Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, Pius IX’s election by the Papal conclave of 1846 came at a time of significant political unrest across Europe.
3rd April 1860: The first Pony Express service went into operation
3rd April 2019
Giacomo Matteotti, an Italian socialist politician, was kidnapped and then murdered by members of the Fascist party.
Chile and Italy met in the 1962 FIFA World Cup, which resulted in ‘the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibition of football possibly in the history of the game’.
The first Formula One World Championship Grand Prix race took place at the Silverstone circuit in England.
Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola led the burning of thousands of objects in the Bonfire of the Vanities.
On the 11th November 1918, fighting on the First World War’s Western Front ended when representatives from the Allies and Germany signed the Armistice of Compiègne.
The public saw the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for the first time when Pope Julius II celebrated All Saints Day mass.
On the 19th October 1935, the League of Nations voted to impose sanctions on Italy after it invaded Abyssinia.
On the 29th September 1938, Adolf Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Benito Mussolini and Édouard Daladier reached an agreement on the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland areas of Czechoslovakia.
The 24th August AD 79 is traditionally believed to have been the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that wiped out numerous Roman settlements including Pompeii and Herculaneum.
11th November 1918: WW1 Armistice of Compiègne is signed
11th November 2018
9th November 1989: East Germany opens the Berlin Wall
9th November 2017