(1215) King John concedes absolute power and puts it in writing
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Absolute monarchical power comes to an end when a beleaguered King John formally agrees to respect the feudal privileges of England’s nobility. Belief that this Magna Carta strengthens individual liberty will greatly influence the American Constitution and the development of modern democracies. . |
(1859) Two world powers send military forces to solve pig problem
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One pig is shot but no people perish in a conflict that proves the necessity of precisely worded territorial treaties. The Pig War begins between British Canada and the US near the San Juan Islands when an ostensibly British-Canadian pig is found rooting for tubers on a supposedly American farm.. |
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(1878) Dawn of the movies as Muybridge stops time with his camera
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Leland Stanford is fairly certain that when a horse gallops there is a moment when all four of its legs leave the ground. He hires photographer Eadweard Muybridge who takes pioneering stop-motion photographs, proving that horses can indeed become airborne for a split second, and the innovative images will mark the dawn of motion pictures.. |
(1972) Infamous German radical arrested
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Former journalist Ulrike Meinhof is caught by police two years after helping form the Red Army Faction, a violent leftist organization considered a terrorist group. Her subsequent murder trial and the controversy surrounding her apparent jail-cell suicide will transfix Europe.. |
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