1181 Supernova SN 1181 in the constellation Cassiopeia observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers, lasting until August 6
1265 Battle of Evesham: English prince Edward beats Simon de Montfort the younger
1347 English troops conquer Fort Calais
1351 Sea battle at Zwartewaal: Willem V beats Hoeksen and English
1558 1st printing of Zohar (Jewish Kabbalah)
1578 Battle of Alcazarquivir, Moroccans defeat Portuguese, 10,000 killed
1598 London’s head office of Hanze closed
1636 Johan Mauritius appointed governor of Dutch Brazil
1666 Hurricane hits Guadeloupe, Martinique and St Christopher; thousands die
1666 Sea battle between Netherlands and England
1693 Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pérignon’s invention of Champagne
1704 War of Spanish Succession, English and Dutch troops occupy Gibraltar
1730 Crown prince Frederick of Prussia escapes to England
1735 Jury acquits John Zenger (NY Weekly Journal) charged with seditious libel by royal governor of NY (victory for Freedom of press)
1753 George Washington becomes a master mason
1772 English poet and artist William Blake aged 14 is first apprenticed to engraver James Basire in London
1777 Retired British cavalry officer Philip Astley establishes his riding school with performances in London, precursor of the circus
1789 French Revolution: The National Constituent Assembly meets and issues the first decrees that abolish centuries of feudalism in France
1790 United States Revenue Cutter Service is established to serve as an armed customs enforcement service (becoming the US Coast Guard in 1915)
1791 The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman-Habsburg wars
1821 1st edition of American magazine “The Saturday Evening Post”
1821 Russian Antarctic expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen returns to Kronshtadt after becoming the 1st to circumnavigate Antarctica
1824 Battle of Kos is fought between Turks and Greeks
1830 Plans for city of Chicago laid out
1845 Emigrant ship Cataraqui wrecks in Bass Strait with the loss of 400 lives, only nine survive,
1854 The Hinomaru is established as the official flag to be flown from Japanese ships
1855 John Bartlett publishes “Familiar Quotations”
1862 US government collects its 1st income tax
1864 Land & naval action new Brazos Santiago, Texas
1870 British Red Cross Society forms
1873 Indian Wars: whilst protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, US 7th Cavalry, under
Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, clashes for the 1st time with the Sioux near the Tongue
River. 1 man killed on each side.
1879 Pope Leo XIII publishes encyclical Aeterni Patris
1881 122°F (50°C), Seville, Spain (European record)
1886 Colombia adopts constitution
1892 Queen Wilhelmina and Emma open Merwede Canal between Amsterdam and the Rhine
1892 Sunday school teacher Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother are murdered with an axe in Fall
River, Massachusetts; Borden is later arrested, tried and acquitted
1897 Henry A Rucker appointed Collector of Internal Revenue for Georgia
1900 An allied expeditionary force, made up of Japanese, Russian, British, French and American troops,
sets off from Tientsin for Peking, China, to put down Boxer rebellion
1902 The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens
1903 Giuseppe Sarto elected Pope Pius X, known as the ‘pope of the poor and humble’
1903 Cardinal Giuseppe Sarto of Venice elected Pope Pius X
1907 Tour de France: Lucien Petit-Breton of France beats countryman Gustave Garrigou to win first of 2
Tour victories
1910 MLB pitching duel; Philadelphia A’s Jack Coombs and White Sox Ed Walsh pitch a 0-0 tie in 16
innings
1914 WWI: German army shoots Belgian priests and burns down village of Battice
1914 German fleet under admiral Souchon fire on Algerian coast
1914 WWI: Germany declares war on Belgium; Britain declares war on Germany
1914 WWI: King Albert I becomes Supreme Commander of Belgian army after German declaration of
war
1914 WWI: Field Marshal Lord Kitchener becomes British Minister of War after British declaration of war
on Germany
1914 US declares neutrality on the outbreak of WWI
1916 Denmark and the United States sign a treaty whereby the Danish West Indies, including the Virgin
Islands, are to be ceded to the US in 1917 for $25 million
1916 The Turks attack the British line at Romani in the northern Sinai (WWI)
1917 Pravda calls for the killing of all capitalists, priests and officers
1918 Adolf Hitler receives the Iron Cross first class for bravery on the recommendation of his Jewish
superior, Lieutenant Hugo Gutmann
1919 Rodin Museum opens in Paris in The hôtel Biron containing works left to the state by the sculptor
Auguste Rodin
1919 Hungarian communist leader Béla Kun flees to Vienna after the Hungarian Soviet Republic is
overthrown by the Romanian Army
1922 Lizzie Murphy becomes the first female to play against MLB players in a charity exhibition; all-stars
from New England and AL v Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park
1925 1st Dutch Colijn government forms
1925 US marines leave Nicaragua after 13-year occupation
1929 Jones Beach in NY opens
1930 Child labor laws established in Belgium
1934 Giants outfielder Mel Ott becomes first player in MLB history to score 6 runs in a game as New
York beats Phillies, 21-4
1934 II British Empire Games open at London’s White City Stadium
1936 Ioannis Metaxas names himself dictator of Greece