Joan of Arc Acquitted
1456 A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death
- 1495 King Ferdinand II returns to Naples
Vienna Court Music Ensemble
1498 Founding date of the Vienna Court Music Ensemble when Emperor Maximilian I orders appointment of a conductor, two bass singers and six choir boys. Later includes Vienna Boys Choir.
Battle of Otumba, Mexico
1520 Hernán Cortés and the Tlaxcalans defeat a numerically superior Aztec force in the Battle of Otumba in Mexico
- 1534 European colonization of the Americas: first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in New Brunswick
First French Amerindian Trade
1534 First act of trade between the French and Amerindians when Jacques Cartier trades items with Micmacs at Chaleur Bay [1]
Isaac Newton Graduates
1668 Isaac Newton receives MA from Trinity College, Cambridge
Bonnie Prince Charlie Departs
1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie boards French ship ‘Du Teillay’ at St Nazaire accompanied by the warship Elisabeth bound for Scotland [OS]
- 1753 British parliament grants Jews citizenship
- 1754 Kings College in NYC opens (renamed Columbia College)
- 1768 Firm of Johann Buddenbrook founded, in Thomas Mann's novel
- 1777 American Revolutionary War: Battle of Hubbardton
- 1798 Quasi-War: the U.S. Congress rescinds treaties with France sparking the 'war'
- 1799 Ranjit Singh's men take up their positions outside Lahore
Haiti Declares Independence
1801 Toussaint Louverture declares Haitian independence
- 1802 1st comic book "The Wasp" is published in Hudson, New York criticizing Republican politicians
Napoléon and Tsar Meet
1807 French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte and Russian Tsar Alexander I meet on a raft in the middle of the Neman River and sign the first Treaty of Tilsit
Event of Interest
1814 Walter Scott's novel "Waverley" published
Ban on Jews Revoked
1863 Orders barring Jews from serving under US General Ulysses S. Grant are revoked
Lincoln Conspirators Executed
1865 Mary Surratt, Lewis Powell, David Herold and George Atzerodt are executed for their role in the conspiracy to assassinate US President Abraham Lincoln
Jesse James Robbery
1875 Jesse James gang robs train in Otterville, Missouri
- 1876 Hamburg massacre: white farmers attack a black militia in Hamburg, South Carolina with 7 killed
- 1878 Social-Democratic United forms in Amsterdam
- 1891 Marcellus F. Berry, an American Express employee is granted four copyrights for what he called "the travelers cheque"
- 1892 Katipunan: the Revolutionary Philippine Brotherhood is established leading to the fall of the Spanish Empire in Asia
- 1898 US President McKinley signs the Organic Act to annex Hawaii
- 1900 Boston Beaneaters pitcher Kid Nichols notches his 300th career MLB victory with an 11-4 win over Chicago Orphans
- 1905 127°F (53°C), Parker, Arizona (state record until 1994)
Elihu Root Secretary of State
1905 Elihu Root joins the cabinet of President Theodore Roosevelt, serving as United States Secretary of State
Jennings Bryan Nominated
1908 The Democratic Party meets in Denver at the start of their convention; William Jennings Bryan is nominated as presidential nominee
Great White Fleet
1908 US Navy's Great White Fleet leaves San Francisco Bay
Thorpe Wins Pentathlon
1912 American athlete Jim Thorpe wins 4 of 5 events to win the Pentathlon gold medal at the Stockholm Olympics, medal stripped 1913 (played pro baseball), reinstated 1982
Babe Ruth's Almost Trade
1914 Baltimore Orioles owner Jack Dunn offers future baseball legend Babe Ruth, Ernie Shore & Ben Egan for $10k to Connie Mack (Philadelphia A's); refuses pleading lack of finance
- 1915 A Great Gorge and International Railway trolley with an extreme overload of 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, killing 15
- 1916 The New Zealand Labour party is formed
- 1919 Philadelphia Phillies tie MLB record of 8 steals in an innings (9th) in a 10-5 loss vs NY Giants
- 1923 Cleveland Indians set an AL record 27 runs including 13 in the 6th in 27-3 win v Boston Red Sox
- 1923 University of Delaware invents "junior year abroad" (at Sorbonne)
- 1924 American Robert LeGendre sets then long jump world record at 25' 5½" in Paris, France
- 1928 American Edward Hamm sets then long jump world record at 25' 11" at Cambridge, Massachusetts
First Sliced Bread
1928 Sliced bread sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company, Missouri, using a machine invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder. Described as the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped.
- 1929 Romania & Vatican sign concord
Bradman Scores Double Century
1932 Australian cricket batsman supreme Don Bradman scores a double century during a Goodwill Tour in Montreal, Canada
- 1936 American businessman Henry F. Phillips receives patents for a new "cross-recessed" screw, and the new screwdriver needed to make it work
- 1936 RCA shows 1st real TV program (dancing, film on locomotives, Bonwit Teller fashion show and monologue from Tobacco Road & comedy)
- 1937 Japanese and Chinese troops clash at the Marco Polo Bridge, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War
- 1939 "The Rules of the Game", French film directed by Jean Renoir, starring Nora Gregor and Paulette Dubost, premieres in Paris
- 1941 Nazis execute 5,000 Jews in Kovono, Lithuania
- 1941 US forces land in Iceland to forestall Nazi invasion
- 1941 World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops
Military All-Stars vs American League
1942 Baseball Military All-Star team (including Bob Feller) loses to American League All Stars 5-0
- 1942 Germany troop march into Woronezj
Keynes Enters House of Lords
1942 John Maynard Keynes takes his seat in the British House Of Lords as Baron Keynes of Tilton after being knighted
Japanese PM in Java
1943 -10] Japanese premier Hideki Tojo visits Java
- 1943 3rd day of Battle of Kursk, USSR: Operation Citadel: Germans occupy Dubrova Luftwaffe fighter ace shoots down 7 Russian aircraft
- 1943 German Submarine U-951 sunk by depth charges, off Cape St. Vincent in the North Atlantic
- 1943 Liberator bombers sinks U-517
- 1944 Heavy Japanese counter offensive on Saipan
- 1944 RAF Bomber Command drop 2,572 tons of bombs on Caen, France
- 1946 Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, Catholic nun (Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,) canonized as 1st American saint
- 1947 Alleged and disputed Roswell UFO incident
- 1948 6 female reservists become 1st women sworn into regular US Navy
Cleveland Signs Satchel Paige
1948 Cleveland Indians stun MLB by signing 42-year-old veteran Negro Leagues pitcher Satchel Paige
Che Guevara Begins Road Trip
1953 Che Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador
Sports History
1954 British runner Jim Peters, 17 minutes ahead of any rival, collapses on the final stadium lap of the Commonwealth Games marathon in Vancouver
- 1954 Formation of the TANU party (Tanganyika African National Union) in Tanzania
Hancock's Half Hour
1956 "Hancock's Half Hour" premieres as a TV show starring Tony Hancock and Sid James, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson
Event of Interest
1958 President Eisenhower signed a bill approving Alaskan statehood
- 1958 William Shea outlines plans for a $12M stadium at Flushing Meadows NY
- 1960 US cemetery officially opens at Margraten, Netherlands
- 1960 USSR shoots down a US aircraft over Barents sea
- 1961 James R Hoffa elected chairman of Teamsters
- 1962 Bill Hartack becomes 8th jockey to win 3,000 American thoroughbred races
- 1962 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Respect
1965 Otis Redding records the song "Respect" at Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee; it later becomes a signature piece for Aretha Franklin
Event of Interest
1966 Obscenity ban for "Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs overturned by the Massachusetts Supreme Court after testimony by Allen Ginsberg and Norman Mailer
- 1967 The Beatles release single "All You Need is Love"
- 1968 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1968 Rock group "Yardbirds" disband
- 1969 Canada's House of Commons approves equality of French-English language
- 1969 German newspaper Der Spiegel reveals Bishop Defregger of Munich is a war criminal
Baseball Hall of Fame
1971 MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn announces that Negro League players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame to be given full membership in the Museum
- 1972 1st women FBI members sworn in (Susan Lynn Roley & Joanne E Pierce)
- 1972 7 people are killed in separate incidents across Northern Ireland
- 1972 Dutch Minister of Agt decides to ignore soft drug usage
Event of Interest
1972 Secret Talks Between IRA and British Government: Gerry Adams is part of a delegation to London for talks with the British Government
- 1973 78 drown as flash flood sweeps a bus into a river (India)
- 1973 All women board of directors takes control of ABA's Kentucky Colonels
- 1973 Shoelace Park in the Bronx named
FIFA World Cup
1974 FIFA World Cup Final, Olympiastadion, Munich, Germany: Striker Gerd Müller scores 43rd minute winner as West Germany beats the Netherlands, 2-1
- 1974 Milwaukee's Don Money sets MLB record for consecutive errorless games at 3rd base (78) in Brewers 8-5 win v Twins
- 1974 New Zealand imposes a blanket ban on sports teams from South Africa
- 1975 TV soap opera "Ryan's Hope" premieres
- 1976 119 women joined the Corps of Cadets, establishing the first class of women in the US Military Academy at West Point
- 1976 Lt General Vernon A Walters, USA, ends term as deputy director of CIA; succeeded by E Henry Knoche
The Spy Who Loved Me
1977 "The Spy Who Loved Me", 10th James Bond film starring Roger Moore and Barbara Bach, premieres in London
- 1977 12,000 police occupy university in Mexico City
- 1978 NBA approves franchise swap; Buffalo Braves owner John Y. Brown and Harry Mangurian acquire Boston Celtics, while the Celtics owner Irv Levin gets Braves, later moved to San Diego to become the Clippers
- 1978 Solomon Islands declares independence from the United Kingdom
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
Boxing Title Fight
1980 American boxer Larry Holmes scores a 7th round TKO of Scott LeDoux in Bloomington, Minnesota in defense of his WBC heavyweight title
- 1980 Institution of Sharia law in Iran
- 1980 Jim King completes riding Miracle Strip Roller coaster 368 hours
- 1980 The Safra massacre in Lebanon
Cricket History
1981 England cricket captain Ian Botham resigned after no wins in 12 matches under his reign and a pair in the 2nd Test v Australia at Lord's
Event of Interest
1981 Sandra Day O'Connor nominated for the US Supreme Court, 1st female Supreme Court justice by President Ronald Reagan
- 1981 The solar-powered aircraft, Solar Challenger, successfully completes a 163 mile flight across the English Channel
- 1982 English athlete David Moorcroft beats Kenyan Henry Rono's 5000m world record by nearly 5 seconds, 13:00.41 in Oslo, Norway
- 1983 11-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, leaves for USSR
- 1984 5 die in a train crash in Williston, Vermont
Sports History
1986 American athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee sets world heptathlon record of 7,148 points in the inaugural Goodwill Games at Moscow
- 1986 IBM-PC DOS Version 3.2 (updated) released
Music History
1986 It is reported that Boy George is being treated for heroin addiction
- 1986 Jordan government shuts al-Fatah offices
Event of Interest
1986 Soviet General and spy for the US Dmitri Polyakov arrested in retirement in Russia (executed 1988)
- 1986 Supreme Court strikes down Gramm-Rudman deficit-reduction law
- 1987 Kiwanis Clubs end men-only tradition, vote to admit women
Event of Interest
1987 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North begins public testimony at Iran-Contra hearing
- 1988 Five prominent anti-apartheid activists are released in Cape Town, South Africa after being detained for up to two years under the Internal Security Act
Music History
1988 Hungarian state funeral for composer Béla Bartók in Budapest, 42 years after his death with his remains relocated from New York
- 1988 Soviet Union launches Phobos 1 to probe Martian moon (unsuccessful)
- 1988 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1989 Concert by the Grateful Dead with Bruce Hornsby & the Range becomes final event at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, six days before structure is condemned
Music Concert
1990 1st 'Three Tenors' concert featuring Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti at Baths of Caracalla in Rome; recording becomes world's best-selling classical record
- 1990 New Jersey Devils sign star Russian defensemen Viacheslav Fetisov & Sergei Starikov to NHL contracts despite criticism they are taking North American jobs
Wimbledon Women's Tennis
1990 Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova wins her record 9th Wimbledon singles title beating American Zina Garrison 6-4, 6-1
Sports History
1992 After undergoing the traditional five-year waiting procedure, Czech tennis star Ivan Lendl officially becomes a US citizen
- 1992 South Africa beats Cameroon 1-0 in Durban in first FIFA sanctioned match after nearly 20 years international isolation, apartheid
- 1993 Guntis Ulmanis elected president of Latvia
- 1993 Lenny Dykstra hits bases loaded 2-run double to end Phillies 7, LA Dodgers 6 in 20 innings in Philadelphia
- 1993 Prodigy announces it will offer Cox newspapers
- 1994 North Yemenite troops occupy Aden
- 1995 Memphis Mad Dogs 1st CFL home game (vs BC Lions)
- 1995 Space shuttle STS-71 (Atlantis 14), lands
Event of Interest
1996 Nelson Mandela steps down as President of South Africa
Sports History
2001 In his first appearance at Daytona since the death of father Dale Earnhardt Sr., Dale Jr. wins Pepsi 400 coming from 7th with 9 laps remaining to beat teammate Michael Waltrip
- 2002 A scandal breaks out in the United Kingdom when news reports accuse MI6 of sheltering Abu Qatada, supposed European Al Qaeda leader
- 2003 The United Communist Party of Armenia is formed
- 2005 Coordinated terrorist bomb blasts strike London's public transport system during the morning rush hour, killing 52 and injuring 700
- 2005 Influenced by global Live 8 concerts, G8 leaders pledge to double 2004 levels of aid to Africa from US$25 to US$50 billion by the year 2010 and to drop the debt owed by 18 of the most heavily indebted poor countries. Results are mixed. [1]
- 2006 Cleveland Indians first baseman Travis Hafner becomes first player in MLB history to hit 5 grand slams before the All-Star break when he homers off Baltimore's Kris Benson
Summorum Pontificum
2007 Pope Benedict XVI issues the Apostolic Letter Summorum Pontificum, removing restrictions on celebrating the old Tridentine Mass
Live Earth Concert
2007 Worldwide charity concert event "Live Earth" takes place at 12 venues on seven continents; performers include: Genesis, Keith Urban; Foo Fighters; John Legend; Melissa Etheridge; Dave Matthews Band; The Police; Roger Waters; Madonna; Alicia Keys; Garth Brooks; Crowded House; Jack Johnson; Shakira; Soweto Gospel Choir; Angélique Kidjo; UB40; Jack Johnson; Linkin Park; Rihanna; Pharrel Williams; Yusef Islam; Sarah Brightman; and Nunatak
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
2011 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2", the last Harry Potter film, premieres in London
- 2011 Roof of a stand in De Grolsch Veste Stadium in Enschede which was under construction collapses, one killed and 14 injured.
- 2012 Floods in the Krasnodar region, Russia, kill 140 people
- 2013 10 people are killed after an air taxi crashes in Soldotna, Alaska
- 2014 Israel launches a "counter-terrorist operation" dubbed Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza
- 2016 Deadlock in battle for Aleppo broken when Russian air strikes cut rebel access to the city, 250,000 people put under siege
- 2016 In Dallas Texas, lone gunman shots and kills five police officers, wounding others during a protest march against fatal police shootings of African Americans
- 2017 G-20 summit of world leaders begins in Hamburg, Germany amid violent protests
- 2017 Tesla Motors produces its first mass-market car, the Model 3
- 2017 United Nations nuclear weapon ban treaty adopted in New York, without participation of nuclear countries
FIFA Women's World Cup Final
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Décines-Charpieu: Defending champions US win record 4th title beating the Netherlands, 2-0, Megan Rapinoe Player of the Match
- 2019 Greek national elections won by center-right New Democracy party headed by Kyriakos Mitsotakis
- 2019 Mississippi closes all its beaches due to toxic algae bloom due to flooding of the Mississippi River
- 2019 Nigeria, Africa' biggest economy, joins the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), in attempt to create world's largest free trade area
Bolsonaro Tests Positive
2020 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announces he has tested positive for COVID-19
- 2020 India surpasses Russia to become the world's third-worst affected country, daily COVID-19 cases exceeding 20,000 and total cases over 700,000
- 2020 Texas records more than 10,000 daily cases of COVID-19 for the 1st time
- 2020 Violent protests in Belgrade, Serbia, at government announcement of weekend lockdown due to COVID-19 surge
- 2021 Haiti president Jovenel Moïse assassinated in his home in Pétionville, Haiti, state of emergency declared across the country
- 2021 Stanley Cup Final, Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL: Defending champions Tampa Bay Lightning beat Montreal Canadiens, 1-0 in Game 5; retain title, 4-1
- 2021 World's biggest sandcastle 21.16 high (69.4 feet), using nearly 5,000 tons of sand completed in Blokhus, Denmark [1]
Boris Johnson Resigns
2022 British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces his resignation at Downing Street after pressure from, and mass resignations of his ministers [1]
- 2022 US scientists begin the search for dark matter with a device in a former gold mine in Lead, South Dakota [1]
Peace and Love
2023 NASA beams Ringo Starr’s voice wishing “peace and love" across the universe via the Deep Space Network in honor of his 83rd birthday
- 2023 US White House announces the last of its chemical weapons has been destroyed in eastern Kentucky, as part of international Chemical Weapons Convention, ending a practice begun in WWI [1]
- 2023 World's first robot-human press conference takes place in Geneva, Switzerland with reporters asking "will you rebel against humans?" [1]
