18,000 Horsemen at Five O'Clock: The Relief of Vienna
On September 12, 1683, Polish king Jan III Sobieski led some 18,000 horsemen down the Kahlenberg in a charge that shattered the Ottoman siege of Vienna.
Tagged: 17th century
The Library a Retired Diplomat Refused to Let Die
On November 8, 1602, Thomas Bodley reopened Oxford's ruined university library with about 2,000 books — the rebirth of the Bodleian Library.
Galileo Spots Jupiter's Moons and Rewrites the Cosmos
On January 7, 1610, Galileo Galilei aimed his homemade telescope at Jupiter and saw strange points of light — the first sighting of the four moons that helped topple the Earth-centered universe.