Royal Theatre in London's Dury Lane opens
1795 - Battle at Kurdla India: Mahratten beat Mogols
1810 - Emperor Napoleon married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise
1812 - Citizenship granted to Prussian Jews
1823 - 1st normal school in US opens, Concord Academy, Concord, Vt
1824 - US War Dept creates the Bureau of Indian Affair
1835 - HMS Beagle anchors off Valparaiso, Chile
1845 - The Flagstaff War: In New Zealand, Chiefs Hone Heke and Kawiti lead 700 Māoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
1848 - Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.
1850 - Woman's Medical College of Penn (1st female medical school)
1851 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto," premieres in Venice
1851 - The first performance of Rigoletto, written by Verdi.
1861 - Confederate convention in Montgomery, adopts constitution
1862 - Lincoln removes McClellen as general-in-chief & makes him head of
1862 - 12] Gen Stonewall Jackson evacuates Winchester Virginia Army of the Potomac. Gen Henry Halleck is named general-in-chief
1864 - Skirmish at Calfkiller Creek (Sparta), Tennessee
1864 - The Great Sheffield Flood: The largest man-made disaster ever to befall England kills over 250 people in Sheffield.
1865 - Gen Sherman's Union forces occupies Fayetteville, NC
1867 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Don Carlos," premieres in Paris
1867 - Great Mauna Loa eruption (Hawaiian volcano)
1867 - The first performance of Don Carlos written by Verdi.
1872 - Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.
1872 - The Meiji Japanese government officially annexes the Ryukyu Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa prefecture.
1882 - Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association organized in Princeton NJ
1888 - Great blizzard of '88 strikes NE US
1892 - 1st public basketball game (Springfield, Mass)
1895 - Spanish cruiser Reina Regenta sinks at Gibraltar, 400 killed
1897 - A meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over New Martinsville, West Virginia. The debris causes damage but no human injuries are reported.
1901 - Cincinnati Enquirer reports Balt mgr John McGraw signed Cherokee Indian Tokohoma, who is really black 2nd baseman Charlie Grant
1904 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Brandon Wheat Kings in 2 games
1905 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 beat Rat Portage Thisles, 2 games to 1
1910 - Jack Hobbs 1st Test ton (187 v SAfr), his only Test hit wicket
1912 - 1st Stanley Cup game to be played in 3 20-min periods, formerly played in 30-min halfs, Quebec beats Moncton 9-3 on way to sweep
1912 - Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Liberal Party, wins the Greek elections again.
1917 - British troops occupy Baghdad
1917 - 1st NHL championship game ever played, Toronto Arenas beats Montreal Canadiens 7-3 in 1st of 2 game set (second game on March 13)
1917 - World War I: Baghdad falls to the Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.
1918 - Moscow becomes capital of revolutionary Russia
1918 - Save the Redwoods League founded
1918 - First confirmed cases of the Spanish Flu are observed at Fort Riley, Kansas.
1919 - General strike in Germany, crushed
1922 - Western Hockey Championship: Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA) sweep Regina Capitals, in 2 games
1924 - 3rd term of Belgium Theunis govt begins
1924 - Eden Phillpotts' "Farmer's Wife," premieres in London
1924 - NHL Championship: Montreal Canadiens sweeps Ottawa Senators in 2 games
1926 - Eamon da Valera ends leadership of Sinn Fein
1927 - 1st armored commercial car hold-up in US, Pittsburgh
1927 - 1st golden gloves tournament
1927 - Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens famous Roxy Theater (NYC)
1928 - Netherlands & Belgium tie 1-1 (soccer match in Amsterdam)
1930 - Pres & Chief Justice William Taft buried in Arlington
1931 - Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
1934 - Netherlands beats Belgium 9-3, in soccer
1935 - Bank of Canada opens
1935 - Hermann Goering officially creates German Air Force, the Luftwaffe
1936 - British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin pardons five convicted Irish militants who promise to join growing conflict with Germany.
1938 - Artur Seyss-Inquart replaces Kurt von Schuschnigg as Chancellor of Austria; German troops also entered the country
1941 - Bronko Nagurski beats Ray Steele in Minn, to become wrestling champ
1941 - FDR signs Lend-Lease Bill (lend money to Britain)
1942 - 1st deportation train leaves Paris for Auschewitz Concentration Camp
1942 - Gen MacArthur leaves Corregidor (Bataan) for Australia
1942 - Japanese troop land on North-Sumatra
1943 - Nazi Militia forms in Netherlands
1944 - Dutch resistance fighter Joop Westerweel arrested
1945 - 1,000 allied bombers harass Essen, 4,662 ton bombs
1945 - Flemish nazi collaborator Maria Huygens sentenced to death
1948 - 1st black in the US Tennis Open (Reginald Weir)
1948 - Jewish Agency of Jerusalem bombed
1948 - Reginald Weit became the 1st black to play in the US Tennis Open
1948 - WBAL TV channel 11 in Baltimore, MD (CBS) begins broadcasting
1953 - 1st woman army doctor commissioned (FM Adams)
1953 - American B-47 accidentally drops a nuclear bomb on South Carolina, the bomb doesn't go off due to 6 safety catches
1954 - US Army charges Senator Joseph McCarthy used undue pressure tactics
1956 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
1958 - Charles Van Doren finally loses on TV game show "21"
1958 - Starting this season, AL batters are required to wear batting helmets
1959 - "Raisin in the Sun," 1st Broadway play by a black woman, opens
1959 - Teddy Scholten wins Eurovision Song festival with "A Little Bit"

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 234

1544 - Torquato Tasso, Italy, Renaissance poet (Aminta, Apologia)
1549 - Hendrik L Spieghel, Dutch merchant/writer
1549 - Henric Spieghel, Dutch Renaissance poet (Hertspiegel)
1596 - Isaac Elsevier, book publisher
1654 - Heinrich Georg Neuss, composer
1683 - Giovanni Veneziano, composer
1725 - Henry Benedict Stuart, pretender to the throne of Great Britain (d. 1807)
1731 - Robert Treat Paine, judge, signer (Declaration of Independence)
1738 - Benjamin Tupper, Continental Army officer, and pioneer to the Ohio Country (d. 1792)
1781 - Anthony Philip Heinrich, composer
1785 - John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1861)
1787 - Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (d. 1852)
1793 - Jan F Willems, Flemish writer/philologist
1811 - Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1811 - Urbain Jean Joseph le Verrier, co-discoverer (Neptune)
1812 - James Speed, Atty Gen (Union), died in 1887
1812 - William Vincent Wallace, composer
1818 - John Wilkins Whitfield, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1879
1819 - Henry Tate, English sugar producer (Tate Gallery)
1819 - Marius Petipa, French ballet dancer/choreographer (Don Quiotte)
1822 - Allison Nelson, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1862
1827 - Septimus Winner, composer
1832 - Franz Melde, German phyicist (Melde test)
1832 - William Ruffin Cox, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1919
1840 - Edmund Kirby Jr, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1863
1846 - Antonio C G Crespo, Brazilian/Portuguese poet
1860 - Thomas Hastings, NYC, architect (NY Public Library)
1863 - Andrew Stoddart, cricketer (My Dear Victorious Stod)
1863 - Wobbe de Vries, Dutch linguist
1870 - Louis Bachelier, French mathematician (d. 1946)
1872 - Abraham van Stolk Jzn, lumber merchant/art collector
1873 - David Horsley, English-born film executive (d. 1933)
1876 - Carl Ruggles, Marion Mass, composer (Evocations)
1876 - David Wijnkoop, Dutch revolutionary socialist
1879 - Justus Hermann Wetzel, composer
1879 - Niels Bjerrum, Danish chemist (ph tests)
1880 - Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenecist (d. 1943)
1884 - Jan Lemaire, Dutch writer/actor (Beautiful Juliet)
1884 - Lewi Pethrus, Swedish politician (d. 1974)
1885 - Malcolm Campbell, 1st auto racer to travel 5 miles/min (8 km/min)
1887 - Raoul Walsh, American film director (Thief of Baghdad, Battle Cry), (d. 1980)
1890 - Vannevar Bush, developed 1st electronic analogue computer
1892 - Wladyslaw Anders, Polish general (WW I, WW II)
1897 - Henry Dixon Cowell, Menlo Park Calif, composer (New Musical Resources)
1898 - Dorothy Gish, Massillon OH, film actress (Orphans of the Storm)
1899 - Frederick IX, [Christian FFMKWG], King of Denmark (1947-72)
1902 - Josef Martin Bauer, writer
1903 - Dorothy Schiff, publisher (NY Post)
1903 - George Dickinson, cricketer (bowled for NZ in their 1st 3 Tests)
1903 - Ronald Syme, New Zealand classicist and historian (d. 1989)
1904 - Cornelis Jan Bakker, Dutch/US nuclear physicist
1904 - Maurits Wertheim, Dutch writer (Isaac De Fuentes)
1906 - Aasan Ferit Alnar, composer
1907 - Eleni Gatzoyiannis, heroine (saved her kids)
1907 - Helmuth J von Moltke, German politician (July 20th plot)
1907 - Jessie Matthews, London England, actress (Gangway, First a Girl)
1907 - Margaret Herbison, British minister (Lab)
1908 - Lawrence Welk, Strasburg ND, orch leader (Lawrence Welk Show)
1909 - Ljubica Maric, composer
1910 - Robert H G Havemann, German chemist
1911 - Alan Gifford, Boston MA, actor (Time Lock, Up Periscope)
1911 - Fitzroy Maclean, British diplomat soldier politician/historian
1912 - Robert Clifford Latham, pepys Scholar
1912 - Xavier Montsalvatge, Spanish composer (El gato con botas)
1913 - John Jacob Weinzweig, Toronto Canada, composer (Enchanted Hill)
1913 - Thomas Gray, professor/anaesthetist
1915 - Karl Krolow, writer
1915 - Vijay Hazare, cricketer (prolific Indian batsman 1946-54)
1915 - J. C. R. Licklider, American computer scientist and Internet pioneer (d. 1990)
1916 - [James] Harold Wilson, (L) British PM (1964-70, 1974-76)
1916 - Ezra Jack Keats, children's literature author (d. 1983)
1919 - Mercer Ellington, son of Duke Ellington/bandleader
1920 - D J Enright, England, poet/novelist (Some Men are Brothers)
1920 - Henry Marking, CEO (British Airways)
1920 - Kenneth Dover, chancellor (St Andrews University)
1921 - Astor Piazzolla, Argentina composer (Tango Nuevo)
1921 - F[rancis] M[arion] Busby Jr, US, sci-fi author (Star Rebel)
1921 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
1922 - Abdul Razak bin Hussain, premier of Malaysia (1970-77)
1922 - Thom Kelling, Dutch singer/guitarist (Programa de Manha)
1922 - Vinnette Carroll, NYC, actress (Alice's Restaurant, Reivers)
1922 - José Luis López Vázquez, Spanish actor
1923 - A Louise Brough Clapp, Okla, tennis player (4 time Wimbledon champ)
1923 - A X Gwerder, writer
1923 - Ad[rianus C] de Besten, Dutch literary (River Basin)
1923 - Morschi Mirando, [Thomas Weiss], German/Dutch gypsy artist
1923 - Terry Alexander, London, actor (Tony-Behind the Scenes)
1925 - James Miskin, QC/recorder of London
1926 - Adrienne Keith Cohen, travel editor
1926 - Ilhan Mimaroglu, composer
1926 - Patricia Tindaole, England, architect
1926 - Ralph Abernathy, civil rights leader (Southern Christian Leadership)
1927 - Alan Betts, emeritus professor (Royal Veterinary College)
1927 - Raymond Jackson, [Jaki], British cartoonist
1927 - Robert Mosbacher, US politician(?)
1927 - Ron Todd, British trade unionist
1928 - Albert Salmi, Bkln NY, actor (Daniel Boone, 79 Park Avenue)
1928 - Peter Roger Hunt, London England, director (Dr No)
1929 - Erskine Childers, unofficial/civil servant
1929 - Francisco Bernardo Pulgar Vidal, composer

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 116

222 - Varius A Bassianus, Syrian emperor of Rome (218-22), murdered at 18½
222 - Julia Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus (b. 180)
222 - Elagabalus, Roman Emperor
638 - Sophronius of Jerusalem, saint/patriarch of Jerusalem, dies
859 - Eulogius of Cordoba, Spanish Bishop and Christian Martyr
1198 - Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis VII of France (b. 1145)
1486 - Albrecht III Achilles, elector of Brandenburg, dies at 71
1486 - Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg (b. 1414)
1514 - Donato Bramante, Italian architect (b. 1444)
1575 - Matthias Flacius, Croatian Protestant reformer (b. 1520)
1602 - Emilio de' Cavalieri, Italian composer
1607 - Giovanni Maria Nanino, Italian composer
1715 - Jan-Erasmus Quellinus, Flemish painter, dies at 80
1722 - John Toland, Irish philosopher (b. 1670)
1759 - John Forbes, British general (b. 1710)
1772 - George Reuter, composer, dies at 63
1786 - Jacobus Bellamy, [Zelandus], Dutch/Swiss poet, dies at 28
1786 - Charles Humphreys, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1714)
1787 - Maximilian JLP Gardel, French ballet dancer/choreographer, dies at 45
1807 - Anton Eberl, composer, dies at 41
1820 - Benjamin West, British painter (Death of General Wolfe), dies at 81
1826 - Gervais-Francois Couperin, composer, dies at 66
1833 - Fridolin Weber, composer, dies at 71
1845 - John Chapman, [Johnny Appleseed], dies in Allen County Indiana
1847 - Johnny Appleseed, American pioneer agronomist (b. 1774)
1851 - George McDuffie, Governor of South Carolina (b. 1790)
1854 - Willard Richards, American religious leader (b. 1804)
1856 - James Beatty, Irish railway engineer (b. 1820)
1857 - Manuel Jose Quintana, Spanish author/poet (A la paz), dies at 84
1863 - Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet, English general (b. 1803)
1869 - Vladimir Odoevsky, Russian philosopher (b. 1803)
1870 - King Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho
1874 - Charles Sumner, a white civil rights leader, dies at 63
1894 - John Selby, cricketer (6 Tests for England 1877-82), dies
1897 - Berthold Tours, composer, dies at 58
1897 - Henry Drummond, Scottish geologist/evangelist, dies at 45
1898 - William Rosecrans, American Civil War Union general (b. 1819)
1900 - Edmund Peate, cricketer (9 Tests for England 1881-86), dies
1907 - Nikola Petkow, premier (Bulgaria), murdered
1907 - Jean Casimir-Perier, French politician (b. 1847)
1908 - Peter Milne, composer, dies at 83
1908 - Revd Benjamin Waugh, American activist (b. 1839)
1915 - Thomas Alexander Browne, Australian writer (b. 1826)
1919 - Harald Fryklof, composer, dies at 36
1920 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (b. 1865)
1921 - Sherburne W Burnham, US astronomer (binary stars), dies at 83
1925 - Andreas Hallen, composer, dies at 78
1926 - John Henry Anderson, cricketer (score 32 & 11 in Test for S Afr), dies
1931 - F.W. Murnau, German film director (b. 1888)
1937 - Paul Scheinpflug, composer, dies at 61
1937 - Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (b. 1860)
1941 - Walford Davies, British organist/composer, dies at 71
1944 - Hendrik W van Loon, Neth/US radio commentator/writer, dies at 62
1947 - Victor Hely-Hutchinson, composer, dies at 45
1949 - Juan Lamonte de Grignon, composer, dies at 76
1950 - Florence Arliss, actress (Disraeli), dies at 78
1951 - Philippe of Isacker, Belgian minister, dies at 66
1952 - Pierre Renoir, French stage and film actor and director (b. 1885)
1955 - Alexander Fleming, English bacteriologist (penicillin), dies at 73
1955 - Oscar Mayer, Bavarian-born American meat packer (b. 1859)
1956 - Sergey Nikiforovich Vasilenko, Russian opera composer, dies at 83
1957 - Richard E Byrd, US, explorer (Antarctica), dies at 68
1958 - Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish inventor of Legos (b. 1891)
1959 - Haydn Wood, composer, dies at 76
1960 - Roy Chapman Andrews, US biologist/explorer, dies at 76
1962 - Will Vesper, German author (Tristan und Isolde), dies at 79
1963 - Mahomed Nissar, cricketer (6 Tests for India 1932-36, 25 wkts), dies
1965 - James Reeb, US vicar/civil rights activist, murdered
1967 - Geraldine Farrar, soprano/actress (Such Sweet Compulsion), dies at 85
1969 - John Wyndham, [Parkes Lucas B Harris], author (Chrysalids), dies at 65
1970 - Erle Stanley Gardner, US writer (Perry Mason), dies at 80
1971 - Philo T Farnsworth, US TV pioneer, dies at 64
1971 - Roy Glenn, dies in Los Angeles at 56
1971 - Whitney M Young Jr, leader (National Urban League 1961-71), dies at 49
1972 - Fredric [William] Brown, sci-fi author (Martians Go Home), dies at 65
1975 - Philip Bezanson, composer, dies at 59
1975 - Sammy Spear, orch leader (Dom Deluise Show), dies at 65
1975 - Walter Kinsella, actor (Happy-Martin Kane Private Eye), dies at 74
1977 - Alberto Rodriguez Larreta, Argentine racing driver (b. 1934)
1977 - Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist (b. 1893)
1978 - Claude François, French singer (b. 1939)
1979 - Victor Kilian, actor (Gentleman's Agreement), dies at 88
1982 - Edmund Cooper, British sci-fi writer (Tomorrow Came), dies at 55
1982 - Horace Gregory, American poet (b. 1898)
1984 - Nakagawa Soen, Zen teacher/poet, dies in Rytutakuji monastery at 76
1984 - Kostas Roukounas, Greek rembetiko singer and song writer (b. 1903)
1986 - Sonny Terry, American blues musician (b. 1911)
1987 - [Wayne] Woody Hayes, football coach (Ohio State), dies at 74
1988 - Pham Hung, premier of Vietnam, dies at about 74
1989 - Johan Fleerackers, Flemish linguist, dies at 57
1989 - James Kee, American politician (b. 1917)
1989 - John J. McCloy, United States Secretary of War (b. 1895)
1990 - Dean Horrix, English footballer (b. 1961)
1992 - David Carroll, actor (Grand Hotel), dies of pulmonary embolism at 41
1992 - Manuel De Dios Unanue, US anti-drug journalist, murdered at 48
1992 - Richard Brooks, director (Blackboard Jungle, Key Largo), dies at 79
1993 - Dino Bravo, wrestler (WWF), shot to death at 44
1993 - Edgar Nelson Barclift, dancer, dies after lengthy illness at 76
1993 - Manuel da Fonseca, Portuguese writer (Cerro Maior), dies at 81
1994 - Jacques Doucet, French painter (Mostar Sarajevo), dies at 69