History

On This Day…

49 BC - Julius Caesar defies the Roman Senate and crosses the Rubicon, uttering "alea iacta est" (the die is cast), signaling the start of civil war which would lead to his appointment…

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1431 - Judges' investigations for the trial of Joan of Arc begin in Rouen, France, the seat of the English occupation government 1760 - Afghans defeat Marathas in battle of Barari Ghat 1839 - Daguerreotype photo…

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1656 - Oldest surviving commercial newspaper begins (Haarlem, Netherlands) 1790 - 1st US President George Washington delivers 1st state of the union address 1835 - US national debt is $0 for the first and only…

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1610 - Galileo Galilei discovers the first three moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa & Ganymede 1714 - Typewriter patented by Englishman Henry Mill (built years later) 1941 - Chinese Kuomintang forces under orders from Chiang…

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Today: Celebrated annually this day, Epiphany is a major feast that commemorates, for Western Christians, the coming of the Magi and, for Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jesus' birth, baptism by John, and first miracle. 1649 - The English Rump Parliament…

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1477 - Battle of Nancy, Burgundy vs Switzerland, 7,000 + killed including their leader Charles Duke of Burgundy 1781 - British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia 1914 - Industrialist Henry Ford announces his…

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1847 - Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the United States government 1865 - New York Stock Exchange opens its 1st permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad St, near Wall Street in…

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1496 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine 1521 - Martin Luther is Excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church for failing to recant parts of his Ninety-five Theses which started…

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45 BC - The Julian calendar takes effect for the first time 630 - Prophet Muhammad sets out with his army towards Mecca, capturing it bloodlessly 1758 - The International Commission on Zoological…

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406 - 80,000 Vandals, Alans and Suebians cross the Rhine at Mainz, beginning invasion of Gallia 1744 - English astronomer James Bradley announces discovery of Earth's nutation motion (wobble) 1775 - Battle of Quebec in…

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1460 - Wars of the Roses: Battle of Wakefield (Northern England), Duke of York killed and his forces soundly defeated by forces for King Henry VI 1703 - Tokyo hit by Earthquake;…

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1835 - Treaty of New Echota is signed between the US government and representatives of a minority Cherokee political faction to cede all lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River…

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1065 - Westminster Abbey in London consecrated 1612 - First observation of Neptune - Galileo observes and records a "fixed star" without realising it is a planet 1767 - King Taksin crowned King of Thailand and…

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1512 - Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regards to native Indians in the New World 1657 - "Flushing Remonstrance" petition signed in the Dutch…

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1492 - 1st Spanish settlement La Navidad in the New World is founded by Christopher Columbus (modern Môle-Saint-Nicolas in Haiti) 1792 - Trial of French King Louis XVI, court hears the kings defense brought by…

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Though the precise origin of the date is unclear, Christmas, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, is celebrated on this day, having been first identified as the date of Jesus' birth by Sextus…

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1565 - Compromise of the Nobles in Habsburg Netherlands closes against inquisition 1814 - Treaty of Ghent signed, ending the War of 1812 between the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies…

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962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo, recovering the tattered tunic of John the Baptist 1688 - King James II, the last…

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1790 - Supposedly impenetrable Turkish fortress of Izmail stormed and captured by Suvorov and his Russian armies during the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) 1877 - Thomas Edison's Phonograph is announced by Scientific American…

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1620 - Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore at in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [OS=Dec 11] 1898 - French Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium 1913 - The New York…

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1522 - Suleiman the Magnificent accepts surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle in Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta. 1803 -…

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1776 - Thomas Paine publishes his 1st "American Crisis" essay beginning"These are the times that try men's souls" (date disputed) 1783 - William Pitt the Younger becomes the youngest ever British Prime Minister at…

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218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal's Carthaginian army heavily defeat Roman forces on Italian soil 1271 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), marking the…

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755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion during Chinese Tang Dynasty 1598 - Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point - in the…

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644 - Uthman ibn Affan, companion of Muhammad, appointed 3rd Caliph of Islam 1287 - During St. Lucia's Flood in Northwest Netherlands the Zuiderzee seawall collapses with loss of over 50,000 lives.…

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1577 - Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England on a circumnavigation of the world 1642 - Dutch navigator Abel Tasman sighted South Island, New Zealand, and later, mistaking the strait north of the island for a…

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627 - Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius beats Sassanid forces during Byzantine-Sassanid War 1408 - Order of the Dragon: The Order of the Dragon was first created by Emperor Sigismund, then…

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1620 - Mayflower Pilgrims come ashore at in Plymouth Bay, traditionally thought to be at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts [NS, Dec 21] 1792 - France's King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason…

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1520 - Martin Luther publicly burns papal edict demanding he recant 1684 - Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum,…

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536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city, returning the old capital to its empire 1212 - Frederick II (later also Holy Roman Emperor) crowned…

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1863 - Abraham Lincoln issues his Amnesty Proclamation and plan for Reconstruction of the South 1941 - US and Britain declare war on Japan, US enters World War II 1941 - US President Franklin D.…

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43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator and politician is assassinated in Formiae 1909 - Inventor Leo Baekeland patents the first thermo-setting plastic, Bakelite, sparking the birth of the plastics industry 1941 - Imperial…

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1240 - Mongols under Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kiev; out of 50,000 people in the city only 2,000 survive 1865 - 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution is ratified, abolishing…

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771 - Charlemagne becomes the sole King of the Franks after the death of his brother Carloman 1349 - 500 Jews of Nuremberg massacred during Black Death riots 1456 - Earthquake strikes Naples; about 35,000 die…

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4th Dec 1534 - Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent occupies Baghdad 1563 - Council of Trent holds its last session, after 18 years. Last ecumenical council for more than 300 years. 1619 - 38 colonists…

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1586 - Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia 1854 - Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by many to be the birth of Australian democracy, more than 20 goldminers…

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1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of France in Paris 1823 - President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine", a US foreign policy regarding Latin America 1845 - Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress…

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1913 - Ford Motor Company institutes world's 1st moving assembly line for the Model T Ford 1925 - Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy signed the Pact of Locarno, a series of agreements intended to guarantee peace in…

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1016 - Cnut the Great [Canute], King of Denmark, claims the English throne after the death of Edmund 'Ironside'. 1648 - English Parliamentary army captures King Charles I. 1731 -…

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526 - A possible date for the Antioch earthquake in present-day Syria (then the Byzantine Empire) which killed 200,000 people.1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army moves into Manchester & occupies…

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1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan begins crossing the Pacific Ocean 1814 - The Times of London first printed by automatic, steam powered presses built by German inventors Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Friedrich Bauer…

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1095 - Pope Urban II preaches 1st Crusade 1295 - English King Edward I calls what later became known as "The Model Parliament" extending the authorities of its representatives 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to La…

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43 BC - Second Triumvirate alliance of Roman leader Octavian (later Caesar Augustus), Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony formed 1778 - British explorer Captain James Cook is the first European to visit Maui in the Sandwich…

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1177 - Battle of Montgisard: Baldwin IV of Jerusalem defeats Saladin and a larger Ayyubid force 1783 - Britain evacuates New York city, its last military position in the United States 1839 - Cyclone slams…

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380 - Theodosius I makes his adventus, or first formal entry, into Constantinople 1639 - 1st observation of transit of Venus by Jeremiah Horrocks and William Crabtree - helped establish size of…

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1248 - Conquest of Seville by Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile after the city capitulates 1644 - "Areopagitica", a pamphlet by John Milton decrying censorship, is published 1863 - The Battle of…

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1497 - Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds Cape of Good Hope on way to first voyage from Europe to reach India 1926 - Imperial Conference ends, giving autonomy inside British Commonwealth 1935 - Flying…

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164 BC - During Maccabbean revolt Judas Maccabaeus recaptures Jersusalem and rededicates the Second Temple, commemorated since as Jewish festival Hanukkah 1620 - Mayflower Compact signed by Pilgrims at Cape Cod [O.S.…

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284 - Roman soldier Diocletian proclaimed Emperor by the army 762 - Bögü, Khan of the Uyghurs, conquers Lo-Yang, capital of the Chinese Empire 1695 - Zumbi, the last King of the Quilombo dos Palmares…

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1530 - The Recess document resulting from the Diet of Augsburg signed by Charles V and catholic princes 1620 - The Mayflower reaches Cape Cod and explores the coast 1805 -Lewis and Clark Expedition, led…

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1477 - First English dated printed book "Dictes & Sayengis of the Phylosophers" by William Caxton 1626 - St. Peter's Basilica is consecrated, replacing an earlier basilica on the same site and becoming…

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534 - Second and final revision of the Codex Justinianus published 1532 - Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captures Inca Emperor Atahualpa after a surprise ambush at Cajamarca in the Peruvian Andes 1776 - British troops capture Fort…

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1492 - Christopher Columbus notes 1st recorded reference to tobacco 1884 - European Colonization and trade in Africa is officially regulated at the international Berlin Conference, formalizing European powers "Scramble for Africa" 1904 -…

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1680 - Gottfried Kirch discovers the Great Comet of 1680 (Kirch's Comet/Newton's Comet) 1896 - Power plant at Niagara Falls begins operation 1908 - Albert Einstein presents his quantum theory of light 1920 - The…

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1789 - Benjamin Franklin writes "Nothing . . . certain but death & taxes" 1918 - Egyptian patriot Saad Zaghloul formed Al-Wafd al-Miṣrī (Arabic: “Egyptian Delegation”), the nationalist political party that was instrumental in gaining Egyptian independence from…

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764 - Tibetan troops occupy Chang'an for 15 days, capital of the Chinese Tang Dynasty 1927 - Leon Trotsky is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, paving the way for Joseph Stalin to consolidate complete…

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On This Day

1675 - German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz demonstrates integral calculus for the - first time to find the area under the graph of y = f(x) function 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie's army enters…

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