Category: Today In History

September 5

917 – Liu Yan declares himself emperor, establishing the Southern Han state in southern China, at his capital of Panyu. 1666 – Great Fire of London ends: Ten thousand buildings, including Old St Paul’s Cathedral, are destroyed, but only six people are known to have died. 1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility,...
The Great Fire of London swept through London for four days in September 1666

August 21

1680 – Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt. 1831 – Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites. 1888 – The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by...
The Mona Lisa was stolen on this day in 1911

Today in History

1540 – Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day. 1854 – USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy, is commissioned. 1866 – At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female...
Soldiers in gas masks advance on Bonus March demonstrators in Washington, D.C. 1932. The marchers were unemployed World War I veterans waiting for the monetary bonus promised by the government and not delivered.

July 26

1469 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Edgecote Moor, pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of Edward IV of England, takes place. 1745 – The first recorded women’s cricket match takes place near Guildford, England. 1775 – The office that would later become the United States Post...
Disney's Alice in Wonderland premiere at Leicester Square Theatre, 1951.

July 25

1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. 1603 – James VI of Scotland is crowned king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707. 1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route...
Operation Crossroads, a series of nuclear weapons tests conducted by the U.S. at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in 1946.

July 24

1487 – Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against a ban on foreign beer. 1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI. 1823 – Slavery is abolished in Chile. 1823 – In Maracaibo, Venezuela the naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo takes place, where Admiral José Prudencio...
Apollo 11 capsule floating in ocean after splashdown.