| The siege of Jerusalem, led by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, ends following the destruction of Solomon's Temple |
 |
587 BC |
| William I (The Lion) of Scotland, having invaded Northumberland in an attempt to win it back from Henry II of England,
is defeated and captured in the Battle of Alnwick by a small loyalist English force led by Ranulf de Glanvill |
|
1174 |
| Alexander II is crowned King of Scots |
|
1249 |
| Thomas Wolsey, Lord Chancellor of England and Cardinal Archbishop of York, and at the height of his powers, suppresses the
Priory of St Frideswide in Oxford and founds Cardinal College on its lands, using funds from the dissolution of Wallingford Priory and other
minor priories. He planned the establishment on a magnificent scale, but fell from grace in 1529, with the buildings only three–quarters
complete, as they were to remain for 140 years. The college itself was suppressed in 1531, but refounded in 1532 as King Henry VIII's College by
Henry VIII, to whom Wolsey's property had escheated. Then in 1546 the King refounded the college as Christ Church, as part of the reorganisation
of the newly–established Church of England |
|
1525 |
| Spanish forces, led by Count Lamoral of Egmont and supported by the English navy, defeat the French forces of Marshal
Paul de Thermes at the Battle of Gravelines, in the extreme North of France |
|
1558 |
| In the English Civil War, Parliamentarian forces led by Sir William Waller suffer an early, heavy defeat at the hands
of Royalists under Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, at the Battle of Roundway Down (near Devizes, Wiltshire) |
|
1643 |
| Jean–Paul Marat, Jacobin leader, is murdered by the Girondin, Charlotte Corday |
|
1793 |
| William Wordsworth writes Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey |
|
1798 |
| The Carabinieri, Italy's gendarmerie (a military force with law enforcement duties among the
civilian population) is established |
|
1814 |
| Buckingham Palace becomes the official royal residence of Queen Victoria |
|
1837 |
| In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in
United States history |
|
1863 |
| Britain's first cat show is held at Earl's Court |
|
1871 |
| Following Russia's victory against the Ottoman Empire in the Russo–Turkish War of 1877–8, the major
European powers sign the Treaty of Berlin, restructuring the map of the Balkan region. Russian naval expansion is limited, Austria–Hungary
occupies Bosnia–Herzogovina, and Turkey recognises the independence of Serbia, Romania, Montenegro and Hungary (the last under Turkish
suzerainty) |
|
1878 |
| The British bombardment of Alexandria ends |
|
1882 |
| Alfred Dreyfus is readmitted into the French army with a promotion to the rank of major (Chef d'Escadron),
having been officially exonerated by a military commission on the previous day |
|
1906 |
| The fourth modern Olympic Games is opened at White City Stadium, London, by King Edward VII – relocated from Rome
after the eruption of Vesuvius in 1906 |
|
1908 |
| The Airship R34 lands in Norfolk, becoming the first airship to make a return journey across the Atlantic –
in 182 hours of flight |
|
1919 |
| France II, the world's largest sailing ship (5,806 tons) is wrecked off New Caledonia |
|
1922 |
| Parliament passes a law banning the sale of alcohol to under–18s |
|
1923 |
| The first FIFA World Cup begins in Montevideo, Uruguay |
|
1930 |
| In World War II, Montenegrins begin a popular uprising against the Axis powers |
|
1941 |
| Europe accepts the Marshall Plan |
|
1947 |
| Britain's steel industry is privatised |
|
1953 |
| A crowd of 500 gathers outside Holloway Prison in support of Ruth Ellis, as she becomes the last woman to be hanged in
Britain, for shooting her lover, racing driver David Blakeley (with whom she had lived on and off for nearly two years) outside a public house
in north London on Easter Day |
|
1955 |
| The Dartmouth workshop – widely considered to be the first conference on artificial intelligence – begins
at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire |
|
1956 |
| All Shook Up becomes Elvis Presley's first UK No. 1 |
|
1957 |
| In an unprecedented action that would become known as the UK's 'Night of the Long Knives', Harold Macmillan
dismisses seven members of his Cabinet, marking the effective end of the National Liberals as a distinct force within British politics |
|
1962 |
| In Morocco, ten army officers – four generals, five colonels and one major – are executed by firing squad,
without trial or court martial, less than 72 hours after they led an aborted coup including an attack on the royal palace at Sikharat where
King Hassan II was hosting a grand reception for his 42nd birthday |
|
1971 |
| Alexander Butterfield, former 'deputy assistant' to President Nixon, reveals the existence of a secret Oval
Office taping system (which would later prove crucial to the investigation) to representatives of the Senate Watergate Committee |
|
1973 |
| Somalia declares war on Ethiopia over the disputed territory of Ogaden |
|
1977 |
| Against a background of financial and economic turmoil, New York City is blacked out for almost 24 hours by electrical
storms, leading to widespread fires and looting |
|
1977 |
| Live Aid (London and Philadelphia) raises £42 million for African famine relief. The biggest donation is £1
million from the ruling family of Dubai; the event is beamed to over 1.5 billion people in 160 countries, in the biggest broadcast ever known |
|
1985 |
| US Vice President George H. W. Bush becomes Acting President for the day, when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery
to remove polyps from his colon |
|
1985 |
| 4,500 Albanian refugees arrive in Brindisi, Italy |
|
1990 |
| Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the IOC, visits Manchester and speaks highly of the city's bid for the 2000
Olympic Games, the day after the Committee publishes a report on the technical suitability of the four cities competing: Sydney is the clear
favourite, but the report gives credit to the British bid and raises doubts over Beijing. Brasilia fell well below the standard and many expect
it to be dismissed from the contest |
|
1993 |
| Street violence erupts in Spain after town councillor Miguel Angel Blanco, 29, is murdered by members of the Basque
separatist movement ETA |
|
1997 |
| Home Secretary David Blunkett joins the victim's family in demanding an inquiry after Andrew Kernan, a
37–year–old schizophrenia patient, is shot dead by police after running into the streets of Wavertree, Liverpool, wearing only
pyjamas and waving a Samurai sword above his head |
|
2001 |
| France's external intelligence agency, the DGSE, aborts an operation to rescue Íngrid Betancourt (a politician
and anti–corruption activist of dual Colombian and French nationality) from rebels belonging to the FARC (a Marxist–Leninist
"peasant force") in Colombia. A political scandal would develop in France when details were leaked to the Brazilian press; Betancourt,
captured in February 2002, would eventually be rescued by Colombian security forces in July 2008 |
|
2003 |
| The Battle of Wanat, in which US forces would sustain the most fatalities in a single battle since the beginning of
their operations in Afghanistan in 2001, begins when around 200 Taliban and al–Qaeda guerrillas attack US and Afghan troops in Nuristan,
a far eastern province of Afghanistan |
|
2008 |
| 26 lives are lost and 130 are injured as Mumbai is rocked by three more bomb blasts during the evening rush hour |
|
2011 |
| South Sudan is admitted as a member of the United Nations |
|
2011 |
| More than 160 million people are affected, and at least nine lives are lost, as Typhoon Soulik causes widespread damage
in eastern China and Taiwan |
|
2013 |
| David Cameron resigns and is succeeded as Prime Minister by Theresa May, in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum |
|
2016 |
