Today in History

Today in History

History

0141 – The 6th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet took place.

1413 – Henry V took the throne of England upon the death of his father Henry IV.

1525 – Paris’ parliament began its pursuit of Protestants.

1602 – The United Dutch East Indian Company (VOC) was formed.

1616 – Walter Raleigh was released from Tower of London to seek gold in Guyana.

1627 – France & Spain signed an accord for fighting Protestantism.

1739 – In India, Nadir Shah of Persia occupied Delhi and took possession of the Peacock throne.

1760 – The great fire of Boston destroyed 349 buildings.

1792 – In Paris, the Legislative Assembly approved the use of the guillotine.

1800 – French army defeated the Turks at Helipolis, Turkey, and advanced into Cairo.

1814 – Prince Willem Frederik became the monarch of Netherlands.

1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte entered Paris after his escape from Elba and began his “Hundred Days” rule.

1854 – The Republican Party was organized in Ripon, WI. About 50 slavery opponents began the new political group.

1865 – A plan by John Wilkes Booth to abduct U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was ruined when Lincoln changed his plans and did not appear at the Soldier’s Home near Washington, DC.

1868 – Jesse James Gang robbed a bank in Russelville, KY, of $14,000.

1886 – The first AC power plant in the U.S. began commercial operation.

1888 – The Sherlock Holmes Adventure, “A Scandal in Bohemia,” began.

1890 – The General Federation of Womans’ Clubs was founded.

1897 – The first U.S. orthodox Jewish Rabbinical seminary was incorporated in New York.

1899 – At Sing Sing prison, Martha M. Place became the first woman to be executed in the electric chair. She was put to death for the murder of her stepdaughter.

1900 – It was announced that European powers had agreed to keep China’s doors open to trade.

1903 – In Paris, paintings by Henri Matisse were shown at the “Salon des Independants”.

1906 – In Russia, army officers mutiny at Sevastopol.

1911 – The National Squash Tennis Association was formed in New York City.

1918 – The Bolsheviks of the Soviet Union asked for American aid to rebuild their army.

1922 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding ordered U.S.

troops back from the Rhineland.

1932 – The German dirigible, Graf Zepplin, made the first flight to South America on regular schedule.

1933 – The first German concentration camp was completed at Dachau.

1940 – The British Royal Air Force conducted an all-night air raid on the Nazi airbase at Sylt, Germany.

1943 – The Allies attacked Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s forces on the Mareth Line in North Africa.

1947 – A blue whale weighing 180-metric tons was caught in the South Atlantic.

1952 – The U.S. Senate ratified a peace treaty with Japan.

1956 – Tunisia gained independence from France.

1963 – The first “Pop Art” exhibit began in New York City.

1964 – The ESRO (European Space Research Organization) was established.

1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered 4,000 troops to protect the Selma-Montgomery civil rights marchers.

1967 – Twiggy arrived in the U.S. for a one-week stay.

1969 – U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy called on the U.S.

to close all bases in Taiwan.

1972 – 19 mountain climbers were killed on Japan’s Mount Fuji during an avalanche.

1976 – Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her role in the hold up of a San Francisco Bank.

1980 – The U.S. made an appeal to the International Court concerning the American Hostages in Iran.