Napoleon Bonaparte given command of the army in Italy (1796), and Moscovium, tennessine and oganesson get official names in Moscow (2017). Born on this day: Mikhail Gorbachev, Pius XII and Daniel Craig. Died: Nicholas I, Howard Carter and Francis II.
34 events, 66 births and 48 deaths on this date.
Napoleon took charge of French forces in Italy, a posting that launched a campaign of rapid victories against Austria and its allies. The success made him a national hero and set him on the road to power.
Jacques-Louis David · Public domainThe French RevolutionHear the story in ChunksThree recently confirmed superheavy elements, numbered 115, 117 and 118 on the periodic table, were given their permanent names at a ceremony in Moscow. Until then they had carried temporary systematic labels, so the event made their identities official.
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was on the East African coast during his first voyage to India. Within a few months he reached Kozhikode, becoming the first to link Europe and Asia by an ocean route around the Cape of Good Hope.
Sailko · CC BY 3.0
A poet named Roderick Maclean fired a pistol at Queen Victoria as she drove through Windsor, but the shot missed and he was overpowered by the crowd. The attempt was one of several made against her during her reign.
Alexander Bassano · Public domain
The promotion followed Grant's victory at Chattanooga and handed him control of every Union army. He used that command to press Robert E. Lee through the Overland Campaign, and the war ended with Lee's surrender at Appomattox.
Hayes was handed the White House by Congress despite his rival Samuel Tilden having won more popular votes. The decision, made days before his inauguration, ended a bitter dispute over the previous year's election.
Mathew Benjamin Brady · Public domain
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Mikhail Gorbachev was the final leader of the Soviet Union, in office from 1985 until the state broke up in 1991. He believed major reform was needed for the country to survive, and by the early 1990s had moved towards social democracy.
Leo Medvedev/Лев Леонидович Медведев · CC BY-SA 4.0
Eugenio Pacelli became Pope Pius XII in 1939, leading the Catholic Church through the Second World War and the early Cold War. His wartime conduct, especially towards the Jews, remains hotly debated by historians.
Michael Pitcairn · Public domain
Daniel Craig is an English actor best known for playing James Bond in five films, starting with Casino Royale in 2006. He also won praise for Our Friends in the North and later played detective Benoit Blanc in the Knives Out films.
Max Surprenant · CC BY 4.0
Nicholas I ruled Russia for nearly thirty years, from 1825, and is remembered as a reactionary whose reign brought expansion, tight central control and harsh repression of dissent. He died in 1855, during the Crimean War he had led Russia into.
Franz Krüger · Public domain
British Egyptologist who uncovered the intact tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, one of the most complete pharaonic burials ever found. His work drew worldwide attention to ancient Egypt.
Chicago Daily News, Inc., photographer · Public domain
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor and the first Emperor of Austria, having adopted that title after Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French. He led Austria through years of war with Napoleon and presided over the German Confederation's founding in 1815.
Friedrich von Amerling · Public domain
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