- James Houser
365 Days of Military History: By Date
Updated: May 31, 2021
JANUARY
January 1, 1814 – Birth of Hong Xiuquan
January 2, 1963 – Battle of Ap Bac
January 3, 1777 – Battle of Princeton
January 4, 1913 – Death of Alfred von Schlieffen
January 5, 1477 – Death of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy
January 6, 1842 – General Elphinstone Leaves Kabul
January 7, 1942 – MacArthur’s Army withdraws into Bataan
January 8, 1815 – Battle of New Orleans
January 9, 1806 – Funeral of Horatio Nelson
January 10, 49 BC – Caesar crosses the Rubicon
January 11, 630 – The Prophet Muhammad enters Mecca
January 12, 1945 – Vistula-Oder Offensive begins
January 13, 1898 – Zola exposes Dreyfus Affair
January 14, 1943 – Casablanca Conference
January 15, 1865 – Battle of Fort Fisher
January 16, 27 BC – Rise of Augustus
January 17, 1781 – Battle of Cowpens
January 18, 1593 – Thailand's Famous Elephant Duel
January 19, 1862 – Battle of Mill Springs
January 20, 1944 – Battle of the Rapido River; Texas' Black Day of World War II
January 21, 1919 – Irish War of Independence begins
January 22, 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War; Battles of Isandlwana and Rorke's Drift
January 23, 1795 – Capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder
January 24, 41 CE – Caligula assassinated
January 25, 1573 – Battle of Mikatagahara
January 26, 1945 – Audie Murphy's Action that Merits the Medal of Honor
January 27, 1945 – Soviets liberate Auschwitz
January 28, 1077 – Submission at Canossa
January 29, 661 – Assassination of Ali and the Sunni-Shi'a Split
January 30, 1968 – Tet Offensive in Vietnam
January 31, 1944 – Battle of Anzio and U.S. Army Rangers at Cisterna
FEBRUARY
February 1, 1979 – Khomeini's Return and the Iranian Revolution
February 2, 1943 – Surrender at Stalingrad
February 3, 1945 – MacArthur Returns to the Philippines; Battle of Manila
February 5, 1945 – Battle of the Serchio River & Buffalo Soldiers in WWII
February 6, 1778 – America allies with France
February 7, 1968 – Eugene Ashley MOH
February 8, 1807 – Battle of Eylau
February 9, 1904 - Beginning of Russo-Japanese War
February 10, 1258 – Mongol sack of Baghdad
February 11, 1945 – Yalta Conference
February 12, 1946 – Beating of Isaac Woodward
February 13, 1951 – Battle of Chipyong-Ni
February 14, 1797 – Battle of Cape St. Vincent
February 15, 1942 – Battle of Singapore
February 16, 1862 – Battle of Fort Donelson
February 17, 1979 – Sino-Vietnamese War
February 18, 1229 – Sixth Crusade; Frederick II retakes Jerusalem
February 19, 1942 – Tuskegee Airmen founded
February 20, 1810 – Death of Andreas Hofer
February 21, 1916 – Beginning of Battle of Verdun
February 22, 1943 – Sophie Scholl & the White Rose
February 23, 1847 – Mexican-American War & the Battle of Buena Vista
February 24, 1917 – Zimmerman Telegram
February 25, 1634 – Death of Albrecht von Wallenstein in the Thirty Years' War
February 26, 1991 – Desert Storm and the Battle of 73 Easting
February 27, 1881 – First Boer War & Battle of Majuba Hill
February 28, 202 BC – Liu Bang becomes Emperor of China
February 29, 1940 – Finland sues for peace in Soviet-Finnish Winter War
MARCH
March 1, 1896 – Battle of Adwa
March 2, 537 – Great Siege of Rome & Belisarius's Campaigns
March 3, 1918 - Treaty of Brest Litovsk
March 4, 1958 – Ruby Bradley promoted Colonel; Story of Ruby Bradley
March 5, 1953 – Death of Joseph Stalin
March 6, 1836 – Battle of the Alamo
March 7, 1945 – Battle of Remagen
March 8, 1917 – Russian Revolution begins
March 9, 1862 – Battle of Hampton Roads
March 10, 241 BC – Battle of the Aegates Islands; First Punic War
March 11, 1805 – Deborah Sampson’s appeal, woman soldier in Revolution
March 12, 2006 – Black Hearts incident in Iraq
March 13, 1954 – Battle of Dien Bien Phu
March 14, 1757 – Admiral John Byng’s execution
March 15, 1783 – Newburgh Conspiracy
March 16, 1968 – My Lai Massacre
March 17, 1781 – General Nathanael Greene stops Cornwallis in North Carolina
March 18, 1871 – Paris Commune
March 19, 1962 – Algerian War of Independence
March 20, 2005 – Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester
March 21, 1944 – Virginia Hall lands in France; The Odyssey of "A Woman of No Importance"
March 22, 1739 – Nader Shah sacks Delhi; Wars of Nader Shah of Persia
March 23, 1901 – Aguinaldo Captured; The Philippine Insurrection
March 24, 1794 – Kosciuszko’s Uprising, Polish struggle for independence, begins
March 25, 1821 – Greek War of Independence begins
March 26, 1945 – Battle of Iwo Jima
March 27, 1886 – Surrender of Geronimo & End of the Apache Wars
March 28, 1862 – Battle of Glorieta Pass (Confederate Invasion of New Mexico)
March 29, 1461 – Battle of Towton (Wars of the Roses begin)
March 30, 1282 – War of the Sicilian Vespers
March 31, 1854 – Commodore Perry’s landing in Japan
APRIL
April 1, 1945 – Battle of Okinawa
April 2, 1982 – Argentinians land on the Falklands; Falklands War Begins
April 3, 1918 – Ludendorff Offensive; Foch becomes Allied Supreme Commander in World War I
April 4, 1814 – Surrender at Fontainebleau; Napoleon's (First) Abdication
April 5, 1818 – Latin American Wars of Independence & Battle of Maipu
April 6, 1812 – Wellington's Spanish Campaign; Assault at Badajoz
April 7, 1862 – Battle of Shiloh
April 8, 1944 – Battles of Imphal & Kohima; WWII in Burma
April 9, 1865 – Lee's surrender at Appomattox
April 10, 1972 – Sun Tzu & Sun Bin; Discovery of Sun Bin’s Art of War
April 11, 1241 – Mongol Invasions of Europe, Battle of Legnica-Mohi
April 12, 1917 – The Battle of Vimy Ridge & Canada's World War I
April 13, 1204 – Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople
April 14, 1941 – Rommel’s assault on Tobruk & his desert war in North Africa
April 15, 1942 – George VI awards George Cross to Malta; Siege of Malta (WWII)
April 16, 1746 – The '45 and the Battle of Culloden
April 17, 1961 – Failure of Bay of Pigs invasion
April 18, 1242 – Battle on the Ice (Lake Peipus, Russia vs. Teutonic Knights)
April 19, 1775 – Battles of Lexington/Concord & Beginning of American Revolution
April 20, 1918 – Last victories of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron
April 21, 1836 – Battle of San Jacinto, Sam Houston & Texas War of Independence
April 22, 1919 – Russian Civil War & the White Defeat at Orenburg
April 23, 1014 – Battle of Clontarf & Irish Wars against the Vikings
April 24, 1916 – Easter Rising & Irish Independence Movement
April 25, 1915 – Gallipoli landing & Battle of Gallipoli
April 26, 1937 – Bombing of Guernica & Birth of Strategic Bombing
April 27, 1805 – Barbary Wars & Derna (The Shores of Tripoli)
April 28, 1503 – Italian Wars & Battle of Cerignola
April 29, 1429 – Battle of Orleans; Hundred Years' War and Joan of Arc
April 30, 1945 – Death of Adolf Hitler
MAY
May 1 (401 BC) – Anabasis of the Ten Thousand (Xenophon)
May 2, 1945 – Truce in Italy (Go for Broke) - Nisei Soldiers of World War II
May 3, 1863 – Battle of Chancellorsville
May 4, 1471 – Battle of Tewkesbury, Wars of the Roses
May 5, 1945 – Battle of Castle Itter; Wehrmacht, French and Americans vs. SS
May 6, 1527 – Sack of Rome & Last Stand of the Swiss Guard
May 7, 1864 – Battle of the Wilderness
May 8 (May 878) – Alfred the Great & the Battle of Edington
May 9, 1917 – Nivelle Offensive & Mutiny of the French Army, World War I
May 10, 1857 – The Sepoy Mutiny/Indian War of Independence/People's Uprising
May 11, 1745 – Battle of Fontenoy & Warfare in the Age of Enlightenment
May 12, 1864 – Battle of Spotsylvania
May 13 (279 BC) – Pyrrhus of Epirus & the Pyrrhic Victory
May 14, 1948 – Israeli War of Independence
May 15, 1919 – Greeks land at Smyrna; Greco-Turkish War Begins
May 16, 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
May 17, 1900 – Relief of Mafeking; Second Boer War
May 18, 1944 – The Polish Army in Exile at Monte Cassino
May 19, 1935 – Death of Lawrence of Arabia
May 20, 1941 – German Invasion of Crete
May 21, 1809 – Battle of Aspern-Essling
May 22, 1944 – Life Magazine’s skull photo; Race and War in the Pacific
May 23, 192 AD – Death of Dong Zhuo; Three Kingdoms in China
May 24 (53 BC) – Battle of Carrhae & Death of Crassus
May 25, 1946 – Death of Witold Pilecki, the "Soldier of Auschwitz"
May 26, 1880 - Battle of Tacna & War of the Pacific
May 27, 1941 – Sinking of Bismarck
May 28, 1982 – Falklands War & the Battle of Goose Green
May 29, 1453 – Fall of Constantinople
May 30, 1940 – The Dunkirk Evacuation Begins
May 31, 1921 – Tulsa Race Riot
JUNE
June 1, 1918 – The Battle of Belleau Wood
June 2, 1863 – Harriet Tubman’s River Raid
June 3, 1942 – Battle of Midway
June 4, 1916 – Russian Brusilov Offensive of World War I
June 5, 1832 – French Students’ Revolution of 1832
June 6, 1944 – Unsung Heroes of D-Day
June 7, 1967 – Israelis capture Jerusalem & Six-Day War
June 8, 1967 – USS Liberty Incident
June 9, 1954 – Army-McCarthy Hearings
June 10, 323 BC – Death of Alexander the Great
June 11, 1937 – Purge of Tukhachevsky, Stalin's Great Purge
June 12, 1942 – Night Witches’ first attack
June 13, 1944 – Battle of Villers-Bocage & the Tanks of World War II
June 14, 1645 – Battle of Naseby & English Civil War
June 15 (1457 BC) – Battle of Megiddo
June 16, 1815 – Quartre Bras & Ligny (Waterloo Part 1)
June 17, 1775 – The Battle of Bunker Hill
June 18, 1815 – The Battle of Waterloo
June 19, 1867 – Death of Maximilian I; French Invasion of Mexico
June 20, 451 AD – Battle of the Catalaunian Plains & Attila the Hun
June 21, 217 BC – Battle of Lake Trasimene (Hannibal Crosses the Alps; Second Punic War)
June 22, 1941 – Operation Barbarossa: the German Invasion of the Soviet Union
June 23, 1944 – Operation Bagration
June 24, 1314 – Battle of Bannockburn & Robert the Bruce
June 25, 1950 – Beginning of Korean War
June 26, 1876 – Battle of Little Bighorn
June 27, 1942 – The Doomed Convoy PQ-17 leaves Iceland
June 28, 1575 – Battle of Nagashino
June 29 (61 AD) – Boudicca’s Rebellion
June 30, 1944 – Capture of Cherbourg & Hedge Fighting in Normandy
JULY
July 1, 1916 – Battle of the Somme
July 2, 1863 – Battle of Gettysburg
July 3, 1866 – Austro-Prussian War & Battle of Koniggratz (need to rework entirely)
July 4, 1863 – Fall of Vicksburg & Ulysses S. Grant
July 5, 1943 – Battle of Kursk
July 6, 371 BC – Battle of Leuctra
July 7, 1937 – Marco Polo Bridge incident & Second Sino-Japanese War
July 8, 1709 – Great Northern War & Battle of Poltava
July 9, 1755 – Battle of the Monongahela & the Young George Washington Adventures
July 10, 1943 – The Invasion of Sicily and the Paradox of George Patton
July 11, 1405 – The Voyages of Chinese Admiral Zheng He
July 12, 1943 – Battle of Kursk II - Tank Battle of Prokhorovka
July 13, 1942 – Reserve Police Battalion 101 at Jozefow; the Men Who Committed the Holocaust
July 14, 1789 – Storming of the Bastille
July 15, 1099 – The First Crusade enters Jerusalem
July 16, 1779 – Battle of Stony Point & Warfare in the American Revolution
July 17 (58 BC) – Caesar in Gaul
July 18, 1863 – 54th Massachusetts & Battle of Fort Wagner
July 19, 1588 – Spanish Armada arrives to invade Britain
July 20, 1592 – Japanese Samurai invasion of Korea
July 21, 1861 – The Battle of First Bull Run
July 22, 1812 – The Battle of Salamanca
July 23, 1917 – Women's Battalion of Death at the Kerensky Offensive
July 24, 1943 – The Firebombing of Hamburg & the Rise of Air Power
July 25, 1944 – Operation COBRA & Breakout from Normandy
July 26, 1758 – Seven Years' War, William Pitt, Siege of Louisbourg
July 27 (101 BC) – Gaius Marius and Battle of Vercellae
July 28, 1914 – Austria-Hungary DOW on Serbia
July 29, 1014 – Battle of Kleidion & Byzantine Emperor Basil II
July 30, 1864 – The Battle of the Crater
July 31, 1913 – End of the Second Balkan War
AUGUST
August 1, 1798 – Battle of the Nile
August 2, 216 BC – Battle of Cannae
August 3, 1944 – Merrill's Marauders & Capture of Myitkyina
August 4, 1265 – Rise of Edward I, Second Barons' War and Battle of Evesham
August 5, 1914 – German Invasion of Belgium & Siege of Liege
August 6, 1945 – Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 7, 1819 – Battle of Boyaca & Latin American Wars of Independence
August 8, 1918 – Battle of Amiens and the Great War Military Revolution
August 9, 48 BC – Battle of Pharsalus; Julius Caesar vs. Pompey
August 10, 1864 – Beginning of the War of the Triple Alliance (Paraguayan War)
August 11 (490 BC) – Battle of Marathon
August 12, 1920 – Battle of Warsaw
August 13, 1521 – Battle of Tenochtitlan
August 14, 1914 – Battle of the Frontiers
August 15, 1281 – Mongol invasion of Japan
August 16, 1869 – War of the Triple Alliance & Battle of Acosta Nu
August 17 (480 BC) – Battle of Thermopylae
August 18, 1965 – Operation Starlite
August 19, 1944 – Falaise Pocket closed
August 20, 636 AD – Battle of Yarmouk
August 21, 1942 – Battle of the Tenaru on Guadalcanal
August 22, 1485 – Richard III and the Battle of Bosworth Field
August 23, 1914 – Battle of Mons, British Expeditionary Force in World War I
August 24, 1814 – The British Burn Washington D.C.
August 25, 1914 – Austria's World War I and the Battle of Galicia
August 26, 1071 – Battle of Manzikert
August 27, 1798 – Battle of Castlebar/1798 Irish Rebellion
August 28, 1542 – Battle of Wofla, Ethiopian Crusade
August 29, 1914 – Battle of Tannenberg
August 30, 1922 – Turkish War of Independence & Battle of Dumlupinar
August 31 (52 BC) – Battle of Alesia
SEPTEMBER
September 1, 1870 – Franco-Prussian War and the Battle of Sedan
September 3, 1650 – Oliver Cromwell & Battle of Dunbar
September 4, 626 AD – Li Shi-min becomes Taizong of Tang
September 5, 1991 – Tailhook Scandal
September 6, 1914 – First Battle of the Marne
September 7, 1631 – Thirty Years' War & Battle of Breitenfeld
September 8, 1939 – Battle of Wizna, Polish Thermopylae
September 9 (9 AD) – Battle of the Teutoberg Forest
September 10, 1950 – Inchon Landing
September 11, 1297 – Battle of Stirling Bridge & Why I Hate Braveheart
September 12, 1683 – Battle of Vienna
September 13, 1759 – Battle of the Plains of Abraham & British Conquest of Canada
September 14, 1814 – Battle of Fort McHenry & the Star Spangled Banner
September 15, 1916 – First use of Tanks (World War I)
September 16 (207 BC) – Battle of the Metaurus
September 17, 1862 – Battle of Antietam
September 18, 1812 – Napoleon's Invasion of Russia & Burning of Moscow
September 19, 1863 – Battle of Chickamauga
September 20 (202 BC) – Battle of Zama
September 21, 1780 – Benedict Arnold’s betrayal
September 22, 1980 – Iran-Iraq War
September 23 (480 BC) – Battle of Salamis
September 24, 1877 – Battle of Shiroyama & the Fall of the Samurai
September 25, 1944 – Surrender at Arnhem (Operation Market-Garden)
September 26, 1918 – Beginning of Meuse-Argonne Offensive
September 27, 1942 – City fighting in Stalingrad
September 28 (48 BC) – Caesar and Cleopatra
September 29, 1848 – Revolutions of 1848 Part 1
September 30, 1848 – Revolutions of 1848 Part 2
OCTOBER
October 1, 1860 – Giuseppi Garibaldi, Expedition of the Thousand, the Battle of the Volturnus
October 2, 1944 – Warsaw Uprising ends
October 3, 1993 – Black Hawk Down
October 4, 1853 – Beginning of Crimean War
October 5, 1877 – Nez Perce surrender
October 6, 1973 – Yom Kippur War
October 7, 1777 – Battle of Saratoga
October 8, 1918 – Sergeant York's Medal of Honor action
October 9 (336 BC) – Death of Philip II
October 10, 732 – Battle of Tours
October 11 (1206 AD) – The Rise of Chinggis Khan
October 12 (431 BC) – Beginning of the Peloponnesian War
October 13, 1066 – Battle of Hastings & the Norman Conquest
October 14, 1806 – Battles of Jena & Auerstadt
October 15, 1965 – Draft Card Burning; Free Speech in Wartime
October 16, 690 AD – Rise of Wu Zetian, Empress of China
October 18, 1813 – Battle of the Nations at Leipzig
October 19, 1864 – Battle of Cedar Creek
October 20, 1935 – Chinese Civil War; Mao's Long March ends
October 21, 1805 – Battle of Trafalgar
October 22, 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis
October 23, 1944 – Battle of Leyte Gulf
October 24, 1648 – End of Thirty Years' War & Peace of Westphalia
October 25, 1854 – Battle of Balaclava
October 26, 1597 – Battle of Myeongnyang
October 27 (425 BC) – Battle of Pylos & Sphacteria
October 28, 312 AD – Battle of the Milvian Bridge
October 29, 1918 – Kiel Mutiny & German Revolution of 1918
October 30, 1831 – Nat Turner’s uprising and Slavery in America
October 31 (334 BC) – Alexander the Great & the Battle of the Granicus
NOVEMBER
November 1, 1942 – Battle of El Alamein
November 2, 1963 – Assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem
November 3, 1944 – Battle of Schmidt, Huertgen Forest
November 4, 1791 – Battle of the Wabash & St. Clair’s Defeat
November 5, 1757 – Frederick the Great & the Battle of Rossbach
November 6, 1917 – Battle of Passchendaele/3rd Ypres
November 7, 1811 – Tecumseh and the Battle of Tippecanoe
November 8, 1917 – October Revolution
November 9, 1923 – Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch
November 10, 2004 – Battle of Fallujah
November 11, 1914 – First Battle of Ypres & the Impact of World War I
November 12, 1942 – Naval Battles of Guadalcanal
November 13 (421 BC) – Peloponnesian War III, Battle of Amphipolis
November 14, 1965 – Battle of Ia Drang
November 15, 1864 – Sherman's Atlanta Campaign
November 16, 1532 – Battle of Cajamarca & Spanish Conquest of Peru
November 17, 1796 – Battle of Arcole
November 18, 208 AD – Battle of Red Cliff
November 19, 1942 – Stalingrad counteroffensive
November 20, 1910 – Mexican Revolution begins
November 21, 1920 – Bloody Sunday & the Irish War of Independence
November 22 (415 BC) – Sicilian Expedition
November 23, 1943 – Battle of Tarawa
November 24, 1915 – Occupation of Serbia; The Great Retreat and Serbia's World War I
November 25, 1863 – Chattanooga Campaign & the Battle of Missionary Ridge
November 26, 1950 – Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River
November 27, 1950 – Battle of the Chosin Reservoir
November 28, 1943 – Teheran Conference
November 29, 1967 – Resignation of McNamara
November 30, 1700 – Battle of Narva
DECEMBER
December 1, 1135 – Death of Henry I, start of The Anarchy
December 2, 1805 – Battle of Austerlitz
December 3, 1971 – Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
December 4 (530 BC) – Cyrus the Great & the Persian Empire
December 5, 1941 – Battle of Moscow
December 6, 1917 – Capture of Bucharest & Romania's World War I
December 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor
December 8, 1914 – Battle of the Falklands
December 9, 1917 – WWI in the Middle East; General Allenby enters Jerusalem
December 10, 1898 – end of the Spanish-American War
December 11, 1899 – Second Boer War, Black Week, & Battle of Magersfontein
December 12, 627 – Byzantine-Sassanid War and Battle of Nineveh
December 13, 1862 – Battle of Fredericksburg
December 14, 1812 – Napoleon's retreat from Moscow ends
December 15, 1864 – Battle of Nashville
December 16, 1944 – Battle of the Bulge begins
December 17, 1944 – Battle of the Bulge & Malmedy Massacre
December 18, 1271 - Kublai Khan Proclaims Yuan Dynasty
December 19, 1944 – Battle of the Bulge continues
December 20 (411 BC) – The Astounding Career of Alcibiades (Peloponnesian War V)
December 21, 1864 – Sherman’s March to the Sea
December 22, 1944 – Siege of Bastogne
December 23, 1688 – Glorious Revolution
December 24 (23 AD) – Reign of Wang Mang
December 25, 1914 – Christmas Truce
December 26, 1776 – Washington Crosses the Delaware, Battle of Trenton
December 27, 1979 – Soviet War in Afghanistan
December 28, 1967 – Battle of Santa Clara & Life of Che Guevara
December 29, 1890 – Battle/Massacre of Wounded Knee
December 30 (404 BC) – End of the Peloponnesian War
December 31, 2020 – Year in review