1227: Genghis Khan dies
Genghis Khan, the
Mongol leader who forged an empire stretching from Peking to the Caspian Sea, dies in camp during a campaign in
China. The son of a Mongol chieftain, Khan united the many Mongol clans and tribes using both diplomacy and force, and was the leader of a great
confederation by the age of twenty-five. He organized fearful armies of up to 250,000 men fighting on horseback, and enemy armies and cities crumbled under their overwhelming show of force. The massacres that followed the invasions eliminated notions of further resistance. Those who survived--and millions did not--were granted religious freedom and protection within the rapidly growing
Mongol Empire. Genghis Khan carefully picked his successors, and his massive
Asian empire lasted for another 150 years.
1998
Pilot Peter Diamond is jailed for 2 years for helping businessman Azil Nadir escape from Britian in May 1993.1977
An estimated 130,000 mourners pay their last respects to American rock star Elvis Presley before his burial in Mempis, Tennesse.1966
Official opening of the Tay Bridge by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.1964
South Africa is banned from participating in the Olympic Games because of its racial policies.1960
The birth control pill - the first oral contraceptive - is launched by the Searle Drug Company in the United States.1957
Argentinian driver Juan Manuel Fangio wins his last world championship aged 46. 1948
Future British champion jockey,12 year old Lester Piggott, saddles his first winner in only his 7th professional ride.1941
Formation of British National Fire Service.1939
In America, the film The Wizard of Oz, starring Judy Garland, opens in New York.1930
The official joining of the two halves of Sydney Bridge in the centre of Sydney Harbour,
Australia - seven years after building work began.
1917
World War I: Beginning of the
Verdun offensive
1856
Patenting of condensed milk.1825
Scottish explorer Alexander Gordon Laing becomes the first European to reach Timbuktu - now in
Mali. Laing is murdered there less than a month later
1812
French troops commanded by
Napoleon Bonaparte are defeated by the Russians at the Battle of Smolensk.
1743
John Broughton, heavyweight boxing champion of England, drafts the first official rules of boxing.1587
Virginia Dare becomes the first child born of English parents in the
New World - 7 days after the arrival of Sir Walter Raleigh's second expedition in North Carolina.
