10bce

Roman Emperor Claudius I, who extended Roman rule in North Africa and made Britain a province, was born in Lugdunum, Gaul (now Lyon, France).

1086

Results of the Domesday inquiry presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation and the Great Domesday are historically contestable).

1589

King Henry III of France was stabbed this day in 1589 by Jacques Clément, a Jacobin friar, and died the next day after acknowledging his Bourbon ally, Henry of Navarre (Henry IV), a Huguenot, as his successor.

1714

Queen Anne, the last Stuart ruler of England, died at age 49.

1744

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck—a French biologist best known for his theory that acquired traits are inheritable, an idea known as Lamarckism—was born in Bazentin-le-Petit.

1774

English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state.

1834

Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into effect, abolishes slavery throughout the British Empire.

1876

Colorado was admitted to the union, becoming the 38th U.S. state.

1936

The Summer Olympics opened in Berlin, and the efforts by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party to demonstrate the superiority of the “Aryan race” were undermined by the success of African American athletes, notably Jesse Owens.

1940

John F. Kennedy’s Why England Slept, a critical account of the British military that became a best seller, was published.

1943

Operation Tidal Wave: U.S. forces attempt risky air raid on Axis oil refineries.

1943

The Harlem Riot of 1943 begins.

1944

The final entry was recorded in the diary of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who spent two years in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

1944

The Warsaw Uprising began as the Polish underground tried to oust the German army and seize control of the city before it was occupied by the advancing Soviet army; after running out of supplies, the Poles were forced to surrender in October.

1958

US atomic submarine USS Nautilus begins 1st transit of North Pole “Operation Sunshine”.

1966

Charles Whitman, a student and ex-marine, fired down from the clock tower on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, killing 14 people and wounding 31 others (one of whom died years later from complications related to his wounds); it was one of the worst mass murders in a public area in U.S. history.

1980

Icelandic teacher and politician Vigdís Finnbogadóttir became president of Iceland; she was the first woman in the world to be elected head of state in a national election.

1981

The cable television network MTV debuted, with the broadcast of the music video for Video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles.

1987

American author George R.R. Martin published A Game of Thrones, the first installment in his hugely popular fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.

1996

American author George R.R. Martin published A Game of Thrones, the first installment in his hugely popular fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.

2005

Fahd, who became king of Saudi Arabia in 1982, died at age 82; he was succeeded by his half brother ʿAbd Allah.