William Pitt the Elder (1708) It was on this date, November 15, 1708, that "The Great Commoner," English statesman William Pitt the Elder, was born in London. After attending Oxford, Pitt stood for Parliament, where he attracted followers by opposing the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. He was a novel politician in a largely corrupt […]

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889) It was on this date, November 14, 1889, that the first Prime Minister of independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru (Hindi: जवाहरलाल नेहरू; Urdu: جواهر لال نهرو), was born in Allahabad, central India, the son of a successful and politically active Hindu lawyer. He grew up in a wealthy family under the British occupation […]

King Henry VIII and the First Act of Supremacy (1534) It was also on this date, November 3, 1534, that England's Parliament passed the first Act of Supremacy, thus making King Henry VIII head of the English church. Under Henry's urging, and in 276 words, Parliament gave to the head of state the role until […]

John Adams (1735) It was on this date, October 30, 1735, that the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts. He graduated from Harvard, where he first intended to study for the orthodox ministry, but the reality of orthodoxy sobered him and he turned to the law. […]

Cyrus the Great Conquers Babylon (539 BCE):The End of the Babylonian "Captivity" It was on this date, October 29, 539 BCE, that the city of Babylon fell to the army led by Cyrus the Great (576-7/529 BCE), Emperor of Persia.[1] The city of Babylon, which was located south of Baghdad in what is now Iraq, […]

Constantine the Great (312 CE) It was on this date, October 28, 312 CE, that Roman emperor Constantine the Great, aged 32, is said to have conquered in the sign of the Christian faith. After seeing a vision of the Chi-Ro [ΧΡ] — indicating "Christ," his priestly advisors gleefully told him — he crossed the […]

Georges Danton (1759) It was on this date, October 26, 1759, that French revolutionist Georges Jacques Danton was born in Arcis-sur-Aube. Though not from a wealthy family, he got a good education and became a lawyer before deciding the legal structure of France was inimical to freedom. He abandoned the law for revolutionary activities and, […]

François Mitterand (1916) It was on this date, October 26, 1916, that French President François Mitterand was born in Jarnac, Charente. Born into a conservative, a Roman Catholic family, Mitterrand first entered politics by way of the ultranationalist Croix de Feu organization, choosing it over the Vatican-opposed Action Française. Mitterand served as a junior minister […]

Alfred Nobel (1833) It was on this date, October 21, 1833, that Swedish chemist Alfred Bernhard Nobel was born in Stockholm. It is one of the ironies of his life that a man who made his fortune in the invention and manufacture of weapons of war – dynamite and other nitroglycerine derivatives – bequeathed among […]

Anwar Sadat (d. 1981) It was on this date, October 6, 1981, in an act of religious intolerance like that victimizing William Tyndale, that Egyptian president Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat (حمد أنور السادات‎) was killed by Islamic fundamentalist extremists in Egypt. Born on 25 December 1918, Sadat's political activities got him jailed at least twice. There […]