On This Day In History
30th May
1431 Hundred Years’ War: 19 year old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal in Rouen, France
1539 Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto‘s expedition of 10 ships and 700 men lands in Florida
1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo between US and Mexico comes into force, giving New Mexico, California and parts of Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Colorado to the US in return for $15 million
1868 “Decoration Day”, later called Memorial Day is first observed in Northern US states
1896 Khodynka Tragedy: Stampeding crowd on Khodynka Field, Moscow, during the festivities for coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II, results in the deaths of about 1,300 people
1913 Treaty of London signed by the Great Powers, the Ottoman Empire and the victorious Balkan League (Serbia, Greece, Kingdom of Bulgaria, and Montenegro) bringing an end to the First Balkan War
Did You Know?
Former Chad dictator Hissène Habré convicted of crimes against humanity by the Extraordinary African chambers, 1st ex-head of state convicted of the charge
Today in History in 2016
Would You Believe?
Future US President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson accused Jackson’s wife of bigamy
Today in History in 1806
May 31st
1279 BC Ramesses II, also known as Ramesses the Great becomes Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (19th Dynasty)
1578 Martin Frobisher sails from Harwich, England, to Frobisher Bay, Canada. Eventually mines fools gold, famously used to pave the streets of London.
1902 Boer War Ends; Treaty of Unity signed, Britain annexes Transvaal
1910 Union of South Africa declares its independence from the United Kingdom
1916 Battle of Jutland: Largest naval battle of World War I between the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet which killed 8,645 in an inconclusive battle but strategic British victory. German fleet never puts to sea again in WWI.
1935 7.7 magnitude earthquake destroys Quetta in Balochistan, British India (now Pakistan) killing an estimated 40,000 people
1947 Communists seize power in Hungary
1970 7.75 Ancash earthquake off coast of Peru kills 66-70,000 and sets off world’s deadliest avalanche
Did You Know?
Citing poor eyesight, English civil servant Samuel Pepys records the last event in his famous diary
Today in History in 1669
Would You Believe?
The Who set the record for the loudest concert of all time, 120 decibels at 50 metres, at The Valley in Charlton, London, England
Today in History in 1976
June 1st
4000 BC Approximate domestication of the horse in the Eurasian steppes near Dereivka, central Ukraine (hypothesis only)
1215 Peking [Beijing], then a city of over one million, under control of Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured and looted for a month by the Mongols under Genghis Khan
1676 Battle of Öland: allied Danish-Dutch forces defeat the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea, during the Scanian War (1675–79)
1964 Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta as its 1st President
1998 European Central Bank is founded in Brussels to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy
Did You Know?
The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine
Today in History in 1974
Would You Believe?
First written record of Scotch Whisky appears in Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, Friar John Cor is the distiller
Today in History in 1495
2nd June
455 King Gaiseric and the Vandals sack Rome – Rome looted for 14 days
1862 Robert E. Lee takes command of Confederate armies of North Virginia during the American Civil War
1896 Italian engineer and inventor Guglielmo Marconi applies for the first ever patent for a system of wireless telegraphy in the United Kingdom
1953 Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, London, England
1989 10,000 Chinese soldiers are blocked by 100,000 citizens in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, protecting students demonstrating for democracy
Did You Know?
James Gibbs of Virginia, patents the chain-stitch single-thread sewing machine
Today in History in 1857
Would You Believe?
Pontiac’s Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison’s attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort
Today in History in 1763
June 3rd
1621 Dutch West India Company (WIC) receives charter for The West Indies (The Americas, Caribbean and West Africa)
1929 Chile and Peru sign the Treaty of Lima, finally resolving their border dispute from the War of the Pacific (1879–83). Chile keeps Arica and Peru regains Tacna.
1943 A mob of 60 from the Los Angeles Naval Reserve Armory beat up everyone perceived to be Hispanic, starting the week-long Zoot Suit Riots
1979 Ixtoc I rig in the Gulf of Mexico blows, spilling 3 million barrels of oil in one of the worst oil spills in history
1989 Beginning of the Tiananmen Square Massacre as Chinese troops open fire on pro-democracy supporters in Beijing
Did You Know?
American radical feminist Valerie Solanas attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol by shooting him three times. She is later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and pleads guilty to “reckless assault with intent to harm”, serving a 3 year sentence.
Today in History in 1968
Would You Believe?
1st baseball uniforms worn when the NY Knickerbockers wear a uniform of straw hats, white shirts and blue long trousers
Today in History in 1851
June 4th
1760 Great Upheaval: New England planters arrive to claim land in Nova Scotia, Canada taken from the Acadians
1940 British complete the “Miracle of Dunkirk” by evacuating 338,226 allied troops from France via a flotilla of over 800 vessels including Royal Navy destroyers, merchant marine boats, fishing boats, pleasure craft and even lifeboats
1945 US, Soviet Union, Britain and France agree to divide up occupied Germany
1989 Eastern Europe’s 1st partial free elections in 40 years held in Poland, Solidarity Party comes to power
1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre: Chinese troops clear the square of student protesters, unofficial figures place death toll near 1,000
Did You Know?
A patent for the ATM is granted to Don Wetzel, Tom Barnes and George Chastain
Today in History in 1973
Would You Believe?
22-year-old man sneaks into wheel pod of a jet parked in Havana and survives 9-hr flight to Spain despite thin oxygen levels at 29,000 ft
Today in History in 1969
June 5th
1873 Sultan Bargash bin Said under British pressure closes the infamous slave market of Zanzibar in modern day Tanzania
1947 US Secretary of State George Marshall outlines the “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Western Europe
1963 State of siege proclaimed in Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini arrested
1967 Six-Day War begins between Israel and the neighboring Arab states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria
1968 Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan shoots Robert F. Kennedy three times, who dies the next day. and wounds 5 others at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California
1981 AIDS Epidemic officially begins when US Centers for Disease Control reports on pneumonia affecting five homosexual men in Los Angeles
1981 World’s first today in history program with editable data “TODAY”, invented by Michael Butler runs for the first time on a mainframe computer
1984 Indira Gandhi orders an attack on Sikh’s holiest site, the Golden Temple in Amritsar
Did You Know?
Russian Orthodox Church celebrates its 1,000th anniversary
Today in History in 1988
Would You Believe?
Bananas become popular in US, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
Today in History in 1876