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

Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 173

141 BC - Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han Dynasty of China.
590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia.
1230 - Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II defeats Theodore of Epirus near the village of Klokotnitsa.
1276 - Augsburg becomes an Imperial Free City.
1452 - Pope Nicolaas I crowns Frederik III RC-German emperor
1496 - Jews are expelled from Carintha Austria
1497 - Nicolaus Copernicus 1st recorded astronomical observation
1500 - Pedro Cabral departs with 13 ships to India
1522 - -16] Marten Luther preaches his Invocavit
1551 - Emperor Karel appoints son Philip as heir to the throne
1562 - Kissing in public banned in Naples (punishable by death)
1566 - David Rizzio, the private secretary to Mary I of Scotland, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1617 - Sweden & Russia sign Peace of Stolbowa
1640 - Pierre Corneilles "Horace," premieres in Paris
1642 - English Queen Henriette Mary arrives in Hellevoetsluis Neth
1697 - Czar Peter the Great begins tour of West-Europe
1701 - France, Cologne & Bavaria sign alliance
1721 - English Chancellor Exchequer John Aislabie confined in London Tower
1741 - English fleet under admiral Ogle begins assault on Cartagena
1745 - Bells for 1st American carillon shipped from England to Boston
1765 - After a public campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son had actually committed suicide.
1776 - Publication of the economics book The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith.
1796 - Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais
1798 - Dr George Balfour becomes 1st naval surgeon in the US navy
1820 - -11) Philippines chases out foreigners; about 125 die
1820 - James Monroe's daughter Maria marries in the White House
1822 - Charles Graham of NY patents artificial teeth
1834 - French Foreign Legion is founded.
1839 - Prussian govt limits work week for children to 51 hours
1841 - US Supreme Court rules Negroes are free (Amistad Incident)
1842 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Nabucco," premieres in Milan
1844 - Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Hernani," premieres in Venice
1849 - Carl Nikolais opera "Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor," premieres
1856 - Sigma Alpha Epsilon is founded in the Johnston Mansion House on the University of Alabama
1858 - Albert Potts of Philadelphia patents the street mailbox
1860 - 1st Japanese ambassador arrives in SF en route to Washington
1861 - Confederate currency authorized-$50, $100, $500, $1,000
1862 - "Monitor" (Union) & "Merrimack" (Rebel) battle in Hampton Roads
1864 - Ulysses S Grant is appointed commander of Union Army
1868 - The opera "Hamlet" premieres in Paris
1873 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police founded
1882 - False teeth patented
1889 - Battle at Gallabat (Metema): Mahdi's beat Abyssinian emperor John IV
1889 - Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in US
1893 - Congo cannibals killed 1000s of Arabs
1895 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Victorias awarded cup, as Queens University (Kingston Ont) loses to Montreal AAA, 5-1
1897 - Premiere of (parts of) Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony (Berlin)
1897 - Cleveland Spiders sign Louis Sockalexis, full-blooded Penobscot
1897 - Indian, fans start calling the team Indians (in 1915 becomes official)
1902 - Composer Gustav Mahler marries Alma Schindler in Vienna
1904 - Brandon's Lester Patrick becomes 1st hockey defenseman to score a goal
1907 - 1st involuntary sterilization law enacted, Indiana
1907 - Lady Gregory's "Rising of the Moon," premieres in Dublin
1908 - Inter Milan is founded.
1914 - Henry Colijn appointed as director of Bataafsche Petroleum Co
1914 - US Sen Albert Fall (Teapot Dome) demands "Cubanisation of Mexico"
1916 - General Fransisco "Poncho" Villa invades US (17 killed)
1916 - Germany declares war against Portugal
1916 - Pancho Villa leads Mexican band raid on Columbus NM, killing 12
1918 - Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
1918 - Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda
1918 - Wageningen Agricultural College Neth opens
1922 - Eugene O'Neill's "Hairy Ape," premieres in NYC
1922 - KJR-AM in Seattle Washington begins radio transmissions
1923 - Amsterdam taxi strike ended
1923 - Elmer Rice's "Adding Machine," premieres in NYC
1923 - NHL Championship: Mont Canadiens outscore Ottawa Senators, 3-2, in 2
1924 - South Slavia aproves Italy's annexation of Fiume (Rijeka)
1925 - Pink's War, the first RAF operation conducted independently of the Army or Navy, begins.
1926 - Bertha Landes elected 1st woman mayor of Seattle
1929 - Marcel Pagnol's "Marius," premieres in Paris
1932 - Eamon De Valera becomes president of Ireland
1932 - Former Chinese emperor Henry Pu-Yi installed as head of Manchuria
1933 - Bulgarian communists Dimitrov, Popov & Vassili arrested in Berlin
1933 - Congress is called into special session by FDR, & began its "100 days"
1935 - Adolf Hitler announces the creation of a new air force.
1936 - Babe Ruth turns down Reds to make a comeback as a player
1942 - Construction of the Alaska Highway began
1943 - Delft opposition group-Pahud de Mortanges overthrown
1943 - Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps
1945 - 334 US B-29 Superfortresses attack Tokyo with 120,000 fire bomb
1945 - Japanese proclaim "independence" of Indo-China
1946 - Dutch troops land at Batavia/Semarang
1946 - Ted Williams is offered $500,000 to play in Mexican League, he refuses
1947 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Gretchen Merrill
1947 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
1948 - Provisionary Indonesian government installed in Batavia
1949 - Brigadier Gen Edwin K Wright, USA, ends term as deputy director of CIA
1949 - England beat South Africa by scoring 174 runs in 94 minutes
1950 - Willie Sutton robs Manufacturers Bank of $64,000 in NYC
1952 - Heinz Neuhaus wins Europe Heavyweight Boxing title
1953 - Josef Stalin buried in Moscow
1954 - 1st local color TV coml WNBT-TV (WNBC-TV) NYC (Castro Decorators)
1954 - Edward R Murrow criticizes Sen Joseph McCarthy (See it Now)
1954 - WMUR TV channel 9 in Manchester, NH (ABC) begins broadcasting
1956 - Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus arrested & exiled to Seychelles
1956 - Weather forecasting phone line set up in London England
1957 - 8.1 earthquake shakes Andreanof Islands, Alaska
1958 - George Yardley (Pistons) is 1st NBAer to score 2,000 points in season
1959 - "Juno" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 16 performances

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 228

1213 - Hugh IV, Duke of Burgundy, French crusader (d. 1271)
1285 - Emperor Go-Nijō of Japan (d. 1318)
1454 - Amerigo Vespucci, Italian explorer (America)
1564 - David Fabricius, Essens Germany, astronomer (discoved variable star)
1568 - Aloysius "Luigi" van Gonzaga, Italian prince/jesuit/saint
1629 - Tsar Alexis I of Russia (d. 1676)
1697 - Friederike C Neuber, German actress/author (Allerkostbarste Schatz)
1720 - Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician (d. 1790)
1735 - August Bernhard Valentin Herbing, composer
1737 - Josef Myslivecek, composer
1749 - Honore Mirabeau, French writer and politician (d. 1791)
1753 - Jean-Baptiste Kleber, French general (d. 1800)
1758 - Franz Joseph Gall, German/French physician (frenology)
1763 - William Cobbett, English journalist and author (d. 1835)
1777 - Alexander Orlowski, Polish painter/cartoonist/graphic artist
1791 - George Hayward, US, surgeon, 1st to use ether
1806 - Edwin Forrest, American actor and philanthropist (d. 1872)
1810 - Jean-Georges Kastner, composer
1812 - Jakob Eduard Schmolzer, composer
1814 - Taras Shevchenko, Ukraine, national poet/painter/prof of Kiev [NS]
1815 - David Davis, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1886)
1820 - Samuel Blatchford, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1893)
1824 - Leland Stanford, (Gov/Sen)/found Stanford U
1825 - Alexander F. Mozhaiski, Russian aviation pioneer (d. 1890)
1826 - Jean Joseph Bott, German violinist/composer
1833 - Frederick A. Schroeder, tobacco industrialist and mayor of Brooklyn (d. 1899)
1839 - Felix Huston Robertson, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1928
1839 - Modest P Mussorgsky, Russian composer (Boris Godunov) [OS]
1839 - Phoebe Knapp, American hymn writer (d. 1908)
1848 - Martin Pierre Joseph Marsick, composer
1850 - Alexandre Luigini, composer
1856 - Eddie Foy, American singer and dancer (d. 1928)
1865 - Margaret Murray Washington, wife of Booker T/head (NACW 1896..1918)
1874 - Johann Richard Ohlsson, composer
1875 - Martin Fallas Shaw, composer
1877 - Emil Abderhalden, Swiss physiologist/bio-chemist
1881 - Enver Pasja, Turkish general/politician
1881 - Ernest Bevin, British minister of Labour/Foreign affairs
1883 - Umberto Saba, writer
1885 - Ringgold "Ring" Lardner, baseball player
1887 - Phil Mead, cricketer (strong batsman for England pre- & post-WWI)
1887 - Fritz Lenz, German geneticist (d. 1976)
1890 - Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, Soviet foreign minister (UN)
1892 - David Garnett, England, novelist/editor (Lady into Fox)
1892 - Frank Puglia, Sicily Italy, actor (Black Orchid, Jungle Book)
1892 - Joseph Weinheber, Austria poet/writer (Adel und Untergang)
1892 - Vita Sackville-West, England, novelist/poet (The Land)
1893 - Edgar Scauflaire, Belgian muralist/decorator
1893 - Hans Munch, composer
1894 - Frank Arnau, German writer (d. 1976)
1900 - Aimone duke of Spoleta/Aosta, Italian king of Croatia (1941-43)
1900 - Howard Aiken, American computing pioneer (d. 1973)
1902 - Edward Durell Stone, US, architect (US Embassy, New Delhi)
1902 - Will Greer, Frankfort Ind, actor (Grandpa Walton-The Waltons)
1902 - Will Geer, American actor (d. 1978)
1904 - Paul Klipsch, American engineer, noted for his loudspeaker designs. (d. 2002)
1905 - Félix L V L J Labisse, French painter (libidoscaphes)
1905 - Grigori Kozintsev, Kiev Ukraine, director (Hamlet, King Lear)
1905 - Peter C Quennell, English biographer/critic (Byron in Italy)
1905 - Rex Warner, English poet/writer (Wild Goose Chase)
1907 - Henry Leland Clarke, composer
1908 - Luiz Cosme, composer
1909 - Derk Bodde, American sinologist (d. 2003)
1910 - Ed[uard] Hoornik, Dutch writer/poet (Survivor)
1910 - Samuel Barber, West Chester Pa, composer (Pulitz, School for Scandal)
1911 - Ramon Campbell Batista, composer
1912 - Alan David Melville, polymath
1913 - Ger[ar]da Brautigam, journalist/Dutch 2nd Chamber (PvdA)
1914 - Fred Clark, Lincoln Calif, actor (Burns & Allen, Auntie Mame, Hazard)
1915 - Pete Gray, one-armed outfielder (St Louis Browns)
1917 - Dante B Fascell, (Rep-D-FL, 1955- )
1918 - Marguerite Chapman, Chatham NY, actress (Spy Smasher, Flight to Mars)
1918 - Mickey Spillane, [Frank], Brooklyn NY, mystery writer (I the Jury)
1920 - Carl Betz, Pitts, actor (Alex Stone-Donna Reed Show)
1921 - Dimitris Horn, Greek actor (d. 1998)
1922 - Herbert P Douglas Jr, Pitts, long jumper (Olympic-bronze-1948)
1923 - James Buckley, (Sen-R-NY)
1924 - Konstantin Iliev, composer
1926 - Celso Garrido Lecca, composer
1926 - Gerrit A Kooy, Dutch sociologist (Apartheid & work in South Africa)
1926 - Irene Papas, Corinth Greece, actress (Moses The Lawgiver)
1927 - Hans Ludwig Schilling, composer
1927 - Jack Jensen, baseball player (AL MVP 1958)
1927 - John Beckwith, composer
1928 - Gerald Bull, Canadian long range artillery designer (d. 1990)
1929 - Hugh Desmond Hoyte, president (Guyana, 1985-92)
1929 - Marie Cardinal, writer
1930 - Harrie J B Aarts, Dutch 2nd chamber member (CDA)
1930 - Thomas Schippers, Kalamazoo Mich, conductor (Amahl & Night Visitors)
1931 - Taina Elg, Helsinki Finland, actress (Hercules in NY, Les Girls)
1931 - Thore Skogman, Swedish entertainer (d. 2007)
1932 - Heere Heeresma, Dutch writer (Han de Wit goes in development aid)
1932 - Keely Smith, American singer
1932 - Walter Mercado, Puerto Rican astrologist and actor
1933 - Lloyd Price, Kenner La, singer (Just Because)
1933 - William Francis McBeth, composer
1933 - Mel Lastman, Canadian politician
1934 - Joyce Van Patten, Queens NY, actress (Good Guys, Don Rickles Show)
1934 - Yuri Gagarin, Russia, cosmonaut, 1st man into space (aboard Vostok 1)
1935 - Keely Smith, Norfolk Va, singer (Mrs Louie Prima)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 98 of 98

1202 - King Sverre of Norway
1422 - Jan Zelivsky, Hussite priest (b. 1380)
1440 - St Frances of Rome, Italian nun (b. 1384)
1566 - David Riccio, Italian singer/secretary of Mary Stuart, murdered
1620 - Aegidius Albertinus, German writer (Lucifer's Kingdom), dies at 59
1649 - James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish statesman (b. 1606)
1649 - Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (executed) (b. 1590)
1661 - Jules "Cardinal" Mazarin, chief minister of France, dies at 58
1688 - Claude Mellan, French engraver/cartoonist/painter, dies at 89
1706 - Johann Pachelbel, German organist/composer, dies at 52
1709 - Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu, English diplomat
1747 - Jacob Campo Weyerman, S Neth adventurer/painter/writer, dies at 69
1800 - Dominique Della-Maria, composer, dies at 30
1808 - Joseph Bonomi the Elder, architect (b. 1739)
1819 - Janos Fusz, composer, dies at 41
1824 - Jacobus J Cramer, priest of Holland/Zealand/Friesland, dies at 79
1827 - Franz Xaver Gerl, composer, dies at 62
1831 - Friedrich M Klinger, German (stage)author (Plimplamplasko), dies at 79
1851 - Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist (b. 1777)
1870 - Theodore Labarre, composer, dies at 65
1877 - Mark Prager Lindo, English/Dutch author (Neth Spectator), dies at 58
1888 - William I, German Emperor (b. 1797)
1895 - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (Masochism), dies at 59
1897 - Sondre Norheim, Norwegian skier (b. 1825)
1913 - Eberhard Nestle, German biblical scholar, dies at 61
1916 - Ken Hutchings, cricketer (exciting England batsman, WW I), dies
1918 - [Benjamin] Franc[lin] Wedekind, German writer/press sec, dies at 53
1931 - Ida B Wells-Barnett, famous black, dies in Chicago at 78
1937 - Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist (b. 1864)
1938 - Sydney Baynes, composer, dies at 59
1941 - Carlos Pedrell, composer, dies at 62
1943 - Oskar Hêks, Czech marathon runner/antifascist, dies in Auschwitz
1947 - Stanley Jackson, cricketer (20 Tests for England 1893-1905), dies
1954 - Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs, German astronomer (b. 1912)
1954 - V. Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (b. 1874)
1955 - Matthew A Henson, met Peary on 6/4/1909 at North Pole, dies at 88
1960 - Jack Beattie, Northern Irish politician (b. 1886)
1962 - Howard Engstrom, Boston, a designer of Univac computer, dies at 59
1964 - Johanna W "Mina" Bakker, Dutch actress (Boefje), dies at 87
1964 - Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, Prussian general/politician, dies at 93
1965 - Anthon van der Horst, Dutch organist/composer, dies at 65
1965 - Kazys Boruta, writer, dies
1966 - Pablo Birger, Argentine racing driver (b. 1924)
1969 - Riad, chief of staff (Egyptian army), dies
1969 - Richard Crane, actor (Surfside 6), dies at 50
1971 - Jean-Pierre Guezek, composer, dies at 36
1974 - Earl W Sutherland Jr, US pharmacologist (Nobel 1971), dies at 58
1975 - Joseph Dunninger, NYC, mentalist (Amazing Dunninger), dies at 82
1975 - Shirley Ross, actress (Night Vision, Mindkiller), dies at 62
1975 - Gleb W. Derujinsky, Russian-American sculptor (b. 1888)
1979 - Barbara Mullen, actress (Talk of a Million), dies at 64
1980 - Olga Chekova, actress (Moulin Rouge, Pawns of Possession), dies at 82
1982 - Alan Badel, actor (Shogun), dies of a heart attack at 58
1982 - Rex Marshall, TV announcer (Circuit Rider, Herman Hickman Show), dies
1982 - Richard A Butler, England, min of Finance, dies at 79
1983 - Faye Emerson, actress (I've Got a Secret), dies of cancer at 65
1986 - Ned Calmer, TV host (In the First Person), dies at 78
1988 - Kurt Georg Kiesinger, West German chancellor (1966-69), dies at 83
1989 - Robert Mapplethorpe, US photographer, dies at 42
1991 - Jim Hardin, former Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves pitcher (b. 1943)
1992 - Felipe Turich, actor (Lawless), dies
1992 - Jack McEdward, asst dir (Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell), dies at 94
1992 - James Brooks, US mural painter (Flight, La Guardia NY), dies at 85
1992 - Menachem W Begin, PM Israel (1977-80, 81-83, Nobel 1979), dies at 85
1993 - Ad van Gessel, Dutch actor (Everything For Our Soldiers), dies
1993 - Bob Crosby, swing-era bandleader (Bobcats), dies of cancer at 79
1994 - Charles Bukowski, author/poet, dies of leukemia at 73
1994 - Fernando Rey, Spanish actor (French Connection), dies of cancer at 76
1994 - John Harrison, South African correspondent (BBC), dies at 48
1994 - Lawrence E Spivak, journalist (Meet the Press), dies at 93
1994 - Louis Freeman, band leader, dies at 100
1994 - Maurice "Moe" Purtill, jazz drummer, dies at 77
1994 - Eddie Creatchman, Canadian wrestler manager (b. 1928)
1995 - Ian Ballantine, publisher, dies of heart attack at 79
1995 - Ruud van den Hende, Dutch sports reporter, dies at 63
1996 - Alan Hugh Iliffe, psychologist, dies at 77
1996 - Elman Ali Ahmed, peace campaigner, dies at 42
1996 - Peter Mansfield, writer, dies at 67
1996 - George Burns, American actor and singer (b. 1896)
1997 - Notorius B I G, [Biggie Small, Chris Walkin], rapper, shot dead at 24
1997 - Terry Nation, writer (Dr Who, Blake 7) at 66
1997 - The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b. 1972)
1999 - Harry Somers, Canadian composer (b. 1925)
2000 - Ivo Robić, Croatian singer and songwriter (b. 1923)
2003 - Stan Brakhage, American filmmaker (b. 1933)
2003 - Bernard Dowiyogo, President of Nauru (b. 1946)
2004 - Albert Mol, Dutch actor (b. 1917)
2004 - Dr. Gerald Deskin, Ph.D., clinical child psychologist (b. 1929)
2004 - Rust Epique, former Crazy Town guitarist (b. 1968)
2005 - Chris LeDoux, American country singer (b. 1948)
2005 - Kurt Lotz, German business executive, second postwar CEO of Volkswagen (b. 1912)
2005 - Jeanette Schmid, Austrian professional whistler; aka Baroness Lips von Lipstrill (b. 1924)
2005 - István Nyers, Hungarian footballer (b. 1924)
2006 - John Profumo, British cabinet minister (b. 1915)
2006 - Geir Ivarsøy, Norwegian programmer, co-founder of Opera Software ASA (b. 1957)
2007 - Brad Delp, American singer (Boston) (b. 1951)
2007 - Glen Harmon, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1921)
2007 - Jeanne Hopkins Lucas, North Carolina politician (b. unknown)