#USS Tennessee (1865)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.4

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground. 611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico. 801 – King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months. 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1423 – Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Gallipoli (1416). 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists and opponents of the monarchy for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates (conditionally) for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French, followed by unconditional abdication two days later. 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1860 – The declaration on the introduction of the Finnish markka as an official currency is read in different parts of the Grand Duchy of Finland. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3,000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: United States Army troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: United States Army troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet Red Army troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves. 1946 – Greek judge and archeologist Panagiotis Poulitsas is appointed Prime Minister of Greece in the midst of the Greek Civil War. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1963 – Bye Bye Birdie, a musical romantic comedy film directed by George Sidney, was released. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1977 – Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia, killing 72. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space on STS-6. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1991 – Forty-one people are taken hostage inside a Good Guys! Electronics store in Sacramento, California. Three of the hostage takers and three hostages are killed. 1994 – Three people are killed when KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The MPLA government of Angola and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO. 2010 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits south of the Mexico-USA border, killing two and damaging buildings across the two countries. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India. 2017 – Syria conducts an air strike on Khan Shaykhun using chemical weapons, killing 89 civilians. 2020 – China holds a national day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak. 2023 – Finland becomes a member of NATO after Turkey became the last member state to accept the membership request of Finland, which Finland submitted after the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

[lonestarbattleship]

State Ship Series: USS Tennessee

There has been six ships commissioned named after the state of Tennessee in the US Navy. The state was admitted into the United States on June 1, 1796.

USS Tennessee (1853), side-wheel steamer, in commission from 1862 to 1865. Originally SS Republic, captured by the Confederate in 1862 and renamed CSS Tennessee. Later that year, captured by the Union and commissioned. Renamed USS Mobile.

USS Tennessee (1863), casemate ironclad, in commission from 1864 to 1865. She was originally CSS Tennessee and was captured by Union during the Battle of Mobile Bay. She participated in the Siege of Fort Morgan. Scrapped in 1867.

USS Tennessee (1865), Wampanoag class, screw frigate, in common from 1867 to 1886. Originally named USS Madawaska, renamed USS Tennessee in 1869. "In The Steam Navy of the United States, Frank M. Bennet relates that during the time Tennessee was flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron she was 'the largest vessel then in commission in the American Navy, and the era of mastless steel cruisers was yet so far away that she was not suspected, by the youngsters at least, of being obsolete and stood as the type of all that was excellent and majestic in ship construction.' Her spaciousness and the comfort of her quarters as well as her handling characteristics made her a favorite duty station."

USS Tennessee (ACR-10), Tennessee class, Armored Cruiser, in commission from 1906 to 1917. Renamed USS Memphis in 1916 to free the name for BB-43. She was lost on August 29, 1916 in San Diego Harbor when 70 to 100 ft (21 to 30 m) waves started slammed into her. She was rolling 45°, water entered through her gun ports and funnels. This put out the fire in her boilers and losing steam. Over the next hour and a half, she was slammed against the harbor floor and pushed up onto the beach. 43 men were killed or missing and 204 injured. Deemed a total loss as she had suffered the destruction of her propulsion plant and severe distortion of her hull structure. She was salvaged for her guns and other equipment and scrapped from 1922 to 1938.

USS Tennessee (BB-43), Tennessee Class, Dreadnought Battleship, in commission from 1920 to 1947. She was part of the "Big 5", the group that consisted of the the most modern battleships of the interwar period. The group compromised of the Tennessee class and Colorado class. Survived the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, being hit by two bombs, one of which was the same as the one that destroyed USS Arizona. Luckily, it was a dud. She was protected from torpedoes by being inboard of USS West Virginia. She was pulled from her mooring after USS Maryland was freed. Quickly repaired and went on patrols in 1942. She went back to the yard to be completely rebuilt and modernized from late 1943 to 1944. She fought in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, Battles of Tarawa, Battle of Kwajalein, Battle of Eniwetok, Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, Battles of Saipan, Battle of Guam, Battle of Tinian, Battle of Angaur, Philippines campaign, Battle of Leyte, Battle of Surigao Strait (the last battleship engagement), invasion of Iwo Jima, and invasion of Okinawa. She took a kamikaze hit at Okinawa. She earned ten battle stars during WWII. Placed in reserves in 1947, she was scrapped in 1959. Rumor has it the citizens of Tennessee wanted her as a museum ship but the Mississippi river was not deep enough for the battleship to make it.

USS Tennessee (SSBN-734), Ohio class, nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, in commission from 1988 to present.

NHHC: NH 99943, NH 51951, NH 42390, NH 2230

NARA: 306536

source, source, source

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.4

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1147 – Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes. 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1423 – Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Gallipoli (1416). 1460 – Basel University is founded. 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister. 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French. 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances. 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city. 1859 – Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. 1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India. 2020 – China holds a National day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.3

473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. 1575 – Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Sultan of Bengal Daud Khan Karrani's army at the Battle of Tukaroi. 1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau. 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia. 1799 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison. 1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise. 1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state. 1849 – The Territory of Minnesota is created. 1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China. 1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, concludes. 1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs. 1865 – Opening of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group. 1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene literature and articles of immoral use" through the mail. 1875 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen receives its première at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. 1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as recorded in the Montreal Gazette. 1878 – The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano. 1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York. 1891 – Shoshone National Forest is established as the first national forest in the US and world. 1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: John D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy. 1913 – Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. 1918 – Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi. 1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time. 1924 – The 407-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished, when Caliph Abdülmecid II of the Ottoman Caliphate is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Atatürk. 1924 – The Free State of Fiume is annexed by the Kingdom of Italy. 1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem. 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia. 1939 – In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India. 1940 – Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Flamman in Luleå, Sweden. 1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people. 1943 – World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station. 1944 – The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards. 1945 – World War II: American and Filipino troops recapture Manila. 1945 – World War II: The RAF accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people. 1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records "Rocket 88", often cited as "the first rock and roll record", at Sam Phillips's recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee. 1953 – A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11. 1958 – Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time. 1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module. 1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures. 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard. 1980 – The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. 1985 – Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers' national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures. 1985 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless. 1986 – The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom. 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers. 2005 – James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. This is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion. 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling. 2005 – Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006 where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur. 2013 – A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 45 people and injured 180 others in a predominately Shia Muslim area.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.13

1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions which are later transcribed in her Revelations of Divine Love. 1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, are officially married at Greenwich. 1568 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother. 1619 – Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason. 1779 – War of the Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from it (the Innviertel). 1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in early Tennessee. 1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia. 1804 – Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city. 1830 – Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia. 1846 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on Mexico. 1861 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the Confederacy as having belligerent rights. 1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia. 1861 – Pakistan's (then a part of British India) first railway line opens, from Karachi to Kotri. 1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Resaca: The battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta. 1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: In far south Texas, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory. 1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway. 1888 – With the passage of the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law"), Empire of Brazil abolishes slavery. 1909 – The first Giro d'Italia starts from Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna will be the winner. 1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom. 1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal. 1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM. 1940 – World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons. 1940 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety. 1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting against German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance. 1943 – World War II: Operations Vulcan and Strike force the surrender of the last Axis troops in Tunisia. 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14. 1950 – The first round of the Formula One World Championship is held at Silverstone. 1951 – The 400th anniversary of the founding of the National University of San Marcos is commemorated by the opening of the first large-capacity stadium in Peru. 1952 – The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting. 1954 – The anti-National Service Riots, by Chinese middle school students in Singapore, take place. 1954 – The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography. 1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators. 1958 – May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria. 1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey. 1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 1967 – Dr. Zakir Husain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969. 1969 – May 13 Incident involving sectarian violence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 1971 – Over 900 unarmed Bengali Hindus are murdered in the Demra massacre. 1972 – Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators lead to 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths. 1972 – The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured. 1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area. 1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives. 1985 – Police bombed MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents. 1989 – Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike. 1990 – The Dinamo–Red Star riot took place at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (fans of Red Star Belgrade). 1992 – Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People's Republic of China. 1995 – Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas. 1996 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people. 1998 – Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped. 1998 – India carries out two nuclear tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India. 2005 – Andijan uprising, Uzbekistan; Troops open fire on crowds of protestors after a prison break; at least 187 people were killed according to official estimates. 2006 – São Paulo violence: Rebellions occur in several prisons in Brazil. 2011 – Two bombs explode in the Charsadda District of Pakistan killing 98 people and wounding 140 others. 2012 – Forty-nine dismembered bodies are discovered by Mexican authorities on Mexican Federal Highway 40. 2013 – Kermit Gosnell, a U.S. abortion physician, is found guilty in Pennsylvania of three counts of murder of newborn infants, one count of involuntary manslaughter, and various other charges. In total, more than 100 babies were killed at Gosnell's abortion clinic. 2014 – An explosion at an underground coal mine in southwest Turkey kills 301 miners. 2018 – Nine people die after the suicide bombing of three Indonesian churches in Surabaya, Indonesia.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.4

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1423 – Death of the Venetian Doge Tommaso Mocenigo, under whose rule victories were achieved against the Kingdom of Hungary and against the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Gallipoli (1416). 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1601–1900 1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists and opponents of the monarchy for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French. 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: United States Army troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: United States Army troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet Red Army troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1977 – Southern Airways Flight 242 crashes in New Hope, Paulding County, Georgia, killing 72. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1991 – Forty-one people are taken hostage inside a Good Guys! Electronics store in Sacramento, California. 3 of the hostage takers and 3 hostages are killed 1994 – Three people are killed when KLM Cityhopper Flight 433 crashes at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The MPLA government of Angola and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO. 2010 – A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hits south of the Mexico-USA border, killing two and damaging buildings across the two countries. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India. 2017 – Syria conducts an air strike on Khan Shaykhun using chemical weapons, killing 89 civilians. 2020 – China holds a national day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.17

1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. 1527 – Pánfilo de Narváez departs Spain to explore Florida with 600 men - by 1536 only 4 survive. 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled. 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. 1642 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal. 1648 – Emperor Ferdinand III defeats Maximilian I of Bavaria in the Battle of Zusmarshausen. 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. 1756 – Seven Years' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement. 1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt. 1809 – Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. 1814 – The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly. 1859 – Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football. 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language. 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris. 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis (2:37.75) 1883 – Buffalo Bill's 1st Buffalo Bill's Wild West opens in Omaha, Nebraska. 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking. 1900 – The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister. 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. 1914 – The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty. 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by H. H. Asquith) falls. 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The Largo Caballero government resigns in the wake of the Barcelona May Days, leading Juan Negrín to form a government, without the anarcho-syndicalist CNT, in its stead. 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City. 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. 1943 – World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF. 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools. 1967 – Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate. 1974 – The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. 1974 – Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall. 1977 – Nolan Bushnell opened the first ShowBiz Pizza Place (later renamed Chuck E. Cheese) in San Jose, California. 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations. 1980 – On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru. 1983 – The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds [1.9 kt]), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend", sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture. 1987 – Iran–Iraq War: An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. 1992 – Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests. 1994 – Malawi holds its first multi-party elections. 1995 – Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage. 1997 – Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2000 – Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clash in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final riots in Copenhagen 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts. 2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef. 2007 – Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953. 2014 – A plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.17

1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled. 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. 1642 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal. 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement. 1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt. 1809 – Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. 1814 – The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly. 1859 – Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football. 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language. 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris. 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis (2:37.75) 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking. 1900 – The children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister. 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. 1914 – The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty. 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by H. H. Asquith) falls. 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway. 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City. 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. 1943 – World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF. 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools. 1967 – Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate. 1974 – The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. 1974 – Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall. 1977 – Nolan Bushnell opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's in San Jose, California. 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations. 1980 – On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru. 1983 – The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds [1.9 kt]), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend", sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture. 1987 – Iran–Iraq War: An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. 1992 – Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests. 1994 – Malawi holds its first multi-party elections. 1995 – Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage. 1997 – Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2000 – Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clash in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final riots in Copenhagen 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts. 2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef. 2007 – Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953. 2014 – A plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.13

1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book Revelations of Divine Love. 1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, are officially married at Greenwich. 1568 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother. 1619 – Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason. 1779 – War of the Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from it (the Innviertel). 1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in the Cumberland River area of what would become the U.S. state of Tennessee, providing for democratic government and a formal system of justice. 1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia. 1804 – Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city. 1830 – Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia. 1846 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on the Federal Republic of Mexico following a dispute over the American annexation of the Republic of Texas and a Mexican military incursion. 1861 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the Confederacy as having belligerent rights. 1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia. 1861 – Pakistan's (then a part of British India) first railway line opens, from Karachi to Kotri. 1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Resaca: The battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta. 1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: In far south Texas, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory. 1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway. 1888 – With the passage of the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law"), Empire of Brazil abolishes slavery. 1909 – The first Giro d'Italia starts from Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna will be the winner. 1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom. 1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal. 1940 – World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons. 1940 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety. 1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting against German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance. 1943 – World War II: Operations Vulcan and Strike force the surrender of the last Axis troops in Tunisia. 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14. 1950 – The first round of the Formula One World Championship is held at Silverstone. 1951 – The 400th anniversary of the founding of the National University of San Marcos is commemorated by the opening of the first large-capacity stadium in Peru. 1952 – The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting. 1954 – The anti-National Service Riots, by Chinese middle school students in Singapore, take place. 1954 – The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography. 1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon's car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators. 1958 – May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria. 1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey. 1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. 1967 – Dr. Zakir Husain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969. 1969 – May 13 Incident involving sectarian violence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 1971 – Over 900 unarmed Bengali Hindus are murdered in the Demra massacre. 1972 – Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators lead to 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths. 1972 – The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured. 1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area. 1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives. 1985 – Police bombed MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents. 1989 – Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike. 1990 – The Dinamo–Red Star riot took place at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (fans of Red Star Belgrade). 1992 – Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People's Republic of China. 1995 – Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas. 1996 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people. 1998 – Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped. 1998 – India carries out two nuclear weapon tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India. 2005 – Andijan uprising, Uzbekistan; Troops open fire on crowds of protestors after a prison break; at least 187 people were killed according to official estimates. 2006 – São Paulo violence: Rebellions occur in several prisons in Brazil. 2011 – Two bombs explode in the Charsadda District of Pakistan killing 98 people and wounding 140 others. 2012 – Forty-nine dismembered bodies are discovered by Mexican authorities on Mexican Federal Highway 40. 2013 – American physician Kermit Gosnell is found guilty in Pennsylvania of murdering three infants born alive during attempted abortions, involuntary manslaughter of a woman during an abortion procedure, and other charges. 2014 – An explosion at an underground coal mine in southwest Turkey kills 301 miners.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.4

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1147 – Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes. 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1460 – Basel University is founded. 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum. 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister. 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French. 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances. 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city. 1859 – Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. 1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country itself. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India. 2020 – China holds a national mourning day for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.17

1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled. 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. 1642 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal. 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement. 1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt. 1809 – Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. 1814 – The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly. 1859 – Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football. 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language. 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris. 1869 – Imperial Japanese forces defeat the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Battle of Hakodate to end the Boshin War. 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby. 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking. 1900 – The children's novel the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author's sister.[1] 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. 1914 – The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty. 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by Herbert Henry Asquith) falls. 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway. 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City. 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. 1943 – World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF. 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. 1967 – Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate. 1974 – The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. 1974 – Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall. 1977 – Nolan Bushnell opened the first Chuck E. Cheese's in San Jose, California. 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations. 1980 – On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru. 1983 – The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend", sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture. 1987 – Iran–Iraq War: An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. 1992 – Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests. 1994 – Malawi holds its first multi-party elections. 1995 – Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage. 1997 – Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2000 – Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clash in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final riots in Copenhagen 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts. 2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef. 2007 – Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953. 2014 – A plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people. 2018 – The United States Senate confirmed Gina Cheri Haspel to lead the Central Intelligence Agency becoming the first woman to hold the post on a full-time basis.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.4

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrated a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1147 – First historical record of Moscow. 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1460 – Basel University is founded. 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain. 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister. 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1812 – United States President James Madison enacts a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French. 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances. 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city. 1859 – Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. 1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1923 – Warner Bros. Pictures opens its doors and is now open for business with the four founders of the company: Jack Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner and Sam Warner. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country itself. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1991 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France returns to being a member of NATO. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.3

473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England. 1575 – Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi. 1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau. 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia. 1799 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison. 1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise. 1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state. 1849 – The Territory of Minnesota was created. 1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China. 1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, concludes. 1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs. 1865 – Opening of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group. 1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail. 1875 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen receives its première at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. 1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as recorded in the Montreal Gazette. 1878 – The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano; a few months afterwards the Congress of Berlin stripped its status to a vassal principality of the Ottoman Empire. 1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York. 1891 – Shoshone National Forest is established as the first national forest in the US and world. 1904 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's phonograph cylinder. 1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: John D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy. 1913 – Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. 1918 – Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi. 1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time. 1924 – The 407-year-old Islamic caliphate is abolished, when Caliph Abdülmecid II of the Ottoman Caliphate is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Atatürk. 1924 – The Free State of Fiume is annexed by the Kingdom of Italy. 1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem. 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia. 1939 – In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India. 1940 – Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Flamman in Luleå, Sweden. 1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people. 1943 – World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station. 1944 – The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards. 1945 – World War II: American and Filipino troops recapture Manila. 1945 – World War II: The RAF accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people. 1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records "Rocket 88", often cited as "the first rock and roll record", at Sam Phillips's recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee. 1953 – A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11. 1958 – Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time. 1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module. 1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures. 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard. 1980 – The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. 1985 – Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers' national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures. 1985 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless. 1986 – The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom. 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers. 2005 – James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. This is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion. 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling. 2005 – Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006 where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur. 2013 – A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 45 people and injured 180 others in a predominately Shia Muslim area. 2017 – Nintendo releases the hybrid Nintendo Switch video game console worldwide to critical acclaim, later becoming the fastest selling console in the United States.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.4

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrated a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1147 – First historical record of Moscow. 1460 – Basel University is founded. 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain. 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister. 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1812 – United States President James Madison enacts a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French. 1818 – The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances. 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city. 1859 – Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country itself. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1991 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France returns to being a member of NATO. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.3

473 – Gundobad (nephew of Ricimer) nominates Glycerius as emperor of the Western Roman Empire. 724 – Empress Genshō abdicates the throne in favor of her nephew Shōmu who becomes emperor of Japan. 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England. 1575 – Indian Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi. 1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins the Battle of Nassau. 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed at the Battle of Brier Creek near Savannah, Georgia. 1799 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison. 1820 – The U.S. Congress passes the Missouri Compromise. 1845 – Florida is admitted as the 27th U.S. state. 1849 – The Territory of Minnesota was created. 1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China. 1859 – The two-day Great Slave Auction, the largest such auction in United States history, concludes. 1861 – Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing serfs. 1865 – Opening of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, the founding member of the HSBC Group. 1873 – Censorship in the United States: The U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" books through the mail. 1875 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen receives its première at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. 1875 – The first ever organized indoor game of ice hockey is played in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as recorded in the Montreal Gazette. 1878 – The Russo-Turkish War ends with Bulgaria regaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire according to the Treaty of San Stefano; a few months afterwards the Congress of Berlin stripped its status to a vassal principality of the Ottoman Empire. 1885 – The American Telephone & Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York. 1904 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first person to make a sound recording of a political document, using Thomas Edison's phonograph cylinder. 1910 – Rockefeller Foundation: John D. Rockefeller Jr. announces his retirement from managing his businesses so that he can devote all his time to philanthropy. 1913 – Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. 1918 – Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi. 1923 – TIME magazine is published for the first time. 1924 – The fourteenth-century Islamic caliphate is abolished when Caliph Abdülmecid II of the Ottoman Empire is deposed. The last remnant of the old regime gives way to the reformed Turkey of Kemal Atatürk. 1924 – The Free State of Fiume is annexed by the Kingdom of Italy. 1931 – The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem. 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia. 1939 – In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India. 1940 – Five people are killed in an arson attack on the offices of the communist newspaper Flamman in Luleå, Sweden. 1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people. 1943 – World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station. 1944 – The Order of Nakhimov and Order of Ushakov are instituted in USSR as the highest naval awards. 1945 – World War II: American and Filipino troops recapture Manila. 1945 – World War II: The RAF accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people. 1951 – Jackie Brenston, with Ike Turner and his band, records "Rocket 88", often cited as "the first rock and roll record", at Sam Phillips's recording studios in Memphis, Tennessee. 1953 – A De Havilland Comet (Canadian Pacific Air Lines) crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11. 1958 – Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time. 1969 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module. 1972 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures. 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville near Paris, France killing all 346 aboard. 1980 – The USS Nautilus is decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. 1985 – Arthur Scargill declares that the National Union of Mineworkers' national executive voted to end the longest-running industrial dispute in Great Britain without any peace deal over pit closures. 1985 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaíso Region of Chile, killing 177 and leaving nearly a million people homeless. 1986 – The Australia Act 1986 commences, causing Australia to become fully independent from the United Kingdom. 1991 – An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers. 1997 – The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction. 2005 – James Roszko murders four Royal Canadian Mounted Police constables during a drug bust at his property in Rochfort Bridge, Alberta, then commits suicide. This is the deadliest peace-time incident for the RCMP since 1885 and the North-West Rebellion. 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world solo without refueling. 2005 – Margaret Wilson is elected as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, beginning a period lasting until August 23, 2006 where all the highest political offices (including Elizabeth II as Head of State), were occupied by women, making New Zealand the first country for this to occur. 2013 – A bomb blast in Karachi, Pakistan, kills at least 45 people and injured 180 others in a predominately Shia Muslim area. 2017 – Nintendo releases the hybrid Nintendo Switch video game console worldwide to critical acclaim, later becoming the fastest selling console in the United States.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.17

1395 – Battle of Rovine, Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army. 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason. 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled. 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. 1642 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal. 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River. 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement. 1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt. 1809 – Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire. 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian. 1814 – The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly. 1859 – Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football. 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language. 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris. 1869 – Imperial Japanese forces defeat the remnants of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Battle of Hakodate to end the Boshin War. 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby. 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking. 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer. 1914 – The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty. 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by Herbert Henry Asquith) falls. 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway. 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City. 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium. 1943 – World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF. 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. 1967 – Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure. 1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate. 1974 – The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. 1974 – Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army's headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall. 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations. 1980 – On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru. 1983 – The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world's largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds), in response to the Appalachian Observer's Freedom of Information Act request. 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a "monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend", sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture. 1987 – An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew. 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases. 1992 – Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests. 1994 – Malawi holds its first multi-party elections. 1997 – Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo. 2000 – Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clash in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final riots in Copenhagen 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts. 2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef. 2007 – Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953. 2014 – A plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people.