| Roman Emperor Constantius I (Marcus Flavius Valerius Constantius) dies; his son, Constantine I (Flavius Valerius
Constantinus, known as Constantine the Great), is proclaimed as his successor by his troops |
 |
306 |
| The Arch of Constantine (in Rome, near the Colosseum) is completed to commemorate Constantine I's victory over
Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge |
|
315 |
| Charles the Bald, King of France, issues the Edict of Pistres, ordering defensive measures against the Vikings |
|
864 |
| Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Prince Louis, later King Louis VII of France, at the Cathedral of Saint–André
in Bordeaux. (Fifteen years later, the marriage would be annulled and she would marry the Duke of Normandy, later King Henry II of England) |
|
1137 |
| The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re–establishing
the Byzantine Empire |
|
1261 |
| Queen Mary (Tudor) marries Philip, King of Naples (later King Philip II of Spain) in Winchester Cathedral |
|
1554 |
| Santiago de Leon de Caracas (now the capital city of Venezuela) is founded by Don Diego de Losada |
|
1567 |
| Christianity is banned in Japan; Jesuit missionaries are expelled, accused of selling Japanese as slaves |
|
1587 |
| The seven Northern provinces of the Netherlands declare themselves independent of Spain |
|
1581 |
| China bans Christianity |
|
1587 |
| Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism |
|
1593 |
| James VI of Scotland is crowned king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of
Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707 |
|
1603 |
| The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia and at risk of sinking during a storm, is deliberately
driven ashore at Bermuda; the survivors go on to found a new colony there |
|
1609 |
| British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the Great Expulsion of the Acadians |
|
1755 |
| The Siege of Cuddalore, in India – described as the last action in the American War of Independence – is
ended by a preliminary peace agreement |
|
1783 |
| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550) |
|
1788 |
| Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick – commander of the Allied Army (principally Austrian and Prussian)
– issues the Brunswick Manifesto, warning the population of Paris of vengeance if the French royal family is harmed |
|
1792 |
| Rear–Admiral Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men, as well as his right arm, during the failed attempt to take
Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands |
|
1797 |
| At Abu Qir in Egypt, Napoleon defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha |
|
1799 |
| Blucher – George Stephenson's first railway locomotive – goes into service at Killingworth Colliery |
|
1814 |
| William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone successfully demonstrate the commercial use of an electrical telegraph for the first
time, in London |
|
1837 |
| Window Tax abolished (Times) |
|
1851 |
| Dr. James Barry, a retired army surgeon, is found on death to be a woman |
|
1865 |
| The US Congress authorises the rank of General of the Army; Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be
promoted to this rank |
|
1866 |
| Touch typing first demonstrated – by Frank McGurrin, court stenographer at Salt Lake City |
|
1888 |
| The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship |
|
1894 |
| During the Spanish–American War, the American invasion of Spanish–held Puerto Rico begins, as US Army troops
under General Nelson A. Miles land and secure the port at Guánica |
|
1898 |
| Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate
(MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it |
|
1908 |
| Louis Bleriot makes the first crossing of the English Channel in a heavier–than–air craft, from Calais to Dover
– taking 37 minutes |
|
1909 |
| Mata Hari is found guilty of spying against France, and sentenced to death |
|
1917 |
| The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established |
|
1925 |
| Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dreyfuss is fatally wounded in an attempted Nazi coup |
|
1934 |
| The first greetings telegram is sent in Britain |
|
1935 |
| Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by Italy's Grand Council of Fascism, and replaced by Pietro Badoglio |
|
1943 |
| The United States carries out the first underwater nuclear test, near Bikini Island |
|
1946 |
| Bread rationing ends in Britain |
|
1948 |
| The Brussels Treaty on Western union comes into force |
|
1948 |
| Puerto Rico becomes a self–governing Commonwealth of the USA |
|
1952 |
| The European Coal and Steel Community comes into being |
|
1952 |
| King Farouk I of Egypt abdicates |
|
1952 |
| 51 lives are lost when the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the Swedish liner MS Stockholm
in thick fog, 45 miles south of Nantucket Island, and sinks the next day |
|
1956 |
| Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Bourguiba proclaims a republic, with himself as President – replacing King Muhammad
VIII al–Amin as head of state |
|
1957 |
| Tunisia becomes a republic, with Habib Bourguiba as president; the monarchy is abolished |
|
1959 |
| First Channel crossing by a hovercraft |
|
1959 |
| Bob Dylan "goes electric" at Newport Folk Festival |
|
1965 |
| US President Richard Nixon announces the so–called Nixon Doctrine, stating that the USA now expects its Asian
allies to take care of their own military defence. This is seen as the start of US withdrawal from Vietnam and the "Vietnamization"
of the war |
|
1969 |
| Viking 1 takes the famous 'Face on Mars' photo |
|
1976 |
| Louise Joy Brown, the first test tube baby, is born in Oldham General Hospital |
|
1978 |
| Israel begins its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, in accord with the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty (signed in March) |
|
1979 |
| On the second day of Sri Lanka's 'Black July', 37 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security
prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese fellow–prisoners |
|
1983 |
| Svetlana Savitskaya, on the Salyut 7 mission, becomes the first woman to walk in space |
|
1984 |
| US actor Rock Hudson is admitted to hospital, suffering from AIDS |
|
1985 |
| Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon, in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability and the Lebanese
call the Seven–Day War |
|
1993 |
| Four African nationalists attack St. James Anglican Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town during Sunday evening service,
killing eleven members of the congregation and wounding 58. In 1998 the attackers were granted amnesty for their acts by the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission |
|
1993 |
| Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, formally ending the state of war that had existed between them since
1948 |
|
1994 |
| Thousands of Muslim soldiers and civilians flee as the rebel Serb army marches into the UN 'safe area' of Zepa |
|
1995 |
| Eight people are killed and 80 wounded when a gas bottle explodes in Saint Michel station on the Paris Metro |
|
1995 |
| In a military coup in Burundi, Sylvestre Ntibantunganya is deposed by Pierre Buyoya |
|
1996 |
| The Khmer Rouge's 'people's tribunal' sentences Pol Pot to life imprisonment |
|
1997 |
| US cyclist Lance Armstrong wins the first of seven consecutive Tours de France, three years after being diagnosed with
cancer |
|
1999 |
| All 109 people on board, and four on the ground, lose their lives when an Air France Concorde crashes shortly after
taking off from Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris |
|
2000 |
| The Camp David peace summit (between Israel and Palestinians) ends in stalemate |
|
2000 |
| Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president |
|
2007 |
| WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan – one of the largest leaks in US military
history |
|
2010 |
| National extreme heat records are set in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, as North–West Europe
experiences an exceptional heat wave |
|
2019 |
