1. In 1040, the Battle of Dandana Qan took place. Tughril's Seljuk army defeated the Ghaznavid force near Merv (present - day Turkmenistan), leading to the fall of the Ghaznavid Empire.

2. In 1059, Henri I of France crowned his son Philip I (called the Amorous) as the king of France.

3. In 1275, King Edward I of England ordered the cessation of the persecution of French Jews.

4. In 1420, Jews in Syria and Austria were expelled.

5. In 1421, Jews in Austria were imprisoned and expelled.

6. In 1430, Joan of Arc was captured at Compiègne and sold to the English.

7. In 1493, King Charles VIII of France and Maximilian I of Austria signed the Peace of Senlis.

8. In 1511, Pope Julius II and French troops captured Bologna after an anti - papal revolt.

9. In 1536, Pope Paul III installed the Portuguese Inquisition.

10. In 1544, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V recognized King Christian III of Denmark.

11. In 1555, Giampietro Caraffa was elected Pope Paul IV.

12. In 1568, the Battle of Heiligerlee in Groningen took place. Dutch rebels defeated the Spanish, and thousands were killed.

13. In 1568, the Netherlands declared independence from Spain.

14. In 1576, King Frederick of Denmark offered the island of Hven to astronomer Tycho Brahe to build an observatory.

15. In 1609, the official ratification of the Second Charter of Virginia took place.

16. In 1611, Matthias von Habsburg was chosen as the king of Bohemia.

17. In 1618, the Second Defenestration of Prague occurred. Two Catholic lords regent and their secretary were thrown out of a window, triggering the Thirty Years' War.

18. In 1644, Johan Mauritius van Nassau resigned as the head of civil rights activists.

19. In 1647, William II, Prince of Orange, was sworn in as the stadtholder of Holland.

20. In 1660, King Charles II returned from exile and sailed from Scheveningen to England.

21. In 1667, King Afonso VI of Portugal fled.

22. In 1701, Captain William Kidd was hanged in London after being convicted of piracy and murder.

23. In 1701, the Kingdom of Prussia was established. Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, was crowned King Frederick I of Prussia in Potsdam.

24. In 1706, the Battle of Ramillies took place during the War of the Spanish Succession. John Churchill defeated the French, and 17,000 were killed.

25. In 1750, Carlo Goldoni's "Il Bugiardo" premiered in Mantua.

26. In 1774, the Chestertown Tea Party occurred, where tea was dumped into the Chester River.

27. In 1785, Benjamin Franklin announced his invention of bifocals.

28. In 1788, South Carolina became the 8th state to ratify the US Constitution.

29. In 1813, South American independence leader Simón Bolívar entered Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and was proclaimed "El Libertador".

30. In 1829, a patent for the accordion was granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.

31. In 1844, the Declaration of the Bab (Baha'i festival) took place.

32. In 1845, the New York City Police Department was formed, replacing an old night - watch system.

33. In 1853, Buenos Aires gained independence from Argentina (reunited in 1859).

34. In 1861, three fleeing slaves entered Fort Monroe, Virginia.

35. In 1861, Virginia citizens voted 3 - to - 1 in favor of secession from the Union.

36. In 1862, during the Valley Campaign, Stonewall Jackson took Fort Royal, Virginia.

37. In 1863, the Seventh - day Adventist Church was organized in Battle Creek, Michigan.

38. In 1864, the Battle of North Anna, Virginia, began, the first of three days of fighting.

39. In 1867, the Jesse James Gang robbed a bank in Richmond, Missouri (two died, and $4,000 was taken).

40. In 1873, the first Preakness Stakes took place. G. Barbee aboard Survivor won in 2:43 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.

41. In 1873, Canada's North - West Mounted Police Force was formed (it didn't get the "Royal" until 1904).

42. In 1873, postal cards were sold in San Francisco for the first time.

43. In 1887, the first transcontinental train arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia.

44. In 1894, William Love hosted groundbreaking ceremonies for Love Canal.

45. In 1898, the first Philippine expeditionary troops sailed from San Francisco.

46. In 1900, the Associated Press news service was formed in New York.

47. In 1901, the US captured Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of Filipino rebels.

48. In 1903, the first direct primary election law in the US was adopted by Wisconsin.

49. In 1915, Italy withdrew from the Triple Alliance, declared war on Austria - Hungary, and joined the Allies.

50. In 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were killed by police in Louisiana.