Maria Theresa is crowned Queen of Hungary (1741), and Mozambique gains independence from Portugal (1975). Born on this day: George Orwell, Antoni Gaudí and George Michael. Died: Michael Jackson, Michel Foucault and Jacques Cousteau.
34 events, 60 births and 60 deaths on this date.
Maria Theresa became Queen of Hungary, a crown that strengthened her position as Habsburg ruler while the War of the Austrian Succession was underway. Hungarian support proved vital to her defence of the monarchy during that conflict.
Martin van Meytens · Public domainAfter more than four centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique became a sovereign nation, ending a colonial era that had shaped its borders, language and economy. The new People's Republic soon faced a long civil war, which began only two years later.
As France collapsed, Britain brought roughly 200,000 of its remaining troops from French ports across the Channel. The men saved from that withdrawal would keep Britain in the war once France had surrendered.
Virginia narrowly voted to approve the new national constitution, becoming the tenth state to do so and bringing it close to taking effect. The vote was tight, and Virginia's support helped secure the document's future across the young republic.
Jews held in the Częstochowa ghetto in occupied Poland rose up against their Nazi captors. It was one of several revolts ghetto residents mounted as the Nazis sought to murder all the Jews of Europe.
Microsoft reorganised itself as a formally incorporated company in Washington State, its home state. The change gave the firm the legal footing it needed as it grew from a small software start-up into a major corporation.
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Born Eric Arthur Blair, he wrote under the pen name George Orwell. He is remembered for the novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, and for words like Big Brother and doublethink that entered everyday English.
Cassowary Colorizations · CC BY 2.0
Catalan architect whose buildings, especially the unfinished Sagrada Família in Barcelona, made him the leading figure of Catalan Modernisme. He drew on nature and faith, often working from three-dimensional models rather than detailed plans.
Pau Audouard Deglaire · Public domain
George Michael was an English singer-songwriter and producer who rose to fame with Wham! before going solo. His album Faith, released in 1987, sold tens of millions of copies and remains one of the biggest-selling records ever made.
University of Houston Digital Library · Public domain
Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter and dancer, known as the King of Pop. His album Thriller remains the biggest-selling record of all time, and his moonwalk became one of the most copied dance moves in history.
Matthew Rolston; Distributed by Epic Records · Public domain
French philosopher who studied how power, knowledge and institutions shape what people accept as normal, from madness to prisons. His books, including The Order of Things, reshaped fields from sociology to literary theory.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Jacques Cousteau was a French naval officer and filmmaker who co-invented the Aqua-Lung, the open-circuit breathing apparatus that opened the ocean depths to ordinary divers and film crews. He became famous through his underwater documentaries, including The Silent World, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1956.
Hans Peters for Anefo . · CC0
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