In 1077 the Norman monk Gundulf was consecrated as Bishop of Rochester. As chief engineer to William the Conqueror, he later oversaw the construction of Rochester Castle and the White Tower of the Tower of London.
In 1644, when the dynasty was near its collapse, 200 members of the Peking royal family and court committed mass suicide in a show of loyalty to the last Ming emperor Chongzhen.
In 1799, Joseph Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation” (“Die Schöpfung”) had its first public performance at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria, to widespread acclaim.
In 1863, the Confederate cruiser SS Georgiana was destroyed on its maiden voyage, losing its cargo of arms and medicine worth more than $1 million. Exactly 102 years later, teenage diver E. Lee Spence discovered the ship’s wreck, a landmark discovery in underwater archaeology.
In 1870, Antônio Carlos Gomes’ opera “Il Guarany” premiered at La Scala in Milan, Italy, earning international fame as a masterpiece of Brazilian classical music.
In 1885, Louis Riel returned to Canada and declared a provisional government in Saskatchewan, leading to the Northwest Rebellion to protect Métis rights.
In 1896, Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, premiered in London with English cellist Leo Stern as soloist, cementing its place as a cornerstone of the cello repertoire.
International Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1911, with over one million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland rallying to demand women’s suffrage, equality in the workplace and an end to job discrimination.
In 1917, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the eight-hour workday for railroad workers, solidifying labor rights and setting a precedent for future workplace reforms.
In 1919, the literary magazine “Littérature” published its first issue, edited by André Breton, Philippe Soupault and Louis Aragon, laying the foundation for the surrealist movement in literature.
In 1920, the U.S. Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles for a second time, refusing to join the League of Nations and reinforcing America’s policy of isolationism.
In 1937, astronomer Fritz Zwicky published groundbreaking research on stellar explosions, coining the term “supernova” and proposing that they were the source of cosmic rays.
In 1943, Jake LaMotta scored his first win over Jimmy Reeves, knocking him out in the sixth round of the third match.
In 1945, Adolf Hitler issued the “Nero Decree”, ordering the destruction of all German factories and infrastructure to prevent their use by the Allies.
In 1946, Nikolai Mikhailovich Shvernik took over as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, replacing Mikhail Kalinin, and became the nominal head of state.
