Events 1 - 200 of 248
Privilegium Minus
1156 Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa issues the 'Privilegium Minus' decree, which elevated Austria to a duchy
- 1598 Dutch sailors claim island of Mauritius for Netherlands - name it after Maurice, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau
- 1629 Dutch ship Sardam arrives to rescue those shipwrecked on the Batavia, off coast of western Australia, discovering a group led by Jeronimus Cornelisz had murdered 124 of the survivors [1]
- 1631 Battle of Breitenfeld: King Gustaaf Adolf of Sweden defeats Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly.
- 1644 French troops occupy Mainz
- 1678 France & Spain sign Treaties of Nijmegen
Bacteria Discovered
1683 Dutch scientist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek is the first to report the existence of bacteria
Jacobite Rebellion
1745 Edinburgh occupied by Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart (aka the Young Pretender or Bonny Prince Charlie)
Constitution of the United States
1787 The US Constitution is signed by delegates at the Philadelphia Convention
Discovery of Mimas
1789 William Herschel discovers Mimas, satellite of Saturn
Darwin Lands in Galapagos
1835 Charles Darwins lands on Chatham in Galapagos archipelago
Harriet Tubman Escapes
1849 Harriet Tubman 1st escapes slavery in Maryland with two of her brothers
- 1850 Fourth great fire in San Francisco
James Donnelly Sentenced
1859 James Donnelly is sentenced to hang for murdering Patrick Farrell, but a petition for clemency reduces his sentence to 7 years in Kingston Penitentiary
Emperor Norton I
1859 Joshua Abraham Norton, English-born resident of San Francisco, proclaims himself his Imperial Majesty Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States of America
- 1861 First class for escaped slaves taught by Mary Peake at Fortress Monroe Virginia (now Hampton University).
- 1862 American Civil War: The Allegheny Arsenal explosion results in the single largest civilian disaster during the war; 78 workers killed.
- 1862 Battle of Antietam [Battle of Sharpsburg], bloodiest day in the American Civil War: 22,000 dead, wounded or missing in first battle on Union soil
- 1862 Battle of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee - evacuated by Federals
- 1862 Battle of Mumfordville, Kentucky, US Col J Wilder surrenders city
- 1863 Pope Pius IX encyclical On Persecution published in New Grenada
- 1864 American Civil War: Grant approves Sheridan's plan for Shenandoah Valley Campaign
- 1871 Mont Cenis railway tunnel in Switzerland opens
- 1872 Phillip W. Pratt patents his sprinkler system for extinguishing fires
- 1873 19 students attend opening class at Ohio State University
- 1876 Race riots in South Carolina
- 1899 1st British troops leave Bombay for South Africa
- 1900 Philippine–American War: Filipinos under Juan Cailles defeat Americans under Colonel Benjamin F. Cheatham at Mabitac.
- 1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is proclaimed
- 1900 USA, Anthracite coal miners go out on strike for better wages until the October 25, by which time the owners are persuaded that their stand is harming President McKinley's campaign
Battle of Blood River Port
1901 Battle of Blood River Port: Boer commandos led by Louis Botha defeat a British Mounted Infantry force commanded by Major Hubert Gough
Eddie Collins Debut
1906 Playing as "Sullivan" Columbia University jr Eddie Collins debuts with A's
- 1908 Thomas Selfridge becomes first fatality of powered flight
- 1909 Denis Peyrony and Louis Capitan discover the skull of an adult male Neanderthal (La Ferrassie 1) during excavations in a rock shelter near La Ferrassie, France
- 1911 1st transcontinental airplane flight, NY-Pasadena in 82 hrs 4 min
- 1912 Center fielder Casey Stengel breaks in with Brooklyn & hits 4 singles
Australian Election
1914 Andrew Fisher becomes Prime Minister of Australia for the third time
- 1916 40,000 Amsterdam demonstrators demand general voting right
The Red Baron
1916 WWI flying ace The Red Baron of the German Luftstreitkräfte, wins his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France
Honus Wagner Retires
1917 American baseball shortstop Honus Wagner retires at 43, Pirates retire his #33
- 1920 Cards set a record of 12 consecutive hits in 4th (10) & 5th (2) innings
- 1920 National Football League is born in Canton, Ohio; 12 teams pay $100 each to join American Professional Football Association; renamed the NFL in 1922
Piet Moeskops
1922 Cyclist Piet Moeskops becomes world sprint champ
Lindbergh in San Francisco
1927 Charles Lindbergh visits San Francisco
- 1928 Boston Braves pitcher Ray Boggs hits 3 batters in 1 inning during his 4th and final major league appearance, in 15-5 loss to Chicago Cubs
- 1928 San Felipe Segundo/Okeechobee hurricane makes landfall in West Palm Beach-Lake Okeechobee, Florida as category 4 storm, killing 2,500- 3,000 and causing $25M in damages (about $345M in 2020 dollars)
- 1929 British troops begin withdrawal from occupied Germany
- 1931 1st LP record demonstrated (RCA Victor, NYC), venture failed
- 1931 Boston Red Sox outfielder Earl Webb sets record with 65 en route to 67 MLB doubles
- 1931 Operetta "Viktoria & Her Hussar" by Paul Abraham (adapted for English by Harry Graham) premieres in London at Palace Theatre
- 1934 USSR joins League of Nations (Netherland, Switzerland & Portugal vote no)
President Manuel L. Quezon
1935 Manuel L. Quezon y Molina is elected the second President of the Philippines
- 1937 1st NFL game in Washington, D.C.; Redskins beat NY Giants 13-3
Chamberlain Leaves Munich
1938 British premier Neville Chamberlain leaves Munich
- 1939 German U-29 sinks British aircraft carrier Courageous, 519 die
- 1939 Poland's President Ignacy Mościck and Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski flee to Romania
- 1939 Soviet Union invades Eastern Poland allowing Germans to advance West, taking 217,000 Poles prisoner, without a formal declaration of war
- 1939 Taisto Mäki of Finland becomes first man to run 10,000 metres in under 30 minutes, in a time of 29:52.6 in Helsinki
Operation Sealion Postponed
1940 Adolf Hitler indefinitely postpones Operation Sealion, the planned German invasion of Great Britain
- 1940 Nazis deprive Jews of possessions
Stan Musial Debut
1941 Cards' Stan Musial makes his major league debut, going 2-for-4
Meeting Between Bohr and Heisenberg
1941 Famous meeting between Danish physicist Niels Bohr and German head of nuclear energy project Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen to discuss nuclear weapons (date approximate)
- 1941 The New Zealand Labour Party abolishes the death penalty (It is reintroduced by the National government in 1950 before being finally removed from the statute book in 1961)
- 1941 World War II: A decree issued by the Soviet State Committee of Defense, restoring Vsevobuch "Universal compulsory military training of the citizens of the USSR" in the face of the "Great Patriotic War"
- 1943 Load of "ammunition in transit" explodes at Norfolk Naval Air Station
- 1943 World War II: Soviet city of Bryansk is liberated from Nazi control
Churchill's US Visit
1944 British Premier Winston Churchill travels to US
- 1944 Dutch begin railroad strike against German occupiers
- 1944 Operation Market Garden: In the largest airborne operation of WWII, Allied paratroopers land in the Netherlands in a failed attempt to capture the Arnhem bridge over the Rhine
Jackie Robinson
1947 Jackie Robinson is named Rookie of Year by Sporting News
- 1947 James Forrestal sworn in as 1st US Secretary of Defense
- 1948 KCOP TV channel 13 in Los Angeles/Hollywood, CA (IND) begins
- 1948 WLS TV channel 7 in Chicago, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1949 128 die as fire guts Canadian passenger steamer Noronic in Toronto
- 1949 3rd Cannes Film Festival: "The Third Man" directed by Carol Reed wins the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
- 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Council meets for 1st time
- 1949 WFAA TV channel 8 in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1950 San Francisco 49ers (formerly AAFC) play 1st NFL game, lose 21-17
- 1951 Romanian bishop A. Pacha of Timisoara sentenced to 18 years
- 1952 "I am an American Day" & "Constitution Day" renamed "Citizenship Day"
Ernie Banks
1953 Ernie Banks becomes Chicago Cubs 1st black player
Lord of the Flies
1954 "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding is published by Faber and Faber in London
Boxing Title Fight
1954 In a quick re-match at Yankee Stadium, NYC, Rocky Marciano KOs Ezzard Charles in the 8th round to retain his world heavyweight boxing title
Sports History
1955 Future MLB Hall of Famer Baltimore Oriole Brooks Robinson goes 2-4 in his 1st game
- 1956 Black students enter Clay elementary school in Kentucky
- 1956 Television is first broadcast in Australia
- 1956 Yanks clinch pennant #22 on Mantle's 50th homer of year
- 1957 KETV TV channel 7 in Omaha, NB (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1957 Scott Crossfield takes X-15 up for 1st powered flight
- 1957 Thailand military coup under marshal Sarit Thanarat
- 1957 The North East Humanists group is founded in Newcastle upon Tyne
Film & TV History
1957 Two male attorneys "stand in" as actress Sophia Loren & producer Carlo Ponti wed by proxy in Juarez, Mexico
- 1958 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1959 59th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus
- 1959 Transit 1A, 1st navigational satellite launched; failed to orbit
- 1959 Typhoon kills 2,000 in Japan & Korea
- 1960 Cuba nationalizes US banks
- 1961 "Car 54, Where are You?" premieres on US TV
Sports History
1961 Fran Tarkenton plays his first NFL Game against the Chicago Bears, coming off the bench to lead the Vikings to a 37-13 victory, also becoming the only QB to throw four touchdown passes in his first career game
- 1961 Minnesota Vikings' 1st NFL game (beat Chicago Bears 37-13)
Event of Interest
1961 Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days," premieres in NYC
- 1961 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1962 Justice Department files 1st suit to end segregation in public schools
- 1962 US space officials announce selection of 9 new astronauts
- 1963 "The Fugitive" starring David Janssen premieres on ABC TV
- 1963 Train struck makeshift bus full of migrant workers, killing 32
Bewitched
1964 American sitcom "Bewitched", starring Elizabeth Montgomery, premieres on ABC TV
Baby Love
1964 Motown Records releases The Supremes' single "Baby Love"; written and produced by the Holland-Dozier-Holland team, it becomes their second consecutive #1 record
- 1964 National Museum of Anthropology, the largest museum in Latin America, inaugurated by President Adolfo López Mateos in Mexico City [1]
- 1964 The Beatles are paid a then record $150,000 by baseball team owner Charles Finley for a concert at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri on a scheduled day off; the group adds the song "Kansas City"/"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" to their standard setlist, much to the delight of the crowd
Sports History
1964 Yankee Mickey Mantle gets career hits #1999, 2000 & 2001 & his 450th HR in 6-2 victory over Los Angeles Angels at New York
TV Show Appearance
1967 American rock band "The Doors" appear for 1st and last time on "The Ed Sullivan Show"; singer Jim Morrison reneges on promise to change a lyric, prompting producers to offer no further invitations [1]
Television Debut
1967 British rock band "The Who" make US television debut, performing "My Generation" on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour", and detonating Keith Moon's drum kit
- 1967 Mount Washington cog railway train derails, kills 8 (NH)
- 1967 New Orleans Saints 1st NFL game, they lose to LA Rams 27-13
Sports History
1968 San Francisco Giants Gaylord Perry no-hits St Louis Cardinals, 1-0
- 1968 Zond 5 completes circumnavigation of Moon
- 1970 American TV variety program "The Flip Wilson Show" debuts on NBC-TV,; runs for 4 seasons, winning 2 Emmy Awards
- 1970 Jordan launches offensive against guerrilla army
- 1970 WSWP TV channel 9 in Grandview, WV (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1972 BART begins passenger service in San Francisco
- 1972 Tanzania troops march in to Uganda
M*A*S*H
1972 TV comedy series "M*A*S*H", adapted from the movie, starring Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Wayne Rogers, and McLean Stevenson debuts on CBS in the US; runs for 11 years garnering 14 Emmy and 1 Peabody Award
Music History
1973 Stephen Sondheim's musical "A Little Night Music" transfers from the Shubert to the Majestic Theater, NYC
Music History
1976 British punk rock band the Sex Pistols play before a captive audience at Chelmsford Prison, Essex, England
- 1976 NASA publicly unveils space shuttle Enterprise in Palmdale, California, named after Star Trek Enterprise with cast attending
Ringo's Rotogravure
1976 Polydor/Atlantic releases Ringo Starr' fifth studio album "Ringo's Rotogravure"
#1 in the Charts
1977 British-American band Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" album is #1 for 19th straight week
- 1977 China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor, PRC
Sports History
1977 Dave Kingman hits his 1st Yankee homer, Reggie hits 2 more
- 1978 30th Emmy Awards: "All in the Family"; Ed Asner & Sada Thompson win
- 1978 After 6 losses to the New York Yankees in September, the Boston Red Sox finally score a 7-3 win over their arch rivals at Yankee Stadium
Event of Interest
1978 Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Camp David Accords, frameworks for peace in the Middle East and between Egypt and Israel
- 1979 Pietro Mennea runs world record 200 m (19.72")
Baseball Record
1979 Royals' George Brett is 6th to have 20 doubles/triples/HRs in a season
- 1979 Russian Bolshoi Ballet dancers Leonid & Valentina Kozlov granted political asylum in US
Divine Madness
1980 Bette Midler's concert film "Divine Madness", directed by Michael Ritchie, premieres
- 1980 Iraq breaks 1975 treaty with Iran and proclaims sovereignty over Shatt al-Arab waterway
- 1980 Iraq under Saddam Hussein signs accord with Algeria
- 1980 Oak A's Rick Langford is removed with 2 outs in 9th inning ending his consecutive complete-game streak at 22
Event of Interest
1980 Polish workers under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa found the Solidarity movement at the Gdańsk Shipyard
Event of Interest
1980 South Korea opposition leader Kim Dae-jung sentenced to death
Sports History
1981 Fernando Valenzuela sets NL rookie record with 8th shutout of season
Bad to the Bone
1982 "Bad to the Bone" single by George Thorogood and the Destroyers first released
- 1983 Chicago White Sox clinch their 1st-ever AL West championship
Event of Interest
1984 Brian Mulroney sworn in as Canada's 18th Prime Minister, succeeding John Turner
Baseball Record
1984 Dwight Gooden ties record of 32 strikeouts in consecutive games
Baseball Record
1984 Reggie Jackson is 13th to hit 500 HRs
- 1984 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- 1985 Soyuz T-14 carries 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station
- 1986 Bomb attack in Paris, 6 killed
- 1986 Marina Stepanova of USSR sets 400m hurdle woman's record (52.94)
- 1986 Mets clinch NL East Championship
- 1986 US Senate confirms William Rehnquist as 16th chief justice
- 1987 Philadelphia celebrates 200th anniversary of Constitution
Papal Visit
1987 Pope John Paul II arrives in San Francisco, meets with AIDS patients, and embraces an AIDS infected child
- 1988 24th Olympic games open at Seoul, Korea
- 1988 Jeff Reardon becomes 1st to record 40 or more saves in both AL & NL
- 1989 -21] Hurricane Hugo, kills 85 in Charleston, South Carolina
- 1989 41st Emmy Awards: "LA Law", "Cheers", Dana Delany & Candice Bergen win
- 1989 Hurricane Hugo begins 4 day sweep through Caribbean, killing 62
- 1989 NYC court of appeals overturns lower court decision & returns America's Cup back to US (from NZ)
- 1990 Newspaper Guild votes 242-35 to keep NY Post publishing
- 1990 Soviet Union & Saudi Arabia restore diplomatic ties
- 1991 4,355 turn out to see Expos play NY Mets at Shea Stadium
- 1991 The first version of the Linux kernel (0.01) is released to the Internet
- 1991 UN admits Estonia, Latvia, Lithuiania, North & South Korea, Marshall Islands & Micronesia
- 1992 Amsterdam stock exchange hits record Ÿ8.8 billion
Music History
1992 Frank Zappa conducts The Ensemble Modern in portions of his classical work "The Yellow Shark" in Frankfurt, Germany; receives a 20 minute standing ovation in what is his last public appearance