31

Mar

On This Day…

1146 - Bernard of Clairvaux preaches his famous sermon in a field at Vézelay, urging the necessity of a Second Crusade. Louis VII is present, and joins the Crusade. 1492 - Queen Isabella I of Castile and…

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30

Mar

On This Day…

240 BC - 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 1856 - Russia signs the Treaty of Paris, ending the Crimean War. 1867 - Alaska Purchase: US buys Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000 ($109 million in…

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29

Mar

On This Day…

1549 - The city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded. 1807 - German astronomer Wilhelm Olbers discovered the minor planet Vesta, the brightest asteroid in…

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28

Mar

On This Day…

364 - Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor. 845 - Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in…

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27

Mar

On This Day…

47BC - The legendary Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, aided by her Roman lover Julius Caesar, was reinstated as coruler of Egypt (with her brother Ptolemy XIV) this day, following a civil war…

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26

Mar

On This Day…

1027 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II Holy Roman Emperor, founder of the Salian dynasty. 1812 - Earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale destroys 90% of Caracas, Venezuela…

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25

Mar

On This Day…

31 - 1st Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus. 1306 - Robert the Bruce, crowned Scottish king at Scone this day in 1306, freed Scotland from English rule, winning the decisive…

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24

Mar

On This Day…

1603 - Scottish King James VI son of Mary Queen of Scots, becomes King James I of England in succession to Elizabeth I, thus joining the English and Scottish crowns.…

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23

Mar

On This Day…

1490 - 1st dated edition of Maimonides "Mishneh Torah", a code of Jewish religious law is published. 1775 - Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death" in…

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22

Mar

On This Day…

1622 - First American Indian (Powhatan) massacre of Europeans in Jamestown Virginia, 347 killed. 1765 - Stamp Act passed; 1st direct British tax on American colonists, organized by Prime Minister George Grenville. 1784 - The Emerald Buddha is moved…

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21

Mar

On This Day…

1349 - Between 100 and 3,000 Jews are killed in Black Death riots in Erfurt, Germany. 1804 - Napoleonic Code adopted in France, stresses clearly written and accessible law. 1871 - Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his famous…

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20

Mar

On This Day…

  1345 - According to scholars at the University of Paris, the Black Death, from what they call “a triple conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars in the 40th degree of Aquarius,…

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19

Mar

On This Day…

1279 - A Mongolian victory at the naval Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China. 1644 - 200 members of Peking imperial family and court commit suicide in loyalty to the Emperor.…

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18

Mar

On This Day…

1123 -1st Latern Council (9th ecumenical council) opens in Rome, agreements of the Concordat of Worms ratified. 1314 - Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned…

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17

Mar

On This Day…

432 - On this day in 461 A.D., Saint Patrick, Christian missionary, bishop and apostle of Ireland, dies at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland. 1521 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines. 1861 - Italy is unified into a…

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16

Mar

On This Day…

597 BC - Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king. 1527 - Battle of Khanua: Mughal Emperor Babur defeats Rajput forces led by Rana Sanga consolidating Mughal power. 1660 - English Long Parliament disbands.  1850 - American author Nathaniel…

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15

Mar

On This Day…

44 BC - Julius Caesar is stabbed to death by Brutus, Cassius and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March in Rome. 221 - Liu Bei, a Chinese…

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14

Mar

On This Day…

1590 - Battle of Ivry: French King Henry IV beats Catholic League during French Wars of Religion. 1794 - Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin machine revolutionizing the cotton industry…

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13

Mar

On This Day…

624 - Battle of Badr: Muhammad's Muslim forces win significant victory over Meccan army. 1591 - Battle at Tondibi: Moroccan army under Judar defeats Sultan Askia Ishaq II of Songhai.…

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12

Mar

On This Day…

538 - Witiges, King of the Ostrogoths, ends his siege of Rome, retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of victorious Byzantine General Belisarius. 1455 - First record…

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11

Mar

On This Day…

843 - Icon veneration officially re-instated in Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople. 1502 -Ismail I, founder of the Safavid dynasty, crowned Shah of Persia (rules till 1524). 1918 - Moscow…

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09

Mar

On This Day…

141 BC --Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years. 1522 - Martin Luther begins…

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08

Mar

On This Day…

1531 - Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of Church in England by the Convocation of Canterbury. 1702 - Anne became the last Stuart monarch of Great Britain, having earlier acquiesced to the Act of Settlement of 1701, which designated…

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07

Mar

On This Day…

161 - Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius dies and is succeeded by co-Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, an unprecedented political arrangement in the Roman Empire. 1530 - English King Henry VIII's divorce request is denied by the Pope. 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell receives…

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06

Mar

On This Day…

1479 - Treaty of Alcaçovas: Portugal gives the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for claims in West Africa. 1836 - Battle of the Alamo: After 13 days of fighting 1,500-3,000 Mexican soldiers overwhelm the…

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05

Mar

On This Day…

363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90,000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a campaign that brings about his own death. 1046 - Persian scholar Naser Khosrow begins…

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04

Mar

On This Day…

1238 - Battle of the Sit River: Mongol forces of Batu Khan overcome Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal near Yaroslavl in Russia, ending Russian resistance. 1801 - Thomas Jefferson is the first US President to be…

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03

Mar

On This Day…

1575 - Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi. 1857 - Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China . 1861 - Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs and…

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02

Mar

On This Day…

1791-  Long-distance communication speeds up with the unveiling of a semaphore machine in Paris. 1796 - Napoléon Bonaparte is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the French Army in Italy. 1807 - US Congress bans…

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01

Mar

On This Day…

1642 - Georgeana (York) in Maine becomes the 1st incorporated American city. 1780 - Pennsylvania becomes 1st US state to abolish slavery (for newborns only). 1847 - Michigan becomes 1st…

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29

Feb

On This Day…

1704 - The town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, was razed in the bloodiest battle of Queen Anne's War. 1768 - The Confederation of Bar was organized to defend the privileges of…

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28

Feb

On This Day…

202 - BC Coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place, initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty's rule over China. 1710 - In the Battle of…

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27

Feb

On This Day…

1776 - At the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, North Carolinian revolutionaries defeated loyalists during the American Revolution. 1884 - Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic, signed a…

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26

Feb

On This Day…

1616 - Roman Inquisition delivers injunction to Galileo demanding he abandon his belief in heliocentrism, which states the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun. 1797 - Bank of England…

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25

Feb

On This Day…

1570 - Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England for heresy and persecution of English Catholics during her reign. Also absolves her subjects from allegiance to the crown. 1793…

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24

Feb

On This Day…

303 - 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued by Emperor Diocletian. 1525 - Battle of Pavia: Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's troops beat the French. French King…

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23

Feb

On This Day…

303 - Roman Emperor Diocletian begins his policy of persecuting Christians, razing the church at Nicomedia 1455 - Johannes Gutenberg prints his first Bible (estimated date) 1540 - Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's expedition sets off from Mexico in search…

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22

Feb

On This Day…

1632 - Galileo's "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems" is published. 1774 - British House of Lords rules authors do not have perpetual copyright. 1797 - The Last Invasion of Britain by the French, begins…

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21

Feb

On This Day…

1173 - Pope Alexander III canonizes Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury 1613 - Michael Romanov, son of Patriarch of Moscow, elected first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov. 1804 - 1st locomotive, Richard Trevithick's, runs for the…

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20

Feb

On This Day…

1792 - US postal service created, postage 6-12 cents depending on distance. 1872 - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art opens. 1873 - British Naval Officer John Moresby discovers the site of Port Moresby, Papua New…

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19

Feb

On This Day…

356 - Emperor Constantius II shuts all heathen temples. 1600 - Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina explodes in the most violent eruption in South American recorded history. 1878 - Thomas Edison is granted a patent for his gramophone (phonograph) 1942 - About 150 Japanese warplanes…

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18

Feb

On This Day…

1519 - Hernán Cortés leaves Cuba for the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico with 11 ships and 500 men. 1678 - John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is published in Holborn, London, by Nathaniel Ponder. 1861 - King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia becomes…

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17

Feb

On This Day…

1568 - Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II agrees to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire for peace. 1865 - Columbia, South Carolina, burns down during American Civil War. 1876 - Sardines first canned by Julius Wolff…

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16

Feb

On This Day…

1659 - 1st known cheque (£400) (on display at Westminster Abbey). 1840 - American Charles Wilkes discovers Shackleton Ice Shelf, Antarctica. 1918 - The 20-member Taryba (council) of Lithuanian delegates proclaimed their…

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15

Feb

On This Day…

399 BC - Philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death by the city of Athens for corrupting the minds of the youth of the city and for impiety. 590 - Khosrau II,…

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14

Feb

On This Day…

1014 - Pope Benedict VIII crowns Henry II Holy Roman Emperor. 1076 - Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (for the 1st time). 1779 - Captain James…

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13

Feb

On This Day…

1258 - Baghdad falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed. 1542 - King Henry VIII of England had Catherine Howard, his fifth wife, beheaded on charges of…

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12

Feb

On This Day…

1554 - At age 16 Lady Jane Grey, titular queen of England, was executed in London by order of Mary I. 1700 - The Great Northern War begins in Northern…

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11

Feb

On This Day…

1858 - First vision of the Virgin Mary to 14-year-old Bernadette of Lourdes, France. 1929 - Vatican City (world's smallest country) made an enclave of Rome. 1929 - A committee…

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10

Feb

On This Day…

60 - St Paul thought to have been shipwrecked at Malta.  1720 - Edmond Halley appointed as the second Astronomer Royal at the Greenwich Observatory. 1763 - Treaty of Paris…

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09

Feb

On This Day…

474 - Zeno crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire together with his son Leo II. 1775 - British Parliament declares Massachusetts colony is in rebellion. 1904 - Japanese land troops at Chemulpo (Inchon), near Seoul, Korea;…

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08

Feb

On This Day…

1672 - Isaac Newton reads 1st optics paper before Royal Society in London. 1807 - Battle of Eylau ends inconclusively between Napoleon's forces and Russian Empire - 1st battle Napoleon isn't victorious. 1904 - Following the Russian rejection…

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06

Feb

On This Day…

1508 - Maximilian I proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor, 1st Emperor in centuries not to be crowned by the Pope. 1778 - France recognizes USA, signs Treaty of Alliance in Paris, 1st US treaty. 1819 - Stamford…

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05

Feb

On This Day…

146BCE - The Third Punic War, the last of three between Rome and Carthage, came to an end this day in 146 , culminating in the final destruction of Carthage, the enslavement of its people, and…

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04

Feb

On This Day…

211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta. 960 - Coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of the Song, initiating three centuries of Song Dynasty dominance…

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03

Feb

On This Day…

1451 -Sultan Mehmed II, the Conqueror inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire. 1509 -The Battle of Diu, naval battle at port of Diu, India between Portugal and the Ottoman Empire, establishes Portugese…

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02

Feb

On This Day…

1653 - New Amsterdam becomes a city (later renamed New York). 1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War: US acquires Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona for…

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