|
1355 |
Charles
IV is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. |
|
1513 |
Henry
VIII of England, Ferdinand of Aragon, Pope Leo X and Holy
Roman Emperor Maximilian sign the Treaty of Mechlin by which
an alliance is formed for a joint invasion of France. |
|
1614 |
In
America, Pocahontas, daughter of King Powahatan, marries the
farmer John Rolfe in the church at Jamestown. |
|
1664 |
The
Peace Treaty of Westminster ends the first Anglo-Dutch War. |
|
1723 |
Death
of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (born 1656), the first
Austrian baroque architect. |
|
1795 |
Russia
and a number of allied Germanic states make peace with the
French Government by signing the Treaty of Basel. |
|
1799 |
The
Austrians and Russians defeat Napoleon’s French troops in
the battle of Magnano. |
|
1815 |
A
volcanic eruption in south central Indonesia kills 10,000
people. |
|
1827 |
Birth
of Joseph Lister (died 1912), British surgeon and scientist.
As a pioneer of antiseptics, he revolutionised modern
surgery. |
|
1883 |
The
French Government’s charge d’affaires at the Hue Court,
Rheinart, and his company retreat to Sai Gon in the face of
local protests against France’s occupation of Ha Noi and
Nam Dinh. |
|
1896 |
First
modern Olympic Games start in Athens. |
|
1900 |
Birth
of Spencer Tracy, US actor. He was the first actor to win an
Academy Award in successive years, for his performances in
Captains Courageous (1937) and Boy’s Town (1938). |
|
1939 |
All
German children between ages of 10 and 13 are ordered to
serve in the Hitler Youth Organisation. |
|
1964 |
Death
of American general Douglas MacArthur (born 1880). He
commanded Allied troops in the Pacific during World War II. |
|
1975 |
The
Republic of South Viet Nam and Zaire establish diplomatic
relations at ambassadorial level. |
|
1975 |
Death
of Chiang Kai-shek (born 1887), one of the pivotal figures
in the history of modern China. |
|
1996 |
Viet
Nam and Ireland formally establish ambassadorial level
diplomatic relations. |
|
1997 |
Death
of Allen Ginsberg, poet laureate of the beat generation. In
1956, he published Howl and Other Poems, a book of free
verse considered the pre-eminent poetic work of the Beat
movement of the 1950s. |
|
1998 |
The
world’s longest suspension bridge, the 3,911m Akashi
Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku to Honshu in Japan, opens to
the public. |
|
1999 |
Libya
hands over to the UN two former government agents to stand
trial for the bombing of a Pan Am aircraft over Lockerbie in
1988. The U.N. lifts sanctions against Libya the next day. |
|
2000 |
Japan’s
Parliament elects ruling party chief Yoshiro Mori as the new
prime minister, ending a political crisis created by the
sudden collapse of Keizo Obuchi, who was on life support
after having a stroke. |
|
2001 |
A
Dutch driver is convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to
14 years in prison for the deaths of 58 Chinese immigrants
who suffocated in his truck in Dover, England the previous
summer. |
|
2002 |
A
Chinese research team and the Swiss company Syngenta
discover two separate versions of the first full genetic map
of the rice plant. This is a breakthrough for agricultural
science, and could lead to the development of improved
strains of staple cereal crops. |
|
2003 |
The
Belgian Senate amends a war crimes law to narrow its
controversial "universal jurisdiction." The 1993
law allowed the prosecution of war crimes that occurred
anywhere in the world. It was written in response to
mounting civil strife that year in Rwanda, a former Belgian
colony. — AP/REUTERS/VNS |
