1. 588 BC - Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC.

2. 69 AD - Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself emperor, only rules for three months before committing suicide.

3. 708 AD - Sisinnnius begins his reign as pope (dies 20 days later).

4. 946 AD - Caliph al-Mustaqfi is blinded and ousted.

5. 1346 AD - Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria gives his wife Margaretha, Holland and Zeeland.

6. 1535 AD - King Henry VIII declares himself head of the church in England.

7. 1541 AD - King Francis I of France commissions Jean-François Roberval to settle the province of New France.

8. 1552 AD - France signs a secret treaty with German Protestants.

9. 1559 AD - Elizabeth I is crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey.

10. 1562 AD - The 3rd sitting of the Council of Trent opens.

11. 1582 AD - Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland, losing access to the Baltic.

12. 1586 AD - Battle at Boxum: Spanish troops under Tassis beat the state army.

13. 1600 AD - French King Henri IV grants military captain Pierre Chauvin de Tonnetuit a ten-year commission for the fur trade in New France - he goes on to found the doomed colony of Tadoussac.

14. 1752 AD - Tobias Smollett publishes a pamphlet accusing Henry Fielding of plagiarism.

15. 1754 AD - Riot at the burial of Orangist leader Daniel Raap in Amsterdam.

16. 1759 AD - The British Museum opens in Montague House, London.

17. 1759 AD - Voltaire's satire "Candide" is published anonymously in five editions in five countries to scandalous acclaim.

18. 1762 AD - Fraunces Tavern opens in NYC.

19. 1777 AD - The people of New Connecticut (Vermont) declare independence from England.

20. 1780 AD - The American Continental Congress establishes a court of appeals.

21. 1782 AD - Robert Morris, superintendent of finance, recommends to the U.S. Congress the establishment of decimal coinage and a national mint.

22. 1784 AD - The Asiatic Society is founded by William Jones at a meeting in Calcutta's Fort William, India.

23. 1797 AD - The first top hat is worn by John Etherington of London.

24. 1815 AD - War of 1812: The USS President, an American frigate, is captured by four British frigates.

25. 1822 AD - Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.

26. 1831 AD - The first U.S. railroad honeymoon trip takes place for Mr. and Mrs. Pierson in Charleston, South Carolina.

27. 1831 AD - The first U.S.-built locomotive to pull a passenger train makes its first run.

28. 1833 AD - HMS Beagle anchors at Goeree Tierra del Fuego.

29. 1844 AD - The University of Notre Dame receives its charter in Indiana.

30. 1846 AD - Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky's first novel "Poor Folk" is published in the St. Petersburg Collection almanac.