SortStack #863 — 2028-10-19

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The boy pharaoh Tutankhamun dies in Egypt 1323 BCE

   He died around age nineteen after a minor reign — yet his is the most famous tomb ever found, because grave robbers largely missed it for over 3,000 years.

2. Julius Caesar is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate 44 BCE

   He was stabbed 23 times on the Ides of March. A comet appeared months later, which Romans took as proof his soul had ascended to the gods.

3. Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Egypt, dies 30 BCE

   Cleopatra lived closer in time to the Moon landing than to the construction of the Great Pyramid — the pyramids were already ancient to her.

4. Napoleon is finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo 1815

   Overnight rain delayed the French attack, buying time for Prussian reinforcements. Wellington called it 'the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life.'

5. The Channel Tunnel opens between England and France 1994

   Its undersea section is the longest of any tunnel in the world. British and French digging crews met beneath the seabed and shook hands through the breakthrough hole.

6. IBM's Deep Blue defeats world chess champion Garry Kasparov 1997

   Kasparov was reportedly unnerved by one inexplicable move — which some engineers later suggested may have been the result of a software bug.

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