Posts

Showing posts from December, 2024

On This Day December 31st

 December 31st is the three-hundred-sixty-sixth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 1 day remaining until the end of the year. Events 406 – Vandals, Alans, and Suebians cross the Rhine, beginning an invasion of Gaul. 870 – Battle of Englefield: The Vikings clash with Ealdorman Æthelwulf of Berkshire. The invaders are driven back to Reading (East Anglia); many Danes are killed. 1600 – The British East India Company is chartered. 1687 – The first Huguenots set sail from France to the Cape of Good Hope. 1759 – Arthur Guinness signs a 9,000-year lease at £45 per annum and starts brewing Guinness. 1790 – Efimeris, the oldest Greek newspaper of which issues have survived till today, is published for the first time. 1796 – The incorporation of Baltimore as a city. 1831 – Gramercy Park is deeded to New York City. 1862 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union, dividing the state in two. 1907 – The first-ever ball drop in Times...

On This Day December 30th

 December 30th is the three-hundred-sixty-fifth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 2 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1066 – Granada massacre: A Muslim mob storms the royal palace in Granada, crucifies Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela, and massacres most of the Jewish population of the city. 1460 – Wars of the Roses: Lancastrians kill the 3rd Duke of York and win the Battle of Wakefield. 1813 – War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York. 1853 – Gadsden Purchase: The United States buys land from Mexico to facilitate railroad building in the Southwest. 1902 – The Discovery Expedition under Robert Falcon Scott attained a Farthest South at 82°17′S in Antarctica. 1916 – Russian mystic and advisor to the Tsar Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is murdered by a loyalist group led by Prince Felix Yusupov. His frozen, partially trussed body was discovered in a Petrograd river three days later. 1922 – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is for...

On This Day December 27th

  December 27th is the three-hundred-sixty-second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 5 days remaining until the end of the year. Events  537 – The second Hagia Sophia in Constantinople is consecrated. 1657 – The Flushing Remonstrance articulates for the first time in North American history that freedom of religion is a fundamental right. 1703 – Portugal and England signed the Methuen Treaty, which allowed Portugal to export wines to England on favorable trade terms. 1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin formulating his theory of evolution. 1845 – Having coined the phrase "manifest destiny" the previous July, journalist John L. O'Sullivan argued in his New York Morning News newspaper that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country. 1911 – "Jana Gana Mana," the national anthem of India, is first sung in the Calcutta Session of the Indian National Congress. 1927 – Kern an...

On This Day December 28th

  December 28th is the three-hundred-sixty-third day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 4 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1065 – Edward the Confessor's Romanesque monastic church at Westminster Abbey is consecrated. 1795—The construction of Yonge Street, formerly recognized as the longest street in the world, begins in York, Upper Canada (present-day Toronto). 1832 – John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign. He resigned after being elected as a senator from South Carolina. 1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army. 1895: Wilhelm Röntgen published a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which would later be known as X-rays. 1902 – The Syracuse Athletic Club defeated the New York Philadelphians, 5–0, in the first indoor professional football game held at Madison Square Garden. 1912 – The first municipally owned streetcars tak...

On This Day December 29th

 December 29th is the three-hundred-sixty-fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 3 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. 1607 – According to John Smith, Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan leader Wahunsenacawh, successfully pleads for his life after tribal leaders attempt to execute him. 1845 – The United States annexed the Republic of Texas and admitted it as the 28th state. 1890 – On Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota are killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment. 1913 – Cecil B. DeMille starts filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man. 1937 – The Irish Free State was replaced by a new state called Ireland, which adopted a new constitution. 1940 – In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs Londo...

On This Day December 26th

 December 26th is the three-hundred-sixty-first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 6 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 887 – Berengar I is elected as king of Italy by the lords of Lombardy. He is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy at Pavia. 1709 – The opera Agrippina by George Frideric Handel premiered in Venice. 1723 – Bach led the first performance of Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40, his first Christmas Cantata composed for Leipzig. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacked and successfully defeated a garrison of Hessian forces. 1799 – Henry Lee III's eulogy to George Washington in Congress declares him as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 1860 – The First Rules derby is held between Sheffield F.C. and Hallam F.C., the oldest football fixture in the world. 1871 – Thespis, the first Gilbert and Sullivan collaboration, debuts. 1898 –...

On This Day December 25th

 December 25th is the three-hundred-sixtieth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 6 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 274 – A temple to Sol Invictus is dedicated in Rome by Emperor Aurelian. 336 – First documentary sign of Christmas celebration in Rome. 800 – The coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. 1492 – The carrack Santa María, commanded by Christopher Columbus, runs onto a reef off Haiti due to an improper watch. 1758 – Halley's Comet is sighted by Johann Georg Palitzsch, confirming Edmund Halley's prediction of its passage. This was the first passage of a comet predicted ahead of time. 1776 – George Washington and the Continental Army cross the Delaware River at night to attack Hessian forces serving Great Britain at Trenton, New Jersey, the next day. 1914 – A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas. 1950—Scottish nationalist students took the Stone of Scone, a traditional coronati...

On This Day December 24th

December 24th is the three-hundred-fifty-ninth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 8 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1777 – Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island, was discovered by James Cook. 1814 – Representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States signed the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. 1818 – The first "Silent Night" performance occurs in the Nikolauskirche in Oberndorf, Austria. 1871 – The opera Aida premieres in Cairo, Egypt. 1914 – World War I: The "Christmas truce" begins. 1929 – A four-alarm fire breaks out in the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C. 1968—Apollo program: The crew of Apollo 8 entered orbit around the Moon, becoming the first humans to do so. They performed ten lunar orbits and broadcast live TV pictures. Birthdays 1596 – Leonaert Bramer, Dutch painter (d. 1674) 1754 – George Crabbe, English priest, surgeon, and poet (d. 1832) 1809 – Kit Carson, American general (d. 1868) 1...

On This Day December 23rd

 December 23rd is the three-hundred-fifty-eighth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 9 days remaining until the end of the year. Events  962 – The Sack of Aleppo as part of the Arab-Byzantine wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops storm the city of Aleppo. 1688 – As part of the Glorious Revolution, King James II of England flees from England to Paris, France, after being deposed in favor of his son-in-law and nephew, William of Orange, and his daughter Mary. 1783 – George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army at the Maryland State House in Annapolis, Maryland. 1815 – The novel Emma by Jane Austen is first published. 1893 – The opera Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is first performed. 1913 – President Woodrow Wilson signed The Federal Reserve Act into law, creating the Federal Reserve System. 1947 – The transistor is first demonstrated at Bell Laboratories. 1954 – J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph ...

On This Day December 22nd

  December 22nd is the three-hundred-fifty-seventh day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 10 days remaining until the end of the year. Events  856 – Damghan earthquake: An earthquake near the Persian city of Damghan killed an estimated 200,000 people, the sixth deadliest earthquake in recorded history. 1788 – Nguyễn Huệ proclaims himself Emperor Quang Trung, abolishing on his own the Lê dynasty. 1807—The U.S. Congress passed the Embargo Act, forbidding trade with all foreign countries, at the urging of President Thomas Jefferson. 1808 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto, and Choral Fantasy. 1851 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns. 1891 – Asteroid 323 Brucia becomes the first asteroid discovered using photography. 1937 – The Lincoln Tunnel opens to traffic in New York City. 1944—World War II: Battle of the Bulge: ...

On This day December 21st

 December 21st is the three-hundred-fifty-sixth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of the year. Events  AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian. 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans. 1848—French presidential election: Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who won the popular vote in a landslide, is inaugurated in the National Assembly chamber as the French Second Republic's first (and only) president. 1860 – South Carolina became the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession. 1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli. 1940—Captain America Comics #1, which features the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published. 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom. 1989 – The United States invasion of Panama dep...

On This Day December 20th

  December 20th is the three-hundred-fifty-fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 11 days remaining until the end of the year. Events  AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian. 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans. 1848—French presidential election: Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who won the popular vote in a landslide, is inaugurated in the National Assembly chamber as the French Second Republic's first (and only) president. 1860 – South Carolina became the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession. 1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli. 1940—Captain America Comics #1, which features the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published. 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom. 1989 – The United States invasion of Panama d...

On This Day December 19th

  December 19th is the three-hundred-fifty-third day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 12 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1606 – The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States. 1776 – Thomas Paine published one of a series of pamphlets entitled "The American Crisis" in The Pennsylvania Journal. 1777 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington's Continental Army enters winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. 1828 – Vice President of the United States John C. Calhoun sparked the nullification crisis when he anonymously published the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, protesting the Tariff of 1828. 1907 – Two hundred thirty-nine coal miners die in the Darr Mine Disaster in Jacobs Creek, Pennsylvania. 1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service. 1972 – Apollo program:...

On This Day December 18th

  December 18th is the three-hundred-fifty second day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 13 days remaining until the end of the year. Events 1271 – Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" ( 元 yuán), officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty of Mongolia and China. 1622 – Portuguese forces score a military victory over the Kingdom of Kongo at the Battle of Mbumbi in present-day Angola. 1777 – The United States celebrates its first Thanksgiving, marking the recent victory by the American rebels over British General John Burgoyne at Saratoga in October. 1865 – US Secretary of State William Seward proclaims the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery throughout the United States. 1892 – Premiere performance of The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia. 1917 – The resolution containing the language of the Eighteenth Amendment to enact Prohibition is passed by the United States Congress. 1932 – The Chicago Bears defea...

On This Day December 17th

  December 17th is the three-hundred-fifty first day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 14 days remaining until the end of the year. Events   497 BC – The first Saturnalia festival was celebrated in ancient Rome. 1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry VIII of England. 1777 – American Revolution: France formally recognizes the United States. 1790 – The Aztec calendar stone was discovered at El Zócalo, Mexico City. 1835 – The second Great Fire of New York destroys 53,000 square meters (13 acres) of New York City's Financial District. 1865 – First performance of the Unfinished Symphony by Franz Schubert. 1892 – The first issue of Vogue is published. 1903 – The Wright brothers made the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight in the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 1933 – The first NFL Championship Game is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago between the New York Giants and Chicago Bears. The Bears won 23–21. 1943 – All Chinese are again permitt...