Octavian Becomes Augustus Caesar
27 BC The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate
- 550 Gothic War (535-552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison
- 929 Caliphate of Cordoba is established by Emir Abd-al-Rahman III
- 1120 The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem
- 1219 Floods in Northern Netherlands after storm, thousands killed
- 1362 A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt
- 1412 The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy
- 1492 The first grammar of a modern language, Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.
Columbus Leaves the New World
1493 Christopher Columbus leaves the New World and sets sail for Spain
Cabral Begins Return Voyage
1501 Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral and 6 ships set off from Kannur, India, on their return voyage to Lisbon
- 1531 English Reformation parliament's 2nd sitting
Ivan IV the Terrible
1547 Ivan the Terrible, aged 17, crowns himself the 1st tsar of Moscow
Charles V Abdicates
1556 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicates his role as King of Spain and appoints his son Philip II of Spain
"Don Quixote" Published
1605 The first edition of "El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha" (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid
- 1707 The Act of Union is ratified by the Scottish Parliament
- 1749 Hoax article advertising fictitious theatrical performer "The Bottle Conjuror" drew huge crowds to the Haymarket Theatre, London, whose inevitable non-appearance caused a riot. It's alleged the Duke of Montagu perpetrated the fiasco to win a bet.
- 1756 Britain & Prussia sign Treaty of Westminster to respect each other's European territories
- 1761 The British capture Pondicherry, India, from the French
Messier Adds to Star Catalog
1765 French astronomer Charles Messier catalogs M41 (galactic cluster in Canis Major)
Louis XVI Sentenced to Death
1793 French King Louis XVI sentenced to death by the National Convention during the French Revolution
Beagle's First Landing
1832 Charles Darwin lands at Porto Prayo in the Cape Verde islands, the first landing of his HMS Beagle voyage
- 1847 John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory
- 1862 Hartley Colliery disaster in Northumberland, England, results in 204 deaths
- 1863 -Aug 23rd) Cruise of CSS Florida
- 1864 Heavy fighting takes place near Dandridge, Tennessee
- 1865 General William Sherman issues Field Order #15 (land for blacks)
- 1865 Munitions magazine explodes at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, killing or injuring 200 soldiers, carelessness of drunken soldiers blamed. [1]
- 1865 San Francisco Dramatic Chronicle starts
- 1868 Refrigerator car patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit
- 1870 Virginia becomes 8th state readmitted to US after Civil War
- 1871 Jefferson Long of Georgia sworn in as 2nd black congressman
- 1877 Color organ (for light shows) patented, by Bainbridge Bishop
- 1878 Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from Ottoman rule
- 1879 January record 13" of snow falls in NYC (broken Jan 7, 1996)
- 1879 The Windom Resolution by Minnesota Senator William Windom encourages black migration out of the South, helping trigger the "Exodus of 1879". 6,000 southern blacks flee Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas for Kansas. [1]
- 1883 Pendleton Act creates basis of US Civil Service system
- 1883 Quebec Rugby Football Union forms
- 1887 Cliff House damaged when powder cargo of schooner "Parallel" explodes
- 1889 128°F (53°C), Cloncurry, Queensland (Australian record)
- 1896 Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.
"My Pedagogic Creed"
1897 American scholar John Dewey's essay "My Pedagogic Creed" appears in School Journal
- 1900 The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands
- 1900 The US gains control over Tutuila in Samoa and several smaller Pacific islands
- 1905 Baseball outfielder Frank Huelsman completes eighth transaction in 8 months
- 1905 Stanley Cup, Dey's Arena, Ottawa, Ontario: Ottawa Senators rout Dawson City (Yukon), 23-2 for 2-0 series sweep; most lopsided challenge playoff game in history; Frank McGee 14 goals
- 1906 -Apr 13] Conference of Algeciras (about Morocco)
- 1908 Pinnacles National Monument, California established
- 1909 Anrtarctic explorers Douglas Mawson, Edgeworth David and Alistair Mackay reach south magnetic pole as part of the Nimrod Expedition
- 1911 Pandora becomes 1st 2-man sailboat to round Cape Horn west to east
- 1913 British House of Commons accepts Home Rule for Ireland (but the Great War gets in the way of it happening)
Gorky's Russian Return
1914 Writer Maxim Gorky returns to Russia from Capri after being granted an amnesty
- 1915 Congress authorizes $1 & $50 Panama-Pacific Intl Expo gold coin
- 1917 "Zimmermann Telegram" is sent from Germany to Mexico, offering promise of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico being given to Mexico in return for joining World War I if the US enters on the Allied side; British intelligence intercepts the communication and partially deciphers it by the next day. It's release in March shifts US public opinion in favor of war against Germany.
- 1917 The Greek Government accepts reparations for Allied losses sustained in recent actions in Greece
- 1918 Austria and Germany are disrupted by strikes as people express impatience with leaders continuing the war
Prohibition is Ratified
1919 The 18th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing the prohibition of alcohol, is ratified by a majority of US states
- 1920 First assembly of the League of Nations is held in Paris
- 1920 Georgia declares independence
- 1920 Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated is founded at Howard University
Venizelos' Fourth Term
1921 Eleftherios Venizelos becomes Prime Minister of Greece (4th time)
- 1922 Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Pastoral Symphony" premieres in London, with Adrian Boult conducting
Baldwin's Government Resigns
1924 British Government of Stanley Baldwin resigns
Event of Interest
1925 Hans Luther becomes Chancellor of Germany.
Bradman's One Day Test Record
1931 Australian cricket batting prodigy Don Bradman scores 223 v West Indies in 3rd Test in Brisbane; most runs scored by a player in a Test match in Australia in one day
- 1933 Cricket's Bodyline Tour: Australian batsman Bert Oldfield's skull fractured by delivery bowled by Englishman Harold Larwood during the third test in Adelaide
- 1936 1st photo finish camera installed at Hialeah Race track in Hialeah, Florida
- 1936 Screen Actors Guild incorporates with King Vidor as president
- 1936 Spanish socialists, communists and anarchists form Unidad Popular
Carnegie Hall's First Jazz Concert
1938 First jazz concert held at Carnegie Hall, performed by Benny Goodman and his band
Berg retains Title
1938 LPGA Titleholders Championship Women's Golf, Augusta CC: Patty Berg retains title by a massive 14 strokes ahead of Jane Cothran
- 1939 Daily newspaper comic strip "Superman" debuts
- 1939 The Irish Republican Army (IRA) begins a 14 month long bombing campaign in England
Attack on Pearl Harbor
1941 US vice admiral Bellinger warns of an assault on Pearl Harbor
- 1941 War Department forms first Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets
- 1942 William Knudsen becomes 1st civilian appointed a general in US army
- 1943 -60°F (-51°C), Island Park Dam, Idaho (state record)
- 1943 1st US air raid on Ambon
- 1943 German 2nd SS-Panzer division evacuates Charkow
- 1943 Red Army recaptures Pitomnik airport at Stalingrad
Eisenhower Allied Commander
1944 General Eisenhower takes command of Allied Invasion Force in London
Hitler Moves into His Bunker
1945 Adolf Hitler moves into the Fuhrerbunker, his underground bunker in Berlin, where he lives until his suicide April 30
- 1945 Scottish 52nd land division and 1st Commando brigade-assault at Heinsberg
- 1945 US 1st & 3rd army meet at Houffalise
- 1947 Vincent Aurial elected President of France
- 1948 35 Haganah members are ambushed & killed in Gush Etzyon
- 1949 KNBH (now KNBC) TV channel 4 in Los Angeles, CA (NBC) 1st broadcast
- 1949 WTOP (now WUSA) TV channel 9 in Washington, D.C. (CBS) 1st broadcast
- 1950 Belgium, Luxembourg & Netherlands recognize Israel
- 1951 Viet Minh offensive against Hanoi
- 1951 World's largest gas pipeline opens (Brownsville Texas, to 134th St, New York City)
- 1952 New Dutch bible translation finished
Stan Musial's Salary
1952 US Standard Board clears Stan Musial to get an $85,000 salary
- 1953 Egyptian Premier General Naguib disbands all political parties
- 1953 KXLY TV channel 4 in Spokane, Washington (ABC/CBS) begins broadcasting
Nasser's Pledge
1956 Egyptian President Nasser pledges to reconquer Palestine
Howe Leading Scorer
1960 Detroit right wing Gordie Howe scores a goal and assist in his 888th career game, a 3-1 win at home over Chicago; becomes NHL's all-time leading scorer, with 947 points passing Montreal's Maurice Richard
Khrushchev's Bomb Claim
1963 Khrushchev claims to have a 100-megaton nuclear bomb
- 1963 Los Angeles night club and music venue The Whiskey A-Go-Go opens (inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2006)
"Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore"
1963 Tennessee Williams' play "Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" premieres in America on Broadway, NY
Bobby Hull's Record 300
1966 Chicago Black Hawks' right wing Bobby Hull scores 4 goals (his 17th career hat trick) in a 6-5 loss to NY Rangers; becomes the first player in team history to score 300 goals
- 1966 Chicago is granted an NBA franchise to be called the Bulls; become the 3rd NBA franchise in the city, after the Chicago Stags (1946–50) and Chicago Packers/Zephyrs (now Washington Wizards)
- 1966 Harold R Perry becomes 2nd black Roman Catholic bishop in US
- 1966 Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi seizes power in the chaos caused by a military coup and becomes the Nigerian Head of State
- 1967 1st black government installed in Bahamas led by Lynden Pindling as leader of the Progressive Liberal Party
- 1967 Lucius Amerson, becomes 1st southern (Alabama) African American sheriff in 20th century
- 1968 Jay Allen's "Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" premieres in NYC
- 1968 The Youth International Party is founded.
- 1969 Jan Palach, a Czech student, self-immolates in protest after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
- 1969 Soviet Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5 perform 1st transfer of crew in space
Gaddafi Takes Control
1970 4 months after leading a coup against monarchy, Muammar Gaddafi takes over rule of Libya
- 1970 AAU player Steve Myers makes a basketball field goal of 92'3½" from out of bounds, Tacoma-it shouldn't have counted, but was allowed
- 1970 Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects
Flood Files Lawsuit
1970 Curt Flood files a civil lawsuit challenging baseball's reserve clause [1]
- 1970 Inaugural Buffalo Sabres owners Seymour H. Knox III and Northrup Knox hire former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager and head coach Punch Imlach in the same capacities for their new NHL franchise
- 1970 NFL realigns into 3 divisions (down from 4)
Schenk Sets World Record
1971 Dutch speed skater Ard Schenk skates world record 1500m (1:58.7)
- 1972 Dutch speed skater Atje Keulen-Deelstra becomes European Allround ladies champion, for the first of three consecutive years
- 1972 Super Bowl VI, Tulane Stadium, New Orleans, LA: Dallas Cowboys beat Miami Dolphins, 24-3; MVP: Roger Staubach, Dallas, QB
- 1973 NBC presents 440th & final showing of western series "Bonanza"
- 1973 Scientists at Corning Glass granted U.S. patent #3,711,262 for optical fiber (invented August 1970) - beginning a telecommunications revolution [1]
- 1973 USSR's Lunakhod 2 begins radio-controlled exploration of Moon
"Jaws"
1974 "Jaws" by Peter Benchley is published by Doubleday
"Life on Earth"
1979 BBC landmark nature series "Life on Earth" presented by David Attenborough first shown on BBC One
Shah Flees Iran
1979 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi flees Iran for Egypt during the Iranian Revolution
McCartney Arrested for Marijuana
1980 Paul McCartney is arrested at Tokyo International Airport for possession of marijuana; he is sent to jail for nine days before being deported
Spinks Mugged
1981 Boxer Leon Spinks is mugged, his assailants even take his gold teeth
"Woman"
1981 John Lennon's single "Woman" is posthumously released in the UK
- 1981 Protestant gunmen shoot & wound Bernadette Devlin McAliskey & husband
Fuhr's Unbeaten Streak Ends
1982 Edmonton's rookie goaltender Grant Fuhr has his 23-game unbeaten streak end with a 7-1 Oilers' defeat in Toronto
Paul and Linda McCartney Arrested
1984 Paul & Linda McCartney arrested in Barbados for possession of cannabis
Dissident Havel Arrested
1988 Czech dissident Václav Havel is arrested in Prague for taking part in demonstrations against the communist government
"Got My Mind Set On You"
1988 George Harrison's single "Got My Mind Set On You" tops the Billboard charts; the cover song was written by Rudy Clark and originally recorded by James Ray in 1962
6th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1991 6th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: LaVern Baker; The Byrds; John Lee Hooker; The Impressions; Wilson Pickett; Jimmy Reed; Ike and Tina Turner; Howlin' Wolf; Dave Bartholomew; and Ralph Bass
- 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords are signed in Mexico City which ends the 12-year Salvadoran Civil War
Eric Clapton "Unplugged"
1992 Eric Clapton performs for an episode of MTV "Unplugged" at Bray Film Studios in Windsor, England. Recording won six Grammy Awards, and became Clapton's bestselling album, and the bestselling live album of all time
Congo President Assassinated
2001 Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated in his office by one of his own bodyguards
- 2001 US President Bill Clinton awards former President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service in the Spanish–American War
Osama bin Laden, Taliban Embargo
2002 UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and freezes assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the members of the Taliban
Liberia's Johnson-Sirleaf Sworn In
2006 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.
Le Pen National Front Leader
2011 French politician Marine Le Pen becomes the leader of the National Front Party
- 2013 24 people die after three car bombs exploded in Idlib Governorate, Syria
- 2013 25 people are killed after an apartment block collapses in Alexandria, Egypt
- 2013 A four day occupation of an Algerian BP facility by Amenas militants begins, killing 48 hostages
- 2016 First ever flower grown in space - a zinnia aboard the International Space Station using NASA Veggie system
- 2019 Australian Bureau of Meteorology tweets last four days were the country's hottest on record with Tarcoola, South Australia, reaching 49 C (120 F), Port Augusta 48.5 C (119 F)
- 2019 Egyptian city Cairo is engulfed by a sandstorm turning it orange
- 2019 Explosion by a suicide bomber aimed at US-led coalition forces at a market in Manjib, Syria, kills about 18 including four Americans
Curry Sets Record
2019 Golden State guard Stephen Curry first player in NBA history to hit 8+ three-point FGs in 3 consecutive games; goes 9-of- 17 three's in Warriors' 147-140 win over New Orleans; teams combine for NBA record 43 3-pointers
- 2019 Golden State Warriors break 2 franchise records in 142-111 win over Denver Nuggets; in 1st quarter, record 10 three-point field goals on way to franchise best 51 points in the period
- 2019 Houston guard James Harden becomes first player to score 55+ points in back-to-back NBA games since Wilt Chamberlain (1962); scores 58 in 145-142 OT loss to Brooklyn; 18 straight games with 30+ points
May Wins No Confident Vote
2019 UK Prime Minister Theresa May wins vote of no confidence in her government 325 to 306
- 2019 UN says at least 890 killed in ethnic violence in the western Democratic Republic of Congo in December, with 465 building destroyed, delaying the presidential election
- 2020 Former Sacramento State softball player Alyssa Nakken becomes first woman to hold a coaching position on a MLB staff when named an assistant by the San Francisco Giants
Trump Impeachment Trial Begins
2020 Impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump begins in the Senate
- 2020 Newly appointed manager Carlos Beltran and New York Mets mutually agree to part ways because of his role in Houston Astros sign stealing scandal; third manager forced out of a job as a result of the allegations
- 2021 10 Nepali climbers become the first to reach the summit of K2 in winter on the China-Pakistan border
Laschet Replaces Merkel
2021 Armin Laschet is elected leader of Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU), to replace long-serving leader Angela Merkel
- 2021 India begin the vaccination of its 1.3 billion people for COVID-19
- 2023 Italy's most wanted mobster Matteo Messina Denaro (61) arrested at a private cancer clinic in Palermo, Sicily after being on the run for 30 years [1]
- 2024 Iran carries out a missile attack on militant group Jaish al-Adl in Balochistan, Pakistan, killing two children and angering Pakistan [1]
