10

Sep

On This Day…

1776 - George Washington asks for a spy volunteer, Nathan Hale volunteers  1608 - Having survived capture by Indians (reputedly through the efforts of Pocahontas, a chief's daughter), John Smith became president of Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in North…

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09

Sep

On This Day…

1000 - Battle of Svolder, Baltic Sea: King Olaf on board the Long Serpent defeated in one of the greatest naval battles of the Viking Age.  1776 - Congress officially renames the country as the…

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08

Sep

On This Day…

1380 - Battle on Kulikovo: Moscow's great monarch Dimitri defeats the Mongols beginning the decline of the Tatars  1504 - Michelangelo's Statue of David is unveiled in Florence  1522 - Spanish navigator Juan de Elcano returns to…

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03

Sep

On This Day…

301 - San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, founded by Saint Marinus  1783 - Treaty of Paris signed…

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02

Sep

On This Day…

31 BC - Battle of Actium: decisive naval battle that effectively ends the Roman Republic. Octavian's forces defeat those under Mark Antony and Cleopatra off the western coast of Greece. …

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01

Sep

On This Day…

1715 - King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years—the longest of any major European monarch.  1939 - World War II starts when Germany invades Poland…

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31

Aug

On This Day…

1142 - Possible date for establishment of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) League - with the aid of Hiawatha and Deganawidah  1864 - During the American Civil War, the Confederate evacuation of Atlanta…

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30

Aug

On This Day…

1146 - European leaders outlaw crossbow, intending to end war for all time  1363 - Beginning of the Battle of Lake Poyang; two Chinese rebel leaders Chen Youliang and Zhu…

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29

Aug

On This Day…

1526 - Battle of Mohács: In a decisive battle the Hungarian Empire is conquered by the Ottoman Empire led by Suleiman the Magnificent  1825 - Portugal recognizes the Independence of…

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28

Aug

On This Day…

1189 - Third Crusade: the Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan  1609 - English explorer Henry Hudson, discovers and explores Delaware Bay  1830 - 1st American…

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27

Aug

On This Day…

479 BC - Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Mycale won by Greek forces over Persian naval troops on Ionian coast, double victory with that at Plataea ends Persian invasion  663 -…

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26

Aug

On This Day…

1346 - Battle of Crécy, south of Calais in northern France; Edward III's English longbows defeat Philip VI's army, cannons used for first time in battle  1429  - In preparation…

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25

Aug

On This Day…

1609 - Galileo demonstrates his 1st telescope to Venetian lawmakers  1718 - Hundreds of French colonists arrive in Louisiana; New Orleans founded  1768 - Captain James Cook departs from Plymouth,…

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24

Aug

On This Day…

79 - Mt Vesuvius erupts, buries Roman Pompeii and Herculaneum, 15,000 die  410 - Rome overrun by Visigoths under Alaric I for the first time in nearly 800 years, seen…

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23

Aug

On This Day…

1542 - Rabbi Joseph Caro completes his commentary of Tur Code  1850 - 1st US National Women's Rights Convention convenes in Worcester, Massachusetts  1972 - Italian immigrants Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed for murder in…

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22

Aug

On This Day…

1485 - Battle of Bosworth Field: Henry Tudor's forces defeat English King Richard III during last battle in the Wars of the Roses. Richard is killed, the last English monarch to die in battle. …

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21

Aug

On This Day…

1192 - Minamoto Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. - (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)  1703 - The Edirne Event: Turkish army removes Sultan Mustafa II, lessening the power of the sultans  1772 - King Gustav…

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20

Aug

On This Day…

1597 - 1st Dutch East India Company ships return from the Far East  1619 - 1st known African Americans in English North America (approx. 20) land at Point Comfort (Fort Monroe), Virginia. They are…

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19

Aug

On This Day…

43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul  1839 - Details of Louis Daguerre's 1st practical photographic process are released in Paris  1942 - World War II: Over 4,000 Canadian and…

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18

Aug

On This Day…

1737 - First public admittance to the Salon de Paris art exhibition at the Louvre in Paris  1838 - United States Exploring Expedition headed by Charles Wilkes departs for the Pacific Ocean and Antarctica  1914 - US President Woodrow…

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17

Aug

On This Day…

1590 - Governor of Roanoke Island colony, John White, returns from England to find no trace of the colonists he had left there 3 years earlier [or Aug 18, 1591]  1903 - Joe Pulitzer…

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16

Aug

On This Day…

622 - Muslim Era begins - Muhammad begins flight from Mecca to Medina (Hijra)  1054 - Three Roman legates fracture relations between Western and Eastern Christian churches by placing invalid Papal Bull of Excommunication…

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15

Aug

On This Day…

1099 - City of Jerusalem is captured and plundered by Christian forces during the First Crusade  1381 - John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hung, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard…

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14

Aug

On This Day…

1281 - During Kublai Khan's second Mongol invasion of Japan his invading Chinese fleet of 3,500 vessels disappears in a typhoon near Japan  1842 - Second Seminole War declared over by Colonel Worth; Indians go on to…

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13

Aug

On This Day…

1521 - Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés capture Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc in Tenochtitlan marking the end of the Aztec Empire  1536 - Buddhist monks from Kyōto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto in the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance. (Traditional Japanese date:…

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12

Aug

On This Day…

1121 - Battle of Didgori: the Georgian army under King David the Builder wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi  1480 - Battle of Otranto - Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing…

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11

Aug

On This Day…

3114 BC - The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Mayans, begins  1945 - Allies refuse Japan's offer to surrender on the condition that Emperor Hirohito retains his status  1950 - Ethel…

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10

Aug

On This Day…

612 BC - Killing of Sinsharishkun, King of Assyrian Empire. Destruction of Nineveh.  610 - In Islam, the traditional date of the Laylat al-Qadr, when Muhammad began to receive the Qur'an  1497 - John Cabot tells King Henry VII of…

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09

Aug

On This Day…

48 BC - Caesar's civil war: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt. 378 - Battle of Adrianople: Goth army defeats…

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08

Aug

On This Day…

509 - Emperor Krishnadeva Raya is crowned, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire in Southern India 1588 - The English fleet won a decisive battle over…

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07

Aug

On This Day…

1461 - Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor 1714 - The Battle of Gangut: the first important victory of the Russian Navy…

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06

Aug

On This Day…

1661 - The Treaty of The Hague is signed whereby the Dutch Republic sells New Holland (Brazil) for 63 tonnes of gold to Portugal 1890 - At Auburn Prison in…

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05

Aug

On This Day…

910 - The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and…

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04

Aug

On This Day…

1558 - 1st printing of Zohar (Jewish Kabbalah) 1704 - During the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain took control of Gibraltar after Spain surrendered, and “the Rock” subsequently became…

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03

Aug

On This Day…

1492 - Christopher Columbus sets sail on his first voyage with three ships, Santa María, Pinta and Niña from Palos de la Frontera, Spain for the "Indies" 1596 - David…

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02

Aug

On This Day…

338 BC - Macedonian army led by Philip II defeats combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony in Greece and the Aegean  216…

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01

Aug

On This Day…

527 - Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire  1086 - Results of the Domesday inquiry presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation…

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31

Jul

On This Day…

30 BC - Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves minor victory over Octavian, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to Octavian's invasion of Egypt  1620 - Pilgrim Fathers…

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30

Jul

On This Day…

1178 - Frederick I (Barbarossa), Holy Roman Emperor, crowned King of Burgundy  1419 - First defenestration of Prague: anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, storm Prague town hall…

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29

Jul

On This Day…

1588 - The Battle of Gravelines - Spanish Armada damaged and scattered by the English fleet  1609 - Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, New…

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28

Jul

On This Day…

1794 - French Revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other leaders of "the Terror" guillotined to thunderous cheers in Paris  1868 - The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—which granted…

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27

Jul

Malta: Athletes raise €40,000 in gruelling 190km run

Two friends raise €40,000 after punishing 190km run Two athletes who ran a gruelling 190km in 35 hours have succeeded in raising €40,000 to help fund migrants’ access to education.…

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27

Jul

On This Day…

1586 - Walter Raleigh brings the 1st tobacco to England from Virginia  1689 - Battle of Killicrankie: Jacobite Scottish Highlanders under Viscount Dundee defeat royalist force under General MacKay  1789…

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26

Jul

On This Day…

657 - Battle of Siffin during the first Muslim civil war between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I beside Euphrates River  1519 - Francisco Pizarro receives royal charter for the west coast of South America  1533 - Francisco Pizarro orders the…

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25

Jul

On This Day…

306 - Constantine I is proclaimed Roman Emperor by his troops  1814 - English engineer George Stephenson introduces his first steam locomotive, a travelling engine designed for hauling coal on the Killingworth wagonway named Blücher  1943 - Benito Mussolini dismissed as…

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24

Jul

On This Day…

1534 - Jacques Cartier lands in Canada, claims it for France  1567 - Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate; her 1-year-old son becomes King James VI of Scots  1832 - Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the…

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23

Jul

On This Day…

1215 - Frederick II crowned King of the Romans (King of the Germans) in Aachen  1829 - William Austin Burt patents America's first "typographer" (typewriter)  1840 - Union Act passed by British Parliament, uniting Upper &…

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22

Jul

On This Day…

1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem  1456 - Battle at Nandorfehervar (Belgrade): Hungarian army under Janos Hunyadi beats Sultan Murad II …

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21

Jul

On This Day…

356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  365 - Crete Earthquake followed by tsunami around the Eastern Mediterranean allegedly destroys Alexandria …

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18

Jul

On This Day…

64 - Great Fire of Rome begins under the Emperor Nero  1918 - French General Ferdinand Foch launched a counterstrike that forced the Germans into a hasty retreat during the Second Battle of the Marne, the last…

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17

Jul

On This Day…

180 - 6 inhabitants of Carthage, North Africa executed for being Christians. Earliest record of Christianity in this part of the world.  1203 - Siege of Constantinople begins during the fourth Crusade, Crusaders aboad a Venetian…

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16

Jul

On This Day…

622 - Muslim Era begins - Muhammad begins flight from Mecca to Medina (Hijra)  1054 - Three Roman legates fracture relations between Western and Eastern Christian churches by placing invalid Papal Bull of Excommunication…

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14

Jul

On This Day…

1099 - During the First Crusade, Christian knights from Europe capture Jerusalem after seven weeks of siege and begin massacring the city’s Muslim and Jewish population  1789 - Bastille Day - the French Revolution begins…

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12

Jul

On This Day…

1543 - King Henry VIII of England wed his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr.  1565 - Senglea is besieged.  1679 - Britain's King Charles II ratifies Habeas Corpus Act allowing prisoners…

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11

Jul

On This Day…

1405 - Chinese fleet commander Zheng He sets sail to explore the world for the first time  1533 - Pope Clement VII excommunicates England's King Henry VIII  1798 - The…

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10

Jul

On This Day…

1584 - William I, first of the hereditary stadtholders of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, was assassinated.  1778 - American Revolution: Louis XVI of France declares war on the…

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09

Jul

On This Day…

1401 - Turko-Mongol ruler Tamerlane (Timur) destroys Baghdad, killing 20,000  1540 - The marriage of King Henry VIII of England and his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, was annulled.  1565…

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