SortStack #751 — 2028-06-29

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. Constantinople falls to the Ottoman army of Mehmed the Conqueror 1453

   The Ottomans breached walls that had stood for a thousand years using enormous cannons — built by Orban, a Hungarian engineer who had first offered his services to the Byzantines.

2. The Great Fire destroys most of the City of London 1666

   It consumed over 13,000 houses and St. Paul's Cathedral, yet the official death toll recorded only a handful of victims — almost certainly an undercount.

3. The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp, goes on sale 1840

   It bore Queen Victoria's profile and no country name — and because Britain invented the stamp, British stamps still omit the country's name today.

4. Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone 1876

   Bell's lawyer filed at the patent office mere hours before rival Elisha Gray filed a notice for a similar device — one of history's closest patent races.

5. The first modern Olympic Games are held in Athens 1896

   Just 14 nations and 241 athletes competed — all men — and winners received silver medals, not gold.

6. The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first artificial satellite 1957

   The beach-ball-sized satellite weighed 83 kg and beeped for three weeks. Anyone with a shortwave radio could hear it pass overhead.

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