1940 – The Lascaux paintings were discovered in France. The cave paintings were 17,000 years old and were some of the best examples of art from the Paleolithic period.
490 BC – Traditional date of the Battle of Marathon, where a small Athenian force defeats the Persian Empire
1217 – French prince Louis & English King Henry III sign peace treaty
1396 – Crusaders under earl of Nevers reaches Nicopolis
1609 – English explorer Henry Hudson sailed down what is now known as the Hudson River.
1624 – 1st submarine publicly tested in London on the Thames for King James I
1662 – John Flamsteed sees partial solar eclipse, stirs his interest in astronomy
1695 – New York Jews petition governor Dongan for religious liberties
1733 – Polish Landowners select Stanislaw Lesczynski king
1751 – Amsterdam refuses establishment of Jewish ghetto
1755 – Giacomo Casanova is sentenced to 5 years imprisonment in Venice without trial for affront to religion and common decency
1759 – British soldiers capture the town of Quebec
1787 – American statesman George Mason suggests the addition of a Bill of Rights to the Constitution modeled on previous state declarations, but the motion is defeated
1789 – Jean-Paul Marat publishes the first issue of his radical newspaper Le Publiciste parisien, later called L’Ami du peuple (The Friend of the People) in Paris
1792 – Court martial begins for instigators of the mutiny on the Bounty on board HMS Duke in Portsmouth harbour, presided over by Vice-Admiral Samuel Hood
1829 – Greek War of Independence ends after 8 years and 6 months
1847 – Mexican–American War: the Battle of Chapultepec begins
1866 – “The Black Crook” opened in New York City. It was the first American burlesque show.
1873 – The first practical typewriter was sold to customers.
1878 – Patent litigation involving the Bell Telephone Company against Western Union Telegraph Company and Elisha Gray began. The issues were over various telephone patents.
1897 – Battle of Saragarhi: Thousands of Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen overwhelm and kill at great cost to themselves 21 British Raj Sikh Soldiers led by Havildar Ishar Singh at Tirah, North-West Frontier Province, British India
1914 – The first battle of Marne ended when the allied forces stopped the German offensive in France.
1918 – During World War I, At the Battle of St. Mihiel, U.S. Army personnel operate tanks for the first time. The tanks were French-built.
1919 – Adolf Hitler joins the obscure German Worker’s Party as its seventh member, agreeing not with worker’s rights, but with its German Nationalism and antisemitism
1922 – The Episcopal Church removed the word “Obey” from the bride’s section of wedding vows.
1933 – Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives idea of a nuclear chain reaction
1938 – In a speech, Adolf Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia.
1940 – The Lascaux paintings were discovered in France. The cave paintings were 17,000 years old and were some of the best examples of art from the Paleolithic period. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lascaux-cave-paintings-discovered
1943 The Gran Sasso Raid is conducted by the German paratroopers at the behest of Hitler. The purpose of the airborne operation, also known as Operation Eiche, was to free Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a ski resort where he was being held on the orders of the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel III. Using gliders, German troops entered the ski resort and successfully rescued Mussolini.
1944 – Second Quebec Conference: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and the Combined Chiefs of Staff meet in Quebec City, Canada to discuss Allied occupation zones, the Morgenthau Plan, U.S. Lend-Lease aid to Britain and the role of the Royal Navy
1944 – U.S. Army troops entered Germany, near Trier, for the first time during World War II.
1948 – Indian Army Invades the State of Hyderabad a day after Pakistani leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah passes away
1956 – Black students enter & are barred from Clay Ky elementary school
1958 – US Supreme Court orders the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas to integrate
1959 – Luna 2 launched by USSR; 1st spacecraft to impact on the Moon
1970 – Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan, continuing to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman.
1970 The Soviet Union launches the Luna 16. It was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return to Earth with rock samples. Luna 16 landed on Earth on September 24.
1974 – Violence occurred on the opening day of classes in Boston, MA, due opposition to court-ordered school “busing.”
1974 – Emperor Haile Selassie was taken out of power by Ethiopia’s military after ruling for 58 years.
1977 – South African anti-apartheid activist Stephen Biko died at the age of 30. The student leader died while in police custody which triggered an international outcry.
1986 – US professor Joseph Cicippio is kidnapped & held hostage in Beirut
1990 – US, United Kingdom, France, USSR, East & West Germanys sign agreements allowing 2 Germanys to merge
1991 – The space shuttle Discovery took off on a mission to deploy an observatory that was to study the Earth’s ozone layer.
1992 – Police in Peru captured Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman.
1992 – Dr. Mae Carol Jemison became the first African-American woman in space. She was the payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Endeavor. Also onboard were Mission Specialist N. Jan Davis and Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Mark C. Lee. They were the first married couple to fly together in space. And, Mamoru Mohri became the first Japanese person to fly into space.
1995 – Belarus military shoots down a hydrogen balloon, killing its two American pilots.
1997 – The UN passes a resolution allowing Iraq to reach the $2.14 billion oil sales limit under its oil-for-food program
2000 – Holland (the Netherlands) passes law allowing same-gender marriage, adoption and divorce.
2001 – Article V of the NATO agreement is invoked for the first and only time in response to the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States of America.
2003 – In Fallujah, US forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.
2003 – The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
2005 – Israel completes its withdrawal of all troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.
2007 – Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is convicted of the crime of plunder.
2009 – The 9-12 Project organized multiple marches and demonstrations across the USA to protest government spending.
2012 – Excavators announce that they may have found the remains of King Richard III of England under a carpark in Leicester
2015 – 12 tourists mistaken for militants, are killed by Egyptian forces in Egypts Western Desert
2017 – Monster fatburg 250m long, 130 tons, size of 11 buses found in sewers under east London
2018 – European parliament votes to pursue disciplinary action against Hungary for anti-democratic actions, first ever such vote
2018 – More than 3,600 children reported abused by Catholic priests in Germany (1946-2014) in leaked report
2021 – Taliban says women must study in gender-segregated classrooms in Afghanistan
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
