Octavian Enters Alexandria
30 BC Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic
Emperor Justinian I
527 Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire after the death of his uncle Justin I
- 607 Ono no Imoko is dispatched as an envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607)
- 860 Peace of Koblenz: pact between Charles the Bald, Louis the German, and Lotharius II
- 902 Aghlabid emir Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya destroys Taormina, Sicily
- 1021 Synod of Pavia: Emperor Henry II convicts married priest
Domesday Book
1086 Results of the Domesday inquiry are presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation and the Great Domesday are historically contestable)
- 1096 The People's Crusade led by Peter the Hermit arrives at Constantinople with 30,000 followers
Peace Treaty of Venice
1177 Peace Treaty of Venice: agreement between Emperor Frederick I and Pope Alexander III
Carlisle Castle Siege Fails
1315 Robert the Bruce's siege of Carlisle Castle ends in failure in Cumbria, England, during the First War of Scottish Independence
Henry Tudor Returns
1485 Henry Tudor's army sails to England (future Henry VII)
Columbus Lands in South America
1498 Christopher Columbus lands for the first time in South America near the mouth of the Orinoco River in modern-day Venezuela
Henry III Assassinated
1589 Assassination of French King Henry III by friar Jacques Clément
- 1626 Dutch Count Ernest Casimir I, Duke of Nassau-Dietz, conquers Oldenzaal
Ferdinand II Demands Conversion
1628 Emperor Ferdinand II demands Austrian Protestants convert to Catholicism
- 1639 French Ursuline nun Marie de l’Incarnation arrives in Quebec on board the Saint-Joseph, goes on to open the first school for girls, and plays a large part in establishing Catholicism in New France [1]
- 1664 Battle of St. Gotthard, West Hungary: Imperial Army led by Count Raimondo Montecuccoli defeats Ottoman forces under Köprülü Fazıl Ahmed Pasha
Battle at Staffarda
1690 Battle of Staffarda: French army led by Nicolas Catinat defeats the Duchy of Savoy led by Victor Amadeus II (Nine Years' War)
- 1701 Huron chief Kondiaronk urges First Nations people to sign a peace settlement with France and dies the next day, resulting in the Great Peace of Montreal
Peter the Great Flees Azov
1711 After being surrounded, Tsar Peter the Great flees Azov
- 1715 First Doggett's Coat and Badge race (Watermen's race) is held on the River Thames from London Bridge to Chelsea
Event of Interest
1717 Nicholas Rowe is appointed British Poet Laureate by George I
- 1720 In a period known as the South Sea Bubble, the South Sea Company reaches a frenzy in London as the stock price of the South Sea Company peaks at £1,000, collapses soon after, and falls to £124 by December
- 1732 Foundations are laid for the Bank of England
- 1759 Battle of Minden, Westphalia: Anglo-German army under Prussian Field Marshal Ferdinand of Brunswick defeats a French army led by Marshal of France Marquis de Contades
- 1770 Battle of Kagul: smaller Russian army defeats larger Ottoman and Cossack force in Moldavia, the major land battle of the Russo-Turkish War and one of the largest battles of the 18th century
The Discovery of Oxygen
1774 English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state
- 1780 Sweden joins the First League of Armed Neutrality
Surrender at Yorktown
1781 British army under General Cornwallis occupies Yorktown, Virginia
- 1785 Caroline Herschel becomes the first woman to discover a comet
Battle of the Nile
1798 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacks and decimates the French fleet at Aboukir Bay off the Nile Delta, Egypt
- 1812 Rare tornado hits Westchester County, New York
- 1814 Dutch King William I accepts blame for Southern defeat
- 1820 London's Regent's Canal opens
- 1828 England's Bolton and Leigh Railway opens to freight traffic
- 1831 London Bridge across the Thames opens to traffic
- 1832 The Anatomy Act in the UK ends the practice of body snatching from graves by allowing the use of unclaimed bodies from prisons, workhouses, and hospitals [1]
Britain Abolishes the Slave Trade
1834 Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into effect, abolishing slavery across the British Empire
Darwin Returns to Bahia
1836 Charles Darwin returns to Bahia in Brazil as part of his homeward journey on the HMS Beagle
- 1838 The apprenticeship system is abolished in most of the British Empire, and former slaves are no longer indentured to former owners
- 1842 Lombard Street Riot erupts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a white mob attacks the free Black community [1] [2]
- 1842 Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames opens
- 1852 African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church is established in San Francisco, California, the first African Methodist church in the US
- 1855 Castle Garden in New York City, now known as Castle Clinton, opens as the first US receiving station for immigrants [1]
- 1858 Province of Canada adopts a decimal currency system
- 1861 Brazil recognizes the Confederate States of America
- 1863 Cavalry action near Brandy Station marks the end of the Gettysburg Campaign
- 1867 Black men vote for the first time in a US state election in the South (Tennessee)
- 1870 Irish Land Act gives rights to tenants of landlords in Ireland
- 1876 Colorado becomes the 38th state of the Union
- 1881 US Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island, San Francisco Bay
- 1883 A papyrus is offered to the British Museum for £10,000, later revealed to be a forgery
- 1883 Amsterdam's Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky integrates modern electric lighting
- 1883 Inland Parcels Post service begins in Great Britain
- 1886 Great Britain annexes the Kermadec Islands near New Zealand
- 1888 The roof of Seville Cathedral in Spain collapses after an earthquake
- 1890 Cecil Rhodes' colonists reach Lundi
First Michelin Guide
1900 The first Michelin Guide is published by the brothers Édouard and André Michelin as a hotel and restaurant reference guide to encourage more road travel and thus boost tire sales (exact date beyond August 1900 is unknown)
- 1901 Burials within San Francisco city limits are prohibited
- 1902 Dutch Housing Act of 1901 officially comes into effect, enabling public and social housing construction
- 1906 Brooklyn Superbas MLB pitcher Harry McIntire no-hits Pittsburgh for 10 2/3 innings but loses in the 13th inning 1-0 on an unearned run
- 1907 First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, Dorset
- 1907 U.S. Army Signal Corps establishes a small aeronautical division
1st American Woman to get a Pilot's License
1911 Harriet Quimby passes her pilot's test and becomes the first US woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator's certificate
Omar Bradley Enters West Point
1911 Omar Bradley, aged 18, begins his education at West Point Military Academy
- 1911 Transportation workers begin a major strike in England as part of a wave of industrial unrest
- 1914 British Grand Fleet reaches Scapa Flow
Germany Declares War on Russia
1914 Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany declares war on his cousin Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in WWI
- 1914 France and Germany mobilize their troops at outbreak of WWI
- 1914 Great Britain's Royal Navy is ordered to mobilize
Universal Negro Improvement Assoc.
1914 Marcus Garvey and others found the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica with the aim of creating a Black-governed nation in Africa
- 1914 Trois Vierges: German 69th infantry regiment enters Luxembourg on outbreak of WWI
- 1916 US Congress establishes Hawai'i National Park
- 1917 Frank Little, an American Industrial Workers of the World labor union organizer, is tortured and lynched by unknown assailants in Butte, Montana
- 1918 Pittsburgh and Boston Braves play an MLB record 20 scoreless innings before the Pirates win 2-0 in the 21st inning
First Aviation Exhibition Amsterdam
1919 Queen Wilhelmina opens the first Air Fair in Amsterdam
- 1922 Dutch editor and politician Hendrikus Colijn becomes political editor-in-chief of The Standard
- 1922 In Italy, the socialist Alleanza del Lavoro declares a national strike, which collapses immediately as fascist forces destroy union and socialist headquarters
- 1924 MLB Brooklyn Robins pitcher Dazzy Vance strikes out an MLB record 7 consecutive batters and 14 overall in a 4-0 win over the visiting Chicago Cubs at Ebbets Field
- 1925 Shortwave radio link between Kootwijk and Netherlands East Indies
- 1926 Battles between Druze and French forces in Damascus
- 1926 Failed assassination attempt on Spanish dictator General Miguel Primo de Rivera in Barcelona
- 1927 Earliest date for a film to be considered for an Academy Award
Carter Family First Records
1927 Influential country music group the Carter Family makes its first recording with producer Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee
- 1928 Americans sweep medals at a rainy Olympic pole vault final in Amsterdam, with Sabin Carr winning gold, followed by William Droegemuller and Charles McGinnis
National Recovery Administration Founded
1933 National Recovery Administration (NRA) is founded with Hugh S. Johnson as its first director
Scoreless Innings Record Set
1933 New York's future Hall of Fame pitcher Carl Hubbell sets an MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings at 45 1/3 as the Giants lose 3-1 to the Boston Braves
XI Summer Olympic Games
1936 XI Summer Olympic Games are opened by Adolf Hitler in Berlin
- 1941 Luftwaffe bombs German 23rd Infantry Division
Baseball Record
1941 NY Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez sets MLB record for most walks in a shutout, issuing 11 in a 9-0 win vs. St. Louis Browns
- 1941 The first Jeep is produced by Willys-Overland
- 1942 American Federation of Musicians labor union begins a strike over royalty payment disagreements, refusing to perform on commercial recordings; the ban lasts over 2 years
- 1942 Nazi German occupiers demand listing of all Dutch telephone subscribers
- 1943 British Sunderland seaplanes sink German submarines U-454 and U-383
- 1943 Empire of Japan grants Burma independence under pro-Japanese government led by Dr. Ba Maw
- 1943 Race riot in Harlem, New York City sparked by a police shooting of a Black soldier who attempted to intercede during an arrest of a woman in a hotel lobby [1]
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elected
1944 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. is elected as the first African American congressman from New York
Anne Frank's Last Diary Entry
1944 Anne Frank's last diary entry; she is arrested 3 days later
- 1944 General Montgomery takes command of the 12th and 21st Armies
- 1944 Polish resistance fighters of the Home Army launch the Warsaw Uprising, the largest military effort undertaken by a resistance movement in occupied Europe
- 1944 US 90th Division occupies Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët in Normandy
- 1944 US troops enter Tessy-sur-Vire in Normandy
- 1945 Japanese city Toyama is destroyed by American B-29 bombers
Atomic Energy Commission Established
1946 US President Harry Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
- 1948 US Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded
- 1950 American Bowling Congress ends all-white-male rule
- 1950 Guam Organic Act establishes Guam as an unincorporated US territory
- 1950 King Leopold of Belgium abdicates, and Baudouin becomes king
- 1953 Boston Red Sox pitcher Ben Flowers sets then MLB record of eight consecutive games in relief
- 1953 California introduces a sales tax for education
Castro Arrested
1953 Fidel Castro is arrested in Cuba
- 1953 KMBC TV channel 9 in Kansas City, Missouri (MET/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 KOBI TV channel 5 in Medford, Oregon (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1953 Northern Rhodesia becomes part of Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
- 1954 Convair XFY-1 Pogo, an experimental VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft, makes first successful untethered flight, piloted by James "Skeets" Coleman at Naval Auxiliary Air Station Brown Field in Otay Mesa, California [1]
- 1954 South African Natives Resettlement Act comes into effect, empowering the government to remove Africans from any area within and adjacent to the magisterial district of Johannesburg
- 1954 WKBT TV channel 8 in La Crosse, Wisconsin (CBS) begins broadcasting
Event of Interest
1955 Tunku Abdul Rahman becomes the Chief Minister of Malaya
- 1955 US begging its first zero-gravity research experiments
- 1955 WILL TV channel 12 in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1956 KRCR TV channel 7 in Redding-Chico, California (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1957 Ex-MLB outfielder Glen Gorbous throws a regulation baseball a record 136 m (445 ft and 10 in) in a game promotion
Baseball Record
1957 Gil Hodges hits his 13th MLB career grand slam, a National League record and the last by a Brooklyn Dodgers player
- 1957 Solar Building in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the first commercial building heated by the Sun
- 1957 US and Canada create North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
- 1958 Nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus begins the first transit of the North Pole in Operation Sunshine
- 1958 US first-class postage increases to 4 cents (it had been 3 cents for 26 years)
Catholic Encyclical
1959 Pope John XXIII publishes the encyclical "Sacerdotii Nostri Primordia"
- 1959 WAAY TV channel 31 in Huntsville, Alabama (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting
Music Recording
1960 Aretha Franklin's first recording session for Columbia Records in New York City
- 1960 Benin (formerly Dahomey) gains independence from France
- 1960 Islamabad is declared the capital of Pakistan
- 1961 East Germany begins to limit traffic to West Berlin
- 1961 New San Francisco Hall of Justice opens
- 1961 Whitney Young Jr. is named executive director of the National Urban League
- 1962 Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette no-hits the Chicago White Sox in a 1-0 win at White Sox Park
Attempt on Kwame Nkrumah
1962 Failed assassination attempt on President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana
- 1963 Border villages of Elten, Selfkant, and Suderwick, given to the Netherlands following WII, are returned to West Germany after a payment of 280 million German marks as compensation
- 1963 First edition "The Beatles Book," an authorized monthly fan-zine published by Sean O’Mahony, sells out its 80,000 print run on the first day of sale
- 1963 WQAD TV channel 8 in Moline, Illinois (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1964 ALM (Antillean Airlines) begins operation
- 1964 Beatles' single "A Hard Day's Night" goes to #1 and stays at #1 for 2 weeks
- 1964 Dan "Big Daddy" Garlits becomes the first drag racer to run the 1/4 mile at over 200 mph (201.34 mph/324 km/h) at Island Dragway, New Jersey
- 1966 Charles Whitman wounds 31 people and kills 16 at the University of Texas
Yakubu Gowon
1966 Yakubu Gowon becomes Nigerian Head of State after a military coup d'état
- 1967 Izaak Samkalden becomes Mayor of Amsterdam
- 1967 WBRA TV channel 15 in Roanoke, Virginia (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1968 Canada begins replacing silver with nickel in its coins
- 1968 Cleveland Metroparks begins operating the zoo in Cleveland, Ohio
- 1968 Coronation of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei
- 1968 WXIX TV channel 19 in Cincinnati-Newport, Ohio (IND) begins broadcasting
Atlantic City Pop Festival
1969 3-day Atlantic City Pop Festival opens at the Atlantic City Race Course in Hamilton Township, New Jersey; performers include Procol Harum, Joni Mitchell, Chicago, Santana, Little Richard, Booker T and the MG's, Sir Douglas Quintet, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, B.B. King, The Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tim Buckley, Hugh Masekela, Dr. John, and The Mothers of Invention; attendance is estimated at 110,000
- 1969 36th Chicago Charities College All-Star Game: NY Jets 26, All-Stars 24 (74,208 attendees)
- 1969 Mariner 6 sends close-up photos of Mars
- 1970 EAA Convention moves from Rockford, Illinois, to Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Baseball Record
1970 Future Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Stargell hits three doubles and two homers in a 20-10 Pirates win against the Braves at Atlanta Stadium
- 1970 KTSD TV channel 10 in Pierre, South Dakota (PBS) begins broadcasting
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
1971 "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" debuts on CBS-TV, with comic actor and singer Jimmy Durante as guest
- 1971 CBS presents the first episode of BBC production "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" and continues weekly until September 5th
Harrison's Benefit for Bangladesh
1971 George Harrison's benefit concerts for Bangladesh (two shows) take place at Madison Square Garden, NYC; performers include Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, and Leon Russell
Richard Petty's Record Earnings
1971 Richard Petty wins the Dixie 500 in Atlanta, Georgia, to become the first NASCAR driver to win $1 million in career earnings
1st Watergate Article
1972 First article exposing the Watergate scandal by Bernstein and Woodward is published in The Washington Post
- 1972 Nate Colbert ties the MLB record by hitting five home runs and sets a record with 13 RBIs as the Padres beat Atlanta 9-0 and 11-7 in a doubleheader
- 1973 Johan Witteveen appointed as the fifth managing director of the International Monetary Fund
- 1973 MLB All Star catchers Thurman Munson of the NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox's Carlton Fisk brawl at home plate at Fenway Park; Red Sox win 3-2
NBA Trade
1973 Struggling ABA club Virginia Squires trades star forward Julius Erving to New York Nets for George Carter and cash
- 1974 China's People's Liberation Army Navy puts into service Changzheng 1, its first nuclear-powered submarine
- 1975 35 countries (33 European nations, Canada, and the U.S.) sign the Helsinki Final Act agreement concerning boundary integrity, human rights, and economic cooperation
- 1975 41st Chicago Charities College All-Star Game: Pittsburgh 21, All-Stars 14 (54,103 attendees)
- 1975 CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe
- 1976 Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is adopted
- 1976 Flash flood in Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado, on Route 34 kills 139 people
Lauda Crashes
1976 Reigning world F1 champion Niki Lauda of Austria suffers a near-fatal crash during the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring motorsports complex, Nürburg, Germany
- 1976 Seattle Seahawks take the field for the first time in a preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers at the newly constructed Kingdome in Seattle
- 1976 XXI Summer Olympic Games close at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Canada
Francis Gary Powers Crashes
1977 Former CIA Lockheed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers crashes the news helicopter he is flying in Los Angeles, killing himself and a cameraman
Baseball Record
1977 San Francisco Giants' first baseman Willie McCovey hits a National League record 18th MLB career grand slam
- 1978 Gunman occupying Iraqi Embassy in Paris surrenders and releases eight hostages; as the gunman is led away, Iraqi guards open fire, wounding him and killing a policeman. Police return fire, killing one Iraqi and wounding three others.
- 1979 Maria de Lourdes Pintasilgo forms a government in Portugal
- 1980 Buttevant Rail Disaster kills 18 people and injures dozens of train passengers in County Cork, Ireland
- 1980 East German runner Waldemar Cierpinski wins his second consecutive Olympic Games marathon in 12:11:03 in Moscow
- 1980 Gerd Wessig of East Germany becomes the first male to set a high jump world record of 2.36 m (7 ft 9 in) at the Moscow Olympics
Endless Love
1981 "Endless Love" single released by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie (Billboard Song of the Year 1981, Billboard Greatest Song Duet of All-Time)
- 1981 Music video cable channel MTV debuts in the US at 12:01 AM with The Buggles' song, "Video Killed the Radio Star"
