Category: Today In History

1161 – Jin-Song wars: Military officers conspire against the emperor Wanyan Liang of the Jin dynasty after a military defeat at the Battle of Caishi, and assassinate the emperor at his camp. 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British and French fleets clash in the Battle of St. Lucia. 1791 – The United States Bill of...

557 – Constantinople is severely damaged by an earthquake. 835 – Sweet Dew Incident: Emperor Wenzong of the Tang dynasty conspires to kill the powerful eunuchs of the Tang court, but the plot is foiled. 1287 – St. Lucia’s flood: The Zuiderzee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses, killing over 50,000 people. 1542 – Princess...

884 – King Carloman II dies after a hunting accident. He is succeeded by his cousin, emperor Charles the Fat, who for the last time reunites the Frankish Empire. 1098 – First Crusade: Siege of Ma’arrat al-Numan: Crusaders breach the town’s walls and massacre about 20,000 inhabitants. After finding themselves with insufficient food, they reportedly...

536 – Gothic War: The Byzantine general Belisarius enters Rome unopposed; the Gothic garrison flee the capital. 1775 – American Revolutionary War: British troops lose the Battle of Great Bridge, and leave Virginia soon afterward. 1793 – New York City’s first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster. 1856 – The Iranian...

1660 – A woman (either Margaret Hughes or Anne Marshall) appears on an English public stage for the first time, in the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare’s play Othello. 1813 – Premiere of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. 1927 – The Brookings Institution, one of the United States’ oldest think tanks, is founded through...

43 BC – Marcus Tullius Cicero is assassinated. 1703 – The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, makes landfall. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die. 1869 – American outlaw Jesse James commits his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri. 1930...