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Historical Events

Results 1 - 100 of 185

308 - The Congress of Carnuntum: Attempting to keep peace within the Roman Empire, the leaders of the Tetrarchy declare Maxentius and Licinius to be Augusti, while rival contender Constantine I is declared Caesar of Britain and Gaul.
537 - St Silverius ends his reign as Catholic Pope
887 - Parliament in Tribur: King Charles III resigns
1158 - Emperor Frederik I Barbarossa declares himself ruler of North Italy
1208 - Otto van Wittelsbach chosen German king
1215 - 4th Lateran Council (12th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
1417 - Oddo Colonna elected as Pope Martinus V
1493 - Columbus discovers Saba
1500 - Treaty of Granada: France & Aragon divide Naples
1503 - Pope Julius II elected
1572 - Duke of Alva's son Don Fredrik begins siege for Haarlem
1606 - Turkey & Austria sign Treaty of Zsitva-Torok
1620 - 41 pilgrims land in Mass, sign Mayflower Compact (just & equal laws)
1634 - Following pressure from Anglican bishop John Atherton, the Irish House of Commons passes "An Act for the Punishment for the Vice of Buggery".
1640 - John Pym, earl of Strafford locked in Tower of London
1647 - Massachusetts passes 1st US compulsory school attendance law
1648 - Dutch & French agree to divide St Maarten, Leeward Islands
1671 - Dutch States-General forbids importation of French wine
1673 - Second Battle of Khotyn in the Ukraine, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under the command of Jan Sobieski. defeat the Ottoman army. In this battle, rockets of Kazimierz Siemienowicz were successfully used.
1675 - Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated integral calculus for the first time to find the area under the graph of y = f(x) function.
1688 - Prince Willem III's invasion fleet sails to England
1714 - A highway in Bronx is laid out, later renamed East 233rd Street
1724 - Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, a highwayman known for attacking "Thief-Taker General" (and thief) Jonathan Wild at the Old Bailey, is hanged in London.
1725 - Georg F Handel's opera "Tamerlano," premieres in London
1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlies army enters England
1750 - The F.H.C. Society, also known as the Flat Hat Club, was formed at Raleigh Tavern, Williamsburg, Virginia. It was the first college fraternity.
1752 - Theresianische Military Academy opens in Vienna
1778 - Iroquois Indians in NY kill 40 in Cherry Valley Massacre
1790 - Chrysanthemums are introduced into England from China
1805 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Dürenstein - 8000 French troops attempted to slow the retreat of a vastly superior Russian and Austrian force.
1811 - Cartagena Colombia declares independence from Spain
1813 - Dresden surrenders to allied armies
1836 - Chile declares war on Bolivia & Peru
1838 - Emma Wedgwood accepts Charles Darwins marriage proposal
1839 - The Virginia Military Institute is founded in Lexington, Virginia.
1851 - Alvan Clark patents telescope
1860 - 1st Jewish wedding in Buenos Aires Argentina
1862 - Opera "La Forza Del Destino" is produced (St Petersburg Russia)
1864 - Sherman's troops destroy Rome, Georgia
1864 - Skirmish at Shoal Creek, AL
1865 - Mary Edward Walker, 1st Army female surgeon, awarded Medal of Honor
1865 - Thomas Robertsons "Society," premieres in London
1865 - Treaty of Sinchula is signed in which Bhutan ceded the areas east of the Teesta River to the British East India Company.
1868 - 1st American amateur track & field meet (NYC)
1880 - Australian Bushranger Ned Kelly is hanged at Melbourne Gaol.
1887 - Anarchist Haymarket Martyrs August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel are executed.
1887 - Construction of the Manchester Ship Canal starts at Eastham.
1889 - Washington admitted as 42nd state
1890 - D McCree patents portable fire escape
1895 - Bechuanaland becomes part of Cape Colony
1896 - Jules Vandenpeereboom becomes Belgium's minister of War
1899 - Stuart/Rubens/Boyd-Jones' "Floradora," premieres in London
1901 - Maurice Ravel composition "Jeux d'eau" premieres
1906 - Ethel Smyth' "Standrecht," premieres in Leipzig
1909 - Construction of navy base at Pearl Harbor begins
1909 - J M Synge's "Tinker's Wedding," premieres in London
1911 - Many cities in the U.S. Midwest broke their record highs and lows on the same day as a strong cold front rolls through. (see The 11/11/11 cold wave).
1918 - Dutch SDAP leader Troelstra announces revolution
1918 - Emperor Charles I of Austria abdicates
1918 - Poland declares independence
1918 - Armistice Day-WW I ends (at 11 AM on Western Front)
1918 - Germany surrenders ending WW I, Allies & Germany sign armistice
1919 - Pope Benedictus XV states Roman Catholics political/business views
1921 - Pres Harding dedicates Tomb of Unknown Soldier (Arlington Cemetary)
1922 - Largest US flag displayed (150' X 90') expanded in 1939 (270' X 90')
1923 - Eternal flame lit for tomb of unknown solder, Arc de Triumph
1924 - Martin Beck Theater opens at 302 W 45th St NYC
1924 - Palace of Legion of Honor dedicated (SF)
1925 - Earnest Thalmann becomes chairman of German KPD
1925 - Louis Armstrong records 1st of Hot Five & Hot Seven recordings
1925 - Night of Kersten - Colijn Dutch govt falls by SGP-amendement
1925 - Robert Millikan announces discovery of cosmic rays
1926 - Eddie Collins is released as White Sox manager
1926 - U.S. Route 66 is established.
1928 - France's 5th govt of Poincaré forms
1928 - KXO-AM in El Centro CA begins radio transmissions
1928 - WGL-AM in Ft Wayne IN begins radio transmissions
1928 - WMT-AM in Cedar Rapids IA begins radio transmissions
1928 - WOL-AM in Washington DC begins radio transmissions
1930 - Patent number US1781541 was awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator.
1931 - Cornerstones laid for Opera House & Veteran's Building
1933 - "Great Black Blizzard" 1st great dust storm in Great Plains
1934 - 1st penalty shot vs Toronto Maple Leafs, Mondou (Mont) unsuccessful
1934 - WOC-AM in Davenport Iowa splits from WHO-WOC & becomes KICK-AM
1935 - Explorer 2 balloon sets altitude record of 72,000 feet over SD
1937 - Messerschmidt ME-109V13 flies world record 610.4 kph
1937 - Nobel prize for physics awarded to C J Davisson & GP Thomson
1938 - German & Austrian Jewish suffer 1 billion Mark damage in nazi
1938 - Kristallnacht; Jews forced to wear Star of David
1939 - Kate Smith 1st sings Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"
1940 - 1,000s Paris students lay reath at Grave of Unknown Soldier
1940 - Blizzard strikes midwestern US killing over 100
1940 - British air attack destroys half of Italian fleet
1940 - Willys unveiled its General Purpose vehicle ("Jeep")
1941 - Czech premier general Eliasjarrested by nazis
1942 - -12] last German offensive in Stalingrad
1942 - 745 French Jews deported to Auschwitz
1942 - During WW II Germany completes their occupation of France
1942 - Jews in Free Zone of France ordered to wear yellow star of David
1942 - Lt-general Kumakashi Harada becomes Japanese commander on Java

Famous Birthdays

Results 1 - 100 of 253

995 - Gisela of Swabia, Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1041)
1050 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1106)
1154 - Sancho I, King of Portugal (1185-1212)
1155 - Alfonso VIII, the Noble One, king of Castilia
1220 - Alphonse of Toulouse, son of Louis VIII of France (d. 1271)
1493 - Bernardo Tasso, Italian poet (d. 1569)
1493 - Paracelsus, doctor (d. 1541)
1523 - Joachim Hopperus, [Hoppers], Frisian lawyer/politician
1569 - Martin Ruland the Younger, German physician and alchemist (d. 1611)
1579 - Frans Snyders, Flemish animal painter
1599 - Ottavio Piccolomini, Italian/Spanish marshal
1633 - George Savile, 1st marquis of Halifax/author (Character of a Trimmer)
1636 - Yen Jo-chu, Chinese scholar of Ch'ing dynasty
1657 - Guido Starhemberg, Austria earl/fieldmarshal (Turkish Wars)
1668 - Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and bibliographer (d. 1736)
1675 - Guru Teg Bahadur Ji, 9th sikh guru
1679 - Firmin Abauzit, French huguenot/scientist
1688 - Lorenzo Somis, composer
1690 - Gerhard Hoffmann, composer
1696 - Andrea Zani, composer
1722 - Johann Philipp Sack, composer
1724 - Willem A Alting, governor-general of Neth-Indies (1780-97)
1731 - Carl Joseph Toeschi, composer
1736 - Johann H Schepp, German/Neth engraver
1743 - Carl Peter Thunberg, Swedish naturalist (d. 1828)
1744 - Abigail Smith Adams, 2nd 1st lady (1797-1801)
1748 - Carlos IV, king of Spain (1788-1808)
1748 - King Charles IV of Spain (d. 1819)
1767 - Bernhard Romberg, German cellist/composer/royal chaplain bandmaster
1771 - Ephraim McDowell, surgeon (pioneered abdominal surgery)
1788 - Michal Wielhorski, composer
1791 - Josef Munzinger, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 1855)
1792 - Mary Anne Evans, English wife of Benjamin Disraeli (d. 1872)
1811 - Ben McCulloch, Brig General (Confederate Army), died in 1862
1821 - F M Dostojewski, writer
1821 - Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Russia, novelist (Crime & Punishment)
1832 - Paolo Giorza, composer
1836 - Thomas Bailey Aldrich, US, author/editor (Story of a Bad Boy)
1852 - Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Austro-Hungarian field marshal (d. 1925)
1858 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian painter (d. 1884)
1863 - Paul Signac, French painter (d. 1935)
1864 - Alfred Hermann Fried, Germany, pacifist (Nobel 1911)
1868 - Edouard Vuillard, French painter/graphic artist
1869 - Victor Emmanuel III, king of Italy (1900-46)/Ethiopia
1869 - Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist (d. 1901)
1870 - Nils Kjaer, Norwegian playwright (Det evige Savn)
1872 - Maude K Adams, US, actress (Baldwin's Theatre)
1872 - David I. Walsh, 46th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1947)
1882 - King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden (d. 1973)
1883 - Ernest Ansermet, Vevey Switzerland, conductor (Ruilles de Printemps)
1885 - George S Patton, US general (Sicily/Italy/Normandy) "Old Blood & Guts"
1887 - Roland Young, London England
1888 - Maulana Azad, 1st minister of education in independent India
1891 - Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player (d. 1954)
1893 - Alceu Amoroso Lima, Brazilian author
1894 - Aaron Avshalomov, composer
1894 - Winifred Kingston, England, silent screen actress (David Garrick)
1895 - Beulah Ecton Woodard, US sculptor
1895 - Jacov Gotovac, composer
1896 - Charles "Lucky" Luciano, Sicily, NYC Mafia gangster
1897 - Gordon W Allport, US, psychologist (personalities)
1898 - Father Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle, Germany, Jesuit priest/Zen teacher
1898 - Rene Clair, director (I Married a Witch, It Happened Tomorrow)
1899 - Harold "Pie" Traynor, baseball hall of fame 3rd baseman (Pirates)
1899 - Pat O'Brien, Milwaukee, actor (Knute Rockne, Angels with Dirty Faces)
1900 - Helena Konopacka, Poland, discus thrower (Olympic-gold-1928)
1900 - Hugh Scott, (Sen-R-Penn), minority whip
1900 - John Longden, West Indies, actor (Man From Interpol)
1901 - Sam Spiegel, producer (On the Waterfront, Bridge over River Kwai)
1901 - F. Van Wyck Mason, American author (d. 1978)
1903 - Charles Bruce Perry, professor of medicine
1904 - Alger Hiss, State Department official hid papers in a pumpkin
1904 - J. H. C. Whitehead, British mathematician (d. 1960)
1905 - Israel Aaron Maisels, lawyer
1909 - Robert Ryan, Chicago, actor (Billy Budd, Dirty Dozen, Longest Day)
1910 - Arnold D W Tilanus, Dutch MP (CHU)
1910 - Franz Kemser, Germany, 4 man bobsled (Olympic-gold-1952)
1910 - Frideswide Frances Emma Knight, musician/socialist
1910 - Yisrael Eldad, British extremist politician
1911 - Patric Reginald Lawrence Knowles, actor (Chisum, Arnold, Mutiny)
1911 - Reginald Patric Lawrence Knowles, actor
1912 - Cissie Elizabeth Charlton, football matriarch
1912 - Thomas C. Mann, American diplomat (d. 1999)
1913 - German Leont'yevich Zhukovsky, composer
1913 - Peter Black, TV critic
1914 - Daisy Bates, publisher/head (Arkansas NAACP)
1914 - Hansje Toussaint, [Hermina A Schenk], singer (Sing of the Cross)
1914 - Howard Fast, NYC, screenwriter (Rachel & the Stranger, Spartacus)
1914 - Perry Bass, Texas billionaire
1914 - Henry Wade, American lawyer (d. 2001)
1915 - Bernhard Heiliger, sculptor
1915 - William Proxmire, (Sen-D-WI, 1957-88) (Golden Fleece Awards)
1916 - Eladio Rusconi, writer/publisher/businessman
1917 - Julien-Francois Zbinden, composer
1917 - [Dallas] Mack/McCord Reynolds, US, sci-fi author (Earth War)
1918 - Jurg Baur, composer
1918 - Stubby Kaye, NYC, actor (Guys & Dolls, Lil' Abner, Cat Ballou)
1919 - Kalle Päätalo, Finnish novelist (d. 2000)
1920 - Roy Jenkins, British MP (Labour)
1921 - Maila Nurmi, Petsamo Finland, actress (Vampira)

Famous Deaths

Results 1 - 100 of 104

307 - Flavius Valerius Severus, compassionate emperor of Rome (306-07), dies
397 - Martinus, (St Maarten), Roman bishop of Tours, dies at about 81
405 - Arsacius, intruding archbishop of Constantinople
511 - Clovis, king of Salische France/founder of Merovingische, dies at 45
537 - Pope Silverius, saint
826 - Theodorus Studites, Byzantine theologist/poet/saint, dies
826 - Theodore the Studite, saint
865 - Petronas the Patrician, Byzantine General
1150 - Hartbert, bishop of Utrecht (1140-50), dies
1331 - Stefanus VIII Uros III Decanski, king of Serbia (1322-31), dies
1528 - Lucas van Prague, Czech leader of Bohemian Brothers, dies at about 68
1623 - Philippe de Mornay, French writer (b. 1549)
1638 - Cornelis Cornelisz, "of Haarlem", painter, dies at about 76
1641 - Ferdinand van Austrian, cardinal of Spain, dies
1686 - Otto von Guericke, German scientist, inventor, and politician (b. 1602)
1724 - Joseph Blake (alias Blueskin), English highwayman (executed) (b. c. 1700)
1755 - Johan van de Bergh, Leids regent, dies at 91
1772 - John Mauritius Quinkhard, portrait painter, dies at 84
1810 - Johann/John Zoffany, German painter (Tribuna degl' Uffizi), dies at 77
1812 - Platon Levshin, Metropoitan of Moscow (b. 1737)
1831 - Nat Turner, former slave, led a violent insurrection, hanged in VA
1855 - Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher (b. 1813)
1861 - Pedro V van Alcantara, king of Portugal (1853-61), dies at 24
1862 - James Madison Porter, American politician (b. 1793)
1880 - Lucretia Mott, US quaker (1st Woman's Rights Convention), dies
1880 - Ned Kelly, Australian bushranger (hanged) (b. c. 1855)
1884 - Alfred Brehm German zoologist (b. 1827)
1887 - Haymarket defenda
1887 - Adolph Fischer, Haymarket defendant (b. 1858)
1887 - George Engel, Haymarket defendant (b. 1836)
1887 - Albert Parsons, Haymarket defendant (b. 1848)
1887 - August Spies, Haymarket defendant (b. 1855)
1895 - Julius Tausch, composer, dies at 68
1901 - Antonio Zamara, composer, dies at 72
1907 - Henry Gadsby, composer, dies at 64
1912 - Joseph Wieniawski, composer, dies at 75
1912 - Jose Canalejas Y Mendez, premier Spain, murdered
1917 - Liliuokalani, last queen of Hawaii (1891-93), dies from a stroke at 79
1918 - Victor Adler, Austrian neurologist/foreign minister, dies
1918 - George Lawrence Price, Canadian soldier, last person to be killed in W.W.I. (b. 1892)
1929 - Mieczyslaw Soltys, composer, dies at 66
1930 - W W Whysall, cricketer (4 Tests for England 1924-30), dies
1931 - Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (b. 1840)
1936 - Edward German, composer, dies at 74
1938 - Typhoid Mary, carrier of the typhoid disease (b. 1869)
1939 - Jan Opletal, Czech student, victim of Nazi violence in Prague
1942 - Anton H Blaauw, botanist (Perception of the Lichtes), dies at 60
1942 - Hector Abbas, actor/director (Rosa Lynd Company), dies at 58
1945 - Jerome Kern, US composer (Sally, Leave it to Jane), dies at 60
1947 - Martin Dibelius, German theologist (That Drawer Jahwes), dies at 64
1954 - John Rosamund Johnson, composer, dies at 81
1955 - John Loudon, Dutch minister of Foreign affairs (1913-18), dies at 87
1956 - Victor Young, orch leader (Milton Berle Show), dies at 56
1962 - Joseph Allen Jr, actor (All Women Have Secrets), dies at 44
1962 - René Coty, pres of France, dies at 80
1964 - Edward Steuermann, composer, dies at 72
1964 - H[enry] Beam Piper, US, sci-fi author (4 Day Planet), dies at 60
1965 - Gaston Glass, actor (Opening Your Eyes), dies after long illness at 65
1967 - Harry Seymour, composer/actor (Tenderfoot), dies of heart attack at 76
1967 - Jordan Whitfield, actor (Swamp Fox), dies of heart attack at 50
1968 - Jeanne Demessieux, composer, dies at 47
1969 - Frank Newburg, actor (Homemaker), dies at 83
1972 - Berry Oakley, US rock bassist (Allman Bro), dies in car crash at 24
1973 - Stringbean, [David Akeman], banjoist/comedian (Hee Haw), dies at 58
1974 - Alfonso Leng, composer, dies at 80
1974 - Jane Ace, comedian (Easy Aces), dies at 74
1975 - Marty May, (Fireball Fun For All), dies at 79
1976 - Alexander Calder, US sculptor, dies at 78
1976 - E Q Davies, cricketer (9 runs & 7 wickets in 5 Tests for S Afr), dies
1977 - Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer and actress (b. 1903)
1977 - Abraham Sarmiento, Jr., Filipino journalist & political activist (b. 1950)
1979 - Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-born composer (b. 1894)
1984 - Martin Luther King Sr, US vicar/father of MLK Jr, dies at 84
1986 - Roger C Carmel, actor (Mudd-Star Trek, Mothers-in-Law), dies at 54
1987 - L T Coggeshall, medical scientist (Sec of HEW 1956-58), dies at 86
1987 - Nico Slothouwer, poet (Liefdesstratenplan), commits suicide at 30
1988 - William Ifor Jones, Welsh conductor & organist (b. 1900)
1990 - Attilio Demaría, Argentinian footballer (b. 1909)
1990 - Alexis Minotis, Greek actor (b. 1898)
1992 - Aleksandr Yakovlevich Petrushenko, cosmonaut, dies at 50
1992 - Giulio C Argan, Italian art critic/mayor of Rome, dies
1993 - Erskine Hawkins, US trumpeter/composer (After Hours), dies at 79
1993 - Harry R "Rob" Haldeman, White House chief of staff (Nixon), dies at 67
1994 - Elizabeth Lefanu Maconchy, Engl composer (My Dark Heart), dies at 87
1994 - Ernest Clark, actor (Pope Must Die, Gandhi), dies at 82
1994 - Frances Tustin, child Psychologist, dies at 81
1994 - Pedro Zamora, aIDS Activist, dies at 22
1994 - John A. Volpe, 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts, 2nd United States Secretary of Transportation (b. 1908)
1995 - Charles Scribner Jr, publisher, dies at 74
1995 - Cornelie Coposu, politician, dies at 79
1995 - Kenneth Goldstein, folklorist/enthomusicologist, dies at 68
1996 - Helen Rosenthal, Teacher/health administrator, dies at 47
1997 - Rodney Milburn, American athlete (b. 1950)
1998 - Frank Brimsek, American ice hockey player (b. 1913)
1999 - Jacobo Timmerman, Argentine writer and journalist (b. 1923)
1999 - Mary Kay Bergman, American voice actress (b. 1961)
2004 - Yasser Arafat, co-founder and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, revolutionary and nobel prize winner dies in Paris at 75
2004 - Richard Dembo, French director and screenwriter (b. 1948)
2005 - Patrick Anson, 5th Earl of Lichfield, British photographer (b. 1939)
2005 - Peter Drucker, American management theorist (b. 1909)