History Today: 1st coup in Nigeria,Biafra join Nigeria, Basketball rules published

• 588 BC Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah's reign. The siege lasts until July 23, 586 BC.
• 69 Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor, only rules for three months before committing suicide
• 708 Sisinnius begins his reign as Pope (dies 20 days later)
• 946 Caliph al-Mustaqfi blinded and ousted
• 1346 Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria gives his wife Margaretha, Holland/Zealand
• 1562 3rd sitting of Council of Trente opens
• 1582 Russia cedes Livonia & Estonia to Poland, loses access to Baltic
• 1586 Battle at Boxum: Spanish troops under Tassis beat state army
• 1752 Tobias Smollett publishes pamphlet accusing Henry Fielding of plagiarism
• 1754 Riot at burial of Orangist leader Daniel Raap in Amsterdam
• 1759 British Museum opens in Montague House, London
• 1762 Fraunces Tavern opens in NYC
• 1777 People of New Connecticut (Vermont) declare independence from England
• 1780 American Continental Congress establishes court of appeals
• 1782 Robert Morris, the Superintendent of Finance, recommends to U.S. Congress the establishment of decimal coinage and a national mint
• 1797 1st top hat worn (John Etherington of London)
• 1815 War of 1812: the USS President, an American frigate, is captured by four British frigates
• 1822 Greek War of Independence: Demetrius Ypsilanti is elected president of the legislative assembly.
• 1831 1st US-built locomotive to pull a passenger train makes 1st run
• 1831 1st US railroad honeymoon trip, Mr & Mrs Pierson, Charleston, SC
• 1833 HMS Beagle anchors at Goeree Tierra del Fuego
• 1844 University of Notre Dame receives its charter in Indiana
• 1847 1st Swedish magazine in US, Skandinavia, published in NYC
• 1851 Gen Arista replaces Mexican President Herrera
• 1857 1st first-class game in Sydney, NSW v Vic at The Domain
• 1863 1st US newspaper printed on wood-pulp paper, Boston Morning Journal
• 1865 Ft Fisher, NC, falls to Union troops
• 1866 Bedrich Smetana's opera "Branibori v Cechach" premieres in Prague
• 1870 Donkey first used as symbol of Democratic Party, in Harper's Weekly
• 1876 "Die Afrikaanse Patriot", the first newspaper in Afrikaans, is published in Paarl
• 1877 US Assay Office in Helena, Montana opens
• 1882 1st US ski club forms (Berlin NH)
• 1886 Weekly Herald, 1st newspaper in Vancouver, BC, publishes 1st issue
• 1889 The Coca-Cola Company, then known as the Pemberton Medicine Company, is incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia
• 1892 Basketball rules published in Triangle Magazine, Mass
• 1895 Albert Trott takes 8-43 on Test debut, then a record
• 1895 French fleet reaches Majunga, Madagascar
• 1905 Coen de Koning becomes world champion all-round skater
• 1907 3-element vacuum tube patented by Dr Lee De Forest
• 1907 Gold dental inlays first described by William Taggart, who invented them
• 1908 C Hill & R J Hartigan make 8th wkt partnership 243 for Aust
• 1908 Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority: first Greek-letter organization established by African American college women
• 1910 Constructions ends on the Buffalo Bill Dam in Wyoming
• 1915 Japan claims economic control of China
• 1915 Sydney, Kern & Smith's musical "Love o' Mike" premieres in NYC
• 1919 2 million gallons of molasses flood Boston MA, drowning 21
• 1919 Frank Wedekind's "Die letzten Tage der Menschheit" premieres
• 1919 Pianist & statesman Ignace Paderewski becomes first premier of Poland
• 1919 Semana Tragica (Tragic Week): Bloodbath in Buenos Aires
• 1919 W Collison & O Harbach's "Up in Mabel's Room" premieres in NYC
• 1919 Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps
• 1922 Arthur Griffith is elected president of the Irish Free State after Eamon de Valera resigns in opposition to the Anglo-Irish Treaty (De Valera will lead a military opposition seeking a unified and independent Ireland)
• 1924 3rd Dutch government Ruijs de Beerenbrouck forms
• 1925 Hans Luther forms German government, with DNVP
• 1927 The Tennessee Supreme Court overturns (on a technicality) John T Scopes' guilty verdict for teaching evolution — but the law itself remains in force
• 1930 George Headley scores century on debut v England (made 176)
• 1934 8.4 earthquake in India/Nepal, 10,700 die
• 1934 While robbing the First National Bank in East Chicago, Indianapolis, Dillinger is shot several times by officer William O'Malley, but survives because he is wearing a bullet proof vest.
• 1935 300 Dutch ice cream salesmen protest against Italian competition
• 1935 Clifford Odets' "Waiting for Lefty" premieres in NYC
• 1936 1st all-glass windowless structure in US completed, Toledo, Ohio
• 1936 Horace Stoneham elected president of NY Giants
• 1936 Non-profit Ford Foundation incorporates
• 1937 Spanish Civil War: Second Battle of the Corunna Road ends after both forces withdraw
• 1939 1st NFL pro bowl, NY Giants beat All Stars 13-10 in Wrigley Field
• 1939 Municipal Railway & Market St RR begin service to Transbay Terminal
• 1940 German U-Boot torpedoes Dutch merchant ship Arendskerk (Eagle's Church)
• 1942 Cubs drop plans to install lights at Wrigley due to WW II
• 1944 Vught Concentration Camp puts 74 women in 1 cell, 10 die
• 1945 "Make Mine Manhattan" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 429 performances
• 1945 Every Amsterdammer gets 3 kg of sugar beets
• 1945 Red Army frees Crakow-Plaszow concentration camp
• 1945 The Manhattan Project's G-5 Group, headed by Physicist's Donald Kerst and Seth Neddermeyer, take their first betatron pictures of a nuclear implosion at the Los Alamos Laboratory
• 1949 Mao's Red army conquers Ten-tsin
• 1950 4,000 attend National Emergency Civil Rights Conference in Washington, D.C.
• 1951 "Cloud of Death" rolls down Mount Lamington, New Guinea kills 3-5,000
• 1951 Supreme Court rule "clear & present danger" of incitement to riot is not protected speech & can be a cause for arrest
• 1951 Ilse Koch, also known as "The Witch of Buchenwald", is sentenced to life imprisonment by a West German court
• 1953 16 car Federal Express train loses brakes & crashes in Washington, D.C. station
• 1953 GDR Min of Foreign affairs Georg Dertingen arrested for "espionage"
• 1953 East Germany purges senior officials, accused of spying for 'imperialistic powers' and plotting against the state
• 1955 1st official act of Princess Beatrice, launches tanker Vasum
• 1955 Dmitri Shostakovitch's "From Jewish Folk Poetry" premieres in Leningrad
• 1955 USSR ends state of war with German Federal Republic
• 1956 Bauer Marlene wins LPGA Sea Island Golf Open
• 1956 Dmitri Shostakovitch appointed honorary member of Academia Santa Cecilia
• 1956 KWAB TV channel 4 in Big Spring, TX (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1956 NFL Pro Bowl: East beats West 31-30
• 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers sign a new 3 year lease for Ebbets Field
• 1957 7th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 109-97 at Boston
• 1958 NY Yankees sign million dollar plus deal to show 140 games on WPIX TV
• 1961 NFL Pro Bowl: West beats East 35-31
• 1961 Suggs wins LPGA Sea Island Women's Golf Invitational Open
• 1961 Supremes signed with Motown Records
• 1962 Dutch & Indonesian navy encounter in Etna Bay New Guinea
• 1962 50th Women's Australian Championships: Margaret Court beats Jan Lehane O'Neill (6-0, 6-2)

• 1964 Baseball agrees to hold a free-agent draft in NYC
• 1964 Teamsters negotiate 1st national labor contract
• 1965 Rock group Who releases first album "I Can't Explain"
• 1965 Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan, forms
• 1965 Soviet underground nuclear test creates the atomic lake Chagan, Kazakhstan
• 1966 AFL Pro Bowl: All-Stars beats Buffalo 30-19
• 1966 NFL Pro Bowl: East beats West 36-7
• 1966 The First Nigerian Republic is overthrown in a military coup d'etat
• 1967 Super Bowl I: Green Bay Packers beat KC Chiefs, 35-10 in LA Super Bowl MVP: Bart Starr, Green Bay, QB
• 1968 KDCD TV channel 18 in Midland, TX (IND) begins broadcasting
• 1969 Nuclear test at Pacific Ocean
• 1969 Soyuz 5 launched by Soviet Union
• 1969 Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neill announces that an official inquiry will analyse the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland
• 1970 Milwaukee Brewers make their 1st trade (with Oakland A's)
• 1970 Republic of Biafra disbands and joins Nigeria
• 1970 Riots break out in the Ardoyne area of Belfast
• 1974 "Happy Days" begins an 11 year run on ABC
• 1974 24th NBA All-Star Game: West beats East 134-123 at Seattle
• 1974 Expert panel reports 18½ minute gap in Watergate tape, 5 separate erasures
• 1975 Portugal signs accord for Angola's independence
• 1975 Space Mountain opens (Disneyland)
• 
  

• 1976 US-German Helios B solar probe launched into solar orbit
• 1976 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
• 1977 Coneheads debut on "Saturday Night Live"
• 1977 Jane Blalock wins LPGA Colgate Triple Crown Golf Tournament
• 1978 Theodore Bundy kills Fla State U coeds Lisa Levy & Margaret Bowman
• 1978 Super Bowl XII: Dallas Cowboys beat Denver Broncos, 27-10 in N Orleans Super Bowl MVP: Harvey Martin, Dallas, DE & Randy White, Dallas, DT
• 1980 Pam Gems' "Piaf!" premieres in London
• 1981 "Hill Street Blues" premieres on NBC-TV
• 1981 Bob Gibson elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame
• 1982 "Forbidden Broadway" by/with Gerard Alessandrini premieres in NYC
• 1982 Mark Thatcher, son of UK prime minister Magaret Thatcher, makes his way home after 6 days missing in the Sahara
• 1983 Dutch political party DS'70 disbands
• 1983 Hartford Whalers smallest crowd 4,812 (beat Devils) during blizzard
• 1983 Javed Miandad & Mudassar Nazar make 451 stand v India
• 1983 Thom Syles keeps a life saver intact in his mouth for over 7 hours
• 
  

• 1984 Schonbrun skates world record 5 km (7:39.44)
• 1984 Tony Benn, described as a “leftwing rebel” wins Labour's nomination for the by-election in Chesterfield, UK
• 1985 Bollingen Prize for poetry awarded to John Ashbery & Fred Chapell
• 1985 Civil rights activist Tancredo Neves elected president
• 1985 Mike Gatting & Graeme Fowler both scores 200 v India
• 1985 Tancredo Neves becomes 1st elected president of Brazil in 21 years
• 1985 CBS' premiere of TV made teen drug abuse drama, "Not My Kid", based on the previous year's book by Beth Polson
• 1986 Living Seas opens (Disneyland)
• 1987 A police officer who mistakenly shot and paralysed an innocent woman in Brixton, UK, is cleared of all criminal charges
• 1988 Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder makes racist remarks about black athletes
• 1988 Kiran More stumps five WI batsman at Madras, world Test record
• 1988 Narendra Hirwani takes 16-136 (8-61 & 8-75) v WI on Test debut
• 1989 "Ain't Misbehavin'" closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 176 performances
• 1989 Betsy King wins LPGA Jamaica Golf Classic
• 1989 Big John Studd wins WWF's 2nd Royal Rumble
• 1989 Cerberal Palsy telethon raises 22,600,000
• 1989 10th ACE Cable Awards: HBO wins the Golden CableACE for "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam"
• 1992 Bulgaria recognizes Macedonia
• 1992 Cleaning woman finds intimate photos of Sarah Ferguson with US man
• 1992 Supreme Court rules 5-3 that Joseph Doherty isn't entitled to asylum
• 1993 7.5 earthquake strikes northern Japan, 2 die
• 1993 Soap opera "Santa Barbara" final show on NBC TV
• 1993 Top mafia leader Salvatore "Toto" Riina arrested in Palermo
• 1994 15th ACE Cable Awards: Michael Fuchs wins the Golden CableACE for outstanding achievements in advancing the development of cable programming
• 1994 Hague motorist with .51% alcohol in blood, breaks Dutch record (.47%)
• 1994 Queen Elizabeth falls off her horse & breaks her left wrist
• 1995 Southern Alabama begins using new area code 334
• 1995 Western Washington begins using new area code 360
• 1995 AFC Championship Game: San Diego Chargers beat Pittsburgh Steelers 17-13
• 1995 NFC Championship Game: San Francisco 49ers beat Dallas Cowboys 38-28
• 1999 The Racak incident: 45 Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak are killed by Yugoslav security forces.
• 2001 Wikipedia, a free Wiki content encyclopedia, goes online.
• 2005 ESA's SMART-1 lunar orbiter discovers elements such as calcium, aluminum, silicon, iron, and other surface elements on the moon.
• 2005 An intense solar flare blasts X-rays across the solar system.
• 2007 Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, former Iraqi intelligence chief and half-brother of Saddam Hussein, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court, are executed by hanging in Iraq.
• 2007 64th Golden Globes: Babel, Forest Whitaker, & Helen Mirren win
• 2009 US Airways Flight 1549 makes an emergency landing into the Hudson River shortly after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. All passengers and crew members survive.
• 2010 15th Critics' Choice Movie Awards: The Hurt Locker wins Best Film
• 2011 Wikipedia the free internet encyclopedia turns 10 years old
• 2013 83 people are killed and 150 are injured in a rocket attack on Aleppo University, Syria
• 2013 19 Egyptian Army recruits are killed and 120 are injured in a train accident in Giza
• 2015 20th Critics' Choice Movie Awards: Boyhood wins Best Film
• 2016 American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan unveils newest exhibit replica skeleton of a Titanosaur dinosaur (found 2010 Argentina), largest known dinosaur at 70 tons, 37m
• 2016 Islamist militants attack a hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso killing 28, injuring 56