Events Pre-1600 173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm, emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called "miracle of the rain". 631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang. 786 – A Hasanid Alid uprising in Mecca is crushed by the Abbasids at the Battle of Fakhkh. 980 – Vladimir the Great consolidates the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. He is proclaimed ruler (knyaz) of all Kievan Rus'. 1011 – Lombard Revolt: Greek citizens of Bari rise up against the Lombard rebels led by Melus and deliver the city to Basil Mesardonites, Byzantine governor (catepan) of the Catepanate of Italy. 1042 – Empress Zoe Porphyrogenita marries Constantine Monomachos, who is crowned the following day as Byzantine Emperor. 1118 – Roger of Salerno, Prince of Antioch, captures Azaz from the Seljuk Turks. 1157 – Albert I of Brandenburg, also called The Bear (Ger: Albrecht der Bär), becomes the founder of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, Germany and the first margrave. 1345 – The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners. 1429 – Hundred Years' War: Start of the Battle of Jargeau. 1482 – The Treaty of Fotheringhay is signed between the English and Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, the rebellious brother of king James III of Scotland. 1488 – The Battle of Sauchieburn is fought between rebel Lords and James III of Scotland, resulting in the death of the king. 1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon. 1559 – Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano sails for Florida with a party of 1,500, intending to settle on the gulf coast (Vera Cruz, Mexico). 1594 – Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paved way to the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
1601–1900 1685 – James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, lands at Lyme in Dorset with loyal followers with the intent to depose king James II of England. 1702 – Anglo-Dutch forces skirmish with French forces before the walls of Nijmegen and prevent its fall. 1724 – Johann Sebastian Bach leads his cantata (O eternity, you word of thunder), BWV20, on the first Sunday after Trinity, beginning his second cycle, the chorale cantata cycle. 1748 – Denmark adopts the characteristic Nordic Cross flag later taken up by all other Scandinavian countries. 1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef. 1775 – The Coronation of Louis XVI in Reims, the last coronation before the French Revolution. 1775 – The American Revolutionary War's first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel. 1776 – American Revolution: The Second Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence. 1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska. 1805 – A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory. 1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City. 1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish. 1865 – The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War. 1882 – Nationalist riots break out in Alexandria directed against foreign domination. More than 50 Europeans are killed, including the British consul. 1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world's first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia. 1895 – Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the "first motor race", takes place. 1898 – The Hundred Days' Reform, a planned movement to reform social, political, and educational institutions in China, is started by the Guangxu Emperor, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. (The failed reform led to the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905.)
1901–present 1901 – The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands. 1903 – A group of Serbian officers storms the royal palace and assassinates King Alexander I of Serbia and his wife, Queen Draga. 1917 – King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father, Constantine I, is deemed to have abdicated under pressure from allied armies occupying Athens. 1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown. 1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gather in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase "smoke-filled room". 1936 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong demonstrates FM broadcasting to an audience of engineers at the FCC in Washington, DC. 1936 – The London International Surrealist Exhibition opens. 1937 – Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders. 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Wuhan starts. 1940 – World War II: The Siege of Malta begins with a series of Italian air raids. 1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union. 1942 – Free French Forces retreat from Bir Hakeim after having successfully delayed the Axis advance. 1944 – , the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned. 1955 – Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least one hundred are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports. 1956 – Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150. 1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island. 1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register. 1963 – Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam. 1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights. 1964 – World War II veteran Walter Seifert attacks an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers, and seriously injuring several more, with a home-made flamethrower and a lance. 1968 – Lloyd J. Old identifies the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types. 1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army general officers, becoming the first women to do so. 1971 – The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control. 1978 – Altaf Hussain founds the student political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University. 1981 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000. 1987 – Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant are elected as the first black MPs in Great Britain. 1998 – Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition. 2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. 2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress. 2004 – Cassini–Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe. 2007 – Mudslides in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kill 130 people. 2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school. 2008 – The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched into orbit. 2010 – The first FIFA World Cup held on African soil kicks off in South Africa. 2012 – Seventy-five people die in a landslide triggered by two earthquakes in Afghanistan; an entire village is buried. 2013 – Greece's public broadcaster ERT is shut down by then-prime minister Antonis Samaras. It would be opened exactly two years later by then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
Births
Pre-1600 1403 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (died 1427) 1456 – Anne Neville, Princess of Wales and Queen Consort of England (died 1485) 1540 – Barnabe Googe, English poet and translator (died 1594) 1555 – Lodovico Zacconi, Italian composer and theorist (died 1627) 1572 – Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic (died 1637) 1585 – Evert Horn, Swedish soldier (died 1615) 1588 – George Wither, English poet (died 1667)
1601–1900 1620 – John Moore, English businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of London (died 1702) 1655 – Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter (died 1730) 1662 – Tokugawa Ienobu, Japanese shōgun (died 1712) 1672 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (died 1749) 1690 – Giovanni Antonio Giay, Italian composer (died 1764) 1696 – James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish-Prussian field marshal (died 1758) 1697 – Francesco Antonio Vallotti, Italian organist and composer (died 1780) 1704 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese harpsichord player and composer (died 1742) 1709 – Joachim Martin Falbe, German painter (died 1782) 1723 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (died 1788) 1726 – Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (died 1746) 1741 – Joseph Warren, American physician and general (died 1775) 1776 – John Constable, English painter and academic (died 1837) 1796 – François-Louis Cailler, Swiss chocolatier (died 1852) 1797 – José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran philosopher and theorist (died 1855) 1815 – Julia Margaret Cameron, Indian-Sri Lankan photographer (died 1879) 1818 – Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher and academic (died 1903) 1829 – Edward Braddon, English-Australian politician, 18th Premier of Tasmania (died 1904) 1834 – Johann Bauschinger, German mechanical engineer and physicist (died 1893) 1842 – Carl von Linde, German engineer and academic (died 1934) 1846 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (died 1920) 1847 – Millicent Fawcett, English academic and activist (died 1929) 1861 – Alexander Peacock, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Victoria (died 1933) 1864 – Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (died 1949) 1867 – Charles Fabry, French physicist and academic (died 1945) 1871 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian lawyer and politician (died 1928) 1876 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American-French anthropologist and ethnologist (died 1960) 1877 – Renée Vivien, English-French poet and author (died 1909) 1880 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (died 1973) 1881 – Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (died 1963) 1881 – Mordecai Kaplan, Lithuanian rabbi, founded Reconstructionist Judaism (died 1983)