537 Siege of Rome: King Vitiges of the Ostragoths attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas and Peranius.
630 Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem.
1152 Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
1413 Henry V becomes King of England.
1556 In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (born 1489) is burned at the stake.
1656 James Ussher (died), Irish archbishop (born 1581)
1768 Joseph Fourier (born), French mathematician and physicist (died 1830)
1788 A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.
1800 With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
1804 Code Napoléon is adopted as French civil law.
1814 Napoleonic Wars: Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.
1839 Modest Mussorgsky (born), Russian composer (died 1881)
1857 Alice Henry (born), Australian journalist and activist (died 1943)
1857 An earthquake in Tokyo, Japan kills over 100,000.
1861 Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, gives the Cornerstone Speech outlining the fundamental differences between the constitutions of the US and the Confederacy at the Athenaeum in Savannah, Georgia.
1867 Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. (born), American director and producer (died 1932)
1871 Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
1871 Otto von Bismarck is appointed Chancellor of the German Empire.
1880 Broncho Billy Anderson (born), American actor, director, and producer (died 1971)
1902 Son House (born), American singer and guitarist (died 1988)
1904 Forrest Mars, Sr. (born), American candy maker, created M&M’s and Mars bar (died 1999)
1906 John D. Rockefeller III (born), American philanthropist (died 1978)
1910 Julio Gallo (born), American businessman, co-founded E & J Gallo Winery (died 1993)
1910 Muhammad Siddiq Khan (born), Bangladeshi librarian and educator (died 1978)
1913 Over 360 are killed and 20,000 homes destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio.
1914 Paul Tortelier (born), French cellist and composer (died 1990)
1915 Frederick Winslow Taylor (died), American engineer (born 1856)
1919 The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.
1920 Evelina Haverfield (died), Scottish nurse and activist (born 1867)
1925 Syngman Rhee is removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
1925 The Butler Act prohibits the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee.
1928 Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.
1930 James Coco (born), American actor (died 1987)
1943 Wehrmacht officer Rudolf von Gersdorff plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, but the plan falls through. von Gersdorff is able to defuse the bomb in time and avoid suspicion.
1944 Timothy Dalton (born), Welsh-English actor
1945 Rose Stone (born), American singer and keyboard player (Sly and the Family Stone)
1945 World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
1946 The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in the American football since 1933.
1949 Eddie Money (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 Roger Hodgson (born), English singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Supertramp)
1952 Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.
1960 Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
1960 Ayrton Senna (born) Brazilian race car driver (died 1994)
1961 Slim Jim Phantom (born), American drummer (Stray Cats, Phantom, Rocker & Slick, Dead Men Walking, and The Head Cat)
1962 Matthew Broderick (born), American actor, singer, and director
1962 Rosie O’Donnell (born), American actress and talk show host
1963 Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes.
1965 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
1970 The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Mayor of San Francisco Joseph Alioto.
1980 US President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
1985 Michael Redgrave (died), English actor, director, and manager (born 1908)
1989 Sports Illustrated reports allegations tying baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
1990 Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
1991 Leo Fender (died), American businessman, founded Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (born 1909)
1999 Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
2000 Pope John Paul II makes his first ever pontifical visit to Israel.
2002 Herman Talmadge (died), American politician, 70th Governor of Georgia (born 1913)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017