37 – The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’ will and proclaims Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (aka Caligula = Little Boots)emperor.
235 – Marcus Aurelius Alexander, Syrian emperor of Rome (222-235), murdered
978 – Edward, the Martyr, King of Anglo-Saxons (975-78)/st, murdered at 15
1190 – Crusaders kill 57 Jews in Bury St Edmunds, England
1314 – Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake
1229 – Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II crowns himself King of Jerusalem
1241 – Kraków is ravaged by Mongols.
1325 – According to legend, Tenochtitlan is founded on this date. The event is depicted on the Mexican coat of arms..
1438 – Albrecht II of Habsburg (Orange) becomes king of Germany
1584 – Ivan IV [Ivan the Terrible], Russian tsar (1547-84), dies at 53
1673 – Lord Berkley sells his half of New Jersey to the Quakers
1741 – New York governor George Clarke’s complex at Fort George is burned in an arson attack, starting the New York Conspiracy of 1741.
1766 – American Revolution: The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.
1818 – Congress approves 1st pensions for government service
1834 – Six farm laborers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia (Prison camp) for forming a trade union.
1837 – Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (d. 1908) was born.
1845 – John Chapman, [Johnny Appleseed], American pioneer agronomist dies in Allen County Indiana, Dies
1848 – March Revolution: in Berlin there is a struggle between citizens and military, costing about 300 lives.
1850 – American Express is founded by Henry Wells and William Fargo.
1858 – Rudolf Diesel, German engineer, invented the Diesel engine (d. 1913) was born.
1865 – American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States adjourns for the last time.
1869 – Neville Chamberlain, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1940) was born.
1874 – Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trade rights. (Annexed a few years later)
1877 – President Hayes appoints Frederick Douglass marshal of Wash DC
1877 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic (d. 1945) was born.
1882 – Morgan Earp is assassinated by outlaws while playing billiards in Tombstone
1890 – 1st US state naval militia organized (Massachusetts)
1892 – Former Governor General Lord Stanley pledges to donate a silver challenge cup, later named after him, as an award for the best hockey team in Canada the Stanley Cup.
1900 – Japan uses its influence over the government of Korea to deny Russia’s efforts to obtain a concession for a naval station at the Korean Port of Masampo, a step in the lead up to the Russo-Japanese war
1902 – Enrico Caruso becomes 1st well-known performer to make a record
1903 – Following through on its attacks on Roman Catholic institutions, the French Government dissolves the Catholic religious orders
1913 – King George I of Greece is assassinated in the recently liberated city of Thessaloniki.
1919 – Order of DeMolay (The world’s largest fraternity for young men.) forms in Kansas City
1922 – In India, Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison (By British magistrates )for civil disobedience, of which he serves only two.
1926 – Peter Graves, American actor – Mission Impossible (d. 2010) was born.
1927 – George Plimpton, sports writer (Paper Lion), born in NYC, New York, born
1932 – John Updike, Shillington Pa, poet/novelist (Rabbit Run) Born
1933 – Unita Blackwell, American activist and politician was born.
1937 – Gas explosion in school in New London, Texas: 294 die
1938 – Charley Pride, Sledge Miss, country singer (Sweet Country) Born
1938 – Mexico takes control of foreign-owned oil properties
1940 – World War II: Axis powers – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
1941 – Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (The Falcons) (d. 2006) was born.
1944 – 2,500 women trample guards & floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago Illinois dept store
1945 – Eric Woolfson, Scottish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (The Alan Parsons Project) (d. 2009) was born.
1946 – Michael Reagan, talk show host, and son of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Birthed
1949 – Bertha Gilkey, American activist (d. 2014) was born.
1950 – John Hartman, American drummer (Doobie Brothers) was born.
1953 – Boston Braves move to Milwaukee
1956 - Deborah Jeane Palfrey (The DC Madame) Born
1957 – Melvin Gentry, vocalist/guitarist (Midnight Star-No Parking) Born
1959 – Irene Cara, Bronx actress/singer (Fame, DC Cab, Certain Fury), born in NYC, New York
1959 – President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law allowing for Hawaiian statehood, which would become official on August 21.
1963 – Vanessa L Williams, Millwood NY, Actress, singer and 1st African American Miss America (1983) Born
1965 – Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.
1966 – Jerry Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Alice in Chains) was born.
1968 – Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.
1970 – Two-week US postal strike begins; it is against the government and is the largest wildcat strike in US history
1970 – Michael Rapaport, actor (True Romance, Zak-Zebrahead) Born
1970 – Queen Latifah, rap singer/actress (Khadijah James-Living Single) Born
1972 – Dane Cook, American comedian and actor was born.
1972 – Ulster Vanguard hold a rally of 60,000 people in Belfast; William Craig tells the crowd: “if and when the politicians fail us, it may be our job to liquidate the enemy”
1974 – Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.
1977 – The Clash release their first recording “White Riot”
1977 – Zdeno Chára, Slovak ice hockey player (Boston Bruins) Born
1979 – Adam Levine, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Maroon 5 and Kara’s Flowers) was birthed
1980 – Erich Fromm, German/US psychoanalyst, dies at 79
1980 – Vostok rocket exploded on launch pad while being refueled, killing 50
1982 – Singer Teddy Pendergrass’ spinal cord severed in a car accident.
1986 – US Treasury Dept announces plans to alter paper money
1990 – In the largest art theft in US history, 12 paintings, collectively worth around $300 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
1990 – 1st free elections in East Germany, Conservatives beat Communists
1992 – Leona Helmsley sentence to 4 years for tax evasion
1995 – Michael Jordan announces he is ending his 17 month NBA retirement
2001 – John Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Mamas & the Papas) (b. 1935) died.
2003 – FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company’s top executives.
2005 – Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube is removed at the request of her husband.
2009 – Natasha Richardson, English actress (b. 1963) Dies
2013 – 98 people are killed and 248 are injured across Iraq from a series of bombings and shootings
2014 – The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.