31

Jan

On This Day…

1865 - Congress passes the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery in America (passes 121-24). 1865 - General Robert E. Lee named Commander-in-Chief of Confederate Armies during US Civil War. 1943 -…

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30

Jan

On This Day…

1661 - Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England is ritually executed after having been dead for two years. 1667 - The Truce of Andrusovo ended the Thirteen Years' War…

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29

Jan

On This Day…

661 - Rashidun Caliphate, then the largest empire in history, ends with the death of its leader, Ali. Succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate. 1595 - William Shakespeare's play "Romeo and…

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28

Jan

On This Day…

1521 - Emperor Charles V opens the Diet of Worms in Worms, Germany which lasts until May 25th. Produced the "Edict of Worms" which dennouced Martin Luther. 1807 - London's Pall…

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27

Jan

On This Day…

1820 - Russian Antarctic Expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev discover the continent of Antarctica. 1825 - US Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way…

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26

Jan

On This Day…

1482 - "Pentateuch" the Jewish Bible is 1st printed as a book in Bologna, Italy. 1531 - Lisbon hit by Earthquake; about 30,000 die. 1564 - The Council of Trent issued its conclusions in the Tridentinum, establishing…

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25

Jan

On This Day…

1554 - Founding of the city of São Paulo in Brazil. 1565 - Battle at Talikota India: Deccan sultanate destroy Vijayanagar's army and the last Hindu kingdom of Southern India. 1840 - American naval expedition under Charles Wilkes is first…

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24

Jan

On This Day…

41 - Claudius succeeds his nephew Caligula as Roman Emperor after the later's assassination by officers of the Praetorian Guard. 1857 - University of Calcutta founded as the first full-fledged university in South Asia. 1899 - Rubber heel for…

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23

Jan

On This Day…

971 - War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops; Southern Han state forced to submit to the Song Dynasty. 1st regular war…

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22

Jan

On This Day…

1689 - Prince William of Orange (future King William III of Britain), summons Convention Parliament to discuss ruling jointly with his wife Mary (daughter of exiled King James II). 1840 - Under the leadership…

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21

Jan

On This Day…

1525 - The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is born when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a dozen others baptize each other in the home of Manz's mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union.…

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20

Jan

On This Day…

1265 - First English Parliament summoned other than by royal command (in this instance by Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester) mets in Westminster Hall. 1841 - China cedes Hong Kong to the British during the…

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19

Jan

On This Day…

379 - Theodosius installed as co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. 1812 - Peninsular War: After a ten-day siege, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, orders British soldiers of the…

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17

Jan

On This Day…

1734 - Augustus III was crowned king of Poland. 1773 - Captain James Cook becomes 1st to cross Antarctic Circle (66° 33' S). 1873 - A group of Modoc warriors…

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15

Jan

On This Day…

588 BC - Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC. 1535 - Henry VIII declares himself head of the…

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14

Jan

On This Day…

1526 - Charles V and Francis I sign the Treaty of Madrid, forcing Francis to give up claims to Burgundy, Italy and Flanders. 1641 - United East Indian Company conquers…

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12

Jan

On This Day…

1528 - Gustav I of Sweden crowned King of Sweden, rules for 37 years and becomes known as the "father of the nation". 1554 - Bayinnaung crowned King of Burma, goes on to assemble the…

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11

Jan

On This Day…

1599- Jacob van Neck's fleet leaves Bantam, Java in modern day Indonesia with 1 million pounds of pepper and cloves and a further half a ship full of nutmeg, mace and…

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10

Jan

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 as Roman dictator for life.…

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07

Jan

On This Day…

1610 - During this month in 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo made the earthshaking discoveries that four moons revolve around Jupiter and that the telescope reveals many more stars than are visible to the naked eye. 1714 - Typewriter patented…

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06

Jan

On This Day…

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 votes…

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04

Jan

On This Day…

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…

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03

Jan

On This Day…

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…

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02

Jan

On This Day…

366 - The Alamanni cross the frozen Rhine River in large numbers, invading the Roman Empire. 1492 - Muhammad XII, the last Emir of Granada, surrenders his city to Ferdinand…

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01

Jan

On This Day…

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…

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31

Dec

On This Day…

1600 - The East India Company, formed for the exploitation of trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, was incorporated by English royal charter. 1744 - English astronomer James…

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30

Dec

On This Day…

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…

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29

Dec

On This Day…

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 to…

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28

Dec

On This Day…

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 establishes Thonburi as his…

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27

Dec

On This Day…

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 colony of New…

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26

Dec

On This Day…

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 Raymond Desèze. 1825 - Decembrist uprising in Russia…

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25

Dec

On This Day…

1 - 1st Christmas, according to calendar-maker Dionysus Exiguus. 800 - Pope Leo III crowns Charles the Great (Charlemagne), Roman Emperor. 1066 - William the Conqueror is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, completing the Norman conquest…

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24

Dec

On This Day…

563 - The Byzantine church Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is dedicated for the second time after being destroyed by earthquakes. 1565 - Compromise of the Nobles in Habsburg Netherlands closes against inquisition. 1814 - Treaty…

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23

Dec

On This Day

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

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22

Dec

On This Day…

1216 - The Dominican order was sanctioned by Pope Honorius III. 1481 - The member states of the Swiss Confederation concluded the Diet of Stans, an agreement whereby civil war…

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21

Dec

On This Day…

1845 - The Battle of Firoz Shah began between British and Sikh forces during the First Sikh War. 1898 - French Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium. 1913 - …

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20

Dec

On This Day…

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…

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19

Dec

On This Day…

1776 - Thomas Paine publishes his 1st "American Crisis" essay beginning"These are the times that try men's souls" (date disputed). 1777 - During the American Revolution, General George Washington led 11,000…

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14

Dec

On This Day…

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. Fifth largest recorded flood…

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13

Dec

On This Day…

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 bay,…

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12

Dec

On This Day…

627 - Battle at Nineveh: Byzantine Emperor Heraclius beats Sassanid forces during Byzantine-Sassanid War. 1901 - Guglielmo Marconi sends the first transatlantic radio signal, from Poldhu in Cornwall to Newfoundland, Canada. 1925 - Last Qajar Shah of Iran deposed; Rezā Shāh Pahlavi…

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11

Dec

On This Day…

1792 -France's King Louis XVI goes on trial, accused of high treason and crimes against the state. 1911 - Egyptian novelist and screenplay writer Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arabic writer to be awarded the Nobel…

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10

Dec

On This Day…

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, is read to the Royal Society…

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09

Dec

On This Day…

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 King of…

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07

Dec

On This Day…

43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman orator and politician is assassinated in Formiae. 1909 - Inventor Leo Baekeland patents the first thermosetting plastic, Bakelite, sparking the birth of the plastics industry. 1917 - The United…

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06

Dec

On This Day…

1240 - Mongols under Batu Khan occupy and destroy Kiev; out of 50,000 people in the city only 2,000 survive. 1534 - Sebastián de Belalcázar, under the authority of Francisco Pizarro, occupied the Indian city of Quito…

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05

Dec

On This Day…

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. 1484 - Innocent…

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04

Dec

On This Day…

1093 - St. Anselm of Canterbury was consecrated as archbishop. 1154 - Adrian IV was elected pope, becoming the only Englishman to occupy the papal throne. 1533 - On this day in 1533, the three-year-old who…

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03

Dec

On This Day…

1586 - Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England from Colombia. 1818 - Illinois was admitted as the 21st state of the United States of America. 1854 - Eureka Stockade: In what is claimed by…

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02

Dec

On This Day…

1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte has 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…

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30

Nov

On This Day…

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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29

Nov

On This Day…

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 &…

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28

Nov

On This Day…

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…

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27

Nov

On This Day…

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…

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26

Nov

On This Day…

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…

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25

Nov

On This Day…

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…

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24

Nov

On This Day…

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

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