- 1081 Alexius I Comnenus occupies Byzantine throne
- 1460 University of Basel founded in Swiss Confederacy (now Switzerland)
- 1541 Ignatius of Loyola becomes 1st superior-general of Jesuits
- 1552 Maurice, Elector of Saxony begins an alliance with Russian Anikey Stroganov
Francis Drake Knighted
1581 Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard his galleon "Golden Hind" at Deptford, England
Declaration of Breda
1660 English King Charles II issues the Declaration of Breda, promising a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum and religious toleration for all those who accepted him as King
- 1737 Anthony van Heim installed as Dutch pension advisor
1st United States Congress
1789 First US Congress begins regular sessions during George Washington's presidency at Federal Hall, NYC (ends 1791)
Battle of Racławice
1794 Battle of Racławice, part of the Polish-Lithuanian uprising led by Tadeusz Kościuszko with a tactical Polish victory
Napoléon Abdicates
1814 An officer mutiny forces French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte to abdicate for the first time in flavor of his son, who is not accepted by the Allies occupying Paris
Darwin Reaches Rio de Janeiro
1832 Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle reaches Rio de Janeiro
- 1833 St Etienne-Lyons railway fully opens in France
President John Tyler
1841 Vice President John Tyler becomes the 10th President of the United States after the death of President William Henry Harrison
- 1850 City of Los Angeles incorporated
- 1859 Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show
- 1859 Opera "Dinorah" is produced in Paris
- 1862 Peninsular Campaign, launched in southeastern Virginia, aimed at capturing Richmond during US Civil War begins, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
- 1862 Siege of Yorktown, fought in York County and Newport News, Virginia begins (Yorktown campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
- 1864 Skirmish at Elkin's Ford (Little Missouri River), Arkansas
Battle of Amelia Springs
1865 General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army arrives at Amelia Courthouse, Amelia County, Virginia
- 1866 Ashmun Institute, in Oxford, Pennsylvania, is renamed Lincoln University
Assassination Attempt on Alexander II
1866 Russian Tsar Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of St. Petersburg
Assassination Attempt on Edward VII
1900 Assassination attempt on Prince of Wales, later British King Edward VII when shot by Jean-Baptiste Sipido in protest over Boer war
- 1900 British garrison of Reddersberg surrenders to Boer General De Wet
Rhodes Scholarship
1902 Cecil Rhodes scholarship fund forms with $10 million
- 1905 Earthquake in Kangra India, kills 20,000
- 1911 Hugh Chalmers, automaker, suggests idea of baseball MVP
- 1912 Army fires on striking mine workers at Lena-gold fields in Siberia
- 1912 Chinese republic proclaimed in Tibet
- 1913 Greek aviator Emmanuel Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot victim of the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes
- 1914 Film serial "Perils of Pauline" shown for the first time in Los Angeles, California
- 1915 Germany protests vigorously to the US, claiming it must insist that Britain lifts its blockade and assert American neutrality
- 1917 US Senate agrees (82-6) to participate in WWI
- 1918 Food riot in Amsterdam
- 1920 Arabs attack Jews in Jerusalem
- 1921 Stanley Cup Final, Denman Arena, Vancouver, BC: Ottawa Senators (NHL) beat Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA), 2-1 for a 3-2 series victory
- 1922 WAAB (Baton Rouge, Louisiana) becomes 1st US radio station with "W" calls
- 1926 Greek dictator Theodoros Pangalos elected president
- 1929 1st AAU Greco-Roman wrestling championships held
- 1929 Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II's operetta "The New Moon" opens at the Drury Lane Theatre in London's West End
- 1930 England cricket batsman Andy Sandham ends Day 2 of 4th Test against West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica unbeaten on 309; 1st triple century in Test history; out for 325
- 1930 Les Ames makes the 1st Test Cricket century by a wicketkeeper (149)
- 1930 The Communist Party of Panama is founded
- 1932 Charles G. King, University of Pittsburgh isolates Vitamin C, using adrenal samples provided by Hungarian Albert Szent-Györgyi
Too True To Be Good
1932 George Bernard Shaw's comedy play "Too True To Be Good" premieres in NYC; runs for 59 performances
Higher & Higher
1940 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's musical "Higher & Higher" premieres in NYC
- 1941 German troops conquer Benghazi, Libya
- 1943 WWII: US Army Air Force bomber 'Lady Be Good' fails to return to Soluch, Libya base after its maiden flight; presumed lost at sea, wreck was discovered in desert 15 years later [1]
- 1944 Allied Bucharest bombings targeting railroads kills 5,000
- 1944 British troops capture Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Free France
1944 French General Charles de Gaulle forms new regime in exile, with communists
- 1945 The Holocaust: US forces liberate the Ohrdruf concentration camp in Germany, the first such camp to be liberated by the US Army
- 1945 World War II: Soviet forces liberate Hungary from German occupation, establishing their own communist satellite state. This was celebrated as Liberation Day until 1989.
- 1945 World War II: US Army occupies Bielefeld in north-eastern Germany
- 1947 Largest group of sunspots on record
- 1947 United Nation's Convention on International Civil Aviation forms the International Civil Aviation Organization
Mack vs Griffith
1948 84-year-old Connie Mack challenges 78-year-old Clark Griffith to a race from home to 1st base; it ends in a tie
Royal Dutch Visit
1951 Dutch Prince Bernhard visits Argentine President Juan and Eva Perón in Buenos Aires
Lana Turner Daughter Stabs Boyfriend
1958 Cheryl Crane (14), daughter of actress Lana Turner, stabs to death organized crime figure Johnny Stompanato, her mother's boyfriend, in self-defense; crime later ruled a "justifiable homicide"
Tueur sans Gages
1958 Eugene Ionesco's play "Tueur sans Gages" (The Killer Without Reason) premieres in Darmstadt
- 1958 First march against nuclear weapons is held, from London to Aldermaston in England, home of the Defence Ministry's Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)
- 1958 The CND Peace Symbol displayed in public for the first time in London
- 1959 Mali Federation founded, consisting of Senegal & French Sudan (dissolved 1960)
Academy Awards
1960 32nd Academy Awards: "Ben-Hur", Charlton Heston & Simone Signoret win
- 1960 Oscar awarded to Dutch director Bert Haanstra for documentary "Glass"
- 1960 Project Ozma begins at Green Bank radio astronomy center
- 1960 Senegal declares independence from France
- 1964 Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" single goes #1 & stays #1 for 5 weeks
- 1964 Deposed President João Goulart leaves Brazil under threat of arrest, moves into life of exile in Uruguay, and later Argentina
- 1965 The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft plane is unveiled.
- 1966 Pirate Radio Scotland changes name to Radio Ireland
- 1966 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1967 Amsterdam Marines chase "Nozems" or rebellious youth out of Central Station
- 1967 Dutch De Young government forms
- 1968 Apollo 6 launched atop Saturn V; unmanned
Martin Luther King Assassination Riots
1968 Riots break out in over 100 cities in the United States following the assassination of African-American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Shot Dead
1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee
- 1969 CBS-TV abruptly cancels "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" three weeks after renewing it, citing the program's failure to provide advance screening for review before airing [1]
- 1969 Haskell Karp receives the 1st temporary artificial heart, implanted by surgeon Denton Cooley at Texas Heart Institute in Houston
- 1970 Firestone World Tournament of Champions won by Don Johnson
- 1971 Marine clay under houses liquefies in St-Jean-Vianney, Quebec, 31 die
Follies
1971 Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 524 performances, then most expensive Broadway musical at the time
Sports History
1974 Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th in Cincinnati, facing Jack Billingham
- 1975 138 killed as a USAF plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashes on approach during an emergency landing at Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base in South Vietnam
- 1975 British sitcom "The Good Life" starring Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Paul Eddington and Penelope Keith debuts on BBC One
Founding of Microsoft
1975 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800
Music History
1975 Steve Miller is arrested for burning his girlfriend's clothes
- 1976 Seni Pramoj's Democratic Party wins elections in Thailand
- 1979 Ex-President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
- 1980 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1981 Henry Cisneros becomes 1st Mexican-American mayor (San Antonio)
- 1983 6th NASA Space Shuttle Mission: Challenger 1 launches
- 1984 Michael Frayn's "Benefactors" premieres in London
- 1985 Tulane University cancels its basketball season amidst scandal
NHL Record
1986 Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record with 213th point of season
Music History
1987 "Always & Forever" second studio album by Randy Travis (Billboard Album of the Year 1988)
- 1987 Dow Jones up 69.89 points, ending at record 2,390.34 pts
- 1988 Eddie Hill becomes the world's first driver to cover the quarter mile in under 5 seconds
- 1988 Largest crowd (55,438) at an MLB Opening Day game at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium; Reds win over St. Louis Cardinals, 5-4 in 12 innings
- 1988 Last broadcast of British soap opera "Crossroads" on ITV
- 1988 MLB New York Mets set Opening Day record with 6 HRs, in a 10-6 win over Expos at Montreal
Sports History
1989 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's last NBA game in Seattle
Sports History
1989 NY Yankee Tommy John ties record of playing 26 seasons, his 287th win puts him 19th overall as Yanks beat Twins on opening day 4-2
- 1990 "Marshall Chronicles" premieres on ABC-TV
- 1990 American stockbroker and securities law violator Ivan Boesky is released from federal custody
Music History
1990 Singer Gloria Estefan released from hospital after her tour bus accident
Film & TV History
1994 American actor Tony Curtis (68) undergoes heart-bypass surgery
- 1994 KLM Saab 340B crashes at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 3 killed
Sports History
1994 LA Dodger Darryl Strawberry begins substance abuse treatment
- 1994 Largest Opening Day crowd at Yankee Stadium, 56,706
- 1994 MLB Chicago Cubs Karl "Tuffy" Rhodes, hit 3 HRs in 1993 hits 3 HRs on Opening Day vs Mets starter Dwight "Doc" Gooden at Wrigley Field, Chicago
- 1994 Netscape Communications founded as Mosaic Communications
- 1996 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Austin, Texas on KJFK 98.9 FM
- 1997 Anaheim Ducks clinch their 1st-ever playoff berth
- 1997 Braves officially open Turner Field against Cubs
- 1997 DMSP Titan 2 launched
- 1997 STS 83 (Columbia 22), launches
- 1998 NFL Europe (Formerly WLAF), kicks off season
Sports History
1999 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, GC at Desert Mountain: Graham Marsh of Australia wins his second Champions Tour major by 3 strokes from Larry Nelson
- 2002 The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War
- 2007 15 British Royal Navy personnel held in Iran are released by the Iranian President.
- 2008 Raid on Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints owned YFZ Ranch in Texas; 401 children and 133 women taken into state custody
- 2010 Africa's tallest monument, the African Renaissance Monument, dedicated outside Dakar, Senegal, designed by Pierre Goudiaby to commemorate Senegal's 50th anniversary of independence
Golf Major
2010 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Yani Tseng of Taiwan wins her 2nd major title by 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Suzann Pettersen of Norway
- 2012 Boris Tadić, President of Serbia, resigns
Historic Publication
2012 German Nobel Laureate, Günter Grass, publishes controversial poem that claims Israel is plotting to wipe out Iran
- 2012 Somalia's National Theater is struck by a suicide bomber killing ten people including the presidents of the Somali Olympic Committee and Football Federation
- 2013 74 people are killed after an illegally constructed building collapses in Thane, India
- 2013 9 people have been killed on an axe-murdering rampage in Chhattisgarh state, India
- 2013 Poecilotheria rajaei, a giant tarantula with a 20cm leg span, is discovered in Sri Lanka
- 2014 President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, claims that climate change will lead to battles over water and food within the next five to ten years
- 2017 Alibaba becomes the world's largest retailer according to US Securities and Exchange Commission
- 2017 Chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhoun, Syria by Syrian government forces kills more than 80 civilians
- 2017 Pink Star diamond sets world record price of $71 million for a gem at an action in Hong Kong
- 2018 21st Commonwealth Games open in the Gold Coast, Australia
- 2019 Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel apologises for the kidnapping of thousands of mixed-race children during colonial period in Burundi, DR Congo and Rwanda
- 2019 Kathie Lee Gifford leaves NBC's "Today" show after 11 years
- 2019 US Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pledges to roll back anti-LGBT policies, including not baptizing children of gay parents
- 2021 ANA Inspiration Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand wins her first LPGA Tour event by 2 strokes from NZ's Lydia Ko who cards a 10-under-par final round
- 2022 Economist Rodrigo Chaves elected President of Costa Rica defeating current president José María Figueres [1]
- 2022 Eon Musk buys 9.2% of Twitter stock, making him the company's largest shareholder [1]
- 2022 Ukrainian government begins a war crimes investigation after 410 civilians found killed after the withdrawal of Russian forces from around Kyiv [1]
- 2023 Finland officially joins NATO at a ceremony in Brussels, becoming its 31st member and doubling NATO's border with Russia [1]
Trump Pleads Not Guilty
2023 Former US president Donald Trump pleads not guilty in a NY court to 34 felony counts of falsifying documents related to 2016 hush money payments to a woman alleging they had an extramarital affair
Biden Warns Netanyahu
2024 President Joe Biden warns Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu that the US could shift its policy if Israel does not immediately address humanitarian concerns in Gaza and work towards a ceasefire [1]
- 2024 Rare 1938 copy of the comic (Action Comics No. 1) that first introduced Superman sells for a record US$6 million at action [1]
