1672 – Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence, which was an early attempt to extend religious liberties to Catholics and non-conformist Protestants. The decree would be rolled back by Parliament the following year.
1848 – A revolt in Hungary breaks out which would force the King of Hungary, Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I, and later Franz Joseph I to make serious reforms and would eventually lead to Hungarian independence.
1917 – Nicholas II of Russia formally abdicates the crown of Russia. He declared his brother, the Grand Duke Michael, to be the next Tsar, instead of the haemophiliac Alexei. However Michael declined the throne, and the Bolshevik revolution was complete. Nicholas, Michael, Alexei, and the rest of the immediate Romanov family would be dead in a year.
1275 – Margaret of England is born as the tenth child to Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. At the age of three, she was betrothed to the Duke of Brabant, John II, whom she would marry at age 15. Her husband would die in 1312, but Margaret would live well into the reign of her son, John III.
44 BCE – Roman dictator Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group of Senators after being declared dictator for life. Rome had been a republic, but certain groups from the government were afraid of too much power being lost to the Senate and other ruling groups. He’s widely credited with expanding the Roman empire to cover most of continental Europe, and had began invading the English Isles.
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