TODAY IN HISTORY
902
Aghlabidisch emir Ibrahim II destroys Taormina, Sicily. The defenders are overwhelmed and Taormina falls.
1177
Emperor Frederik I & Pope Alexander III sign a peace treaty in Venice.
1203
Alexius IV Angelus appointed co-regent of Byzantium
1291
Everlasting League, which is the basis of Swiss Confederation (Independence), is formed.
1485
Henry Tudor’s army sails to England (future Henry VII).
1714
Monarch Georg Ludwig becomes King George I of England.
1732
Foundations laid for Bank of England.
1793
France becomes the first country to use the metric system.
1798
Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacks and decimates the French fleet at Aboukir Bay off the Nile Delta, Egypt.
1831
London Bridge opens for the first time to traffic.
1834
Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire - Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into effect.
1855
Castle Clinton in New York City opens as the first US station to receive immigrants.
1861
Brazil recognises Confederacy.
1883
Amsterdam’s Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky gets electric lights.
1883
Inland postal service begins in Great Britain.
1886
Great Britain annexes Kermadec-Island near New Zealand.
1902
Mine accident in Wollongong, Australia kills 100.
1909
British disappears on Sydney to London journey killing 300.
SS Waratah
1911
Transportation workers begin a major strike in England; part of a wave of industrial unrest.
1914
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany declares war on his nephew Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in WWI.
1922
In Italy, the socialist ‘Alianza del Lavoro’ declares a national strike which collapses immediately and fascist forces destroy union and socialist headquarters.
1926
Failed assassination attempt is made on General Primo de Rivera in Barcelona.
1927
Earliest date for a film to be considered for the Academy Awards.
1933
Dutch colonial regime in Batavia (now Jakarta) arrests Sukarno. Sukorno later becomes the first President of Indonesia in 1945.
1943
Japan declares Burma Independence under U Ba Maw.
1950
King Leopold of Belgium abdicates, Baudouin becomes the King.
1958
US atomic submarine USS
Nautilus begins the first transit of North Pole ‘Operation Sunshine’.
1960
Islamabad declared as the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.
1966
Yakubu Gowon becomes Nigerian Head of State after a military coup d'état.