Grant signs Amnesty Act restoring rights to former Confederates (1872), and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations (1992). Born on this day: Richard Wagner, Novak Djokovic and Arthur Conan Doyle. Died: Victor Hugo, Constantine I and Alessandro Manzoni.
29 events, 60 births and 52 deaths on this date.
The law returned voting and office-holding rights to nearly all former Confederate sympathisers, excluding roughly 500 people. It marked a major step towards national reconciliation after the Civil War.
Henry Ulke · Public domainThree former Yugoslav republics became full members of the United Nations on this day, as the federation broke apart. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was a first step onto the international stage just before a brutal war began there.
Sweden and Prussia agreed terms at Hamburg, ending hostilities between the two powers during the Seven Years' War. Sweden stepped back from the fighting, while Prussia, then ruled by Frederick the Great, kept its position among Europe's great powers.
In Shiraz, the Báb told Mullá Husayn that he was a messenger of God. This claim launched Bábism, the faith that came before the Baháʼí Faith.
The Ottoman sultan set up the Ullah millet, giving the Aromanians, a Romance-speaking people of the Balkans, their own religious-community status within the empire. It was one of several moves in his reign to manage the empire's diverse communities.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Namco started testing its maze game in a Shibuya arcade, a few months before the release that would make Pac-Man a global star. Designer Toru Iwatani aimed it at women as well as men, which was unusual for arcade games of the era.
Bandai Namco Entertainment America · CC BY 3.0
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Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Saxony. He wrote both the libretti and music for his operas, and reshaped the form into continuous music dramas such as the Ring cycle.
Franz Hanfstaengl · Public domain
Serbian tennis player who has won a record 24 major singles titles and spent more weeks ranked world number one than anyone in history. Born the same day, he rose from Belgrade to become one of the sport's defining figures of his generation.
Andymiah · CC BY-SA 4.0
Arthur Conan Doyle was a Scottish-born physician who wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories, among the most celebrated detective fiction ever published. He also created Professor Challenger, whose adventure The Lost World gave its name to a whole subgenre of speculative fiction.
Walter Benington · Public domain
Victor Hugo, the French novelist behind Les Misérables and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, was also a poet, playwright and republican politician. His funeral in Paris drew over two million mourners, the largest in French history.
Étienne Carjat · Public domain
Roman emperor who ruled for over thirty years and became the first to convert to Christianity. He issued the Edict of Milan, ended persecution of Christians, and founded Constantinople, which became the empire's capital.
Jean-Christophe BENOIST · CC BY 2.5
Italian novelist and poet who died in 1873. He is remembered for The Betrothed, a novel whose plain, patriotic prose helped shape the modern Italian language.
Francesco Hayez · Public domain
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