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- 0532 Boniface II ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 0539 BC - King Cyrus The Great of Persia marches into the city of Babylon, releasing the Jews from almost 70 years of exile and making the first Human Rights Declaration.
- 1091 T8/F4 tornado strikes the heart of London.
- 1244 Battle of La Forbie: Crusaders are defeated by Khwarezmians and Egyptians.
- 1346 Battle of Neville's Cross: King David II of Scotland is captured by Edward III of England at Calais, and imprisoned in the Tower of London for eleven years.
- 1346 David II of Scotland, in attempting a military diversion to relieve the siege of Calais, is wounded and captured by England's Edward III.
- 1448 Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi were defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
- 1456 The University of Greifswald is established, making it the second oldest university in northern Europe (also for a period the oldest in Sweden, and Prussia)
- 1492 Columbus sights isle of San Salvador
- 1604 Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observes that an exceptionally bright star had suddenly appeared in the constellation. Ophiuchus, which turned out to be the last supernova to have been observed in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
- 1610 French king Louis XIII is crowned in Rheims.
- 1660 Nine Regicides, the men who signed the death warrant of Charles I, are hanged, drawn and quartered, another is hanged.
- 1662 England's King Charles II sells Dunkirk to the French.
- 1748 French troops lift siege of English at Pondicherry, India.
- 1777 American troops defeat the British in the Battle of Saratoga.
- 1777 British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga, NY
- 1781 Cornwallis defeated at Yorktown
- 1781 General Charles Cornwallis offers his surrender to the American revolutionists at Yorktown, Virginia.
- 1787 Boston blacks, petition legislature for equal school facilities
- 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio is signed between France and Austria.
- 1805 Napoleon breaks camp at Boulogne, proceeds by forced marches into Germany, forces the surrender October 17 at Ulm of a 30,000-man Austrian army under Baron Karl Mack von Leiberich, 53, and caps the victory by taking Vienna
- 1806 Former leader of the Haitian Revolution, Emperor Jacques I of Haiti was assassinated after an oppressive rule.
- 1829 Delaware River & Chesapeake Bay Canal formally opened
- 1850 James Young obtains a patent for the extraction of paraffin from shale, the beginning of the paraffin industry in West Lothian
- 1854 Miners burn down Eureka Hotel, Ballarat, after court dismisses murder charges against hotelier James Bentley, accused of kicking a young miner to death
- 1854 The Australian newspaper The Age, is published for the first time in Melbourne
- 1855 Bessemer steelmaking process patented
- 1860 First The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open).
- 1860 First pro golf tournament held in Scotland
- 1868 Constitution of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg comes into effect
- 1871 President Grant suspends writ of habeas corpus
- 1894 Ohio national guard kills 3 lynchers while rescuing a black man
- 1899 Sutro railroad sold to Robert F Morrow for $215,000
- 1904 Bank of Italy opens its doors
- 1907 Guglielmo Marconi's company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland.
- 1912 Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
- 1912 Turkey declares war on Bulgaria and Serbia.
- 1913 Serbs invade Albania.
- 1917 First British bombing of Germany in World War I.
- 1917 First train over the Quebec Bridge over the St. Lawrence. This was constructed by the Dominion Government for use by the National Transcontinental Railway. This bridge was notorious in that it fell down twice during construction: On August 29, 1907 the south cantilever arm collapsed killing 65 or more workmen.
- 1918 Yugoslavia proclaims itself a republic
- 1919 Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created
- 1931 Al Capone convicted of income tax evasion.
- 1933 Albert Einstein arrives in the US, a refugee from Nazi Germany
- 1933 Albert Einstein, fleeing Nazi Germany, moves to the US.
- 1934 "The Aldrich Family" premieres on radio
- 1937 Huey, Dewey and Louie, Donald Duck's three almost identical nephews, first appear in a newspaper comic strip.
- 1941 First US destroyer (Kearney) torpedoed in WW II, off Iceland
- 1941 For the first time in World War II, a German submarine attacks an American ship.
- 1945 A massive number of people, headed by CGT and Evita, gather in the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina to demand Juan Peron's release. This is known to the Peronists as the Da de la lealtad (day of loyalty). It's considered the birthday of Peronism.
- 1945 Juan Peron becomes dictator of Argentina
- 1951 CBS introduced their Eye Device logo.
- 1954 Visitor posting - Brad Knopp arrives - Vegas Goes Wild - USA
- 1956 England's first large scale nuclear power station opens
- 1957 Britain's Queen Elizabeth & Prince Philip visit White House
- 1957 French author Albert Camus awarded Nobel Prize in Literature
- 1959 Queen Elizabeth is fined $140 for withdrawing her race horse
- 1961 NY Museum of Modern Art hung Henri Matisse's "Le Bateau" upside-down, It wasn't corrected until December 3rd
- 1961 Scores of Algerian protesters (some claim up to 400) are massacred by the Paris police at the instigation of Nazi collaborator Maurice Papon, then chief of the Prefecture of Police.
- 1961 Visitor posting - Chris Douglas born in Stoke On Trent England. A funny guy. - United Kingdom
- 1966 A fire at a building in New York, New York kills 12 firefighters, the New York City Fire Department's deadliest day until the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- 1967 Pete Knight in X-15 reaches 85 km
- 1967 The Broadway play "Hair" is first performed
- 1967 The musical Hair opens at the Anspacher Theater on Broadway.
- 1968 The 1968 Olympics Black Power salute is performed by Tommie Smith and John Carlos.
- 1969 Soyuz 7 returns to Earth
- 1970 Montreal, Quebec: Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte murdered by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
- 1973 5 month oil embargo by Arab states against US & Netherlands begins
- 1973 OPEC starts an oil embargo against a number of western countries, considered to have helped Israel in its war against Syria.
- 1974 Visitor posting - Ronnie L Webb of West Virginia was born. 'willow' - USA
- 1977 Canada begins regular live TV coverage of Parliament
- 1977 German Autumn: Four days after it was hijacked, Lufthansa Flight 181 lands in Mogadishu, Somalia, where a team of German GSG 9 commandos later rescues all remaining hostages on board.
- 1977 Visitor posting - October 17, 1977 ASHLEY MEADOWS is born. - USA
- 1977 West German commandos storm hijacked Lufthansa in Mogadishu, Somalia freeing all 86 hostages & killing 3 of the 4 hijackers
- 1979 1,800 Marines landed in Guantanamo Bay as a demonstration of naval power in the wake of the Soviet refusal to withdraw the Russian combat brigade in Cuba.
- 1979 D Bautista of Mexico completes 20,000 m walk in record 1:20:06.8
- 1979 Mother Teresa awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
- 1979 Mother Teresa of India, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1979 The Department of Education Organization Act is signed into law creating the US Department of Education and US Department of Health and Human Services. Both replace the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
- 1981 Number one hit on UK music charts - Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin - It's My Party
- 1981 Visitor posting - Andrew Jon Lawrence was born and the world would never be the same! - USA
- 1984 Visitor posting - Stacey D Quintanilla was born in Los Angeles, CA USA
- 1984 Visitor posting - simbu the great was borned at tamilnadu - India
- 1986 US Senate approved immigration bill prohibiting hiring of illegal aliens & offered amnesty to illegals who entered prior to 1982
- 1987 First World Series game in a covered stadium in Minnesota Metrodome
- 1987 Number one hit on UK music charts - Bee Gees - You Win Again
- 1988 31 reported dead as Ugandan jetliner crashes in fog near Rome
- 1988 Phillip Morris announces $11 Billion tender offer for Kraft
- 1989 Earthquake in SF (6.9) kills 67
- 1989 Erich Honecker is forced to resign from the presidency of DDR to be replaced by hard-liner Egon Krenz.
- 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) hits the San Francisco Bay Area and causes 57 deaths directly (and 6 indirectly).
- 1990 Visitor posting - Chantalle was born
- 1990 Visitor posting - Sarah S. was born in Georgia<--what a great day :) - USA
- 1991 Visitor posting - Daulton Perry was born - What a great day! - Arizona, USA
- 1991 Visitor posting - Sam W was born!!!! - Sri Lanka
- 1992 Visitor posting - World international day for the eradication of poverty was firt observed(by kaha Mark Cyprian). - Nigeria
- 1994 Visitor posting - Austin Comis is born - USA
- 1994 Visitor posting - Dakota A. Galetka was born. I'm awesome - USA
- 1994 Visitor posting - Dan Halldorson was born. He is the best around, nothing will ever bring him down he is a cute kitty - Canada
- 1995 Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment is declared the oldest living person, with a proven age of 120 years and 238 days
- 1996 Visitor posting - Joey McNally was born 17 October 1996 in Florida, USA
- 1998 A pipeline explodes in Nigeria when villagers try to siphon off oil. At least 700 die
- 1998 Visitor posting - Jammie and Jimmy are married in Las Vegas NV - USA
- 1999 Former US nurse Orville Lynn Majors is convicted of murdering six patients at a western Indiana hospital; the jury deadlocked on a seventh count. (Majors is serving a 360-year prison sentence.)
- 2000 Pope John Paul and Britain's Queen Elizabeth meet and speak of their hopes for Christian unity. It is her first visit to the Vatican in 20 years
- 2000 Train crash at Hatfield, north of London, leading to collapse of Railtrack.
- 2000 Visitor posting - Brianna Lynn was born, a beautiful baby girl !!
- 2002 Visitor posting - Brooklynne Blaze Potter was born on this day in Arlington, TX - USA
- 2003 Eunuchs in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh float the political party Jiti Jitayi Politics.
- 2003 The pinnacle was fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the World's tallest highrise.
- 2006 The United States population reaches 300 million.
- 2007 Visitor posting - Maureen Brady celebrated her 40th birthday...YES 40th!!!! - USA
- 2009 30,000 troops from the Pakistan Army begin an offensive operation against the Taliban and their allies in South Waziristan.
- 2009 32 people are killed in a fire at a fireworks warehouse in southern India, during the Diwali celebrations.
- 2009 A Colombian military official claims that eight FARC guerrillas and five Colombian army soldiers have been killed in heavy fighting in Cauca Department.
- 2009 A South Korean legislator claims North Korea is holding 154,000 of its citizens in gulags.
- 2009 A report into dumping of toxic waste by Trafigura in Côte d'Ivoire is published.
- 2009 Czech President Václav Klaus compares the Treaty of Lisbon to "an unstoppable speeding train" that he is being forced to sign.
- 2009 Iran frees Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari on bail after four months in detention following the disputed presidential election.
- 2009 More than one million anti-abortion protesters march through Madrid in one of the largest demonstrations since 2003 and 2004 anti-war protests.
- 2009 The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposes an arms embargo on Guinea after the deaths of opposition supporters at a rally last month.
- 2009 The government of the Maldives, including President Mohamed Nasheed, holds the world's first underwater Cabinet meeting, to highlight the threat of global warming.
- 2009 The sheriff in Fort Collins, Colorado advises that criminal charges will be laid over the balloon boy hoax. (
- 2009 Thousands of fans, celebrities and politicians attend the funeral of Boyzone singer Stephen Gately in Dublin.
- 2009 Visitor posting - Lawrence Alfred Heron, beloved father and inspiration to Lynn sadly passed away with his devoted daughter Lynn by his side. - United Kingdom
- 2009 Two police officers are killed after their police helicopter is shot down by drug gangs in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ten drug traffickers were also killed in the violence.
More historical events added daily - keep checking back