1619    Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason.

1672    Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.

1782    John Adams secures the Dutch Republic's recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.

1900    The international arbitration court at The Hague is created when the Netherlands' Senate ratifies an 1899 peace conference decree.

1912    The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague.

1913    Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.

1980    Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction conclude at The Hague.

1983    Over 500,000 people demonstrate against cruise missiles in The Hague, Netherlands.

1999    The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

2002    The trial of former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević begins at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He dies four years later before its conclusion.

2003    The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague.