Todays History

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto.

Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

The Second Battle of Guararapes takes place, effectively ending Dutch colonization efforts in Brazil

The Battle of Wesenberg is fought between the Livonian Order and Dovmont of Pskov

The first ship passes through the Suez Canal.

The Ash Wednesday bushfires in Victoria and South Australia kill 75.

The decimalisation of British coinage is completed on Decimal Day.

Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.

German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.

Two-year-old James Bulger is abducted from New Strand Shopping Centre by two ten-year-old boys, who later torture and murder him.