41 A.D.
Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar (Caligula) is assassinated by members of his Praetorian Guard. Nephew of the great Tiberius Caesar, Caligula’s five-year reign quickly degenerated into an orgy of violence and sexual perversion. The Senate conspirators believed that removing him would allow for reinstatement of the Republic, but the army was so incensed by the murder that they spirited away Caligula’s uncle Claudius, rallying the troops to support the imperial throne against the Senate.
814 A.D.
Death of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and first to hold the title of Holy Roman Emperor. His conquest and rule over a continuous empire covering most of central and western Europe created, for the first time in the post-Roman era, the political conditions for what we now know as “Europe.”
1225
Birth of Thomas Aquinas (d.1274), Italian monk, philosopher, and theologian whose concept of “natural revelation” helped lay foundations for the scientific revolution. Canonized in 1323; his work remains central to Catholic theology.
1547
Death of King Henry VIII (b.1491), leaving the throne to his six-year-old son Edward VI, followed later by Mary I and Elizabeth I.
1564
Pope Pius IV issues the decree Benedictus Deus, ratifying the findings of the Council of Trent (1545–1563), clarifying Roman Catholic doctrine in response to the Protestant Reformation.
1595
Death of Sir Francis Drake (b. c.1540) of dysentery off Portobelo, Panama. Explorer, privateer, and hero of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, he was buried at sea in full armor.
1646
King Charles I of England is beheaded for high treason following the English Civil Wars. Oliver Cromwell assumes power as Lord Protector during the interregnum.
1661
The remains of Oliver Cromwell are exhumed and posthumously executed for regicide, twelve years to the day after Charles I’s execution.
1756
Birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d.1791), widely regarded as the greatest composer in Western musical history.
1759
Birth of Scottish poet Robert Burns (d.1796), celebrated annually at Burns Night dinners worldwide.
1787
Final battle of Shays’ Rebellion at the Springfield Armory. Four rebels are killed, twenty wounded, and the uprising collapses—exposing weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation and helping spur the Constitutional Convention.
1813
First publication of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
1832
Birth of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (d.1898), author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and pioneer of literary nonsense.
1833
Birth of Charles “Chinese” Gordon (d.1885), famed British general of the Victorian imperial era.
1848
James W. Marshall discovers gold at Sutter’s Mill near Coloma, California, triggering the California Gold Rush.
1853
Birth of José Martí (d.1895), Cuban nationalist and independence leader.
1862
Launch of USS Monitor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, only 120 days after contract signing.
1880
Birth of Douglas MacArthur (d.1964), American general, Army Chief of Staff, and Supreme Commander in the Pacific during World War II.
1887
Birth of Admiral Marc Mitscher (d.1947), pioneering naval aviator and commander of U.S. carrier task forces in World War II.
1890
Birth of Robert Stroud (d.1963), later known as The Birdman of Alcatraz.
1911
Aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss makes the first American floatplane flight in San Diego Harbor.
1912
Birth of Jackson Pollock (d.1956), American abstract expressionist painter.
1912
Birth of historian Barbara Tuchman (d.1989), author of The Guns of August.
1919
Delegates at the Paris Peace Conference approve plans for a League of Nations based on President Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
1921
Birth of actress Donna Reed (d.1986).
1924
Petrograd is renamed Leningrad following the death of Vladimir Lenin.
1924
Opening day of the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France.
1931
Birth of actor Dean Jones (d.2015).
1938
First flight of Lockheed’s P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighter aircraft.
1941
Birth of Dick Cheney (d.2025), future U.S. Secretary of Defense and Vice President.
1943
The U.S. Army Air Forces’ 8th Air Force conducts its first bombing raid into Germany.
1944
After 872 days, the German Wehrmacht lifts the Siege of Leningrad.
1945
The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
1947
Death of Al Capone (b.1899), Chicago mobster ultimately convicted of tax evasion.
1948
Death of Orville Wright (b.1871), aviation pioneer and co-inventor of the airplane.
1949
Birth of comedian and actor John Belushi (d.1982).
1951
The United States begins nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Range.
1958
LEGO patents its modern interlocking brick design.
1965
Death of Sir Winston Churchill (b.1874).
1971
Idi Amin seizes power in Uganda through a military coup.
1986
Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
1990
Death of Ava Gardner (b.1922), iconic Hollywood actress of the 1940s and 1950s.
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