238 – Year of the Six Emperors: The Roman Senate outlaws emperor Maximinus Thrax for his bloodthirsty proscriptions in Rome and nominates two of its members, Pupienus and Balbinus, to the throne.
1056 – Supernova Crab nebula last seen by the naked eye
1145 – 19th recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet
1370 – Building begins of Bastille fortress in Paris
1451 – Isabella I, of Castile, Queen of Spain (1479-1504), patron of Columbus – born
1500 – Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovers Brazil & claims it for Portugal
1521 – French King Francois I declares war on Spain
1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
1526 – 1st slave revolt occurs in SC
1724 – Immanuel Kant, Konigsberg Germ, philosopher (Critique of Pure Reason) Born
1782 – Anne Bonny, Irish pirate, dies in prison (date is approximate)
1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when one of his fellow captives mistakenly gives away his identity.
1853 – Alphonse Bertillon, France, anthropologist, devised crime ID system.. Birthed
1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that mandates that the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
1870 – Nikolai Lenin, [Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov], Bolshevik/USSR revolutionist and Premier of Russia. born
1876 – 1st NL MLB game, Boston Braves beat Phila Athletics 6-5
1876 – Tsjaikovsky completes his “Swan Lake” ballet
1889 – At high noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
1890 – Magnus Huss, Swedish Physician who coined the word alcoholism and was the first to define it as a disease, dies at 82
1898 – Spanish–American War: The USS Nashville captures a Spanish merchant ship. (US President McKinley orders blockade of Cuban harbors)
1898 – Congress passes Volunteer Army Act calling for a Volunteer Cavalry
1904 – [Julius] Robert Oppenheimer, head of Manhattan (A-bomb) Project, born in NYC, New York
1906 – The 1906 Summer Olympics, not now recognized as part of the official Olympic Games, open in Athens.
1912 – Pravda, the “voice” of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication in Saint Petersburg.
1915 – The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
1922 – Charles Mingus, Arizona, jazz bassist (Pithecanthropus Erectus)
1923 – Bettie Page, Kingsport Tn, playmate (Jan, 1955)/model (Dark Angel) Born
1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding. (Trilateral foundation)
1930 – British troops battle pro-independence revolutionaries in the Jalalabad hills near Chittagong in Bengal province, British India leaving 80 troops and 12 revolutionaries dead.
1937 – Jack Nicholson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter was born.
1937 – Jack Nitzsche, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (Crazy Horse) (d. 2000) was born.
1940 – Rear Adm Joseph Taussig testifies before US Senate Naval Affairs Committee that war with Japan is inevitable
1944 – World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
1944 – Steve Fossett, American businessman, pilot, and sailor (d. 2007) was born.
1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and 80 escape.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: After learning that Soviet forces have taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admits defeat in his underground bunker and states that suicide is his only recourse.
1946 – John Waters, director (Hairspray, Cry Baby…) Born
1950 – Peter Frampton, Kent England, guitarist/vocalist (Frampton Comes Alive) Born
1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins.
1954 – USSR joins UNESCO (UN Eugenics arm)
1966 – Kimberley Dahme, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Boston) was born.
1967 – Martial Law goes into effect in Greece
1969 – 1st human eye transplant performed
1970 – 1st Earth Day held internationally to conserve natural resources
1970 – Flat Earth celebrated
1972 – Vietnam War: Increased American bombing in Vietnam prompts anti-war protests in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.
1972 – An 11-year-old boy killed by a rubber bullet fired by the British Army in Belfast; he was the first to die from a rubber bullet impact
1974 – Shavo Odadjian, Armenian-American bass player, songwriter, and producer (System of a Down and Achozen) was born.
1976 – Director Ingmar Bergman leaves Sweden due to taxation
1977 – Simon Peres becomes premier of Israel
1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.
1978 – Will Geer, actor (Grandpa Walton-Waltons), dies at 75
1979 – Mick Jagger & Keith Richards give a benefit concert in Canada
1979 – Daniel Johns, Australian musician (Silverchair) Born
1981 – 10,000 copper workers in Chile strike
1981 – Almost 1 million West German metal workers in strike
1981 – Dodgers rookie Fernando Valenzuela tosses his 3rd shutout in 4 starts
1981 – Largest US bank robbery (Tucson Ariz), more than $3.3 million stolen
1983 – The German magazine Stern claims that the “Hitler Diaries” had been found in wreckage in East Germany; the diaries are subsequently revealed to be forgeries. HOAX
1983 – Earl “Fatha” Hines, US, jazz pianist/conductor, dies
1984 – Ansel Adams, US photographer, dies at 82
1986 – Amber Heard, American actress, Born
1986 – Marshawn Lynch, American Football player (AKA: Beast-Mode) Born
1989 – Huey Newton, US, Black Panther leader, shot dead at 47
1993 – Cesar Chavez, US farm worker (United Farm Workers), dies at 66
1994 – Richard Nixon, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 37th President of the United States (b. 1913) died.
1994 – 7,000 Tutsi’s slaughtered in stadium of Kibuye Rwanda (UN Security stand by and do nothing)
1994 – In Denmark the largest lollipop, weighing 3,011 pounds, made
1995 – Maggie Kuhn, activist (Gray Panthers), dies at 89
1996 – Erma Bombeck, humorist (Grass is Greener), dies at 69
1998 – Disney’s Animal Kingdom opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
2000 – In a pre-dawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives’ home in Miami, Florida.
2002 – Linda Lovelace, American porn actress (b. 1949) died.
2004 – Pat Tillman, American football player and U.S. Army Ranger (killed in action) (b. 1976) murdered
2006 – 243 people are injured in pro-democracy protest in Nepal after Nepali security forces open fire on protesters against King Gyanendra. (Unlike all of the other people we rush to “save” the Nepalese weren’t one of them. Cant upset China… sigh)
2013 – 6 people are killed in a shooting rampage in Belgorod, Russia
2013 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrest and charge two men with plotting to disrupt a Toronto area train service in a plot claimed to be backed by Al-Qaeda elements.
2013 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, dies from a heart attack at 72