Today:
1485 – King Richard III of England was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry Tudor defeated him and became King Henry VII, bringing the Plantagenet era to an end and establishing the Tudor dynasty.
1642 – King Charles I raised his royal standard at Nottingham, traditionally marking the beginning of the English Civil War between the Royalists and Parliamentarians.
1770 – James Cook’s expedition landed on Possession Island, where Cook formally claimed the eastern coast of Australia for Great Britain and named it New South Wales.
1846 – The United States formally annexed New Mexico during the Mexican-American War when General Stephen W. Kearny issued a proclamation establishing U.S. authority over the territory.
1851 – The yacht America defeated a fleet of British vessels in a race around England’s Isle of Wight, winning the trophy that eventually became known as the America’s Cup.
1864 – The first Geneva Convention was signed by representatives of 12 nations, establishing international rules for the treatment of wounded soldiers and recognizing the neutrality of medical personnel during warfare.
1902 – President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. president to make a public appearance in an automobile when he rode through the streets of Hartford, Connecticut.
1962 – French President Charles de Gaulle survived an assassination attempt at Petit-Clamart near Paris when gunmen fired more than 100 rounds at his automobile.
1989 – Nolan Ryan of the Texas Rangers recorded his 5,000th career strikeout, becoming the first Major League Baseball pitcher to reach the milestone. Rickey Henderson was the historic strikeout victim.
2004 – Armed thieves stole Edvard Munch’s famous paintings The Scream and Madonna from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, in broad daylight. Both paintings were recovered two years later.