• Home
• Articles
• Dates
• Days
• Today in History
• Topics
• Quiz

Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 172

1079 - Omar ibn Ibrahim al-Chajjam completes Jalali-calendar
1205 - Aken, [Philips van Zwaben], crowned Roman-Catholic German King
1323 - Treaty of Paris
1447 - Tommaso Parentucelli succeeds Pope Eugene IV as Nicolas V
1454 - Thirteen Years' War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledge allegiance to Casimir IV of Poland, and the Polish king agrees to help in their struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.
1460 - Treaty of Alcacovas-Portugal gives Castile Canary Is for W Africa
1479 - Treaty of Alcaçovas - Portugal gives the Canary Islands to Castile in exchange for claims in West Africa.
1521 - Magellan discovers Guam
1579 - Veluwe joins Union of Utrecht
1590 - Earl Mauritius conquerors Breda "turfschip of Breda"
1628 - Emperor Ferdinand II delegates Restitutie-edict
1646 - Joseph Jenkes, MA, receives 1st colonial machine patent
1664 - King Louis XIV & Emperor of Brandenburg signs covenant
1665 - Philosophical Transactions of Royal Society starts publishing
1714 - Peace of Rastatt - French emperor Charles VI of Habsburg
1728 - Spain & England sign (1st) Convention of Pardo
1775 - 1st Negro Mason in US initiated, Boston
1788 - The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement.
1799 - Napolean captures Jaffa Palestine
1808 - 1st college orchestra in US founded, at Harvard
1810 - Illinois passes 1st state vaccination legislation in US
1816 - Jews are expelled from Free city of Lubeck Germany
1831 - Bellini's opera "La Sonnambula," premieres in Milan
1831 - Edgar Allen Poe removed from West Point milt academy
1831 - Vincenzo Bellini's opera "La Sonnambula," premieres in Milan
1834 - Toronto incorporated with William Lyon Mackenzie as its 1st mayor
1836 - 3,000 Mexicans beat 182 Texans at the Alamo, after 13 day fight
1836 - HMS Beagle/Darwin reaches King George's Sound, Australia
1838 - Franz Grillparzer's "Weh dem, der Lugt," premieres in Vienna
1851 - Dion Boucicault's "Love in a Maze," premieres in London
1853 - Giuseppe Verdi's Opera "La Traviata," premieres in Venice
1855 - Gustave Flaubert writes goodbye to Louise Colet
1857 - Dred Scott Decision: Supreme Court rules slaves cannot be citizens
1861 - Provisionary Confederate Congress establishes Confederate Army
1862 - Battle of Pea Ridge, AR (Elkhorn Tavern)
1865 - Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida
1865 - President Lincolns 2nd Inaugural Ball
1869 - Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
1882 - Monarch Milan Obrenovic of Serbia crowns himself king
1886 - 1st US alternating current power plant starts, Great Barrington, MA
1886 - 1st US nurses' magazine, The Nightingale, 1st appears, NYC
1895 - England beat Australia to win one of the best cricket series ever, 3-2
1895 - J T Brown hits the fastest 50 in Test Crickets (28 mins) Eng v Aust
1896 - 1st auto in Detroit, Charles B King rides his "Horseless Carriage"
1899 - "Asprin" patented by Felix Hoffmann
1899 - Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark.
1901 - In Bremen an assassin attempts to kill Wilhelm II of Germany.
1902 - Census Bureau forms
1906 - Cubs sign 3rd baseman Harry Steinfeldt to complete Tinker-Evers-Chance
1906 - Heavy storm bursts dike flooding Vlissingen, Netherlands
1906 - Nora Blatch is 1st woman elected to American Soc of Civil Engineers
1909 - Gerhart Hauptmann's "Griselda," premieres in Vienna
1915 - Greek King Constantine I fires premier Venizelos
1918 - US naval boat "Cyclops" disappears in Bermuda Triangle
1919 - NHL Championship: Montreal Canadiens beat Ottawa Senators, 3 games to 1 with 1 tie
1921 - Police in Sunbury Penn issue an edict requiring Women to wear skirts at least 4 inches below the knee
1922 - Babe Ruth signs 3 years at $52,000 a year NY Yankee contract
1922 - GB Shaw's "Back to Methusaleh III/IV," premieres in NYC
1923 - Cards announce their players will wear numbers on their uniforms
1924 - British Labour govt cuts military budget
1925 - Belgium annexes Eupen, Malmö dy & Sankt Vith
1926 - China asks for a seat in the Security council
1929 - Turkey & Bulgaria sign friendship treaty
1930 - Bkln's Clarence Birdseye develops a method for quick freezing food
1933 - FDR declares a nationwide bank holiday
1933 - Maxwell Anderson's "Both your Houses," premieres in NYC
1933 - Poland occupies free city Danzig (Gdansk)
1934 - Sidney Howard & Paul de Kruif's "Yellowjacket," premieres in NYC
1935 - Frank Bartell (Czech), cycles record 80.584 mph in LA
1936 - Belgium ends Locarno-pact
1940 - 1st US telecast from an airplane, NYC
1943 - Battle at Medenine, North-Africa: Rommels assault attack
1943 - Sukarno asks for cooperation with Japanese occupiers
1944 - USAF begins daylight bombing of Berlin
1945 - 117 SD-prisoners executed at Savage Farm
1945 - Assassination attempt on Hihere, SS Police fuhrer Rauter
1945 - Chinese 38th division occupies Lashio
1945 - Erich Honnecker & Erich Hanke flee nazis
1945 - Federico Garcia Lorca's "La Casa," premieres in Buenos Aires
1946 - France recognizes Vietnam statehood within Indo-Chinese federation
1947 - XB-45, 1st US 4-engine jet bomber, makes 1st test flight, Muroc, CA
1950 - Silly Putty invented
1951 - Belgium extends conscription to 24 months
1953 - Malenkov becomes chairman of the USSR
1955 - Dutch premiere of Samuel Becketts' "Waiting for Godot"
1955 - Jackie Pung wins LPGA Jacksonville Golf Open
1957 - Ghana (formerly Gold Coast) declares independence from UK
1959 - 11st Emmy Awards: Playhouse 90, Jack Benny Show, Raymond Burr
1959 - Farthest radio signal heard (Pioneer IV, 400,000 miles)
1960 - President Sukarno disbands Indonesia's parliament
1961 - 1st London minicabs introduced
1961 - Dutch Queen Juliana celebrates 12½ year govt jubilee
1961 - Dutch guilder revalued 4.74%
1962 - St Louis vote to build a new downtown stadium for the Cardinals
1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1962 - US promise Thailand assistance against communist aggression
1964 - Constantine succeeds Paul I as king of Greece
1964 - Elijah Muhammad renames Cassius Clay, Muhammad Ali
1964 - Liz Taylor's 4th divorce (Eddie Fisher)
1964 - Tom O'Hara runs world record mile (3:56.4)

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 223

1340 - John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (d. 1399)
1405 - Johan II, King of Castille
1405 - King John II of Castile (d. 1454)
1459 - Jacob Fugger, German banker/merchant
1475 - Michelangelo, Italian painter (David) (d. 1564)
1483 - Francesco Guicciardini, Ital attorney/president of Romagna
1492 - Jean Luis Vives, Spanish theory/humanist/reformer
1495 - Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (Opere Toscane, La Coltivazione)
1615 - Jan Zoet, actor/playwright/poet (Parnasssus aan 't Y)
1616 - Malachias Siebenhaar, composer
1619 - Cyrano de Bergerac, famous nose, playwright (Voyage to the Moon)
1663 - Francis Atterbury, British man of letters (d. 1732)
1698 - John Alberti, Dutch theologist/philologist
1706 - George Pocock, British admiral (d. 1792)
1710 - Giuseppi Antonio Paganelli, composer
1716 - Pehr Kalm, Swedish explorer and naturalist (d. 1779)
1740 - Giovanni Meli, Siclian poet (Buccolica)
1761 - Earl d'Andreossi, French general/member of parliament
1761 - Antoine-Francois Andreossy, French General (d. 1828)
1763 - Jean Xavier Lefevre, composer
1765 - Jan Kops, Dutch agronomist/vicar
1779 - Philipp Roth, composer
1785 - Karol Kazimierz Kurpinski, composer
1787 - Joseph von Fraunhofer, Germany, physicist (studied Sun's spectrum)
1791 - Anna Claypoole Peale, painted miniatures
1793 - Bernhard Joseph Klein, composer
1806 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (Sonnets from the Portuguese)
1812 - Aaron Lufkin Dennison, father of American watchmaking
1817 - Princess Clémentine of Orléans (d. 1907)
1818 - William Claflin, 27th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1905)
1820 - Horatio Gouverneur Wright, Major General (Union volunteers)
1831 - Friedrich C K von Bodelschwingh, German theologist (Home Mission)
1831 - Philip Henry Sheridan, Albany NY, Major General (Union Army)
1834 - George du Maurier British illustrator and writer (d. 1896)
1835 - Charles Ewing, Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1883
1835 - Ludwik Grossman, composer
1843 - Artur Napoleao dos Santos, composer
1844 - Nicolai Rimski-Korsakov, composer (Flight of the Bumble Bee) (NS 3/18)
1852 - Joseph Bayer, composer
1870 - Oscar Straus, Vienna Austria, composer (Ein Walzertraum)
1882 - Guy Kibbee, El Paso TX, actor (Big Shot)
1882 - F. Burrall Hoffman, American architect (d. 1980)
1885 - Ring Lardner, US, writer (You Know Me Al)
1887 - Henri Gagnon, composer
1890 - Fernand Ansseau, Belgian operator/theory (Orfeo)
1891 - Victor Kilian, Jersey City NJ, actor (Gentleman's Agreement)
1893 - Kathleen Smoothy, housewife (last link to Siege of SIdney Street)
1893 - [Walter] Furry Lewis, father of the blues
1898 - Hal Hooker, cricketer (NSW pace bowler of 20's & 30's)
1898 - Jay C Flippen, Little Rock AR, actor (Jet Pilot, Killing, Thunder Bay)
1898 - Jimmy Conzelman, NFL QB/coach/team owner (Chicago)
1898 - Jo[hanne M Bos-]Vincent, Dutch soprano (Mattheus Passion)
1900 - John Henry Pyle Pafford, librarian (University of London)
1900 - Ludwig Donath, Vienna Austria, actor (Torn Curtain, Sirocco)
1900 - Robert "Lefty" Grove, baseball pitcher (300 game winner)
1901 - Mark Donskoy, Odessa Russia, director (Heart of a Mother)
1903 - Elizabeth Pinkston Becker, US, platform diver (Olympic-gold-1928)
1903 - Empress Kōjun of Japan (d. 2000)
1904 - Hugh Williams, actor/writer (Charley's Aunt, Bank Holiday)
1904 - Johannes C "Chris" Baay, Dutch actor (Klatergoud, Surprise Raid)
1904 - Joseph Schmidt, Austrian tenor (d. 1942)
1904 - José Antonio Aguirre, Basque politician (d. 1960)
1905 - Bob Wills, American singer (d. 1975)
1906 - Bob Wills, TX, actor (Lone Prairie, Tornado in the Saddle)
1906 - Lou Costello, Paterson NJ, comedian/actor (Abbott & Costello)
1909 - Dave Clark, music promoter/songwriter
1909 - Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria, pres of Nigeria (1979-83)
1911 - Charles Frank, physicist
1911 - Roland Jacobi Leich, composer
1912 - Madge Adam, astronomer
1913 - David Bowman, trade unionist
1913 - Ella Logan, Glasgow Scotland, actress (52nd Street, Goldwyn Follies)
1913 - Stewart Granger, actor (Saraband for Dead Lovers)
1914 - Kirill P Kondrashin, Moscow Russia, conductor (Hollywood Bowl 1981)
1915 - Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, 52nd Da'i al Mutlaq of the Dawoodi Bohras
1916 - Rochelle Hudson, Okla City OK, actress (That's My Boy)
1917 - J A Mommersteeg, Dutch asst sect of Defense (KVP)
1917 - Roy Scott, cricketer (one Test NZ v England 1947, 18, 1-74)
1917 - Will Eisner, American illustrator and cartoonist (d. 2005)
1917 - Frankie Howerd, English comedian (d. 1992)
1919 - Maurice Grosse, British paranormal investigator (d. 2006)
1920 - Lewis Gilbert, London England, director/actor (You Only Live Twice)
1920 - Roger Price, Charleston WV, actor/writer (Who's There, Droodles)
1921 - Frankie Howerd, actor (That Was The Week That Was, Runaway Bus)
1921 - Julius Rudel, Vienna Austria, conductor (NYC Opera 1957)
1921 - Oliver Wright, British Ambassador (To US)
1921 - Ross Hunter, Cleve OH, producer (Airport, Madame X, Pillow Talk)
1922 - Frankie Howerd, British actor/comedian (A Funny Thing Happened)
1923 - Ed McMahon, Detroit Mich, TV host (Johnny Carson Show, Star Search)
1923 - Erhard Karkoschka, composer
1923 - Raymond "Bill" Hoffenberg, college president (Wolfson at Oxford)
1923 - Ed McMahon, American television personality
1924 - Sarah Caldwell, Maryville Mo, conductor/opera director (Flagstaff)
1924 - William H Webster, US, judge/head FBI/CIA
1925 - Wes Montgomery, American musician (d. 1968)
1926 - Alan Greenspan, economist/presidential advisor (FRB)
1926 - Andrzej Wajda, Suwalki Poland, director (Ashes & Diamonds, Lotna)
1926 - Ann Curtis, 400m/800m US swimmer (Olympics-2 gold-1948)
1926 - Elwood H [Bud] Hillis, (Rep-R-IN, 1971- )
1926 - Jon Nordal, composer

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 137

766 - Chrodegang, church reformer/bishop of Mainz, dies at about 50
1252 - Saint Rose of Viterbo, Italian saint (b. 1235)
1490 - Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (b. 1458)
1531 - Pedrarias Dávila, Spanish conquistador
1583 - Zacharias Ursinus, German theologist (Heidelberger), dies at 48
1615 - Pieter Both, Dutch admiral/1st gov-gen (East Indies, 1609-14), drowns
1616 - Francis Beaumont, Elizabethan playwright, dies (birth date unknown)
1627 - Krzysztof Zbaraski, Polish statesman (b. 1580)
1674 - Johann Paul Schor, German barok painter, dies at 58
1720 - Pieter van Flowers, Flemish painter, buried at 63
1753 - Gerhardus Havingha, composer, dies at 56
1754 - Henry Pelham, English premier (1745, 46-54), Gin Act, dies at about 57
1758 - Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, English politician (b. 1705)
1764 - Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1690)
1796 - Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French writer (b. 1713)
1836 - Davy Crockett, US pioneer (Alamo), killed in battle at 49
1836 - James Butler Bonham, American lawyer from South Carolina and soldier (b. 1807)
1836 - Jim Bowie, American pioneer and soldier (b. 1796)
1842 - Constanze Mozart, wife of W.A. Mozart (b. 1763)
1846 - Nikoli A Poveloi, Russian writer/publisher, dies at 49 [NS]
1851 - Alexander Aliabiev, composer, dies at 63
1854 - Caspar GC Reinwardt, German/Dutch biologist, dies at 80
1854 - Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, British soldier and politician (b. 1778)
1860 - Justus Johann Friedrich Dotzauer, German cellist and composer (b. 1783)
1866 - William Whewell, English scientist, philosopher, and historian of science (b. 1794)
1867 - Wiktor Kazynski, composer, dies at 54
1881 - Horatia Nelson, the illegitimate daughter of Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson (b. 1801)
1888 - Louisa May Alcott, US author (Old-fashioned Girl), dies at 55
1895 - Camilla Collett, Norwegian writer and feminist (b. 1813)
1899 - Victoria Kaiulani, Hawaiian princess (b. 1875)
1900 - Gottlieb Daimler, designed 1st motorcycle, dies at 65
1905 - John Henninger Reagan, American Confederate politician (b. 1818)
1917 - Jules HPFX Vandenpeereboom, premier of Belgium (1899), dies at 73
1924 - Meyer E van Beem, actor (Moittige Janus), dies at 85
1930 - William Milton, cricketer (S Afr Test capt in 3 Tests 1889-92), dies
1932 - John Philip Sousa, US composer (Stars & Stripes Forever), dies at 77
1933 - Anton J Cermak, US mayor of Chicago, murdered
1935 - Fridolf Rhudin Swedish actor and comedian (b. 1895)
1936 - Josef Stransky, composer, dies at 63
1936 - Rubin Goldmark, composer, dies at 63
1937 - Frank Vosper, actor/writer (Jew Suss), dies at 37
1939 - [Carl L] Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician, dies at 86
1941 - Gutzon Borglum, sculptor (Mt Rushmore), dies at 73
1941 - John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum, sculptor (Mount Rushmore), dies at 73
1941 - Leen Schijvenschuurder, Dutch February strike leader, executed
1945 - Jan Thijssen, Dutch resistance fighter, executed at Savage Farm
1945 - Rudolph Karel, composer, dies at 64
1947 - Ludwig Weber, composer, dies at 55
1948 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American novelist (b. 1914)
1950 - Lew Lehr, comedian (Stop Me if I heard this One), dies at 54
1950 - Albert Lebrun, President of France (b. 1871)
1951 - Ivor Novello, actor/writer (Lodger, Phantom Fiend), dies at 58
1951 - Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian politician and statesman (b. 1880)
1954 - Jan Kalf, Dutch literature/art historian, dies at 80
1954 - Louis Zimmermann, violinist, dies at 80
1959 - Fred Stone, actor (Hideaway, Westerner), dies at 85
1961 - George Formby, British singer/comedian, dies at 56
1961 - Kjeld Abell, Danish playwright/director of Tivoli, dies at 59
1962 - Rezso Kokai, composer, dies at 56
1963 - Kornelis ter Laan, 1st Dutch socialist mayor (Zaandam), dies at 91
1964 - King Paul I, of Greece (1947-64), dies at 62
1965 - Margaret Dumont [Daisy Baker], actress (Animal Crackers), dies at 75
1965 - Ruvim Pergament, composer, dies at 58
1966 - Richard Hageman, composer, dies at 83
1967 - Nelson Eddy, US baritone/actor (Phantom of the Opera), dies at 65
1967 - Oscar Shaw, actor (Rhythm on the River, Marianne), dies at 76
1967 - Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer (b. 1882)
1968 - Isa Krejci, composer, dies at 63
1968 - Joseph Martin Jr, Speaker of the House, dies at 83
1969 - Nadya Rusheva, Russian painter (b. 1952)
1970 - William Hopper, actor (Paul Drake-Perry Mason), dies at 55
1971 - Raymond Herreman, Flemish writer (Don't Forget to Live), dies at 74
1973 - Paul Klecki/Kletzki, Polish violinist/composer/conductor, dies at 72
1973 - Pearl S[ydenstricker] Buck, author (Good Earth-Nobel 1938), dies at 80
1973 - Vera Fjodorova Panova, Russian author (Sputniki), dies at 67
1976 - "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom, leight heavy weight boxing champ (1930-34), dies at 71
1979 - Charles Wagenheim, actor (Halligan-Gunsmoke), dies at 83
1981 - George Geary, cricketer (14 Tests for England, 46 wickets), dies
1981 - Klaus Grabowski, child molester, shot by parent
1982 - Ayn Rand, author-philosopher (Atlas Shrugged), dies in NY at 77
1982 - Jan Lemaire, Dutch actor/writer (Beautiful Juultje), dies at 97
1983 - Thelma Pelish, actress (Pajama Game), dies at 55
1984 - Henry Wilcoxon, actor (Cleopatra, Dragnet, Jericho), dies at 78
1984 - Ian Cromb, cricketer (5 Tests for NZ, 123 runs, 8 wkts), dies
1984 - Martin Niemöller, German submarine capt/anti-nazi minister, dies at 92
1984 - Pierre Cochereau, composer, dies at 59
1985 - Eric Sloane, US artist, dies at 80
1986 - Adolph Caesar, actor (Club Paradise, Soldier's Story), dies
1986 - Georgia O'Keefe, US painter (Flowers), dies at 98
1986 - Georgia O'Keeffe, American artist (b. 1887)
1988 - Konstantin Iliev, composer, dies at 63
1989 - Harry Andrews, actor (Equus, Helen of Troy, Hill), dies at 77
1992 - Elvia Allman, actress (Night at Earl Carroll's), dies of pneumonia
1992 - Emmy Huf, Dutch cabaret performer/writer (I Want Warm Meat), dies
1992 - Maria Vieira da Silva, Portuguese painter (Mirror Palace), dies at 83
1993 - Cyril Collard, French director (Lesson nuits fauves), dies at 35
1993 - Douglas Marland, soap writer (As the World Turns), dies at 58
1993 - Nicholas Ridley, English Minister of Finance, dies at 64
1994 - Leighton Noble, singer/Bandleader, dies at 81
1994 - Max Schubert, winemaker, dies at 89