Caesar learns of Pompey's death after reaching Egypt (48 BC), and Guinea declares independence from France (1958). Born on this day: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi and Paul von Hindenburg. Died: Svante Arrhenius, Marcel Duchamp and Urban IV.
28 events, 69 births and 62 deaths on this date.
Having followed his defeated rival Pompey across the Mediterranean, Caesar reached Ptolemaic Egypt only to learn Pompey had already been killed there. Pompey's death removed his main rival, but left Caesar drawn into Egypt's own troubled politics.
Ángel M. Felicísimo from Mérida, España · Public domainCleopatraHear the story in ChunksGuinea broke away from French rule after voters rejected joining the French Community in a referendum led by Sékou Touré. It became the first French West African territory to gain full independence, a step that pushed France to leave its other colonies.
The Royal Navy cruiser Curacoa was escorting the liner Queen Mary, protecting her from submarines, when the bigger ship struck and sank her by accident. Many of the cruiser's crew were lost in the cold Atlantic water.
China and Russia signed the Treaty of Livadia, which gave Russia terms many Chinese officials saw as humiliating. The Qing government refused to ratify it, and the matter was reopened in later negotiations.
A week after a physical breakdown in Pueblo, Colorado, Woodrow Wilson suffered a major stroke at the White House. The stroke left him largely unable to function, physically and mentally, for the rest of his time in office.
Voters in the Papal States backed joining the Kingdom of Italy in a plebiscite, ending the Pope's temporal rule over the region. The result completed a major step in Italian unification, with Rome soon becoming the new capital.
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Born in coastal Gujarat, Gandhi became the leader of India's independence movement, pressing for self-rule through nonviolent resistance rather than force. He is remembered worldwide as Mahatma, a title first given to him in South Africa in 1914.
Elliott & Fry · Public domain
Gandhi used nonviolent resistance to lead India's campaign for independence from British rule. Trained as a lawyer in London, he first tested that method in South Africa before returning home in 1915.
Elliott & Fry · Public domain
Born into minor Prussian nobility, he became a field marshal celebrated for victory at Tannenberg in 1914. He later served as German president and, in 1933, appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor, a decision that opened the way to Nazi dictatorship.
Unknown author. · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
Swedish scientist who won the first Swedish Nobel Prize, in Chemistry, in 1903. He also worked out how rising carbon dioxide could warm the Earth, an early step towards modern climate science.
Photogravure Meisenbach Riffarth & Co. Leipzig. · Public domain
Marcel Duchamp was a French-American artist who turned everyday objects into art, most famously a signed urinal titled Fountain. He is seen as a founder of conceptual art and died in New York in 1968.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain
Urban IV was a French-born diplomat who became pope in 1261 without first being a cardinal, the first pope chosen that way. He held the office for three years until his death in Perugia.
Sailko · CC BY 3.0
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