Today in History

Today in History

326 Emperor Constantine refuses to carry out traditional pagan sacrifices.

1394 Charles VI of France issues a decree for the general expulsion of Jews from France.

1564 Maximilian II becomes emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1587 Hideyoshi bans Christianity in Japan and orders all Christians to leave.

1759 British forces defeat a French army at Fort Niagara in Canada.

1799 On his way back from Syria, Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Ottomans at Aboukir, Egypt.

1814 British and American forces fight each other to a standoff at Lundy’s Lane, Canada.

1845 China grants Belgium equal trading rights with Britain, France and the United States.

1867 President Andrew Johnson signs an act creating the territory of Wyoming.

1850 Gold is discovered in the Rogue River in Oregon, extending the quest for gold up the Pacific coast.

1861 The Crittenden Resolution, calling for the American Civil War to be fought to preserve the Union and not for slavery, is passed by Congress.

1894 Japanese forces sink the British steamer Kowshing which was bringing Chinese reinforcements to Korea.

1909 French aviator Louis Bleriot becomes the first man to fly across the English Channel in an airplane.

1914 Russia declares that it will act to protect Serbian sovereignty.

1924 Greece announces the deportation of 50,000 Armenians.

1934 Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss is shot and killed by Nazis.

1941 The U.S. government freezes Japanese and Chinese assets.

1943 Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini is overthrown in a coup.

1944 Allied forces begin the breakthrough of German lines in Normandy.

1978 The first test-tube baby, Louis Brown, is born in Oldham, England.

1984 Svetlana Savitskaya becomes first woman to perform a space walk.

Born

1844 Thomas Eakins, American painter.

1848 Arthur James Balfour, Prime Minister of England (1902-1905).

1853 David Belasco, actor, playwright and producer.

1880 Morris Raphael Cohen, American philosopher and mathematician.

1902 Eric Hoffer, American longshoreman and philosopher (The True Believer, Before the Sabbath),

1907 Johnny Hodges, jazz musician.

1927 Midge Decter, writer and editor.

1935 Barbara Harris, actress.

History