Explore important dates in history with our month-by-month calendar of significant events, anniversaries and commemorations. From the signing of Magna Carta to the Moon Landing, this guide helps teachers find opportunities to connect classroom learning with historical events throughout the year. Follow the links to related Keystage history resources to support enquiries, assemblies and discussions about why these events matter.
| January | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 17 | 1912 | Scott arrives at the South Pole |
| 20 | 1265 | Simon de Montfort calls the first parliament in England |
| 27 | Annual | Holocaust Memorial Day |
| 27 | 1945 | Auschwitz-Birkenau liberated by Soviet troops during WWII |
| 27 | 1926 | Inventor John Logie Baird demonstrates his new television machine to members of the Royal Institution in London |
| 30 | 1649 | King Charles I was beheaded in Whitehall. |
| April | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 1896 | First Modern Olympics |
| 10 | 1998 | The Good Friday Agreement was signed in Northern Ireland |
| 12 | 1961 | Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is the first ever human being in space |
| 11 | 145 | Septimius Severus, the first African-born Roman emperor, is recorded as being born |
| 14 | 1912 | Sinking of the Titanic |
| 15 | 1945 | The liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by British forces |
| June | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1953 | Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II |
| 4 | 1913 | Death of Suffragette Emily Davison at Epsom Derby |
| 6 | 1944 | D-day landings – WW2 |
| 7 | 1095 | First Crusade |
| 8 | 793 | First Viking attack on Lindisfarne |
| 12 | 1929 | Birth of Anne Frank |
| 15 | 1215 | King John sealed Magna Carta |
| 22 | 1990 | Dismantling Checkpoint Charlie |
| 22 | 1948 | Empire Windrush lands in Essex |
| 22 | 1772 | Somerset Case. Lord Mansfield sets out legal basis for freeing slaves |
| 25 | 1950 | The start of the Korean War |
| 28 | 1914 | Assassination of Franz Ferdinand |
| July | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1665 | Peak to Great Plague of London | |
| 1 | 1916 | Start of the battle of the Somme |
| 10 | 1940 | Start of the Battle of Britain |
| 14 | 1789 | Storming of the Bastille – French Revolution |
| 17 | 1936 | The Spanish Civil War begins |
| 20 | 1969 | Moon Landing – Apollo 11 lands on the moon with first humans on the moon |
| 25 | 1814 | George Stephenson builds the first practical steam locomotive |
| August | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3114 BC | The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar used by the Maya begins |
| 3 | 1492 | Columbus Sets Sail |
| 6 | 1945 | Dropping of the first Atomic bomb |
| 13 | 1964 | The last execution in the UK when Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans were hanged for the murder of John Alan West, 1964 |
| 15 | 1945 | VJ day – Japan surrenders in World War II, ending the war |
| 22 | 1485 | Henry Tudor becomes King of England and Wales, starting the Tudor dynasty |
| 31 | 1997 | Death of Princess Diana |
| September | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1939 | WWII begins as Germany invades Poland |
| 4 | 1666 | The Great fire of London starts |
| 11 | 2001 | Terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon building in USA |
| 26 | 1580 | Explorer Francis Drake’s galleon Golden Hind sailed into Plymouth, England, completing his circumnavigation of the globe. |
| 28 | 1066 | Invasion of England by William of Normandy starts |
| October | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Black history month | ||
| 18–31 | 1929 | Wall Street Crash – start of Great Depression |
| 14 | 1066 | Battle of Hastings |
| 21 | 1805 | Battle of Trafalgar |
| 16–29 | 1962 | Cuban Missile Crisis |
| 25 | 1415 | The Battle of Agincourt |
| 30 | 1925 | John Logie Baird creates Britain’s first television transmitter |
| November | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1955 | Start of Vietnam conflict |
| 4 | 1854 | Florence Nightingale and a team of nurses arrived in the Crimea in 1854 |
| 4 | 1922 | Discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb |
| 5 | 1605 | Gunpower Plot |
| 9 | 1989 | The fall of the Berlin Wall |
| 11 | Remembrance day | |
| 22 | 1963 | Assassination of President John F. Kennedy |
| 23 | 1805 | Mary Seacole is born |
| December | Year | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1955 | Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery |
| 7 | 1941 | Japan attack on Pearl Harbour |
| 17 | 1903 | The Wright Flyer made the first sustained flight by a manned aircraft |
| 29 | 1170 | The assassination of Thomas Becket |
