A Daily Dose of History: Events on this Day in History

We examine the significant events that occurred on this day in history. Get smarter about our history in less than 10 minutes per day! Presented by Amalia Dupray and Montgomery Jones.

  1. 29 JUL

    Fall of Roman Co-Emperors: Crisis of Third Century (+ 13 more historical events on this day!)

    A Daily Dose of History (29 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: The Praetorian Guard storm the palace and capture Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day, Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed emperor, the sixth emperor of the year. Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12. Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week. Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany). Byzantine-Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6. Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen. Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes. The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade. The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland. The infant James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling. Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France. War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands. Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army. French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light. Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Explanations from OpenAI ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 min
  2. 28 JUL

    Thomas Cromwell: Reformation, Treason & Henry's Reign (+ 13 more historical events on this day!)

    A Daily Dose of History (28 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day. La Laguna encomienda, known today as the Laguna province in the Philippines, is founded by the Spaniards as one of the oldest encomiendas (provinces) in the country. In the Eighty Years' War, the Spanish capture the strategic Dutch fortress of Schenkenschans. Second Northern War: Battle of Warsaw begins. on 28 July, the composer, organist and harpsichordist Johann Sebastian Bach dies. Constitution of the province of Cantabria ratified at the Assembly Hall in Bárcena la Puente, Reocín, Spain. French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France. Mahmud II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera: Sir Arthur Wellesley's British, Portuguese and Spanish army defeats a French force led by Joseph Bonaparte. José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain. USS Constellation (1854), the last all-sail warship built by the United States Navy and now a museum ship in Baltimore Harbor, is commissioned. American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces from Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream becomes the first and youngest female artist to receive a commission from the United States government for a statue (of Abraham Lincoln). The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law. Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Explanations from OpenAI ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    11 min
  3. 27 JUL

    Siward's Campaign: Defeat of Macbeth in Scotland (+ 11 more historical events on this day!)

    A Daily Dose of History (27 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Siward, Earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland somewhere north of the Firth of Forth. Friedrich Barbarossa arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja, during the Third Crusade. Georgian-Seljuk wars: At the Battle of Basian the Kingdom of Georgia defeats the Sultanate of Rum. Battle of Bouvines: Philip II of France decisively defeats Imperial, English and Flemish armies, effectively ending John of England's Angevin Empire. According to Edward Gibbon, Osman I invades the territory of Nicomedia for the first time, usually considered to be the founding day of the Ottoman state. Battle of Bapheus: Decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithynia for Turkish conquest. The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reaches Japan. The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports. After the Acts of Union 1707, Scotland would be included in the Act. Glorious Revolution: The Battle of Killiecrankie is a victory for the Jacobites. A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England. The Great Northern War: The first significant victory of the Russian Navy in the naval battle of Gangut against the Swedish Navy near the Hanko Peninsula. Founding of the U.S. Army Medical Department: The Second Continental Congress passes legislation establishing "an hospital for an army consisting of 20,000 men." Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Explanations from OpenAI ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    9 min
  4. 26 JUL

    The First Fitna: Islamic Civil War & Battle of Siffin (+ 9 more historical events on this day!)

    A Daily Dose of History (26 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: First Fitna: In the Battle of Siffin, troops led by Ali ibn Abu Talib clash with those led by Muawiyah I. Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I is killed and his heir Staurakios is seriously wounded. Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at the Battle of Valdejunquera. Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V. The Emperor Krishnadevaraya ascends to the throne, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire. Francisco Pizarro González, Spanish conquistador, is appointed governor of Peru. Francis Drake, the English explorer, discovers a major bay on the coast of California (San Francisco). Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration): The northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II. During the Bavarian Rummel the rural population of Tyrol drove the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol with a victory at the Pontlatzer Bridge and thus prevented the Bavarian Army, which was allied with France, from marching as planned on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession. French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Explanations from OpenAI ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    8 min
  5. 24 JUL

    Battle of Nocera: Roger II vs. Ranulf II (+ 13 more historical events on this day!)

    A Daily Dose of History (24 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily. Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade. Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle: King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf. Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place. Behnam Hadloyo becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin. Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer. French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France. Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her one-year-old son James VI. Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit. The Kingdom of Georgia and the Russian Empire sign the Treaty of Georgievsk. War of 1812: General Phineas Riall advances toward the Niagara River to halt Jacob Brown's American invaders. Afro-Chileans are emancipated. In Maracaibo, Venezuela, the naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo takes place, where Admiral José Prudencio Padilla defeats the Spanish Navy, thus culminating the independence for the Gran Colombia. After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City. Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Explanations from OpenAI ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 min
  6. 22 JUL

    Anzen 838: Byzantine-Abbasid Conflict (+ 12 more historical events on this day!)

    A Daily Dose of History (22 Jul 2025) Today's historical events: Battle of Anzen: The Byzantine emperor Theophilos suffers a heavy defeat by the Abbasids. First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Massacre at Béziers: The first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade. Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk: King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk. St. Mary Magdalene's flood is the worst such event on record for central Europe. Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl in the Old Zürich War. Ottoman wars in Europe: Siege of Belgrade: John Hunyadi, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, defeats Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire. Battle of Lochmaben Fair: A 500-man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas are defeated by Scots forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland; Douglas is captured. Battle of Dornach: The Swiss decisively defeat the army of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. Roanoke Colony: A second group of English settlers arrives on Roanoke Island off North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony. The Dutch city of Groningen defended by the Spanish and besieged by a Dutch and English army under Maurice of Orange, capitulates. William Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, is entered on the Stationers’ Register. By decree of Queen Elizabeth, the Stationers’ Register licensed printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material. Albany, New York is formally chartered as a municipality by Governor Thomas Dongan. Information from this episode are sourced from API Ninjas Explanations from OpenAI ChatGPT API with proprietary prompts. This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    10 min

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We examine the significant events that occurred on this day in history. Get smarter about our history in less than 10 minutes per day! Presented by Amalia Dupray and Montgomery Jones.

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