Born
| 1 | 1431 | Rodrigo Borja [Borgia] - Pope Alexander VI (1492-1503) | | | 1449 | Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" de'Medici - Lord of Florence, d. 1492 | | | 1467 | King Sigismund I "the Old" of Poland (1506-1548) | | | 1735 | Paul Revere, patriot, silversmith, gunfounder, d. 1818 | | | 1739 | Edmund Burke, Whig politician, author ("Reflections on the Revolution"), d. 1797 | | | 1745 | "Mad" Anthony Wayne, Revolutionary general, Victor of Stoney Point, Fallen Timbers, d. 1795 | | | 1752 | Elizabeth Griscom "Betsy" Ross, mythic flag maker, d. 1836 | | | 1819 | George Foster Shepley, Brig. Gen., U.S.V., d 1878 | | | 1823 | Sándor Petofi, Hungarian poet and revolutionary, kia 1849 | | | 1827 | William Lewis "Old Tige" Cabell, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1911 | | | 1838 | William Hugh Young, Brig. Gen., C.S.A., d 1901 | | | 1839 | James Ryder Randall, songwriter ("Maryland, My Maryland"), d. 1908 | | | 1839 | Maria Louise Rame - "Ouida", novelist ("Under Two Flags"), d. 1908 | | | 1887 | Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral and spymaster, executed by Hitler, 1945 | | | 1892 | Manuel Roxas y Acuña, 1st President of the Philippines (1946-1948), d. 1948 | | | 1895 | J. Edgar Hoover, Director, FBI (1935-1972), d. 1972 | | | 1895 | Sean Aloysius O'Fearna - John Ford - naval officer, director ("Why We Fight"), d. 1973 | | | 1909 | Barry Goldwater, airman, senator, d. 1998 | | | 1909 | Dana Andrews, actor ("Battle of the Bulge"), d. 1992 | | | 1912 | Kim Philby, Soviet spy, member of the "Cambridge Five," d. in the USSR, 1988 | | | 1930 | Gaafar Muhammad Nimeiry, President of Sudan (1969-1985), d. 2009 | | | 1938 | Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard of Netherlands (1980- ) | | | 1947 | Vladimir G Titov, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz T-8, etc.) | | | 1959 | Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghan cosmonaut (Soyuz TM-6) | | 2 | 1642 | Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV Avci (1648-1687), d. 1693 | | | 1647 | Nathaniel Bacon, of Bacon's Rebellion, executed 1676 | | | 1699 | Ottoman Sultan Osman III (1754-1757) | | | 1727 | James Wolfe, Conqueror of Quebec, kia 1759 | | | 1752 | Philip Freneau, Patriot poet ("The American Village"), d. 1832 | | | 1835 | Charles Russell Lowell Jr, Brig Gen, U.S., d/w 1864 | | | 1880 | Louis Breguet, French aviation pioneer, d. 1955 | | | 1895 | Count Folke Bernadotte, Swedish diplomat, with possible profitable ties to Nazis, murdered 1948 by radical Zionists, while on a UN mission to Palestine | | | 1899 | Paul-Henri Spaak, Secretary-General of NATO (1957-61), d. 1972 | | | 1909 | Barry Goldwater, airman, politician, d. 1998 | | | 1920 | Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire (1950-2004), Military Cross, d. 2004 | | | 1920 | Isaac Asimov, Boys' High alum, sometime soldier, author ("Foundation"), d. 1992 | | 3 | -700 | BC - Isaiah [Trad] | | | -106 | BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero, statesman, orator, philosopher, and even soldier, k. 43 BC | | | 1763 | Joseph Fesch, churchman, kinsman to Napoleon, d. 1839 | | | 1777 | Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi, Princesse Française, Duchess of Lucca and Princess of Piombino, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Comtesse de Compignano, d. 1820 | | | 1883 | Clement Attlee, who soldiered at Gallipoli, British PM (1945-51), d. 1967 | | | 1892 | J.R.R. Tolkien, Lancashire Fusilliers, 1914-1916, who wrote of battle, d. 1976 | | | 1901 | Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam (1955-63), k. 1963 | | | 1903 | Charles Foulkes, Canadian general, d. 1969 | | | 1905 | Ray Milland, Royal Horse Guards, actor ("Beau Geste"), d. 1986 | | | 1906 | Aleksei Grigor'evich Stakhanov, "Hero of Soviet Labor", d. 1977 | | | 1918 | Maxene Andrews, of the "Andrews Sisters", d. 1995 | | | 1922 | Morten Nielsen, Danish poet and resistance fighter, k. 1944 | | 4 | 1334 | Amadeo VI "The Green Count" of Savoy (1343-1383) | | | 1341 | Wat Tyler, leader of the English Peasants' Revolt of 1381, executed 1381 | | | 1580 | Anglican Archbishop James Ussher, who "calculated" the age of the universe, d. 1665 | | | 1821 | John James Peck, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1878 | | | 1822 | Joseph Jones Reynolds, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1899 | | | 1823 | Peter Joseph Osterhaus, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1917 | | | 1832 | George Tryon, British admiral who would sink himself in 1893 | | | 1838 | "General Tom Thumb" [Charles Stratton], d. 1883 | | | 1890 | Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, toady & war criminal, executed 1946 | | | 1906 | William Bendix, actor ("Wake Island"), d. 1964 | | | 1908 | Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal, Hitler's niece, possible lover, d. in questionable circumstances, 1931 | | | 1913 | King Malietoa Tanumafili II of Samoa (1962-2007) | | | 1914 | Jean-Pierre Vernant, "Col Berthier" of the Resistance, classical scholar, d. 2006 | | | 1920 | William Colby, OSS, CIA, d. 1996 | | 5 | 1209 | Richard Plantagenet (son of King John of England), Count of Poitou (1225-1243), Cornwall (1225-1272), King of the Germans (1257-1272). | | | 1592 | Shah Jahan, Great Mogul of India (1628-58), who built the Taj Mahal, d. 1666 | | | 1759 | Jacques Cathelineau, Vendéan insurrectionist, kia. 1793 | | | 1779 | Stephen Decatur, naval hero, War of 1812, k. in a duel, 1820 | | | 1779 | Zebulon Pike, army explorer who found a mountain, kia 1813 | | | 1813 | Thomas Neville Waul, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1903 | | | 1822 | Joseph Brevard Kershaw, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1894 | | | 1828 | August Valentine Kautz, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1895 | | | 1840 | John Doby Kennedy, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1896 | | | 1848 | Khristo Botev, Bulgarian soldier-poet, kia 1876 | | | 1876 | Konrad "Der Alte" Adenauer, German Chancellor, 1949-1963, d. 1967 | | | 1901 | Count Honore d'Estienne d'Orves, naval officer, "first martyr of Free France", executed 1941 | | | 1912 | Frank Pace Jr, Secretary of Army (1950-53), d. 1988 | | | 1921 | Grand Duke Jean d'Aviano of Luxembourg (1964- ) | | | 1928 | Zulfikar Ali Khan Bhutto, President of Pakistan (1971-1973), PM (1973-1977), executed 1979 | | | 1930 | Edward G Givens Jr, USAF, astronaut, d. 1987 | | | 1938 | King Juan Carlos I of Spain (1975- ) | | 6 | 1367 | King Richard II of England (1377-99), deposed and later murdered | | | 1412 | Joan of Arc, warrior maid, executed 1431, canonized 1920 | | | 1425 | King Henry IV "The Impotent" of Castile (1454-1474) | | | 1587 | Gaspar de Guzmán y Acevedo, 1st Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish premier (1621-43), d. 1645 | | | 1745 | Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier, co-inventor of ballooning with his brother Joseph-Michel, d. 1799 | | | 1799 | Jedediah Smith, mountain man, fur trader, Indian fighter, d. 1831 | | | 1807 | Joseph Holt, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894 | | | 1822 | Heinrich Schliemann, who found Troy, which had never really been lost, d. 1890 | | | 1827 | John Calvin Brown, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1889 | | | 1827 | John Wesley Frazer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1906 | | | 1854 | Sherlock Holmes, famous fictional detective | | | 1878 | Carl Sandburg, soldier, poet, biographer, d. 1967 | | | 1880 | Tom Mix, deserter, movie star, d. 1940 | | | 1897 | Peter Veres, Hungarian Minister of Defense (1947-1948), d. 1970 | | | 1905 | Eric Frank Russell, SOE toymaker, science fictioneer ("Wasp"), d. 1978 | | | 1911 | Eduardo Frei Montalva, President of Chile (1964-1970), d. 1982 father of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, President of Chile (1994-2000) | | 7 | 1502 | Ugo Boncompagni, Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585), who instituted the "Gregorian Calendar" | | | 1528 | Queen Regnant Jeanne III d'Albret of Navarra (1555-1572), mother of Henry IV of France | | | 1718 | Israel Putnam, Continental general, d. 1790 | | | 1768 | Joseph Bonaparte, inept King of Naples (1806-1808) and Spain (1808-1814), d. 1844 | | | 1799 | Daniel Tyler, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1882 | | | 1800 | Millard Fillmore, militiaman, President (1850-53), d. 1874 | | | 1808 | Jacob Ammen, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894 | | | 1816 | Stephen Miller, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1881 | | | 1821 | Lucius Jeremiah Gartrell, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891 | | | 1824 | James Morrison Hawes, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1889 | | | 1845 | King Ludwig III of Bavaria (1913-1918), deposed, d. 1921 | | | 1883 | Andrew Browne Cunningham, later Admiral of the Fleet, greatest British sea-dog since Nelson, d. 1963 | | | 1912 | Charles Addams, veteran, macabre cartoonist, d. 1988 | | | 1935 | Valeri Nikolayevich Kubasov, cosmonaut | | 8 | 1081 | Henry V, King of the Germans, Holy Roman Emperor (1098/1111-25) | | | 1628 | François de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg, Marshal of France, d. 1695 | | | 1814 | Thomas Green, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA by the U.S. Navy, 1864 | | | 1815 | George Webb Morell, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1883 | | | 1815 | Lawrence Pike Graham, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1905 | | | 1817 | John Selden Roane, Brig Gen, d. 1867 | | | 1821 | James "Old Pete" Longstreet, Lt. Gen., C.S.A., Lee's "Old War Horse", d. 1904 | | | 1830 | Gouverneur Kemble Warren, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1882 | | | 1851 | Gerad Leman, Belgian general, defender of Liege, 1914 | | | 1870 | Miguel Primo de Rivera Orbaneja, Spanish solider, dictator (1923-30), d. 1930 | | | 1902 | Georgy M Malenkov, Stalin's successor as head of CPSU, PM (1953-55), d. 1988 | | | 1912 | José Ferrer, actor ("Cockleshell Heroes"), d. 1992 | | | 1935 | Elvis Aaron Presley, sometime Sgt, 3rd Armored Division, d. 1977 | | 9 | 1554 | Alessandro Ludovisi - Pope Gregory XV (1621-1623)[or 15th] | | | 1735 | John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent, Admiral of the Fleet, d. 1823 | | | 1822 | John Porter Hatchm Brig. Gen., U.S.V., d 1901 | | | 1854 | Jennie Jerome, in Brooklyn, Winston Churchill's Momma, d. 1921 | | | 1908 | Simone de Beauvoir, Vichyite, feminist ("The Second Sex") | | | 1913 | Richard M. Nixon, sometime naval officer, President (1969-1974), d. 1994 | | | 1922 | Ahmed Sékou Touré, President of Guinea (1958-84), d. 1984 | | 10 | 1538 | Louis of Nassau, Dutch general, kia, Mookerheyde, 1574 | | | 1644 | Louis François, duc de Boufflers, comte de Cagny, Marshal of France, d. 1711 | | | 1671 | François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, Marshal of France, d. 1745 | | | 1738 | Ethan Allen, Green Mountain Boy, drowned 1789 | | | 1769 | Michel Ney, Marshal of France, "Bravest of the Brave," executed, 1815 | | | 1815 | Alexander Brydie Dyer, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1874 | | | 1815 | Thomas Williams, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1862 | | | 1825 | Alexander Travis Hawthorn, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1899 | | | 1880 | Manuel Azaña Díaz, literary critic, War Minister, Premier, President (1936-1939) of the Spanish Republic, d. 1940 | | 11 | 347 | Flavius Theodosius -- Emperor Theodosius I "the Great" (379-395), last ruler of the united empire | | | 1757 | Alexander Hamilton, Maj. Gen., U.S., k. in a duel, 1804 | | | 1807 | Alfred Eugene "Mudwall" Jackson, Brig Gen, C.S.A. | | | 1814 | Richard Griffith, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1862 | | | 1816 | Fitz-Henry Warren, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1878 | | | 1818 | John Reese Kenly, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891 | | | 1831 | James Ronald Chalmers, Brig Gen, C.S., d. 1898 | | | 1839 | Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Puerto Rican scholar, patriot, d. 1903 | | | 1878 | Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general & dictator (1925-1926), d. 1952 | | | 1928 | David L Wolper, producer ("North & South ") | | 12 | 1562 | Duke Charles Emanuel I "the Great" of Savoy (1580-1630) | | | 1638 | Ernst Tarhemberg, Austrian field marshal, d. 1701 | | | 1721 | Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, Prussian field marshal, the victor at Minden, d. 1792 | | | 1737 | John Hancock, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1793 | | | 1751 | King Ferdinand III of Sicily (1759-1816) & IV of Naples (1759-1799, 1799-1806, 1815-1816), and Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (1816-1825), known as "The Nose" - a royal piece of work | | | 1792 | Robert Patterson, American soldier, d. 1881 | | | 1810 | King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (1830-1859) | | | 1814 | Jones Mitchell Withers, Maj Gen, C.S., d. 1890 | | | 1819 | Zealous Bates Tower, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1900 | | | 1825 | Joseph R. Davis, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1896; inept nephew of Jefferson Davis | | | 1832 | Richard Waterhouse Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1876 | | | 1852 | Joseph "Papa" Joffre, Marshal of France, d. 1931 | | | 1893 | Afred Rosenberg, Nazi war criminal, executed, 1946 | | | 1893 | Hermann Goring, sometime fighter ace, chief of the Luftwaffe, Nazi thug, suicide to cheat the hangman, 1945 | | | 1902 | King Saud bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia (1953-1964) | | 13 | 1334 | Henry of Trastámara, King Henry II of Castile (1366-1367, 1369-1379) | | | 1505 | Joachim II Hector, Prince-Elector of Brandenburg (1535-1571). | | | 1777 | Elisa Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, courtesy of her brother, Napoleon Bonaparte, d. 1820 | | | 1807 | Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1883 | | | 1808 | Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln's SecTres, d. 1873 | | | 1812 | Humphrey Marshall, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1872 | | | 1815 | William Henry French, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1881 | | | 1869 | Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Aosta, 2nd Duke of Aosta, Italian General, d. 1931 | | | 1904 | Richard Stewart Addinsell, composer ("Warsaw Concerto" aka "Suicide Squadrons"), d. 1977 | | 14 | -83 | BC - Marcus Antonius - Marc Antony, paramour of Cleopatra, suicide 30 BC | | | 1131 | King Valdemar I of Denmark (1157-1182) | | | 1730 | William Whipple, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1785. | | | 1741 | Benedict Arnold, hero, traitor, d. 1801 | | | 1806 | Matthew Fontaine Maury, USN/CSN, "Father of American Oceanography", d. 1873 | | | 1819 | Frederick Steele, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1868 | | | 1831 | John Bullock Clark Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1903 | | | 1836 | Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1881 | | | 1861 | Sultan Mehmed VI (1918-22), the 36th and last Ottoman, d. 1926 | | | 1875 | Albert Schweitzer, Peace Nobelist, d. 1965 | | | 1892 | Martin Niemoller, u-bootsman, clergyman, opponent of Hitler, d. 1984 | | | 1899 | Fritz Bayerlein, panzer leader, d. 1970 | | | 1901 | Carlos P Romulo, Philippine diplomat, politician, soldier, journalist, and author, d. 1985 | | | 1925 | Kimitake Hiraoka - Yukio Mishima, Japanese neo-fascist, seppuku 1970 | | 15 | 1342 | Duke Philip II "the Bold" of Burgundy (1363-1404) | | | 1432 | King Afonso V "the African" of Portugal (1438-1481) | | | 1485 | Catherine of Aragon, Mrs. Henry VIII No. 1, d. 1535 | | | 1504 | Michele Ghisleri - Pope St. Pius V (1566-1572) | | | 1716 | Philip Livingston, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1778. | | | 1809 | Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, anarchist, journalist, d. 1865 | | | 1815 | Henry Morris Naglee, saucy Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1886 | | | 1817 | Lewis Golding Arnold, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1871 | | | 1821 | John C. Breckinridge, Vice-President (1857-1861), Maj Gen, CSA | | | 1821 | Lafayette McLaws, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1897 | | | 1908 | Edward Teller, "Father of the H-Bomb," d. 2003 | | | 1914 | Hugh Trevor-Roper, MI-6 veteran, historian ("The Last Days of Adolph Hitler"), d. 2003 | | | 1918 | Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt (1954-1971) | | | 1920 | John J. O'Connor, Vicar-General of the Armed Forces, Archbishop of NY (1984-2000), d. 2000. | | | 1929 | Martin Luther King, k. 1968 | | | 1934 | David Chandler, historian ("The Campaigns of Napoleon"), d. 2004 | | 16 | 1409 | Rene I, King of Naples, Sicily, and Jerusalem (1435-1442) | | | 1616 | François de Vendôme, Duc de Beaufort, French soldier, kia 1669 | | | 1807 | Charles Henry Davis, Rear Adm, U.S., d. 1877 | | | 1815 | Henry Halleck, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1872; "Old Brians" or "Woodenhead" | | | 1834 | Albert Lindley Lee, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1907 | | | 1836 | King Francis II of the Two Sicilies (1859-1861), the last Bourbon, d. in exile 1894 | | | 1837 | James Phillip Simms, Brig Gen, C.S., d. 1887 | | | 1853 | Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton, brilliantly inept British commander at Gallipoli, d. 1947 | | | 1901 | Fulgencio Batista, President/Dictator of Cuba (1933-44, 1952-59), d. 1973 | | | 1910 | David McCampbell, Pacific War ace, 34 kills, d. 1996 | | | 1920 | Prince Joachim Murat, 7th Prince Murat & 6th Prince of Pontecorvo, kia, 1944 during the Liberation of France | | 17 | 1342 | Duke Philip II "the Bold" of Burgundy (1363-1404) | | | 1463 | Elector Frederick III "the Wise" of Saxony (1486-25), friend to Luther | | | 1504 | Antonio Ghislieri - Pope St. Pius V - (1566-72) | | | 1612 | Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Parliamentary General, d. 1671 | | | 1706 | Benjamin Franklin, American, d. 1790 [NS] | | | 1721 | Hugh Mercer, American soldier, kia, 1777 | | | 1732 | King Stanislaw II August Poniatowski of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania (1764-95), deposed, d. 1798 | | | 1811 | Joshua Abraham Norton, "Norton I, Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico"(1859-1880), in England, d. 1880 | | | 1828 | Lewis A. Grant, Brig. Gen, USV, Medal of Honor, d. 1918 | | | 1863 | David Lloyd George, PM of Britain, WW I, d. 1945 | | | 1871 | Adm. Sir David Beatty, d. 1936 | | | 1886 | Glenn Martin, aviation pioneer, d. 1955 | | | 1899 | Alfonse Gabriel Capone, Brooklyn, entrepreneur, d. 1947 | | | 1922 | Luis Echeverría Alvarez, President of Mexico (1970-1976) | | | 1929 | Popeye the Sailor Man | | 18 | 1641 | François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, Louis XIV's great war minister, d. 1691 | | | 1657 | Heinrich Casimir II of Nassau-Diez, Dutch general, d. 1697 | | | 1752 | Prince Francesco Maria Caracciolo, Neapolitan admiral, executed by Nelson, 1799 | | | 1809 | Richard Caswell Gatlin, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1896 | | | 1813 | Joseph Farwell Glidden, inventor of barbed wire, d. 1906 | | | 1815 | James Chesnut Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1885 | | | 1820 | Abraham Buford, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1884 | | | 1831 | Edward Ferrero, cowardly Brig. Gen., U.S., d. 1899 | | | 1835 | Cesar Antonovich Cui, Russian composer, fortification engineer, d. 1918 | | | 1857 | Otto von Below, German general, victor of Caporetto, d. 1944 | | 19 | 570 | Mohammed, d. 632 | | | 1544 | King Francis II of France (1559-60) | | | 1736 | James Watt, inventor of the practical steam engine, d. 1819 | | | 1807 | Robert Edward Lee, Col., USA., Gen., CSA, commander, Army of Northern Virginia, d. 1870 | | | 1809 | Edgar Allan Poe, West Point drop-out, author, poet, d. 1849 | | | 1816 | Henry Gray, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1892 | | | 1830 | George Blake Cosby, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1909 | | | 1917 | Nigel Nicholson, Guardsman, litterateur, d. 2004 | | 20 | 225 | M. Antonius Gordianus Pius - Gordian III, Roman Emperor (238-244) | | | 1554 | King Sebastian of Portugal (1557-1578) -- "Sebastian the Desired", kia, "Battle of the Three Kings" | | | 1716 | King Charles IV of Naples (1732-1759) and III of Spain (1759-88) | | | 1831 | Pieter J Joubert, Commandant-General of the South African Republic (1880-1900), d. 1900 | | | 1884 | Charles W. Whittlesey, who earned a Medal of Honor commanding the "Lost Battalion" in 1918, suicide 1921 | | | 1920 | Keith Douglas, British war poet, kia Normandy, June 9, 1944 -- http://www.strategypage.com/cic/docs/cic367c.asp | | | 1930 | Edwin Aldrin, astronaut, 2nd man on the Moon | | 21 | 1338 | King Charles V "the Wise" of France (1364-80) | | | 1788 | William Henry Smyth, British astronomer, admiral, d. 1865 | | | 1813 | John C. Frémont, soldier, explorer, politician, d. 1890 | | | 1824 | Thomas J "Stonewall" Jackson, Lt Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863 | | | 1829 | King Oscar II Frederik of Sweden (1872-1907) and Norway (1872-1905), d. 1907 - the Sardine Man | | | 1855 | John M Browning, inventor of fine firearms, d. 1926 | | | 1867 | Gen. Maxime Weygand, French general, who lost the big one in 1940, d. 1965 | | | 1885 | Umberto Nobile, Italian general and aeronaut, d. 1978 | | | 1918 | Richard Winters, who led "The Band of Brothers," E, 506th Parachute Infantry, d. 2011 | | | 1922 | Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas. WW II "Voice of America" announcer, actor ("Battle of the Bulge"), d. 1994 | | 22 | 1440 | Grand Prince Ivan III "the Great" of Russia (1462-1505) | | | 1655 | Geleyn Evertsen, Dutch Admiral, d. 1711 | | | 1788 | George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale, poet, Hellenophile, d. 1824 | | | 1798 | Ciro Menotti, Italian patriot, executed, 1831. | | | 1800 | Nat Turner, of the "Great Southampton Slave Rebellion", executed 1830 | | | 1869 | Grigori Rasputin, mystic monk, k. 1916 | | | 1875 | D. W. Griffith, movie pioneer, racist ("Birth of a Nation"), d. 1948 | | | 1891 | Antonio Gramsci, anti-fascist, anti-Stalinist, communist intellectual, d. 1937 | | | 1892 | Marcel Bloch, later Marcel Dassault, French aircraft designer, d. 1986 | | | 1906 | Robert E. Howard, author ("Conan"), suicide 1936 | | 23 | 1688 | Queen Regnant Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (1718-1741) | | | 1730 | Joseph Hewes, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1779 | | | 1737 | John Hancock, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, d. 1793 | | | 1828 | Calvin Edward Pratt, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1896 | | | 1832 | Édouard Manet, French impressionist ("The Kearsarge & The Alabama"), d. 1883 | | | 1891 | Antonio Gramsci, Italian marxist, anti-fascist, anti-Stalinist, d. 1937 | | | 1896 | Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg (1919-1964) | | | 1897 | Subhas Chandra Bose, Indian nationalist, k. 1945 | | | 1897 | Sir William Samuel Stephenson, Canadian soldier, the "Man Called Intrepid", who inspired Ian Fleming to create James Bond, d. 1989 | | | 1898 | Randolph Scott, AEF veteran, actor ("Gung Ho!"), d. 1987 | | | 1898 | Sergei Eisenstein, Soviet film maker ("Battleship Potemkin", "Alexandr Nevski"), d. 1948 | | | 1899 | Humphrey Bogart, steersman, USS 'Leviathan', WW I, actor ("Casablanca"), d. 1957 | | | 1914 | Prince Imperial Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, d. 1997 | | 24 | 76 | Publius Aelius Hadrianus - Hadrian, Roman Emperor (117-138) | | | 1444 | Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan (1466-1476), assassinated, 1476 | | | 1712 | King Frederick II "the Great" of Prussia (1740-86) | | | 1732 | Pierre de Beaumarchais, American agent, French author ("The Barber of Seville"), d. 1799 | | | 1746 | King Gustav III of Sweden (1771-92), who's assassination inspired Verdi's "Un ballo in maschera" | | | 1820 | John Milton Thayer, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1906 | | | 1828 | Adam Jacoby Slemmer, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868 | | | 1832 | John Pegram, Brig Gen, C.S.A., kia. 1865 | | | 1847 | Radomir Putnik, brilliant Serbian Field Marshal, d. 1917 | | | 1888 | Ernst Heinrich Heinkel, aircraft designer, d. 1958 | | | 1891 | Walter Model, German Field Marshal, Nazi, suicide 1945 | | | 1907 | Maurice Couve de Murville, Premier of France (1968-69), d. 1999 | | | 1915 | Ernest Borgnine, USN (1935-1945), actor ("McHale's Navy" - for which he was made an honorary Chief Petty Officer) | | 25 | 749 | Byzantine Emperor Leo IV "the Khazar" (775-780) | | | 1739 | Charles François Dumouriez, French Revolutionary general, co-victor of Valmy, counter-revolutionary, d. 1823 | | | 1759 | Robert Burns, poet, d. 1796 | | | 1825 | George Pickett, Maj. Gen., CSA, d. 1875 | | | 1839 | Seldon Connor, Brig. Gen., U.S.V., d. 1917 | | | 1841 | Admiral of the Fleet John Arbuthnot "Jackie" Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher of Kilverstone, d. 1920 | | | 1881 | Emil Ludwig, biographer ("Napoleon"), d. 1948 | | | 1933 | Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco Aquino, President of the Philippines (1986-1992), d. 2009 | | 26 | 1716 | George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, British soldier and SecState for the Colonies, inept in either role, d. 1785 | | | 1763 | Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Marshal of France, King Charles XIV of Sweden (1818-1841) | | | 1814 | Rufus King, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1876 | | | 1816 | Lloyd Tilghman, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863 | | | 1819 | Abner Doubleday, Maj Gen, U.S, d. this day, 1893 | | | 1852 | Pietro Paolo Savorgnan di Brazzà/Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, adventurer, explorer, d. 1905 | | | 1880 | General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, d. 1964 | | | 1887 | Adm. Marc "Pete" Mitscher, USN, d. 1947 | | | 1891 | Ilya Ehrenburg, Soviet war poet & propagandist ("Kill!"), d. 1954 | | | 1918 | Nicolae Ceaucescu, Romanian dictator (1965-1989), executed 1989 | | | 1925 | Paul Newman, sometime Aviation Radioman Third Class, actor ("Until They Sail", "Exodus"), d. 2008 | | 27 | 1443 | Duke Albert III "the Bold" of Saxony & Margrave of Meissen (1464-1500) | | | 1546 | Joachim Frederick, Prince-Elector of Brandenburg (1598-1608) | | | 1571 | Shah Abbas I "the Great" of Persia (1588-1629) | | | 1814 | Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, architect, fortification historian ("Annals of a Fortress"), d. 1879 | | | 1822 | Thomas Leiper Kane, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1883 | | | 1826 | Richard Taylor, Lt Gen, C.S.A., d. 1879 | | | 1828 | Samuel Allen Rice, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864 | | | 1830 | William Henry Fitzhugh Payne, Brig Gen, C.S.A.. d. 1904 | | | 1834 | Robert Sanford Foster, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1903 | | | 1859 | Wilhelm II - "Kaiser Bill", German Emperor (1888-1918), d. 1940 | | | 1900 | Hyman Rickover, "Father of the Nuclear Navy," d. 1986 | | 28 | -58 | BC - Livia Drusilla, wife to Augustus, mother of Tiberius, d. AD 29 | | | 1225 | St. Thomas Aquinas, son of Count Landulf of Aquino, Doctor of the Church, d. 1274 | | | 1312 | Queen Regnant Joan II of Navarre (1328-1349), wife to King Louis X of France | | | 1457 | Henry VII, first Tudor king of England (1485-1509) | | | 1600 | Giulio Rospigliosi - Pope Clement IX (1667-69) | | | 1693 | Tsarina Anna Ivanovna of Russia (1730-40) (OS, 2/7 NS) | | | 1717 | Ottoman Sultan Mustapha III (1757-74) | | | 1768 | King Frederick VI of Denmark (1808-39), Napoleon's ally | | | 1815 | Andrew Jackson Hamilton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1875 | | | 1825 | George Edward Pickett, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1875 | | | 1828 | Thomas Carmichael Hindman, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1868 | | | 1831 | Henry Brevard Davidson, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1899 | | | 1833 | Charles George 'Chinese' Gordon, kia, Khartoum, 1885. | | | 1841 | Henry M. Stanley, CS & US veteran, journalist, explorer, exploiter, d. 1904 | | | 1853 | Jose Marti y Perez, Cuban poet, nationalist, kia 1895 | | | 1909 | Lionel Crabb, British diver, disappeared 1957 | | | 1936 | Alphonso D'Abruzzo - Alan Alda, actor ("M*A*S*H") | | | 1948 | Mamoru Mohri, Japanese astronaut | | | 1950 | David Carl Hilmer, Marine, astronaut | | 29 | 133 | Didius Julianus, who "bought" the Roman Empire, for a little while (Mar 28-June 1, 193) | | | 1584 | Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel (1625-1647). | | | 1717 | Sir Jeffrey Amherst , Conqueror of Canada, d. 1797 | | | 1737 | Thomas Paine, Patriot, d. 1809 | | | 1749 | King Christian VII of Denmark (1766-1808) | | | 1756 | Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, cavalryman, reprobate, d. 1818; father to a more famous son. | | | 1801 | Horatia, daughter of Lord Nelson & Lady Emma Hamilton, d. 1881 | | | 1821 | Isaac Ferdinand Quinby, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1891 | | | 1823 | Franklin Gardner, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1873 | | | 1836 | Benjamin Franklin Potts, Bvt Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1887 | | | 1836 | James Meech Warner, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1897 | | | 1843 | William McKinley, Bvt Maj, U.S., president, 1897-1901. | | | 1867 | Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Valencian novelist ("Blood and Sand", "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse"), d. 1928 | | | 1873 | Prince Luigi Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta, Duke of the Abruzzi, naval officer, explorer, d. 1933 | | | 1877 | Georges Catroux, general, diplomat, Grand Chancellor of the Légion d'honneur (1954-1969) | | | 1913 | Victor Mature, coastguardsman, actor ("Demetrius and the Gladiators"), d. 1999 | | | 1915 | Halfdan Rasmussen, Danish poet and resistance fighter, d. 2002 | | | 1944 | Yoweri Museveni -"Son of a Man of the 7th KAR", President of Uganda (1986-) | | 30 | 1797 | Edwin Vose Sumner, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1863 | | | 1816 | Nathaniel Prentiss Banks, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1894 | | | 1822 | John Basil Turchin [Ivan B Turchinoff], Brig Gen, U.S., 1901 | | | 1829 | Alfred Cummings, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1910 | | | 1841 | Alfred Townsend George, Civil War journalist, d. 1914 | | | 1844 | Moritz von Bissing, German Military Governor of Belgium (1914-17), war criminal, d. 1917 | | | 1882 | FDR, the Commander in Chief, 1933-1945 | | | 1894 | King Boris III of Bulgaria (1918-1943) | | | 1912 | Barbara W. Tuchman, historian ("The Guns of August"). D. 1989 | | | 1915 | John D Profumo, scandalous British Secretary of State for War, d. 2006 | | | 1915 | Joachim Peiper, Nazi War criminal, perpetrator of the Malemedy Massacre, d. 1976 | | | 1921 | Helene Deschamps Adams, Heroine of the Resistance, d. 2006 | | | 1927 | Olof Palme, Swedish Premier (1969-76, 1982-86), assassinated 1986 | | 31 | -36 | BC - Antonia Minor, daughter of Marc Antony & Octavia, mother of Claudius, d. AD 37 | | | 1512 | Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal (1579-1580), d. this date 1580, leaving the throne to Spain | | | 1612 | Count Hendrik Casimir I of Nassau-Dietz, d. 1640 | | | 1620 | Georg von Waldeck, German general | | | 1734 | Robert Morris, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, & the Constitution, d. 1806 | | | 1810 | Daniel Ruggles, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1897 | | | 1818 | William Raine Peck, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1871 | | | 1835 | King Lunalilo [William Charles Lunalilo] of Hawaii (Jan 8, 1873-Feb 3, 1874) | | | 1923 | Norman Mailer, veteran, novelist ("The Naked & the Dead"), d. 2007 | | | 1938 | Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1980-) |
Died
| 1 | 404 | St Telemachus, slain in the Colosseum by irate fans for trying to stop a gladiatorial fight | | | 898 | Odo I/Eudes I, c. 38, Count of Paris, King of the Western Franks (888-898) | | | 962 | Boudouin/Baldwin III, c. 20 Co-Count of Flanders (958-962) | | | 1387 | King Charles II "The Bad" of Navarre (1349-1387), at c. 55 | | | 1503 | Liverotto da Fermo & Vitelozzo Vitelli, treacherous lieutenants of Cesare Borgia, garotted in his presence by Michelotto Corala | | | 1515 | King Louis XII "the Justified" of France (1498-1515), at 52 | | | 1557 | Jacques Cartier, French explorer, 66 | | | 1559 | King Christian III of Denmark and Norway (1534-59), 55 | | | 1560 | Guillaume du Bellay, Le Sieur de Langey, c. 51, French soldier & diplomat | | | 1766 | James Francis Edward Stuart, 77, "The Old Pretender" Jacobite King James III of England and Ireland & James VIII of Scotland (1701-1766) | | | 1787 | Arthur Middleton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 44 | | | 1877 | Medal of Honor-holder Adam Payne, former Seminole Indian Scout, shotgunned in the back at a dance at Ft. Clark, Texas, by Deputy Sheriff Clarion Windus, also a MoH holder | | | 1950 | Leslie William Coffelt, 39, White House Police, killed by Puerto Rican nationalists attempting to assassinate Pres Truman | | | 1961 | Dashiell Hammett, 66, veteran, novelist ("The Maltese Falcon") | | | 1969 | Ian Fleming, 56, imaginative secret agent, author ("James Bond") | | | 1972 | Maurice Chevalier, 86, poilu, entertainer, quasi-collaborator | | | 1992 | Grace Hopper, Admiral of the Cyber Sea, at 85 | | | 2008 | Erich Kaestner, 107, last German veteran of WW I | | 2 | 17 | Publius Ovidius Naso, naughty poet, in exile at 61 | | | 18 | Titus Livius - Livy, 76, Roman historian, in his beloved Padua | | | 1322 | King Phillip V "The Tall" of France (1317-22), c. 28 | | | 1536 | John of Leiden, c. 25, Anabaptist "Prophet" and rebel, executed | | | 1591 | Alfonso Piccolomini, Duke of Montemarciano, Condotierro, bandit chief, hanged at Florence at 41. | | | 1698 | Pietro and Violante Comparini, murdered by Count Guido Franceschini, their son-in-law | | | 1861 | King Frederik Willem IV of Prussia (1849-1861), at 65 | | | 1921 | Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, 64, who scorned "a mere scrap of paper" | | | 1945 | Adm. Sir Betram Home Ramsay, mastermind of Dunkirk, at 61 | | | 1955 | President Jose Antonio Remon of Panama (1952-55), 46, assassinated | | | 1995 | Pres Siad Barre of Somalia (1969-91), at 84 | | | 2000 | Patrick O'Brien, 85, author ("Master and Commander") | | | 2001 | Richard Winters, who led "The Band of Brothers," E, 506th Parachute Infantry, 19 days short of 93 | | | 2008 | George MacDonald Fraser, 82, soldier, author ("Flashman" - "Quartered Safe Out Here") | | 3 | 236 | Pope St. Anterus (Nov 21, 235-Jan 3, 236) | | | 1322 | King Philip V "the Tall" of France (1316-1322), b. 1293 | | | 1543 | João Rodrigues Cabrilho, c. 42, Explorer, Conquistador | | | 1571 | Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg (1535-1571), 65 | | | 1670 | George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, sometime "General at Sea," restorer of the English monarchy, at 61 | | | 1826 | Louis Gabriel Suchet, 55, one of Napoleon's best marshals | | | 1923 | Jaroslav Hasek, 39, former soldier of the k-u-k, Czech satirist ("Good Soldier Schveik") | | | 1931 | Joseph "Papa" Joffre, Marshal of France, at 78 | | | 1933 | Wilhelm Cuno, German Chancellor (1922-23), at 56 | | | 1946 | William "Lord Haw Haw" Joyce, 39, hanged for treason | | 4 | 838 | Babak Khorramdin, executed at Samarra, ending a 34 year Persian nationalist rebellion against the Sunni Abbasids | | | 1248 | King Sancho II of Portugal (1233-1247), deposed, b. 1207 | | | 1424 | Muzio Attendolo Sforza, Condottiero, drowned at 53 | | | 1695 | François de Montmorency-Bouteville, le duc de Luxembourg, Marshal of France, b. 1628 | | | 1701 | Ernst Tarhemberg, Hapsburg field marshal, at 62 | | | 1707 | Louis William, Margrave of Baden (1677-1707), Imperial field marshal | | | 1729 | Lt. Gen. Joseph de Montesquio, le Comte d'Artagnan, at 77 | | | 1794 | Count Nikolaus von Luckner, Marshal of France, guillotined, 8 days shy of his 72nd birthday | | | 1825 | Ferdinando Antonio Pasquale Giovanni Nepomuceno Serafino Gennaro Benedetto, 73, known as "The Nose", King Ferdinand III of Sicily (1759-1816), IV of Naples (1759-1816), and I of the Twso Sicilies (1816-1825) | | | 1863 | Roger W. Hanson, Brig. Gen., C.S.A., kia at 35 | | | 1913 | Alfred von Schlieffen, 79, German field marshal with a "perfect plan" | | | 1985 | Lt. Gen. Sir Brian Gwynne Horrocks, 89, who commanded XXX Corps in northwest Europe | | | 2004 | John Toland, 91, historian ("The Rising Sun") | | | 2008 | Sir Edmund Hillary, airman, conqueror of Everest, at 88 | | | 2010 | Tsutomo Yamaguchi, 93, who survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings | | 5 | -62 | BC - Lucius Sergius Catilina, c. 44, Roman putschist, kia at Pistoria, reputedly along with c. 10,000 adherents | | | 842 | Caliph Al-Mu'tasim of Baghdad (833-842), at c. 52 | | | 1066 | King Edward "the Confessor" of England (1043-66) | | | 1336 | Francesco Manfredi, Lord of Valdinoce, c. 45, condottiero, Captain General of the Papal Army, murdered by Lamberto Malatesta | | | 1387 | King Pedro IV of Aragon and much else besides (1336-1387), 67 | | | 1400 | Matteo Colonna, Roman Noble, hanged at Rome | | | 1425 | John III "the Pitiless", 48, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing (1374-1425), Prince-Bishop of Liège (1389-1418), Count of Holland & Hainaut (1418-1425), poisoned | | | 1477 | Charles "the Rash", Duke of Burgundy (1467-1477), 43, his sparse brains having encountered a Swiss halberd near Nancy | | | 1537 | Alessandro de Medici, 26, Duke of Florence (1532-1537), assassinated | | | 1588 | Qi Jiguang, 59, Ming general, restorer of the Great Wall | | | 1589 | Catherine de Medici, Queen of France (1547-1559), at 69 | | | 1592 | Duke Willem II the Rich of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (1539-1592), at 75 | | | 1762 | Empress Elizabeth of Russia (1741-1762), 62 | | | 1827 | Frederick, Duke of York, at 63 | | | 1858 | Johann Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal, at 91 | | | 1941 | Amy Johnson, 37, intrepid aviatrix, drowned in the Thames Estuary after bailing out, and Lt Cmdr Walter Fletcher, drowned attempting to rescue her | | | 1982 | Lt. Gen. Sir Edmund Herring, 89, forgotten Australian commander who won the Kokoda Campaign | | 6 | 1448 | Christopher III of Bavaria, King of Denmark (1440-1448), Sweden (1441-1448), & Norway (1442-1448), 29 | | | 1481 | Akhmat, Khan of the Great [Golden] Horde (1465-1481) | | | 1537 | Duke Alessandro de' Medici of Florence (1532-1537), 26 | | | 1693 | Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV Avci (1648-1687), 51 | | | 1694 | Francesco Morosini, Venetian admiral, on campaign at 75 | | | 1698 | Pompilia Comparini, 17, mortally wounded Jan 2nd by her husband, Count Guido Franceschini, 15 days after bearing his heir | | | 1799 | Willem Georg Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau, 25 | | | 1813 | Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers, 49, Napoleonic dragoon | | | 1882 | Richard Henry Dana, Jr., 66, sailor, author ("Two Years Before the Mast") | | | 1913 | Frederick Hitch, 56, who won a VC at Rorke's Drift | | | 1919 | Theodore Roosevelt, Medal of Honor, Nobel Peace Prize, at 60 | | | 1945 | LtGen Herbert Lumsden, CB, DSO, MC, Churchill's personal representative to MacArthur's HQ, 47, kamikaze strike on the bridge of the USS New Mexico (BB-40) | | | 1989 | Hirohito, the Showa Emperor of Japan (1926-89), at 87 | | | 2006 | CWO Hugh Thompson, who saved lives at My Lai, at 62. | | | 2007 | Roberta Wohlsteter, historian ("Pearl Habor: Warning & Decision"), at 94 | | 7 | 1285 | King Charles I d'Anjou of Naples (1266-1285) & Sicily (1266-1282), at 58 | | | 1325 | King Diniz "the Justified" of Portugal (1279-1325), b. 1261 | | | 1451 | Count Amadeus VIII of Savoy (Anti-pope "Felix V"), at 67 | | | 1598 | Tsar Theodore I of Muscovy (1584-1598), the last Rurik, at 40 | | | 1655 | Pope Innocent X - Giambattista Pamfili - (1644-55), at 80 | | | 1695 | Queen Mary II Stuart of England (1688-1694), at 32 (Mrs. William III) | | | 1892 | Khedive Muhammed Tewfik Pasha of Egypt (1879-1892), at 39 | | | 1932 | André Maginot, 54, French WW I veteran, War Minister, after whom the line was named | | | 1989 | Hirohito, 87, Emperor Showa of Japan (1926-1989) | | 8 | 482 | Severinus of Noricum, warrior and saint, c. 72 | | | 624 | Abu Sufjan ibn Harb of the Quraysh, Lord of Mecca, kia against Mohammed | | | 1100 | Antipope Clement III (1080-1100), c.70 | | | 1107 | King Edgar of Scotland (1197-1007), at c. 35 | | | 1198 | Pope Celestine III - Giacinto Bobone Orsini (1191-1198), at c. 90 | | | 1353 | Don Carlos de la Cerda, 26, Count of Angoulême (1350-1354), Constable of France, murdered in a court intrigue | | | 1502 | Giovanni Fogliani, Lord of Fermo, his son Gennaro, his brother-in-law Raffaele della Rovere (son of Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, later Pope Julius II]), Raffaele's two young sons, snatched from their mother's arms, and many others, murdered in the Massacre of Fermo | | | 1536 | Catherine of Aragon, Mrs Henry VIII No. 1, 51 | | | 1547 | King Henry VIII of England (1509-1547), 55 | | | 1598 | Elector Johan Georg of Brandenburg (1571-91), 74 | | | 1642 | Galileo Galilei, c. 77 | | | 1711 | Philips van Almonde, Admiral of Zealand, at 66 | | | 1811 | Samuel Story, Dutch admiral, who lost at Camperdown, at 58 | | | 1815 | Maj. Gen. Sir Edward Pakenham, 36, Wellington's brother-in-law, kia at New Orleans | | | 1842 | Pierre Jacques Étienne Cambronne, Viscount Cambronne, 71, French general who once said "Merde!" | | | 1854 | William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 85, of Peninsular War fame | | | 1880 | Norton I, Emperor of the United States & Protector of Mexico (1859-1880), in San Francisco at 69 | | | 1896 | Paul Verlaine, 51, Volunteer of 1870, Communard, poet | | | 1904 | Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, C.S.A., b. 1821 | | | 1922 | Col. Charles Young (USMA, 1889), 57, senior black officer in the Regular Army, while serving as military attache in Nigeria | | | 1941 | Lord Robert Baden Powell, of the Boy Scouts, at 83 | | | 1996 | François Mitterrand, President of France (1981-95) | | 9 | 639 | Dagobert I of the Franks, King of Austrasia, Soissons, Burgundy, & Neustria (603-639) | | | 1150 | Emperor Xizong of Jin (-1150), c. 30, murdered in a palace coup | | | 1324 | Marco Polo, Venetian merchant, globe trotter, naval officer, b. 1254 | | | 1453 | Stefano Porcari, c. 50, executed at Rome for planning a Republican coup against Pope Nicholas V | | | 1499 | Elector Johan Cicero of Brandenburg (1486-1499), at 43 | | | 1514 | Anne, Duchess of Brittany (1488-1514), 36, last independent Breton ruler, wife to King Charles VIII of France | | | 1569 | St. Philip II of Moscow, 61, Primate of the Russian Church, slain by Ivan the Terrible | | | 1800 | Jean Étienne Championnet, French general, looter, c. 38 | | | 1873 | Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, 64, President of France (1848-1852), Emperor Napoleon III (1852-1870), at 64 | | | 1878 | King Victor Emanuel II of Sardinia (1849-61) and Italy (1861-78), at 77 | | | 1879 | Captain General Joaquin Espartero, Viceroy of Navarre, at 86 | | | 1927 | Houston Chamberlain, Anglo-German racial theorist, at 71 | | | 1995 | Prince Souphanouvong, President of Laos (1975-87), at 85 | | | 2007 | Jean-Pierre Vernant, "Col Berthier" of the Resistance, classical scholar, at 93. | | | 2009 | Jay Luvass, historian ("The Military Legacy of the Civil War: The European Inheritance"), at 81 | | 10 | 681 | Pope St. Agatho (678-81) | | | 976 | Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes (969-976), c. 50 | | | 1271 | Count Otto II "the Lame" of Gelre (1229-1271), c. 55 | | | 1276 | Pope Bl. Gregory X - Teobaldo Visconti (1271-1276) at c. 65 | | | 1421 | Niccolò I Trinci (c. 40) & Bartolomeo Trinci (c. 38), Co-Lords of Folgiano (1412-1421), condottiere, assassinated, along with most of their kin in an attempted coup which only their youngest brother survives. | | | 1645 | Archbishop Laud, 72, beheaded by the Roundheads for "treason" in London | | | 1761 | Admiral Edward Boscawen, 50, conqueror of Louisbourg | | | 1775 | Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, c. 33-35, the Pseudo-Peter III, Russian usurper, executed | | | 1824 | King Victor Emanuel I of Sardinia (1802-21), 63 | | | 1862 | Samuel Colt, at 47, firearms designer, just as business was getting good | | | 1917 | William F. Cody - "Buffalo Bill" - b. 1846 | | | 1961 | Dashiell Hammett, 66, veteran, author ("The Maltese Falcon") | | | 1971 | Gabrielle Bonheur "Coco" Chanel, 87, fashion-conscious Nazi collaborator | | | 2011 | Bill Bower, 93, Col., USAF (Ret), last of the Doolittle Raiders | | 11 | 314 | Pope St. Miltiades (c. 310-314) | | | 705 | Pope John VI (701-705) | | | 812 | Byzantine Emperor Staurakios (July 26-Oct 2, 811), deposed by his sister and her husband, Michael I Rangabes | | | 844 | Byzantine Emperor Michael I Rangabes (811-813), successor to Staurakios, abdicated | | | 1055 | Byzantine Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055), c. 54 | | | 1735 | Prince-Bishop Danilo I Scepcev Petrovic-Njegos of Montenegro (1697-1735), c. 75, founder of the Petrovic dynasty | | | 1797 | Francis "Lightfoot" Lee, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 62 | | | 1843 | Francis Scott Key of "The Star Spangled Banner", at 63 | | | 1891 | Baron Georges Haussmann, 90, who redesigned Paris for Napoleon III | | | 1893 | Benjamin F Butler, Maj Gen, U.S., who proved every woman in New Orleans was a lady, at 74 | | | 1923 | King Constantine I of Greece (1913-17, 20-22), soldier, at 54 | | | 1943 | Carlo Tresca, 63, anarchist, assassinated on Fifth Avenue at 13th Street, by pro-Fascist gangsters | | | 1944 | Galeazzo Ciano, 40, Italian politician, executed by his father-in-law, Mussolini | | | 1952 | Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, posthumous Marshal of France, at 61 | | | 1953 | Ernst H Ridder Rappard, Dutch Nazi, at 53 | | | 1954 | Oscar Straus, Austrian composer ("Brave Soldier"), at 83 | | | 1955 | Rodolfo Graziani, Italian field marshal, at 72 | | | 1977 | Princess Lelia of Sermoneta, at 64; last of a 1000 year old dynasty | | | 1988 | Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, of the "Black Sheep", MoH, b. 1912 | | | 2008 | Sir Edmund Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE, 88, airman, mountaineer | | 12 | 1519 | Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I von Habsburg (1493-1519), at 59 | | | 1777 | Hugh Mercer, 50, Continental brigadier, d/w, the Battle of Princeton | | | 1789 | Ethan Allen, Green Mountain Boy, accidentally drowned while drunk, 1789 | | | 1940 | Edward Benn ('Ned') Smith, VC, DCM, 41, youngest soldier to win the VC in WW I, kia, France. | | | 1943 | Jan Remco Theodoor Campert, 42, Dutch journalist and Resistance worker, in a concentration camp | | | 2003 | Leopoldo Galtieri, 75, Argentine soldier, dictator (1981-1982), who brought about the Falklands War, which brought him down | | | 2008 | Bill Stone, Royal Navy veteran, last surviving Briton to have served in both world wars, at 108 | | 13 | -86 | BC - Gaius Marius, two weeks into his seventh consulship, at c. 70 | | | 858 | King Ethelwulf of Wessex (839-858), kia at c. 58 | | | 888 | Charles III "the Fat," 49, King of East Francia (882-888), of West Francia (884-888), a few weeks after being deposed | | | 1049 | Count Dirk IV of Holland (1039-49), kia at c. 25 | | | 1138 | Duke Simon I of Lorraine (1115-1138), c. 63 | | | 1177 | Heinrich Babenberg, c. 70, Count Palatine of the Rhine (1140-1141) &, Margrave of Austria (1141-1156) as Heinrich II & Duke of Bavaria (1141-1156) and of Austria, (1156-1177) as Heinrich XI | | | 1330 | Frederick "the Fair" von Hapsburg, c. 40, Duke Frederick I of Austria (1308-1330) and King Frederick III of Germany (1314-1330) | | | 1414 | 45 Lollard rebels, executed in England | | | 1759 | The Duke of Aveiro, the Marquis of Tavora and his wife, and various of their servants, executed for treason in Lisbon | | | 1929 | Wyatt Earp, at 80, in bed, in Hollywood | | | 1934 | Maj.Gen. Jean-Baptiste Marchand, daring soldier and explorer, at 70 | | | 1986 | Pres Abdel Fattah Ismail of Yemen (1969-80), c. 46, murdered | | | 1988 | Pres Chiang Ching-kuo of Taiwan (1978-88), at 81, son and heir of Chaing Kai-shek | | 14 | 936 | Rudolph, Duke of Burgundy (921-923), King of Western Francia (923-926) | | | 1092 | King Vratislaus II of Bohemia (1085-1092), c. 60-62 | | | 1163 | King Ladislaus II of Hungary (July 1162-Jan 14, 1163), c. 32 | | | 1301 | King Andrew III "the Venetian" of Hungary (1290-1301), c. 45 - the last male Arpad | | | 1503 | Francesco Orsini, the Duke of Gravina, and his kinsemn Paolo & Roberto Orsini, drowned by Michelloto Coreglia on orders of Cesare Borgia, whom they had betrayed | | | 1595 | Archduke Ferdinand II of "Further Austria" (1564-1595), 67 | | | 1766 | King Frederik V of Denmark & Norway (1746-66), at 42 | | | 1909 | Adm Sinovi Rozhestvensky, who lost the big one at Tsu-Shima, 60 | | | 1948 | Ans Van Dike, Dutch Nazi-collaborator, executed | | | 1957 | Humphrey Bogart, 57, sometime steersman, USS Leviathan, actor ("Sahara") | | | 1972 | King Frederick IX of Denmark (1947-1972), b. 1899 | | | 1977 | Sir Anthony Eden, 79, WW I veteran, Military Cross, sometime PM of Britain (1955-1957) | | 15 | 69 | Roman Emperor Servius Sulpicius Galba (June 68-Jan 15, 69), 70, L. Calpurnius Piso, 30, his adopted heir, murdered in the Forum, and Praetorian Centurion Sempronius Densus, killed trying to defend them | | | 936 | King Rudolph of West Francia (923-936), c. 45, sometime Duke of Burgundy (921-923) | | | 1208 | Pierre de Castelnau, Papal Legate, murdered by the Cathars, initiating the Albigensian Cursade | | | 1330 | Martino Zaccaria, Lord of Phocea and Chios (1314-1330) | | | 1519 | Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, Conquistador, beheaded at 41 on trumped up charges of treason | | | 1595 | Ottoman Sultan Murad III (1574-1595), 48 | | | 1705 | Earl Walraad "the Young" of Nassau-Ottweiler | | | 1815 | Amy Lyon, later Emma Hart, later Emma, Lady Hamilton, Nelson's love, at 49 | | | 1896 | Matthew B Brady, photographer, c. 72 | | | 1919 | Karl Liebknecht (47) and Rosa Luxemburg (47), communist revolutionaries, murdered by the Freikorps in Berlin | | | 1926 | John Harling, 93, the last known veteran of the "Light Brigade". | | | 1950 | General of the Air Force Henry "Hap" Arnold, 63 | | | 1988 | Sean MacBride, sometime commander of the IRA, at 83 | | | 1996 | King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (1966-90), 51 | | 16 | 309 | Pope St. Marcellus I (308-309) | | | 1343 | Robert "the Wise" of Anjou, c. 65, Duke of Calabria (1296-1309), titular King of Jerusalem and of Naples (1309-1343) and Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1309?43). | | | 1443 | Erasmo da Narni - "Gattamelata", Lord of Padua, condottiero, at c. 72 | | | 1794 | Edward Gibbon, militiaman, historian, at 56. | | | 1809 | Sir John Moore, British general, 48, of wounds at La Coruna, Spain | | | 1942 | Carole Lombard, 33, actress, plane crash during a war bond drive | | | 1957 | Arturo Toscanini, anti-fascist conductor, at 89 | | 17 | 395 | Emperor Theodosius I "the Great" (379-395), 48, last ruler of the united empire | | | 1229 | Bishop Albert of Riga, c. 63, builder of Riga, Founder of the Knights of the Sword | | | 1305 | Ruggiero di Lauria, Sicilian-Aragonese admiral, at c. 60 | | | 1369 | King Peter I de Lusignan of Cyprus (1358 1369), Titular King of Jerusalem, 40, assassinated | | | 1468 | Gjergj Kastrioti Scanderbeg, 62, Albanian national hero | | | 1844 | Attilio and Emilio Bandini and 18 other Italian nationalists, executed for insurrection at Naples | | | 1861 | Lola Montez, adventuress, with a talent for orality, at 39 | | | 1891 | George Bancroft, 90, SecNav (1845-1846), father of USNA, historian | | | 1893 | Rutherford B Hayes, general, President (1877-81), at 70 | | | 1908 | Grand Duke Ferdinand IV of Tuscany (1859-1860), 72 | | | 1942 | Walther von Reichenau, 57, field marshal, Nazi | | | 1957 | Humphrey Bogart, 57, veteran, actor ("The Caine Mutiny") | | | 1961 | Patrice Lumumba, African revolutionary, murdered at 36 | | | 1991 | King Olav V of Norway (1957-1991), 87 | | 18 | -52 | BC - Publius Clodius Pulcher, c. 40, in a brawl with Titus Annius Milo on the Appian Way | | | 474 | Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I (457-474), at c. 74 | | | 1169 | Vizier Shawar of Egypt (1162-1169), beheaded by order of Saladin | | | 1213 | Queen Regnant Tamar of Georgia (1184-1213), c. 53 | | | 1367 | King Pedro I "the Just" of Portugal (1357-1367), 46 | | | 1479 | Duke Louis IX "the Rich" of Bavaria (1450-1479), 59 | | | 1586 | Margaret of Austria, 63, illegitimate daughter of Charles V, Duchess-Consort of Parma (1522-1586), Governor-General of the Netherlands (1559-1567, 1578-1582), mother of Alexander Farnese, half-sister to John of Austria | | | 1862 | John Tyler, militiaman, first American vice-president to suceed to the presidency (1841-1845), at 71 | | | 1890 | Amadeo I of Savoy, sometime king of Spain (1870-73), 44 | | | 1936 | Rudyard Kipling, author & poet ("Gunga Din"), 70 | | | 1965 | Gen. Maxime Weygand, at 98 | | | 1991 | Hamilton Fish III, veteran, congressman, isolationist, at 102 | | | 2001 | President Laurent-Désiré Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (1997-2001), 61, assassinated by a bodyguard | | | 2011 | Sargent Shriver, 95, gunnery officer 'South Dakota' (BB-57), Santa Cruz & Guadalcanal, first head of the Peace Corps | | 19 | 639 | King Dagobert I of Austrasia (623-634), of the Franks (629-?634), and of Neustria & Burgundy (629-639), c. 36 - first French monarch buried in St. Denis | | | 1406 | Jacopo da Carrara, Lord of Padova, condottiero, assassinated, at c. 25 | | | 1547 | Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, poet, c. 30, beheaded for treason by Henry VIII | | | 1629 | Shah Abbas I "the Great" of Persia (1588-1629), at 57 | | | 1871 | Alexandre-Georges-Henri Regnault, French artist, kia at 27 | | | 1925 | Maria Sophia of Bavaria, sometime Queen of the Two Sicilies (1859-1861), 83 | | | 1927 | Carlotta, sometime Empress of Mexico (1864-67), at 87 | | | 1969 | Jan Palach, 20, three days after immolating himself to protest the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia | | 20 | 250 | Pope St Fabian (236-250), martyred at Rome | | | 288 | St. Sebastian, Imperial Guardsman, martyred at Rome | | | 842 | Byzantine Emperor Theophilus II (829-842), at c. 30 | | | 1479 | King John II of Aragon (1458-1479), 82 | | | 1612 | HRE Rudolph II von Hapsburg (1576-1612), King of Hungary and Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, 59 | | | 1639 | Ottoman Sultan Mustafa I (1617-1618 & 1622-23), c. 48 | | | 1745 | Charles VII Albert, Holy Roman Emperor, husband to Maria Teresa, 47 | | | 1819 | Carlos IV, former King of Spain (1788-1808), 70 | | | 1862 | Felix Zollicoffer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA, 49 | | | 1936 | King George V of Great Britain, Emperor of India (1910-36), 70 | | | 1948 | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, The Mahatma, assassinated at 78 | | | 2010 | Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, 49, military leader of Hamas, killed by electrocution, in Dubai | | 21 | 917 | Duke Erchanger of Swabia (Sept 915-Jan 21, 917), c. 37 | | | 1118 | Pope Paschal II (1099-1118), the monk Rainerus | | | 1519 | Vasco Núñez de Balboa, c. 44, Spanish explorer | | | 1774 | Ottoman Sultan Mustafa III (1757-1774), at c. 57 | | | 1793 | King Louis XVI of France (1774-1792) - "Citizen Capet", beheaded by the Revolutionaries for treason | | | 1859 | Henry Hallam, historian ("View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages"), 71 | | | 1885 | Hermione Baker (18), of typhoid, fiancé of Horatio Kitchener (33), who never marries | | | 1924 | V.I. Lenin, intellectually-inclined mass murderer, 53 | | | 1928 | George Goethals, 69, US Army engineer who built the Panama Canal | | 22 | 1336 | Count Louis III of Loon (1203-1207) | | | 1552 | Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, "Lord Protector of England," Guardian of Edward VI, beheaded for treason, 44 | | | 1666 | Shah Jahan of the Mughal Empire (1628-1658), 74, having been deposed after building the Taj Mahal | | | 1798 | Lewis Morris, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 71 | | | 1901 | Queen Victoria (1837-1901), at 81 | | | 1922 | Pope Benedict XV (Giacomo de Chiesa) (1914-22), at 67, widely ridiculed for trying to make peace during WW I | | | 1968 | Duke Kahanamoku of Hawaii, Olympian, at 77 | | | 1973 | Lyndon B Johnson, sometime naval officer, President (1963-1969), at 64 | | | 1978 | Oliver Leese, 84, who commanded the British Eighth Army in Italy | | | 1979 | Ali Hassan Salameh [Abu Hassan], Munich Olympic terrorist, car bomb at c. 38 | | | 1982 | Pres Eduardo Frei Montalva of Chile (1964-70), at 71 | | | 1988 | Georgi M Malenkov, Soviet premier (1953-55), at 86 | | | 1994 | Aristotelis "Telly" Savalas, veteran, actor ("The Battle of the Bulge"), one day after his 72nd birthday | | | 2003 | Bill Mauldin, 81, soldier, cartoonist ("Willie and Joe") | | | 2005 | Carlo Orelli. 110, last Italian combat veteran to have served throughout WW I | | | 2007 | Lt. Gen. Ngo Quang Truong, 77, the best ARVN field commander | | 23 | 1002 | Otto III King of the Germans, Holy Roman Emperor (983/996-1002), at 21 | | | 1199 | Yaqub, Almohad Caliph of Morocco and Andalus (1184-1199), c. 38 | | | 1516 | King Ferdinand II of Aragon & Sicily (1497-1516), at 63 -- Isabella's husband | | | 1567 | Estacio de Sa, Portuguese explorer, d/w, Rio de Janeiro, c. 47 | | | 1570 | Earl of Moray, Regent of Scotland (1567-1570), c. 39, assassinated, sparking civil war | | | 1744 | Giambattista Vico, 75, philosopher, jurist, historian | | | 1800 | Edward Rutledge, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, at 50 | | | 1806 | William Pitt the Younger, militiaman, PM (1783-1801, 1804-1806), at 46 | | | 1833 | Admiral Sir Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, 76 | | | 1926 | Belgian Cardinal Desire J. Mercier, Hero of the Resistance, at 74 | | | 1945 | Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, politician, anti-Nazi, executed, 37 | | | 2004 | Bob Keeshan, 76, marine, actor ("Claribell" & "Captain Kangaroo") | | 24 | 41 | Caligula, Roman Emperor (37-41), assassinated by Cassius Chaerea, at 28, while the Praetorians kill his wife Caesonia, c. 34, and their daughter Julia Drusilla, c. 3 | | | 661 | Caliph Ali ibn Abu Talib (656-61), 62, son-in-law of Mohammed, murdered | | | 772 | Pope Stephen III [IV] (768-72), c. 51 | | | 817 | Pope Stephen IV [V] (22 June 816-24 Jan 817) | | | 1002 | Otto III of Saxony, King of the Germans (983-1002), Holy Roman Emperor (996-1002), c. 22 | | | 1125 | King David IV "the Builder" of Georgia (1089-1125), c. 52 | | | 1336 | King Alfonso IV the "Benificent" of Aragon (1327-36), 36 | | | 1376 | Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, English warlord, c. 73 | | | 1595 | Archduke Ferdinand II of Upper Austria (1564-1595), c. 65 | | | 1597 | Count Jean de Rie of Varas, kia, Turnhout | | | 1639 | Jörg Jenatsch, c. 33-34, contentious leader of the Grisons, assassinated | | | 1895 | Lord Randolph Churchill, 45, father of a greater son (see 1965) | | | 1924 | Grand Duchess Maria-Adelheid of Luxembourg (1912-1919), deposed for collaborating with the German occupation | | | 1953 | Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, Nazi, at 77 | | | 1955 | Ira Hayes, former Marine who once helped raise a flag, 32 | | | 1965 | Winston Spencer Churchill, 88, British Prime Minister during World War II, son of Lord Randolph (see 1895) | | 25 | 41 | Praetorian Prefect Cassius Chaerea, assassin of Caligula, executed by Claudius | | | 98 | Roman Emperor Marcus Cocceius Nerva (Sept 18, 96 ? Jan 27, 98), of a stroke at 67 | | | 275 | Roman Emperor Aurelian (270-275), c. 60, murdered [Alt] | | | 477 | King Gaiseric of the Vandals and Alans (428-477), at c. 80 | | | 708 | Pope Sisinnius (15 Jan-4 Feb 708) | | | 844 | Pope Gregory IV (827-844) | | | 1138 | Anti-Pope "Anacletus II" - Pietro Pierleone (1130-38) | | | 1139 | Godfried I "the Bearded" , Count of Brussels and Leuven, Landgrave of Brabant (1095-1139), Margrave of Antwerp (1106-1139), and Duke Godfried V/VI of Lower Lorraine (1106-1129), c. 79 | | | 1431 | Duke Charles II " the Bold" of Lorraine (1390-1431), c. 65, Constable of France (1418-1425) | | | 1494 | King Ferrante I of Naples (1458-1494), c. 70 | | | 1906 | Joseph Wheeler, Maj. Gen., CSA, Brig. Gen., US, at 69 | | | 1972 | Erhard Milch, 79, half-Jewish Luftwaffe marshal, who lied about his ancestry, and had Goring's blessing anyway | | | 1990 | Ava Gardner, 67, actress ("Bhowani Junction") | | | 2010 | Ali Hassan Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, 68, Iraqi general and defense minister, hanged | | 26 | 724 | Caliph Yazid II (720-724), at c. 37, of grief on the death of his girlfriend, or maybe TB | | | 1885 | Charles George Gordon, slain by the Mahdists at Khartoum, two days shy of 52 | | | 1893 | Maj. Gen. Abner Doubleday, who did not invent baseball, on his 74th birthday | | | 1939 | PM Armand Calinescu of Romania, 46, assassinated by the Iron Guard | | | 1943 | Nikolai Vavilov, 55, geneticist, in Stalin's GULAG | | | 1947 | Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten of Sweden, 40, airplane crash | | | 1992 | José Ferrer, actor ("Cockleshell Heroes"), at 80 | | | 1993 | Jan Gies, Dutch resistance fighter, friend to the Frank family, 87 | | 27 | 98 | Marcus Cocceius Nerva-, 67 ( Sept. 18, 96-Jan 27, 98), stroke | | | 661 | Ali ibn Abi Talib, 62, son-in-law of Mohammed, the Fourth Caliph (656-661), murdered -- the first Shia Imam | | | 672 | Pope St. Vitalian (657-672) | | | 847 | Pope St. Sergius II (844-47) | | | 1556 | Moghul Emperor Nasiruddin Muhammad Humayun of India (1530-1556), accidental fall in his library, 47 | | | 1595 | Sir Francis Drake, English sea dog, of fever at c. 55 | | | 1812 | Captain John Perkins, c. 62-65, first black officer in the Royal Navy | | | 1816 | Adm. Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, 85 | | | 1951 | Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, 83, Regent (1918-1919) and President (1944-1946) of Finalnd | | | 1967 | Alphonse Juin, last living Marshal of France, at 78 | | | 1967 | Astronauts Edward H White II (36), Roger B Chaffee (31), & Virgil "Gus" Grissom (40), Apollo I fire | | | 2003 | Hugh Trevor-Roper, 89, MI-6 veteran, historian ("The Last Days of Adolph Hitler") | | 28 | 592 | Saint Guntram, c. 60, King of the Burgundians (561-592) | | | 814 | Charlemagne, c. 66, King of the Franks (768-814), Emperor of the Romans (800-814) | | | 876 | Louis II the Bavarian, King of Eastern Francia (843-876), c. 70 | | | 1061 | Duke Spytihnev II of Bohemia (1055-1061), c. 30 | | | 1256 | Wilhelm II Count of Holland (1238-1256), King of Germany (1247-56), at 28 | | | 1330 | Ramberto dei Malatesti, Lord of Ciola, Castiglione, & Roncofreddo, murdered by his cousin Malatestino | | | 1393 | Huguet de Guisay and le Count de Joigny, burned to death in the "Bal des Ardents" | | | 1547 | King Henry VIII of England (1509-47), at 55 | | | 1621 | Pope Paul V - Camillo Borghese (1605-21), at 68 | | | 1725 | Tsar Peter I the Great of Russia (1682-1725), 52 | | | 1810 | Andreas Hofer, 42, Tyrolian resistance fighter, shot by Napoleon | | | 1829 | William Burke, c. 37, serial killer, in the interests of medical research and profit, hanged | | | 1895 | Marshal Francois Canrobert, who commanded the French in the Crimea, 85 | | | 1918 | Cpl. Roberto Sarfatti, 17, son of Margherita Sarfatti, mistress to Mussolini, kia on the Asiago Front, earning the Medaglia d'oro for bravery. | | | 1986 | Gregory Jarvis, NASA engineer(41), Christa McAuliffe (37, elementary school teacher); Dr. Ronald E McNair, NASA physicist (35); Ellison S Onizuka, USAF(39); Judith Arlene Resnik, NASA engineer (35); Francis R Scobee (46), USAF; Michael J Smith, USN (40) - the Challenger | | | 1996 | U San Yu, soldier, Dictator-President of Burma (1981-88), at 77 | | 29 | -282 | BC - King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt (283-246 BC), c. 63 | | | -164 | BC - King Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleudics (175-164 BC), c. 50 [Alt] | | | 275 | Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, c. 60, Roman Emperor Aurelian (270-275), murdered [Alt] | | | 970 | Tsar Peter I of Bulgaria (927-69), abdicated | | | 1119 | Pope Gelasius II - Giovanni Coniulo, of Gaeta (Jan 24, 1118-Jan 29, 1119.) | | | 1342 | Louis I "the Lame" de Bourbon, c. 63, Count of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis and La Marche, First Duke of Bourbon (1327-1342). | | | 1696 | Ivan V, Co-Tsar of Russia (1682-89), 32 | | | 1820 | King George III of Great Britain (1760-1820), 81 | | | 1837 | Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet, in a duel, at 38 | | | 1906 | King Christian IX of Denmark (1863-1906), 87 | | | 1928 | Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 66, not wholly-inept soldier | | | 1941 | Gen. Ioannis Metaxas, Greek dictator (1936-41), suicide at 69 | | | 1946 | Harry Hopkins, Presidential aide, at 55 | | | 1948 | Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta, 47, Duke of Aosta (1942-1948), King Tomislav II of Croatia (May 18,1941-Oct 12, 1943), which he wisely abdicated, and never visited | | | 1961 | John F. O'Ryan, 86, National Guardsman, Commander, NY's 27th Division in the AEF, public servant | | | 1969 | Allen Dulles, 75, CIA Director (1953-1961) | | | 1970 | Basil Henry Liddell Hart, military thinker, at 74 | | | 2001 | Thomas Lea, war artist, illustrator, journalist, novelist, at 93 | | 30 | -405 | BC - Socrates, distinguished hoplite, busy-body, philosopher, hemlocked at c. 70 [Alt], | | | 1030 | Duke William V of Aquitaine (990-1030), b. 969 | | | 1384 | Count Louis II of Flanders (1346-1384), Count of Artois, of Nevers, & of Rethel, Count Palatine of Burgundy, known as Louis of Male, at 88 | | | 1393 | Aimery de Poitiers and Yvain de Foix, of burns from the "Bal des Ardents" on the 28th | | | 1649 | King Charles I of England (1625-49), 48, shortened by order of Parliament | | | 1730 | Tsar Peter II of Russia (1727-30), 14 | | | 1838 | Chief Osceola of the Seminole, c. 33, in an Army jail | | | 1889 | Baroness Maria Vetsera (17), murdered by her lover, Archduke Rudolf of Austria-Hungary (30), who then kills himself, Mayerling | | | 1948 | Orville Wright, aviation pioneer, 76 | | | 1948 | Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Mary" Coningham, 53, New Zealander, Gallipoli veteran, master of air-ground support | | | 1951 | Ferdinand Porsche, German tank designer, at 75 | | | 1958 | Ernst H. Heinkel, German aircraft designer, at 70 | | 31 | 1431 | Obizzo de Polenta, Lord of Ravenna (1389-1431), condottiero, who had imprisoned his father & murdered his brothers to get the throne | | | 1606 | Guy Fawkes (c. 36), Ambrose Rokewood (c. 28), & Thomas Wintour (c. 35), hanged, drawn, & quartered for the "Gunpowder Plot" | | | 1788 | Charles "Bonnie Prince Charlie" Stuart, the Jacobite "Young Pretender" to the British throne as "Charles III," at 67 | | | 1828 | Alexandros Ypsilanti, Greek nationalist, in exile and poverty at 35 | | | 1945 | Pvt Eddie Slovik, executed "to encourage the others", at 25 | | | 1966 | General Arthur Ernest Percival, 78, who bungled the defense of Malaya in 1942 | | | 1972 | King Bir Bikram Shah Deva Mahendra of Nepal (1955-72), at 51 |
Event
| 1 | -104 | BC - Marius' Triumph for the Jugurthine War | | | -49 | BC - "Alea iacta est!" - Caesar crosses the Rubicon [Julian] | | | -46 | BC - Caesar captures Leptis, in Africa | | | 0 | The new Consuls assume their office at Rome, from 153 BC onwards | | | 69 | Aulus Vitellius is proclaimed Emperor by the Rhine legions (confirmed at Rome in April; abdicates, Dec 20; killed Dec 22nd) | | | 193 | Publius Helvius Pertinax is proclaimed Roman Emperor (Jan 1-Mar 28, 193) | | | 404 | Last recorded gladiatorial fights at Rome | | | 414 | King Athaulf of the Franks marries Galla Placida, sister of Roman Emperor Flavius Honorius | | | 633 | Battle of Meicen: King Edwin of Northumbria defeats King Cadwallon of Cwynedd | | | 1136 | Battle of Swansea: Welsh defeat Anglo-Norman colonists | | | 1158 | Battle of Galloway: Roland defeats Gilpatrick | | | 1189 | Saladin abandons the siege of Tyre | | | 1515 | Francis I de Valois becomes King of France (1515-1547), and proves to be a slow learner and no gentleman | | | 1515 | Jews are expelled from Laibach, Austria | | | 1527 | Duke Ferdinand of Austria is elected King of Croatia, merging the Croatian throne into the Hapsburg monarchy until 1918 | | | 1535 | Persians capture Tabriz | | | 1586 | Sir Francis Drake attacks Santo Domingo | | | 1602 | Battle of Kinsale: Hugh O'Neil is defeated by the English | | | 1651 | Scotts crown Charles [II] King at Scone | | | 1660 | General Monk marches from Coldstream to install Charles II as king in London | | | 1660 | Samuel Pepys begins keeping a diary | | | 1801 | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland formed | | | 1806 | Napoleon abolishes the French Revolutionary calendar, introduced in 1793 | | | 1846 | Yucatan declares independence from Mexico | | | 1849 | Triumphal reception at West Point for Bvt Lt Gen Winfield Scott, newly returned from Mexico | | | 1860 | Battle of Castillejos: Spanish defeat the Moroccans. | | | 1861 | On orders of Winfield Scott, Charles P. Stone begins organizing an anti-secessionist militia in Washington | | | 1862 | Battle of Ft McRee, FL | | | 1863 | Battle of Galveston, Texas: Confederates recapture the city | | | 1863 | Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect | | | 1869 | Brazilian & Allied forces capture Asuncion, Paraguay | | | 1877 | Queen Victoria proclaimed "Empress of India" | | | 1880 | Dr. John Watson meets Sherlock Holmes | | | 1892 | Ellis Island opens; Irish-born Annie Moore is the first of over 12 million immigrants to arrive in America there | | | 1900 | The Commonwealth of Australia is formed | | | 1906 | Count Alfred von Schlieffen retires, leaving a disastrous plan | | | 1911 | Maj Jimmie Erickson takes the first aerial photograph, San Diego | | | 1912 | Sun Yat-sen forms the Chinese Republic | | | 1920 | Red Scare "Great Raid" - c. 1,000 "radicals" arrested in 33 US cities | | | 1920 | The League of Nations convenes for the first time | | | 1923 | USSR formed | | | 1935 | Mustafa Kemal Pasha adopts the name "Ataturk - Father of the Turks" | | | 1937 | Dicator Anastasio Somoza becomes president of Nicaragua (1937-1947, 1950-1956), assassinated | | | 1937 | US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio | | | 1942 | Japanese temporarily halted in Malaya. | | | 1942 | Philippine Army covers final withdrawal of South Luzon Force into Bataan | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: Americal Div resumes its assault on Mt. Austen. | | | 1944 | Oran, Algeria: Army defeats Navy 10-7 in the "Arab Bowl" | | | 1944 | Western New Britain: Allies overcome last Japanese resistance | | | 1946 | Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god | | | 1950 | First woman doctor commissioned in the USN, Mary T. Sproul | | | 1950 | Indo-China: Viet Minh open a major offensive against the French | | | 1950 | Puerto Rican nationalists attempt to kill Pres. Truman | | | 1951 | Massive Chinese/North Korean assault on UN-lines | | | 1959 | Triumphal entry of Fidel Castro into Havana as Fulgencio Batista flees | | | 1962 | US Navy SEAL teams established. | | | 1993 | Czechoslovakia divides into the Czech Republic and Slovakia | | 2 | 366 | The Allamanni invade the Roman Empire across the Rhine [which may have been frozen, or maybe not] | | | 533 | The presbyter Mercurius is elected Pope as John II (533-535), the first pontiff to change his name upon election | | | 1492 | Granada surrenders to Ferdinand & Isabella, completing the 781 year war of liberation of Spain from the Moors | | | 1502 | Cesare Borgia slays six bulls in the arena, decapitating one | | | 1570 | Tsar Ivan the Terrible begins the conquest of Great Novgorod | | | 1602 | Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsale | | | 1631 | England & Spain ally against the Dutch Republic | | | 1698 | Count Guido Franceschini mortally wounds his wife Pompilia Comparini, 17, and murders her parents | | | 1776 | First American flag displayed | | | 1777 | Battle of the Assunpink Creek: George Washington's army defeats the British near Trenton, New Jersey | | | 1861 | South Carolinian forces seize inactive Ft Johnson in Charlestown Harbor | | | 1870 | Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins | | | 1905 | Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese | | | 1923 | KKKers attack Rosewood, Fla, killing 8 black Americans | | | 1942 | 28 Allied nations pledge to make no separate peace with the Axis | | | 1942 | German troops in Bardia surrender | | | 1942 | Japanese occupy Manila and Cavite | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese occupy Kampar. | | | 1943 | Papua: U.S. I Corps captures Buna Mission | | | 1944 | New Guinea: Allies land on Saidor, isolating 12,000 Japanese troops. | | | 1945 | USN convoys depart Leyte to invade Luzon, while beating off Kamikaze. | | | 1954 | The film "The Caine Mutiny" premieres, New York | | | 1964 | Assassin fails to kill President Nkrumah of Ghana | | 3 | 0 | Memorial of St Daniel of Padua, Patron of Women with Husbands at War | | | 964 | Anti-Papal rioting in Rome | | | 1099 | Count Bertrand of Toulouse sets out on Crusade | | | 1387 | Battle of Castagnaro: Giovanni Acuto/John Hawkwood leads the Carrarans to victory over the Scaligers | | | 1463 | Francois Villon, "Ballad Lord and Thief," is banished from Paris, and is never seen again. | | | 1504 | French surrender Gaeta to Gonzalo de Cordoba (invested Dec 30) | | | 1521 | Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther | | | 1777 | Battle of Princeton: Washington defeats the British | | | 1799 | Gaeta surrenders to the French without a fight | | | 1826 | The Military Society of the War of 1812 is formed in New York by officer veterans of the Second British War | | | 1861 | Forts Pulaski & Jackson, Savannah, seized by Georgia | | | 1862 | Valley Campaign: Stonewall Jackson moves north from Winchester | | | 1868 | The Meiji Restoration: The shogunate is abolished in Japan | | | 1914 | Pancho Villa & Mutual Film Corp conclude a deal to film his battles | | | 1926 | Gen Theodorus Pángulos becomes dictator of Greece | | | 1926 | Mussolini assumes the Ministries of War, Navy, & Air | | | 1942 | ABDA: Allied forces in SE Asia & East Indies put under Archibald Wavell | | | 1942 | Borac-Guagua line holds on Luzon. | | | 1942 | Malaya: British once again withdraw under pressure. | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: Americal Div partially surrounds Japanese Gifu position. | | | 1943 | Papua: U.S. and Australian forces mop up in the Buna area | | | 1944 | Marine ace "Pappy" Boyington (28 kills) captured by the Japanese | | | 1945 | Third Fleet stages raids on Okinawa, Formosa, & the Pescadores | | | 1962 | Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro | | | 1990 | Panama's Gen Manuel Noriega surrenders to US authorities | | | 1992 | 32 Cubans defect to the US by helicopter | | | 1993 | George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). | | | 2004 | Bhutanese Army expels the last Indian rebel invaders (begun Dec 15) | | 4 | -48 | BC - Caesar sails from Brindisi for Greece | | | -46 | BC - Battle of Ruspina, Africa: Labienus defeats Caesar, who retreats. | | | 871 | Battle of Reading: King Ethelred of Wessex defeated by the Danes | | | 1493 | Columbus sets sail from the New World to return from his first voyage. | | | 1749 | John Jervis, later the Earl St. Vincent, joins the Royal Navy | | | 1762 | England declares war on Spain and Naples | | | 1780 | Snowstorm hits Washington's army at Morristown, NJ | | | 1832 | Slave insurrection at Trinidad | | | 1853 | USN buys Mare Is, San Francisco Bay, for a shipyard | | | 1861 | Ft Morgan, Mobile, seized by Alabama | | | 1910 | USS 'Michigan' (BB-27) is commissioned, the first dreadnought to be ordered, though commissioned later than the British ship that gave the type its name | | | 1914 | Enver Pasha becomes Turkish war minister | | | 1915 | Trans-Caucasia: Russia defeats Turkish offensive | | | 1942 | Japanese troops continue to advance in Malaya. | | | 1942 | Philippine Army abandons the Borac-Guagua line | | | 1942 | U.S. a/c attack Japanese shipping in Davao harbor, the Philippines | | | 1943 | Japanese GHQ orders the evacuation of Guadalcanal. | | | 1943 | Proximity fuzed AA ammo used for the first time; USS 'Helena' (CL-50) off Munda | | | 1944 | New Guinea: Australian forces struggle to reach Kelanoa | | | 1944 | Operation Carpetbagger begins, the Allied campaign to airdrop arms and supplies to the Resistance in Europe, | | | 1945 | Germans execute resistance strikers in Amsterdam | | | 1945 | Luzon: 3rd Fleet hit by kamikaze, USS 'Ommaney Bay' (CVE-79) is lost | | | 1951 | Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul | | | 1989 | Second Gulf of Sidra Incident: two USN F-14s down two Libyan MiG-23s | | 5 | -62 | Battle of Pistoria: Defeat of Cataline's Conspiracy | | | 269 | Accession of Pope St. Felix I (269-274) | | | 541 | Anicius Faustus Albinus Basilius is appointed Consul by the Emperor Justinian; last known holder of the post that had been established in 509 BC | | | 1371 | Pierre Roger de Beaufort crowned Pope as Gregory XI (1371-1378), last Avignonese pope | | | 1477 | Battle of Nancy: Swiss defeat Charles the Bold of Burgundy. | | | 1500 | Ludovico "il Moro" Sforza captures Milan | | | 1608 | Capt. John Smith is captured by the Indians | | | 1675 | Battle of Durkheim: The French defeat the Imperialists | | | 1757 | Robert Francois Damiens stabs Louis XV in an unsuccessful assassination attempt | | | 1757 | Giacomo Casanova makes his first visit to Paris | | | 1781 | Richmond burned by British forces under Benedict Arnold | | | 1822 | The Mexican Empire annexes Central America | | | 1855 | Crew of USS 'Plymouth' skirmish with Chinese troops near Canton | | | 1861 | Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines on Mobile Bay | | | 1875 | Cdr Edward Lull, USN, begins survey of canal route across Panama | | | 1895 | Maj. Alfred Dreyfus is formally degraded and expelled from the French Army in the courtyard of the Ecole militiare | | | 1916 | Austria-Hungary attempts another offensive against Montenegro | | | 1919 | Organization of the "Free Committee for a German Workers Peace", which Adolf Hitler will later infiltrate as an Army intelligence operative, and then join, and help turn it into the "National Socialist German Workers Party" | | | 1919 | Spartacist uprising in Berlin, state of siege proclaimed | | | 1929 | Abortive coup in Yugoslavia | | | 1940 | Finns begin a counteroffensive at Suomossalmi, to inflict a devastating defeat on the Soviets | | | 1942 | Bataan: Fil-Am troops begin consolidating the defenses | | | 1942 | Burma: British reinforcements (elms 17th Indian Div) arrive. | | | 1942 | Japanese 48th Div begins moving from Philippines to Java | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese troops continue to advance. | | | 1943 | Burma: Japanese hold the British before Akyab, | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: Army engineers bridge the Matanikau River | | | 1944 | New Guinea: US-Aussie offensives struggle towards Kelanoa. | | | 1945 | Northern Burma: Chinese advance, crossing the Shweli River | | | 1961 | US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba | | | 1968 | Lt Clarence W. Cote becomes the first male officer in the Navy Nurse Corps | | | 1969 | USSR launches Venera 5 - will make 1st successful planetary landing on Venus | | 6 | 878 | Battle of Chippenham: Danes rout King Alfred's army | | | 1156 | Battle of the Isle of Islay: Lord Somerled of the Isles defeats the Danes | | | 1352 | King Jean II of France founds the Order of the Star | | | 1400 | Attempted assasination of Henry IV of France and his family | | | 1422 | Battle of Nebovidy/Nemecky Brod: Hussite Jan Ziska defeats Sigsimund of Bohemia | | | 1424 | Battle of Skalice: Jan Ziska defeats the Ultraquist Hussities | | | 1449 | Constantine XI Paleologos becomes Byzantine Emperor (1449-1453), kia at the Romanus Gate, 1453 | | | 1497 | Jews are expelled from Graz, Styria, Austria | | | 1515 | First recorded accidental discharge of a firearm, a wheellock pistol wounds a strumpet in Constance | | | 1540 | Anne of Cleves becomes Mrs. King Henry VIII No. 4; annulled July 9, 1540 | | | 1776 | Alexander Hamilton's "New York Provincial Company of Artillery" is organized; now the 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, senior unit of the Regular Army | | | 1781 | Battle of Jersey: the British defeat a French attempt to capture the Channel Islands | | | 1842 | Afghanistan: Anglo-Indian forces begin a disastrous retreat from Kabul; all but one of 4,500 troops & 12,000 camp followers will be lost or captured | | | 1861 | Florida troops seize the Federal arsenal at Apalachicola | | | 1927 | US marines sent to Nicaragua | | | 1929 | Alexander I establishes a royal dictatorship in Yugoslavia | | | 1940 | Germans massacre Poles in Poznan | | | 1941 | FDR's "Four Freedoms" address; of speech & worship, from want & fear. | | | 1942 | Malaya: British hold the Japanese north of Kuala Lumpur | | | 1942 | Philippine Army units hold the Dinalupihan-Orani line | | | 1943 | Papua: US and Australian troops mass for a final assault on Sanananda. | | | 1944 | Nimitz issues plan for the capture of the Marshall Islands. | | | 1950 | Britain recognizes Communist China | | | 1961 | Nikita Khruschev declares that the Soviet Union will back Third World "wars of national liberation" | | | 1976 | The Crown of St. Stephen is returned to Hungary, after 32 years in American custody | | 7 | -49 | BC - The Senate orders Caesar to disband his army or be declared a public enemy, thereby heading off a compromise by Cicero, and insuring civil war | | | 1558 | The French take Calais, the last English enclave on the Continent | | | 1566 | Michele Ghisleri elected Pope as Pius V (1566-1572), later canonized | | | 1579 | England & the Netherlands conclude an alliance | | | 1598 | Boris Godunov usurps the Russian throne on the death of Theodore I | | | 1601 | Robert, Earl of Essex leads revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth | | | 1709 | Siege of Verpik: Russians use boiling porridge to help defeat the Swedes | | | 1762 | The British cabinet orders the capture of Havana, by forces concentrating from Britain, Ireland, North America, & the West Indies, which is accomplished in 218 days, on August 13th. | | | 1785 | First balloon crossing of the Channel, Blanchard & Jeffries | | | 1789 | First American presidential election | | | 1935 | Fascist Italy and Popular Front France agree to help Austria against Nazi Germany | | | 1941 | Isoruku Yamamoto proposes a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor | | | 1942 | Bataan: 15,000 US & 65,000 Philippine troops go on half-rations, as the Japanese close up to their lines | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese turn the British defenses north of Kuala Lumpur | | | 1943 | Burma: Stalemate in the Arakan as the British take heavy losses | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: US strength reaches 50,000, Japanese less than 25,000. | | | 1944 | Japan's Imperial HQ orders capture of the Imphal, NE India | | | 1945 | Burma: British troops occupy Akyab, in the Arakan | | | 1953 | Pres Truman announces development of the hydrogen bomb | | | 1962 | Indonesian Pres Sukarno escapes assassination attempt | | | 1979 | Vietnamese forces capture Phnom Penh from the Khmer Rouge | | | 1989 | Akihito installed as the 125th Emperor of Japan | | 8 | 794 | First Viking Raid on Britain, Lindisfarne Abbey destroyed | | | 871 | Battle of Ashdown: King Ethelred of Wessex defeats the Danes | | | 936 | Election of Pope Leo VII (936-939) | | | 1198 | Lotario de' Conti is elected Pope as Innocent III (1198-1216) | | | 1294 | Genoese adventurer Francesco Grimaldi captures Monaco, disguised as a monk, establishing the current dynasty | | | 1502 | The Massacre of Fermo: At the suggestion of Cesar Borgia, Oliverotto Eufreducci holds a banquet for his kinsman Giovanni Fogliano, the Lord of Fermo, & the leading citizens of the town, and seizes control | | | 1546 | Battle of Anaquito: Gonzalo Pizarro seizes Peru from the Spanish Viceroy | | | 1558 | Duc de Guise captures Calais, completing the liberation of France from the English. | | | 1598 | Genoa orders the expulsion of all Jewish persons | | | 1676 | Battle of Stromboli: Indecisive Anglo-Dutch naval clash | | | 1800 | Second Battle of Novi: the Austrians defeat French | | | 1806 | Battle of Blueberg: British defeat Franco-Dutch at Cape Town | | | 1811 | The Great Louisiana Slave Rebellion begins, in St. John Baptist Parish, 2 whites slain | | | 1815 | Battle of New Orleans, 15 days after the Treaty of Ghent | | | 1838 | Anti-English rebellion at Amherstburg, Ontario | | | 1847 | Battle of San Gabriel, Ca: Army-Navy-Marine victory over Mexican forces | | | 1865 | Battle of Dove Creek: Indians defeat Confederate Texans, near San Angelo | | | 1877 | The Battle of Wolf Mountain, Montana: Crazy Horse is defeated by the U.S. Army - the last battle of the Great Sioux War | | | 1918 | Pres Wilson outlines the "14 Points" for WW I peace, prompting Clemenceau to comment that God "only had ten Commandments" | | | 1923 | First successful flight of a rotary wing aircraft, Juan de la Cierva's autogyro | | | 1926 | Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud establishes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. | | | 1940 | Britain initiates rationing of bacon, butter, and sugar | | | 1942 | Malaya: British fall back to "Johore Line," c. 50 mi north of Singapore | | | 1943 | Allied a/c hit Japanese transports at Lae, in NE New Guinea. | | | 1943 | British turn control of Madagascar over to the Free French. | | | 1944 | U.S. Navy bombards Japanese base in the Shortland Islands. | | | 1945 | Heavy US air strikes on Luzon, concentrating on Lingayen Gulf area | | | 1947 | George C. Marshall becomes Secretary of State | | | 1973 | Secret peace talks between US & North Vietnam resume near Paris | | | 1989 | Soviet Union promises to eliminate stockpiles of chemical weapons | | | 1992 | Pres. George H. W. Bush vomits in the Japanese prime minister's lap | | | 1992 | Several hundred former Korean "Comfort Women" begin weekly rallies in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul demanding an apology and compensation, which still continue. | | 9 | 1349 | Blamed for causing the Black Death, the Jews of Basel are burned in their homes, 700 die | | | 1522 | Adrian Dedel elected Pope as Adrian VI (1522-1523), only Dutch pope | | | 1570 | Ivan the Terrible feels piqued, massacres 2000 in Novgorod | | | 1760 | The Battle of Barari Ghat: the Afghans defeat the Marathas | | | 1798 | Bonaparte burns the state barge 'Bucentaur', symbol of Venetian independence | | | 1805 | Lord Nelson is buried in the crypt of St. Paul's, London | | | 1812 | Napoleon annexes Swedish Pomerania | | | 1861 | First Shot of the Civil War: US steamer 'Star of the West' is fired on by Confederate batteries off Charleston | | | 1861 | Mississippi becomes 2nd state to secede | | | 1862 | Battle of Ft Hindman/Arkansas Post (to Jan 11) | | | 1879 | Riot among Cheyenne Indians held prisoner at Ft Robinson | | | 1904 | Lt Gen Samuel B. M. Young retires; on active duty since Apr 25, 1861. | | | 1917 | British steamer 'Gladys Royal' becomes the first ship sunk by Count Luckner's 'Seeadler' | | | 1936 | Garrand M-1 semi-automatic rifle adopted by the US Army | | | 1941 | 6,000 Jews slaughtered in Bucharest, Romania | | | 1942 | FDR establishes the Joint Chiefs of Staff | | | 1942 | First Japanese offensive against Bataan. | | | 1942 | Japanese submarines begin operating in the Indian Ocean. | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese amphibious "end run" around Br left at Port Settenham | | | 1944 | Burma: British troops take Maungdaw as Sino-American forces capture Shwebo, and heavy fighting continues along the Tarung River. | | | 1945 | Luzon: Sixth Army lands in Lingayen Gulf. | | | 1951 | USS 'Brooklyn' (CL-40) transferred to Chile | | | 1952 | USMC recalls Ted Williams to active duty for the Korean War | | | 1964 | Anti-US rioting in the Panama Canal Zone | | 10 | 69 | Roman Emperor Galba adopts L. Calpurnius Piso, greatly annoying M. Salvius Otho | | | 236 | St Fabian becomes Pope (236-250) | | | 1072 | Triumphal entry of Robert the Weasel and his brother Roger into Palermo, newly liberated from the Arabs | | | 1421 | Attempted coup against the Trinci of Fogliano, leads to the accession of the sole surviving family member, Corrado III (1421-1439), who promptly massacres the assassins | | | 1475 | Battle of Vaslui: Stephen III of Moldavia defeats the Ottomans | | | 1503 | Last meeting between Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia, at Imola | | | 1642 | King Charles I flees London for Oxford | | | 1761 | French surrender Pondicherry to the British | | | 1776 | Publication of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" | | | 1806 | Dutch surrender Cape Town, South Africa, to the British | | | 1810 | Napoleon annuls his marriage with Josephine | | | 1811 | Battle of Bernoudy's Plantation: Ends Deslondes' Great Louisiana Slave Rebellion, c. 100 blacks, 0 whites killed | | | 1847 | US Navy-Marine Corps landing party occupies Los Angeles | | | 1854 | Pro-slavery filibuster William Walker proclaims the 'Republic of Sonora' in Baja California | | | 1861 | Florida becomes 3rd state to secede | | | 1861 | Louisiana state troops capture Fts Jackson & St. Philip | | | 1861 | US forts & property seized by Mississippi | | | 1862 | Battle of Big Sandy River/Middle Creek, KY | | | 1862 | Battle of Romney, WV | | | 1889 | Ivory Coast declared a protectorate of France | | | 1920 | First meeting of the League of Nations | | | 1927 | Tryst between Tamara de Lempicka (28) & Gabriele d'Annunzio (63) at the Vittoriale -- http://www.vittoriale.it/ | | | 1928 | The Soviet Union orders Leon Trotsky exiled to Siberia | | | 1941 | Nazis order registration of Jews in Austria | | | 1942 | Borneo: Japanese begin landing at Tarankan Bay | | | 1942 | Heinz Hitler (19), nephew of Der Fuhrer, is captured on the Eastern Front while serving as an NCO in the 23rd Artillery; dies in a Soviet P/W camp | | | 1942 | Java: Wavell arrives at Bandung to take command of ABDA | | | 1942 | Netherlands Indies: Japan invades North-Celebes | | | 1942 | As Japanese troops close up to the Fil-American lines, Gen. Douglas MacArthur makes his first visit to the front on Bataan . . . and his last. | | | 1943 | FDR leaves for the Casablanca Conference, the first trans-oceanic flight by a president | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: "Tokyo Express" is ambushed by PT-boats, losing two ships | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: Henderson Field is complete for use in all weather | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: U.S. begin a general offensive to eliminate Japanese. | | | 1943 | Papua: Limited Allied attacks continue in the Sanananda. | | | 1944 | Burma: Br begin dropping naval mines in the Salween River. | | | 1944 | New Britain: Major Japanese counterattacks. | | | 1945 | British and Indian forces capture Shwego, in the Arakan. | | | 1945 | Luzon: US forces enlarge their beachhead. | | | 1945 | Northern Burma: Chinese and American forces continue to advance. | | | 1946 | Army Signal Corps bounces a radar beam off the moon. | | | 1946 | First meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, London | | | 1947 | Saronic Gulf: Greek steamer 'Himara' strikes an old mine, 392 die | | | 1964 | Moslem-Hindu riots in Calcutta, hundreds die | | | 1969 | Sweden recognizes North Vietnam | | | 1985 | Daniel Ortega Saavedra inaugurated as President of Nicaragua (1985-1990; 2007-) | | 11 | -29 | BC - Augustus closes the doors of the Temple of Janus; Rome is at peace, for the first time in three centuries. | | | 532 | Nike Riots begin at Constantinople against Justinian and Theodora | | | 1158 | Election of Vladislav II as King of Bohemia (1158-11720, abdicats, d. 1174 | | | 1430 | Duke Phillip the Good of Burgundy creates the Order of the Golden Fleece | | | 1785 | The Continental Congress convenes in New York | | | 1861 | Alabama becomes 4th state to secede | | | 1861 | Mexico City captured by Juaristas in the War of the Reform | | | 1863 | CSS 'Alabama' sinks USS 'Hatteras' off Galveston | | | 1863 | Union forces capture Arkansas Post/Ft Hindman | | | 1865 | Battle of Beverly, WVa | | | 1879 | The Great Anglo-Zulu War begins | | | 1904 | SW Africa's Herero revolt against German domination | | | 1917 | German agents blow up the Kingsland Munitions Plant, NJ | | | 1919 | Romania annexes Transylvania | | | 1923 | France & Belgium occupy the Ruhr to collect reparations from Germany | | | 1942 | American Samoa: Japanese submarine shells Pago Pago | | | 1942 | Bataan: Heavy fighting | | | 1942 | 'Saratoga' (CV-3) torpedoed SW of Oahu | | | 1942 | Celebes: Japanese SNLF airborne & amphibious landings. | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: 35th Inf succeeds in encircling the Gifu, against fierce resistance. | | | 1943 | New Guinea: Aus Kanga Force begins 3-day raid against Japanese at Mubo | | | 1944 | Krakow-Plaszow Concentration Camp established | | | 1944 | New Guinea: Allied airfield at Saidor becomes operational. | | | 1945 | Japanese decide to put remaining resources into suicide weapons. | | | 1946 | Enver Hoxha proclaims the People's Republic of Albania with himself as dictator | | | 1951 | After 12 days alone aboard his dangerously listing vessel in heavy seas of Britain, Capt. Kurt Carlsen abandons the 'Flying Enterprise', which sinks. | | | 1976 | Military coup in Ecuador ousts Pres Guillermo Lara | | | 1989 | 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons | | | 1991 | Congress authorizes Pres G.H. W. Bush to undertake offensive operations against Iraq | | 12 | 1258 | Battle of Anbar: The Mongols defeat the Abbasids | | | 1493 | Last day for all Jews to leave Sicily | | | 1500 | Cesare Borgia captures the citadel of Forli, and the great Caterina Sforza, taken weapons in hand | | | 1559 | Coronation of Elizabeth I "Gloriana" of England | | | 1598 | Pope Clement VIII seizes the duchy of Ferrara | | | 1779 | Wargaom: Mahrattas defeat a British column | | | 1807 | Gunpowder laden ship explodes at Leiden, Netherlands, 150 die | | | 1809 | British capture Cayenne from the French | | | 1813 | US Frigate 'Chesapeake' captures the British 'Volunteer' | | | 1816 | Louis XVIII bars the Bonapartes from France forever | | | 1836 | Seminole Wars: Battle of Wetumka, Fla. | | | 1848 | The Palermo Uprising: A liberal insurrection ignties revolutionary movements across all of Europe. | | | 1848 | Mexican forces attack US Sloop-of-War 'Lexington' off San Blas | | | 1858 | Felice Orsini & three henchmen attempt to blow up Napoleon III; 12 killed, 144 wounded | | | 1861 | Lt Adam Slemmer, USA, refuses to surrender Ft Pickens to Florida state troops | | | 1863 | President Jefferson Davis delivers his "State of the Confederacy" address | | | 1866 | Royal Aeronautical Society founded | | | 1942 | Bataan: Heavy fighting | | | 1942 | Borneo: Dutch coast defense battery sinks two Japanese MSs off Tarankan | | | 1942 | British troops retake Sollum, Egypt | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese begin to advance on Malacca. | | | 1942 | National War Labor Board created | | | 1943 | Aleutians: 'Worden' (DD-352) lost to the hazards of the sea | | | 1944 | Churchill and de Gaulle confer in Marrakech | | | 1945 | Battle of the South China Sea: TF 38 sinks 41 Japanese ships | | | 1946 | The 82nd Airborne Division marches up Fifth Avenue to a tumultuous greeting | | | 1950 | Swedish tanker rams British sub 'Truculent' in the Thames, 64 die | | | 1953 | First landings on an American angled deck carrier, 'Antietam' (CV-36). | | | 1964 | One month after independence, a bloody uprising by the black majority ousts the Arab ruling minority of Zanzibar, installing a government that shortly unites with Tanganyika to form Tanzania | | | 1987 | Prince Edward resigns from the Royal Marines | | | 2008 | Wreckage of the French battleship 'Danton', sunk by a U-boat in 1917, is located off Sardinia | | 13 | -27 | BC - Octavian "Restores the Republic" - rules for 41 more years. | | | 858 | Battle of Aclea: Danes wax Wessex | | | 888 | Odo becomes king of the West Franks (888-898) | | | 1099 | Crusaders burn Mara, Syria | | | 1631 | Treaty of Barwalde: France buys Swedish military support for five years. | | | 1649 | The Fronde rebels storm the Bastille | | | 1830 | Third Great Fire of New Orleans: blamed on a slave conspiracy | | | 1842 | Battle of Gandamak: Afghans overwhelm the 44th Foot, completing the destruction of the British Army in their country | | | 1865 | US Army/Navy begins Siege of Ft Fisher, NC; falls Jan 15 | | | 1874 | Battle between jobless & police in NYC, 100s injured | | | 1874 | US troops land in Honolulu to protect the king | | | 1881 | Battle of Chorillos: Chileans defeat the Peruvians, begin an offensive against Lima (falls 17th) | | | 1894 | Revolution in Sicily crushed by government troops | | | 1895 | Battle of Coatit: Italians defeat the Abyssinians | | | 1898 | Publication of "J'Accuse!", Emile Zola's defense of Dreyfus , in Paris | | | 1913 | Delta Sigma Theta is formed | | | 1942 | Elms Br 18th Div reach Singapore, as Japanese close in | | | 1942 | Heavy fighting on Bataan, as Philippine troops counterattack | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: the 25th Inf Div captures the Galloping Horse, as the 2nd Mar Div attacks westward along the coast | | | 1943 | Hitler declares "Total War" | | | 1943 | Submarine 'Guardfish' (SS-217) torpedoes a Japanese patrol vessel off New Ireland. | | | 1943 | Three "Jewish transports" arrive at Auschwitz, from Berlin, the Netherlands, and Zambrów, totalling some 3,960 people, of whom 2,446 are immediately gassed | | | 1944 | Northern Burma: Chinese forces secure the Tarung river line. | | | 1945 | Luzon: Heavy fighting | | | 1958 | 9,000 scientists from 43 nations petition UN for nuclear test ban | | | 1967 | Military coup in Togo | | | 1968 | Beginning of Tet Offensive in Vietnam | | | 1986 | Bloody coup overthrows government of South Yemen | | 14 | 1478 | Novgorod submits to Tsar Ivan III | | | 1526 | Treaty of Madrid: Francis I of France pretends to make peace with the Emperor Charles V | | | 1659 | Battle of Elvas: Portuguese defeat Spanish | | | 1724 | King Philip V abdicates the Spanish throne (1700-Jan 14, 1724), to resume it when his son dies (Aug 31, 1724-1746) | | | 1784 | Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War | | | 1797 | Battle of Rivoli Veronese: Massena's French defeat the Austrians. | | | 1799 | King of Naples flees to Sicily before invading French armies | | | 1813 | US Frigate 'Chesapeake' captures British brig 'Hero' | | | 1814 | Treaty of Kiel: Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden in return for Pomerania | | | 1815 | HMS's 'Endymion', 'Tenedos', and 'Pomone' capture USS frigate 'President', and discover the secret of building a 44-gun single deck frigate that doesn't "hog" and break in half under its own weight. | | | 1847 | Uprising in New Mexico against US occupation | | | 1859 | France & Piedmont conclude an anti-Austrian alliance | | | 1859 | Lt. James Brooke, USN, claims French Frigate Shoal for the US | | | 1863 | US Navy GO No 4: The Emancipation Proclamation is announced to the fleet | | | 1864 | Battle of Cosby Creek, Tn | | | 1867 | Alfred Nobel makes the first public demonstration of dynamite | | | 1913 | First Balkan War-Battle of Bizani: The Greeks defeat the Turks | | | 1919 | Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde of Luxembourg (1912-1919) abdicates, having collaborated with the occupying Germans, leaving the throne to her sister Charlotte, who reigns until 1964, when she retires | | | 1929 | Abdication of Emir/Shah/King Amanullah of Afghanistan (1919-1929) | | | 1942 | Arcadia Conference ends. | | | 1942 | Bataan: Heavy fighting | | | 1942 | Borneo: Japanese troops land at Balikpapan | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese capture Malacca. | | | 1943 | Casablanca Conference: FDR, Churchill, & Chaing begin ten days of meetings | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: "Tokyo Express" begins evacuation of Japanese forces | | | 1945 | Burma: Japanese counterattack British on the Irawaddy River. | | | 1953 | Marshal Tito becomes president of Yugoslavia (1953-1980) | | | 1967 | NY Times reports the Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments on the public | | | 1969 | Fire aboard USS Enterprise, off Vietnam, 28 die, 344 injured | | | 1972 | Accession of Queen Margaret II of Denmark | | 15 | -588 | BC - Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon lays siege to Jerusalem, which falls on July 23, 586 BC | | | 69 | Coup installs Marcus Salvius Otho as Roman Emperor (Jan 15- April 16, 69) | | | 708 | Accession of Pope Sisinnius (15 Jan-4 Feb 708) | | | 946 | Caliph al-Mustaqfi of Baghdad (944-946) is deposed and blinded, as he did to his predecesory | | | 1495 | French besiege Gaeta (to Feb 16), held for Ferrante II of Naples | | | 1517 | The Turks sack Cairo | | | 1535 | Henry VIII becomes head of the Church in England, in order to divorce his wife | | | 1552 | Treaty of Chambord: Catholic France agrees to support German Protestants against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor | | | 1582 | Russia cedes Livonia & Estonia to Poland, losing access to the sea | | | 1680 | French explorer Sieur de la Salle builds Ft Crevecoeur | | | 1757 | Robert-François Damiens stabs Louis XV with a pen knife | | | 1762 | Samuel Fraunces opens a tavern in New York City | | | 1799 | French & Polish troops plunder Itri, murdering 60 | | | 1851 | Herrera ousted by Arista as President of Mexico | | | 1865 | Union soldiers, sailors, & marines (among them George Dewey), storm Ft Fisher, NC | | | 1919 | The 'Great Molasses Flood' in Boston, 21 die | | | 1919 | Pianist Ignace Paderewski is named primier & foreign minister of Poland (to Dec 9, 1919) | | | 1942 | Bataan: Japanese troops penetrate US/Philippine defenses | | | 1942 | Chinese halt a Japanese offensive near Changsha in Hunan Province. | | | 1942 | Japanese Southern Army invades Burma from Thailand. | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese "end run" landings dislocate the British left. | | | 1943 | Dedication of the Pentagon | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: US forces make only limited gains. | | | 1943 | Japanese superbattleship 'Musashi' arrives at Truk. | | | 1943 | Papua: Allied forces make limited gains near Sanananda | | | 1944 | European Advisory Commission decides to divide Germany | | | 1944 | New Guinea: Australians reach north coast of Huon Peninsula, near Sio. | | | 1945 | Japanese offensive in China advances on the U.S. airbase in Sichuan. | | | 1945 | Red Army liberates the Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp | | | 1949 | Mao's Red army captures Tientsin | | | 1951 | German court gives Ilse Koch, "The Bitch of Buchenwald", life (suicide in prison, 1967) | | | 1962 | Naval Battle of Etna Bay, New Guinea: Dutch defeat the Indonesians | | | 1973 | Pres Nixon suspends all US offensive action over North Vietnam | | | 1997 | Dr Jerry Lineger, Capt, USN, joins MIR via Space Shuttle Atlantis | | 16 | -27 | BC - The Senate grants Octavian the honorific "Augustus" | | | -9 | BC - Ovation for Tiberius's victories in Pannonia | | | 550 | King Totila of the Ostrogoths captures Rome from the East Romans, by bribing the garrison. | | | 1495 | French under Charles VIII invest Gaeta (falls Feb 16). | | | 1556 | Charles I of Spain (r. 1516-1556) abdicates the throne to his son, Philip II (1556-1598) | | | 1776 | Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks | | | 1777 | Vermont declares independence from NY | | | 1780 | First Battle of Cape St Vincent: Rodney defeats the Spanish fleet | | | 1795 | Pichegru's French army occupies Utrecht, the Netherlands | | | 1797 | Battle of La Favorita: Bonaparte defeats the Austrians, who lose 5,000 prisoners | | | 1809 | Battle of La Coruna: The English defeat the French | | | 1861 | Lt Adam Slemmer, USA, again rejects demands by Florida state troops to surrender Ft Pickens | | | 1863 | Raiding cruise of CSS 'Florida' begins (ends Aug 23) | | | 1864 | Battle of Dandridge, Tn. | | | 1941 | Battle of the Gulf of Siam: The French Indochina Squadron defeats the Thai Navy | | | 1941 | The War Department forms a squadron for black aviation cadets | | | 1942 | Bataan: Heavy fighting | | | 1942 | Malaya: British try to hold the Muar River against Japanese forces | | | 1942 | Rio Conference: 21 American republics discuss hemispheric defense | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: 2nd Marine Div clears Japanese troops out of "the Ravine" | | | 1943 | Papua: U.S. and Australians mop up Japanese forces around Sanananda | | | 1944 | Gen Eisenhower takes command of Operation Overlord | | | 1945 | TF 38 aircraft attack Japanese held Hong Kong. | | | 1945 | US First and Third Armies meet at Houffalize, Belgium | | | 1951 | Viet Minh offensive at Hanoi | | | 1954 | "South Pacific" closes after 1928 performances at the Majestic Theatre in NY | | | 1957 | Three B-52s leave California on the first non-stop world flight | | | 1963 | Khrushchev claims to have a 100-megaton nuclear bomb | | | 1969 | Soviet Soyuz 4 & Soyuz 5 perform first crew transfer in space | | | 1970 | Col Kadhaffi becomes premier of Libya, deposed & executed 2011 | | | 1992 | Chapultepec Peace Accords: Salvadorian factions agree to end 12-year civil war that killed 75,000. | | | 2001 | Andrew J. Smith, 55th Mass, posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor, for Nov 30, 1864. | | | 2001 | Theodore Roosevelt posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor for San Juan Heights in 1898 | | 17 | -38 | BC - Octavian marries Livia Drusilla, who is pregnant by her previous husband, Ti. Claudius Nero | | | 395 | Arcadius, 18, succeeds his father Theodosius as Roman Emperor in the East (395-408), while his brother Honorius, 10, succeeds in the West (395-423) | | | 532 | Theodora convinces Justinian to resist the Nike rioters; c. 30,000 die | | | 1377 | Gregory XI (1370-1378) returns the papacy to Rome; ends the "Babylonian Captivity" in Avignon (1307-1377) | | | 1475 | Battle of Krakovicz: Hungarians and Moldavians beat the Turks | | | 1501 | Triumphal reception of Cesare Borgia at Rome for his conquests in the Romagna | | | 1601 | Spain cedes Bresse, Bugey, Valromey, & Gex to France | | | 1608 | Battle of Ebenat: Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia crushes an Oromo army | | | 1642 | Battle of Kemper: French defeat the Imperialists | | | 1656 | Brandenburg & Sweden make peace at Konigsberg | | | 1746 | Battle of Falkirk: Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highlanders defeat the English | | | 1773 | Captain Cook in Resolution reaches the Antarctic Circle | | | 1781 | Battle of the Cowpens: Dan Morgan annihilates Banastare Tarleton's Anglo-Tory force | | | 1811 | Battle of Calderon Bridge: Spanish forces crush Mexican Revolutionaries | | | 1821 | Mexico grants Moses Austin extensive lands in Texas | | | 1832 | USS Peacock conducts diplomatic mission to Vietnamese court | | | 1862 | US gunboat 'Lexington' bombards Ft Henry, TN (surrenders Jan 22) | | | 1863 | Skirmish near Newtown, Virginia | | | 1881 | War of the Pacific: Chileans capture Lima, invested since the 13th | | | 1885 | Battle of Abu Klea: Egypto-British Army defeats the Mahdists | | | 1893 | Republican coup deposes Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii | | | 1899 | CDR Taussig of the USS 'Bennington' takes formal possession of Wake Island | | | 1911 | Attempted assassination of Premier Briand in the French Assembly | | | 1912 | Briton Robert F. Scott & his party reach the South Pole, five weeks after Amundsen's Norwegian expedition | | | 1915 | Russia captures Bukovina & Western Ukraine | | | 1942 | Bataan: Heavy fighting continues. | | | 1942 | British are under heavy pressure on the Muar River line in Malaya. | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: Combined Army-Marine Div attacks west along the coast | | | 1943 | National "Tin Can Drive" Day | | | 1943 | Papua: Allied forces begin a major offensive against Sanananda. | | | 1944 | HM Corvette 'Violet' sinks 'U-641' in Atlantic Ocean | | | 1944 | New Britain: Allies subdue last Japanese at Arawe, southern coast | | | 1945 | Luzon: Sixth Army steps up its drive on Manila. | | | 1945 | Raoul Wallenberg, "Righteous Gentile", disappears in Hungary while in Soviet custody | | | 1945 | Soviets drive Germans out of Warsaw | | | 1947 | Ammunition plant explosion at Muiden, Netherlands, 16 die | | | 1948 | Netherlands & Indonesia agree to a cease fire | | | 1951 | China refuses cease fire in Korea | | | 1955 | USS 'Nautilus' (SSN-571) gets underway on nuclear power | | | 1961 | Pres. Eisenhower warns of a "military industrial complex" | | | 1966 | B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs crashes off Spanish coast | | | 1991 | Iraq fires eight Scud missiles at Israel | | | 1991 | Jeffrey Zahn becomes the first US pilot shot down in the Persian Gulf War | | | 1991 | Operation Desert Storm: Coalition airstrikes against Iraq | | | 1991 | Harald V become King of Norway, in succession to his father, Olav V (1957-1991) | | 18 | 336 | Accession of Pope Marcus (18 Jan-7 Oct 336), later canonized | | | 350 | Flavius Magnus Magnentius proclamed Roman Emperor at Autun (350-353) | | | 474 | Leo II, c. 6 years old, succeeds Leo I, his maternal grandfather, as Byzantine Emperor (Jan 18-Nov 17, 474) | | | 1486 | King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV | | | 1503 | Last meeting between Niccolo Machiavelli & Cesare Borgia, who have been in daily contact since October 7, 1502 | | | 1520 | Christian II of Denmark & Norway defeats the Swedes at Lake Asunde | | | 1567 | Battle of Watrelots: Dutch Revolt against Spain begins | | | 1591 | King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Minchit Sra of Burma in single combat -- commemorated as Thai Armed Forces Day | | | 1671 | English pirate Henry Morgan sacks Panama | | | 1701 | Elector Frederick I is proclaimed "King in Prussia" (1701-1713). | | | 1795 | French Army enters Amsterdam unopposed | | | 1817 | Jose de San Martin's revolutionary army begins an epic crossing of the Andes from Argentina to Chile | | | 1826 | British capture the Mahratta city of Bhurtope after a two month siege | | | 1850 | British blockade Piraeus, Greece, to enforce mercantile claims | | | 1857 | Battle of Bushire, Persia: British Indian cavalry breaks Persian squares | | | 1871 | King Wilhelm I of Prussia is proclaimed German Emperor (1871-1888), at Versailles | | | 1911 | First airplane landing on a ship: Eugene Ely in a Curtiss Flyer on USS 'Pennsylvania' (ACR-4) | | | 1913 | First Balkan War - Battle of Lemnos: The Greek fleet defeats an Ottoman squadron attempting to break the blockade of the Dardanelles [Jan 5, OS] | | | 1915 | The U.S. Revenue Marine is renamed the U.S. Coast Guard | | | 1919 | Versailles Conference opens | | | 1942 | British troops in Malaya heavily engaged on the Muar River Line. | | | 1942 | FDR facetiously awards the Iron Cross to New York Daily News reporter John O'Donnell, for his frequent negative reporting on the war effort | | | 1943 | Aleutians: U.S. surface force bombards Japanese held Attu. | | | 1943 | Papua: Sanananda falls to Allies, who press the Japanese westwards. | | | 1943 | US bans sale of sliced bread, to save metal parts in slicing machines | | | 1943 | Warsaw Ghetto uprising begins | | | 1944 | New Guinea: US reinforces the Saidor beachhead | | | 1945 | Peleliu: Japanese stragglers raid U.S. ammo dumps and airbase | | | 1957 | Three B-52s complete round-the-world flight in 45 hrs & 19 mins; one man did it backwards | | | 1960 | US & Japan sign joint defense treaty | | | 1991 | Iraq launches SCUD missiles against Israel | | 19 | 64 | Great fire of Rome begins | | | 379 | Theodosius the Great becomes Roman Co-Emperor (379-395) by proclamation of Gratian | | | 916 | Battle of Brecenanmere: Aethelflaed, "the Lady of the Mercians", defeats the Welsh | | | 973 | Consecration of Pope Benedict VI (elected 972; murdered 974) | | | 1415 | Rouen surrenders to King Henry V of England | | | 1493 | Treaty of Barcelona: France cedes Roussillon & Cerdagne to Spain | | | 1643 | Battle of Braddock Downs: Cornish Royalists defeat the Parliamentarians | | | 1770 | Battle of Golden Hill; New Yorkers defend their "Liberty Tree" | | | 1793 | Revolutionary court sentences "Citizen Capet" (Louis XVI) to death. | | | 1806 | British take Cape of Good Hope from French-occupied Holland | | | 1808 | Dutch King Louis Napoleon signs the first aviation law, regulating ballooning | | | 1812 | Wellington captures Ciudad Rodrigo, amid great slaughter | | | 1861 | Georgia becomes 5th state to secede | | | 1861 | Mississippi troops take Ft Massachusetts, on Ship Island | | | 1862 | Battle of Mill Springs/Fishing Creek/Logan's Crossroads, KY | | | 1871 | Battle of Buzenval Park/Mont Valerien: the Paris garrison fails to break out of the Prussian siege | | | 1871 | Battle of St Quentin: Prussians defeat a French attempt to relieve Paris | | | 1915 | Germans begin Zeppelin raids on Great Britain, bombing Great Yarmouth & King's Lynn, c. 20 die | | | 1917 | Silvertown, England: ammunition factory explosion, 300 die | | | 1920 | The Senate rejects American membership in the League of Nations | | | 1941 | British invade Italian-held Eritrea from the Sudan | | | 1942 | Joe Louis defeats Buddy Baer in 20' 56", and receives his draft notice! | | | 1942 | Malaya: British abandon the Muar River line, fall back on Johore Line. | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: Combined Army-Marine Div presses westwards | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: U.S. destroyers shell Japanese positions | | | 1943 | Papua: Fierce Japanese resistance on the Sanananda front | | | 1944 | Northern Burma: Chinese New 38th Div and Japanese fight for Taro Plain. | | | 1945 | China: Japanese troops seize control of the Canton-Hankow rail line. | | | 1977 | Pres Gerry Ford pardons Iva Toguri d'Aquino - "Tokyo Rose" | | 20 | 0 | Feast of St. Sebastian, Patron of Archers and Soldiers | | | 250 | The Emperor Decius initiates a persecution of the Christians [Trad] | | | 1265 | The English Parliament meets for the first time, at Westminster | | | 1523 | Abdicaton of King Christian II of Denmark and Norway (1513-1523), sometime King of Sweden (1520-1521) | | | 1567 | The de Sa brothers expel the French from Rio de Janeiro | | | 1613 | Peace of Knared ends Danish-Swedish War of Kalmar (1611-1613) | | | 1615 | Naval Battle off Swally, India: Portuguese defeated by the English | | | 1667 | Treaty of Andrussovo: 13 years of war between Poland and Russia end | | | 1778 | First American court martial begins, Cambridge, Mass | | | 1783 | Hostilities cease in Revolutionary War | | | 1795 | Battle of the Texel: French cavalry captures the icebound Dutch fleet | | | 1797 | Michele Pezza - Fra Diavolo - joins the Neapolitan Army in lieu of prison | | | 1799 | Three Days of Naples begin: Populace fights French invaders | | | 1800 | Bonaparte's sister Carolina marries Joachim Murat | | | 1839 | Battle of Yungay: Chileans defeat Peruvians & Bolivians | | | 1841 | China cedes Hong Kong to the British | | | 1866 | Prim's Insurrection in Spain ends | | | 1887 | Senate approves lease of Pearl Harbor for a base | | | 1914 | USN opens a school for aviators at Pensacola, Fla. | | | 1936 | Accession of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (Jan 20-Dec 11, 1936), abdicated | | | 1940 | DD 'Yukikaze' ("Snowy Wind") commissioned, luckiest ship in the Imperial Navy - will come through WW2 without a scratch | | | 1942 | Bismarcks: Japanese aircraft carriers raid Rabaul and Kavieng | | | 1942 | Japanese 55th Div invades Burma from central Thailand. | | | 1942 | Wannsee Conference: 14 Nazi officials (8 with doctorates) plan the "Final Solution of the Jewish Problem" | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: 25th Infantry Div tightens its hold on the Gifu. | | | 1943 | Papua: Japanese resistance on the Sanananda front collapses. | | | 1944 | Burma: Allies prepare major offensive to open the "Burma Road". | | | 1944 | RAF drops c. 2,500 tons of bombs on Berlin | | | 1944 | Rapido River: US 36th Div begins two-day attempt to force German defenses | | | 1945 | 1st truck convoy on the re-opened Burma Road, still under repair. | | | 1952 | British army occupies Ismailiya, Suez Canal Zone | | | 1955 | USS Nautilus launched at Groton, Conn. | | | 1958 | Elvis receives "Greetings" from his Draft Board | | | 1981 | Illegaly held by the Iranian government for 444 day, 52 Americans are finally released | | | 1991 | During an Iraqi attack on Israel, US Patriot missiles first used against SCUDs, with mixed success | | 21 | 1276 | Peter of Tarentais elected Pope as Innocent V (Jan 21-Jun 22, 1286), later beatified | | | 1277 | Battle of Desio: The Visconti defeat the Torriani | | | 1287 | King Alfons III of Aragon captures Minorca | | | 1495 | Alfonso II of Naples (1494-1495) abdicates in favor of his son Ferrante II (1495-1496) | | | 1824 | Battle of Accra: the Ashanti defeat the British | | | 1824 | Battle of the Adoomansu River: The Ashante annihilate a British expeditionary column | | | 1839 | The British storm Ghuzni, India | | | 1896 | Battle of Makalle: Abyssinians defeat the Italians | | | 1903 | The "Dick Act" creates the modern National Guard | | | 1910 | The British and Russians begin moving troops into Persia, to secure their "zones of influence" | | | 1918 | New York Philharmonic refuses to play music by living German composers | | | 1941 | British and Australian troops attack Tobruk | | | 1942 | Bataan: Heavy fighting continues | | | 1942 | British CV 'Indomitable' & a strong task force arrives at Addu Atoll, in the Indian Ocean | | | 1942 | Malaya: the Japanese begin to dislocate the Johore line. | | | 1942 | Rabaul and Kavieng bombed by Japanese aircraft. | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: U.S. troops pause to resupply. | | | 1943 | Papua: Allied troops mop up Japanese remnants in the Sanananda area. | | | 1943 | Soviet forces recapture Worosjilowsk | | | 1944 | Northern Burma: Chinese New 38th Div advances slowly. | | | 1945 | Burma: British amphibious landing near Ramree | | | 1945 | TF 38 raids Japanese on Okinawa and Formosa | | | 1945 | The Red Army destroys the German Tannenberg monument in East Prussia | | | 1954 | USS 'Nautilus' (SSN-571) launched, Groton, Conn. | | | 1961 | Portuguese rebels seize cruise ship 'Santa Maria' | | | 1968 | B-52 bomber with nuclear bomb crashes in Greenland | | | 1968 | Battle of Khe Sanh begins -- ends Apr 8 | | 22 | 871 | Battle of Basing: The Danes defeat King Aethelred of Wessex | | | 1371 | Coronation of King Robert II of Scotland (1371-1390), the first Stewart/Stuart | | | 1506 | The Swiss Guards assume their duties at the Vatican | | | 1510 | Jews are expelled from Colmar, Germany | | | 1517 | Battle of Ridanieh: Selim I defeats the Mamlukes near Cairo | | | 1643 | Battle of the Saltash: the Cornishmen defeat the English | | | 1690 | Anglo-Iroquois alliance against the French is renewed | | | 1758 | Russian troops occupy Königsberg, Prussia | | | 1760 | Battle of Wandewash, India: British defeat the French | | | 1771 | Spain cedes the Falklands to Britain | | | 1775 | Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski expels the Jews from Warsaw | | | 1813 | Battle of Frenchtown: Kentuckians defeat British & Canadians | | | 1849 | British capture Multan from the Sikhs, along with £5 million in loot | | | 1863 | Union Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside ends his "Mud March" | | | 1863 | Polish nationalists revolt against Russian occupation of their country | | | 1873 | British steamer 'Northfleet' sinks off Dungeness, c. 300 die | | | 1879 | Isandlwana & Rorke's Drift | | | 1905 | St. Petersburg: "Bloody Sunday" - Tsarist troops shoot peaceful demonstrators | | | 1941 | British and Australian troops capture Tobruk from the Italians | | | 1942 | Chiang Kai-shek and Joseph Stilwell order Chinese troops into Burma | | | 1942 | Japanese troops begin landings on New Ireland and New Britain | | | 1942 | Malaya: Heavy fighting on the Johore Line. | | | 1942 | New Guinea: Japanese airstrikes on Lae and Salamaua | | | 1942 | Task Force 6814 -- later the Americal Div -- sails from New York for the South Pacific | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: 25th Inf Div beats off a nocturnal "Banzai" attack | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: CAM Div makes sweeping gains on the western coast. | | | 1943 | Papua: last organized Japanese resistance ends. | | | 1944 | Heavy US air raids on the Admiralty Islands. | | | 1944 | Operating Shingle: Allies land at Anzio | | | 1945 | US aircraft attack Corregidor Island | | | 1951 | Fidel Castro is ejected from a US Winter League game for beaning a batter | | | 1957 | George "Mad Bomber" Metesky arrested in NYC | | | 1957 | Israeli forces withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula | | | 1959 | USAF concludes less than 1% of UFO's are unknown objects | | | 1964 | "Dr. Strangelove" released; we all learn to stop worrying and love the bomb | | 23 | 635 | Arabs capture Pella (Tabaqat Fahl, Jordan) from the Byzantines | | | 1565 | Battle of Talkota: The Moslem Deccans defeat the Hindu Vijayanagar | | | 1579 | Union of Utrecht: The Dutch Republic is established | | | 1640 | Accession of King Garcia II of Kongo (1640-1661) | | | 1643 | Sir Thomas Fairfax's Parliamentarians take Leeds from the Royalists | | | 1668 | England, Netherlands, & Sweden sign the 'Triple Alliance' against France | | | 1719 | Principality of Liechtenstein created within the Holy Roman Empire | | | 1781 | The 74 gun ship-of-the-line HMS 'Culloden' grounds in a storm on Montauk Point, Long I., NY, and is a constructive total loss, but there are no casualties | | | 1790 | Pitcairn's Is: the Mutineers burn HMS 'Bounty' | | | 1793 | Prussia & Russia effect the Second Partition of Poland | | | 1865 | Battle of Fort Brady/Trent's Reach, Va: Confederate ironclads begin a two day bombardment of Union lines on the James River, withdrawing on the 25th | | | 1870 | The "Marias Massacre": 173 Blackfoot (140 women & children) killed by US Army in Montana | | | 1879 | Battle of Rorke's Drift ends: Zulu retreat | | | 1900 | Battle of Spion Kop: Boers defeat the British; Winston Chruchill & Mohandas Ghandi are both present, but do not meet | | | 1904 | Great Fire of Ålesund, Norway: 10,000 people left homeless, though only one death | | | 1913 | Coup by Enver Pasha restores the Young Turks to power in Constantinople, pledged to renew the Balkan War | | | 1920 | The Netherlands refuses to turn over ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Allies | | | 1928 | "Adventures of Good Soldier Schveik" premiers in Berlin | | | 1932 | El Salvador army kills 4,000 protesting farmers | | | 1937 | Stalin's first "Purge Trial": Karl Radek & 16 others tried & shot. | | | 1940 | Ignace Paderewski named premier of the Polish govt-in-exile | | | 1941 | Charles Lindbergh advises Congress to conclude a non-aggression pact with Hitler, who has already violated about a dozen treaties | | | 1942 | Bataan: Japanese land in the rear at Quinauan and Longoskayan Points, as Fil-Am troops fall back from the main line | | | 1942 | Burma: Japanese cross the Sittang River, as 17th Ind Div collapses | | | 1942 | Malaya: another Indian brigade arrives at Singapore, as the Johore line crumbles | | | 1942 | U.S DDs and a Dutch sub attack Japanese shipping off Balikpapan, Borneo | | | 1943 | British Eighth Army captures Tripoli | | | 1943 | Casablanca Conference: FDR & Churchill agree on the "unconditional surrender" of the Axis. | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: the CAM Div overruns Kokumbona, as the USN bombards Japanese positions | | | 1944 | Burma: Americans insist Chinese commit their strategic reserve | | | 1958 | Venezuelan Dictator/President Marcos Perez Jiménez (1952-1958) flees | | | 1960 | Bathyscaph Trieste reaches the bottom of the Marianas Trench, the deepest place in the ocean, at 10.91 km/6.78 mi | | | 1962 | Kim Philby, long-term spy in Britain, defects to the USSR | | | 1968 | North Koreans capture USS 'Pueblo' & 83 crew in the East Sea/Sea of Japan | | 24 | 41 | The Praetorians haul Claudius from a closet & proclaim him Emperor (41-54) | | | 817 | Election of Pascale Massimi as Pope Paschal I (817-824), later canonized | | | 1118 | Giovanni Gaetani elected Pope as Gelasius II (1118-1119) | | | 1328 | King Edward III of England marries Philippa of Henegouwen | | | 1458 | Matthias I Corvinus, 14, is elected King of Hungary and Croatia (1458-1490) | | | 1497 | Battle of Soriano: The Orsini defeat Papal forces | | | 1568 | Netherlands: the Duke of Alva declares William of Orange an outlaw | | | 1597 | Battle of Turnhout: Maurice of Nassau defeats the Spanish | | | 1634 | Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II declares his generalissimo Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius von Wallenstein a traitor | | | 1742 | Charles VII, husband of Maria Teresa, elected Holy Roman Emperor (1742-1745) | | | 1847 | Col. Sterling Price defeats c. 1,500 Indians & Mexicans to secure New Mexico for the US | | | 1848 | James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, initiating the California Gold Rush | | | 1861 | Federal Arsenal at Augusta, Ga, seized by state troops | | | 1861 | Federal troops take ship at Ft Monroe for Ft Pickens | | | 1862 | Wallachia & Moldavia merge to form Romania, with Alexander Ion Cuza, Prince of both states since 1859, as "Dominator" (1862-1866) | | | 1879 | War of the Pacific: Chileans capture Antofagasta from Bolivia, initiating hostilities | | | 1908 | Gen Robert Baden Powell founds the Boy Scouts | | | 1915 | Battle of Dogger Bank: Royal Navy defeats the Germans in the North Sea | | | 1916 | Britain adopts conscription | | | 1923 | Italy forms the Regia Aerea | | | 1935 | Kreuger Brewing Company of Virginia introduces beer in cans | | | 1939 | Spanish Republican government flees from Barcelona to Figueras | | | 1941 | British troops invade Italian East Africa | | | 1942 | Australian resistance at Rabaul ends. | | | 1942 | Borneo: Japanese begin landings at Balikpapan | | | 1942 | Bougainville: Japanese forces begin landing at Keita | | | 1942 | Malaya: British initiate a withdrawal to Singapore. | | | 1943 | Aleutians: Japanese begin a series of air raids from Attu on Amchitka. | | | 1944 | US a/c conduct long range recon over the Marshalls, from the Gilberts. | | | 1945 | China: Advancing Japanese troops cause evacuation of U.S. airbase at Sichuan | | | 1961 | A B-52 breaks up over the North Carolina coast, losing two H-bombs, one of which is still missing | | | 1975 | Puerto Rican nationalists bomb Fraunces Tavern; 4 die, 50 injured | | | 1991 | USN helicopters liberate Kuwaiti offshore oil rigs from the Iraqis. | | | 2011 | Terrorist bombing at Moscow's airport leaves over 30 dead, many injured | | 25 | 41 | The Senate accepts Claudius as Emperor, convinced by the arguments advanced by the Praetorian Guard | | | 1126 | Battle of Marj-es-Safar: The Kingdom of Jerusalem defeats the Damascans | | | 1139 | Godfried II "the Young" becomes Count of Leuven & Landgrave of Brabant (1139-1142) | | | 1153 | King Baldwin III of Jerusalem attacks Ascalon | | | 1327 | Edward II of England (1307-1327) is deposed in favor of his son, Edward III (1327-1377) | | | 1401 | Tamerlane captures Damascus by treachery. | | | 1494 | Accession of Alfonso II as King of Naples (Jan 25, 1494-Jan 1495), abdicates | | | 1497 | Giovanni Borgia abandons the siege of the Orisini stronghold at Bracciano | | | 1504 | England's parliament limits the size of nobles' entourages, to curb private warfare. | | | 1554 | Sir Thomas Wyatt raises Kent against "Bloody" Mary | | | 1565 | Battle of Talikota, India: Moslems defeat Vijayanagar | | | 1787 | Capt Dan Shays' Rebels fail to capture the arsenal at Springfield, Mass | | | 1802 | Bonaparte elected president of the Cisalpine Republic | | | 1856 | Battle of Seattle: US Sailors, marines, & settlers beat off Indian attack | | | 1865 | CSS 'Shenandoah' arrives in Melbourne, Australia | | | 1887 | Battle of Saati: Italians defeat the Tigrinos | | | 1916 | Montenegro surrenders to Austria-Hungary | | | 1940 | Nazis decree the establishment of a Jewish ghetto in Lodz Poland | | | 1942 | Bataan: Fil-American troops complete withdrawal to secondary positions | | | 1942 | U.S. carriers Yorktown (CV-5) & Enterprise (CV-6) depart Samoa to raid the Gilberts & Marshalls [Feb 1] | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: Japanese in full retreat, closely pursued by U.S. forces. | | | 1943 | Italian blockade runner 'Orseolo' departs Kobe for Bordeaux | | | 1943 | Papua: 41st Div relieves the 32nd & 7th Australian Divs. | | | 1944 | Allied air raid on Japanese at Rabaul, destruction of 83 enemy aircraft. | | | 1944 | Burma: bulk of Chinese New 22nd Div begins supporting the New 38th Div. | | | 1945 | Audie Murphy earns the Medal of Honor | | | 1945 | B-29s begin mining off Singapore, Saigon, Camranh Bay, and Penang. | | | 1945 | Burma: British 82nd West African Division occupies Myohaung | | | 1951 | UN begins counter offensive in Korea | | | 1961 | Military coup in El Salvador | | | 1969 | US-North Vietnamese peace talks begin in Paris | | | 1971 | Coup ousts Milton Obote as President of Uganda & installs Idi Amin (1971-1979). | | | 1980 | Highest speed attained by a warship, 167 kph, USN hovercraft | | | 1981 | Jiang Qing, Mao's widow, is tried for treason and sentenced to death, which is commuted to life | | | 1983 | Nazi Klaus Barbie arrested in Bolivia | | 26 | 0 | Feast of St. Conan of Man | | | 1316 | Battle of Ardscull/Skerries: King Edward Bruce of Ireland defeats the English | | | 1316 | Llywelyn Bren initiates a Welch revolt against England with a surprise attack on Caerphilly Castle | | | 1340 | King Edward III of England proclaims himself King of France, a claim not dropped until 1800. | | | 1500 | Vicente Yáñez Pinzón discovers Brazil | | | 1531 | Earthquake at Lisbon: c. 30,000 die | | | 1565 | Battle of Talikota: the Deccan Sultanate defeats the Vijayanagara Empire, initiating Islamic domination of India | | | 1654 | Capitulation of Taborda: the Dutch cede Recife, Brazil, to Portugal | | | 1666 | France declares war on England | | | 1699 | Venice, Poland & Austria conclude peace with Turkey | | | 1699 | Treaty of Carlowitz: Ends the Austro-Ottoman War (1683?1697), confirming Turkish loss of Hungary | | | 1736 | Second abdication of Stanislaus I Lesczynski as King of Poland & Grand Duke of Lithuania (1704-1709, 1733-1736) | | | 1748 | England, Netherlands, Austria, & Sardinia conclude an anti-French alliance | | | 1763 | British surrender Mangalore to Tippoo Sahib after a protracted siege | | | 1788 | Capt Arthur Phillip founds a penal colony at Sydney, Australia | | | 1799 | French establish the puppet "Parthenopean Republic" in Naples, amid much looting and rape | | | 1808 | Australia's "Rum Rebellion": Armed colonists unseat Gov. William Bligh (of Bounty fame), and install a provisional government | | | 1827 | Peru secedes from Gran Colombia in protest against "tyranny" of Simón Bolívar | | | 1841 | Britain declares Hong Kong its sovereign territory. | | | 1859 | Screw Frigate 'Brooklyn' commissioned under Capt. David G. Farragut | | | 1861 | Louisiana becomes 6th state to secede | | | 1862 | Lincoln issues General War Order #1, calling for a Union offensive | | | 1863 | Joe Hooker assumes command of the Army of the Potomac from Ambrose Burnside | | | 1863 | The 54th Massachusetts Infantry is formed | | | 1885 | Khartoum: Mahdist troops overwhelm the Sudanese-Egyptian garrison | | | 1887 | Battle of Dogali: The Tigrinos defeat the Italians | | | 1890 | Intrepid New York World reporter Nellie Bly completes a round the world trip in 72 days | | | 1897 | Battle of Bida: British defeat the Asante | | | 1911 | Glenn Curtiss tests the first successful sea plane, San Diego | | | 1913 | John Paul Jones is laid to rest in the Chapel of the US Naval Academy | | | 1932 | British submarine 'M-2' sinks in the Channel, 60 die | | | 1934 | Nazi Germany and Poland sign ten year non-aggression pact | | | 1939 | Franco's Spanish Nationalists capture Barcelona | | | 1942 | Bataan: Fil-American troops consolidate Bagac-Orion line | | | 1942 | Malaya: Japanese make major inroads into the Johore Line. | | | 1942 | Marines land in Northern Ireland - 1st US troops to reach Europe | | | 1943 | 'Wahoo' (SS-238) sinks the Japanese transport 'Buyo Maru', and then surfaces to shoot survivors, who were actually Indian prisoners-of-war | | | 1944 | Argentina severs diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan. | | | 1944 | Liberia declares war on Germany and Japan | | | 1944 | US bombers raid the Marshalls. | | | 1945 | Japanese government orders an end to offensives operations in China. | | | 1948 | Executive Order 9981: Truman orders Segregation in the Armed Forces ended | | | 1950 | India becomes a republic within the British Commonwealth, converts the Victoria Cross to the Param Vir Chakra, 14 of the 21 of which awards have been posthumous | | | 1956 | USSR returns the Porkkala military base to Finland | | | 1957 | India annexes Kashmir, promising a plebiscite, which has yet to take place | | | 1960 | USS 'John S. McCain' (DL-3) rescues crew of 'Shinwa Maru', East China Sea. | | | 1992 | Russia announces it will no longer target US cities with nuclear weapons. | | | 1995 | The Cenepa War: a skirmish between Peruvian & Ecuadorian troops in a disputed zone initiates a 22 day border conflict, end Feb 17 | | 27 | 98 | Trajan assumes the Imperium (98-117) | | | 630 | Battle of Hunayn: Meccan Moslems defeat the pagan, Christian, & Jewish Arab tribes | | | 1302 | Dante is expelled from Florence by the Black Guelfs | | | 1524 | Giovanni degli Bande Nere captures Robecco d'Oglio | | | 1556 | Akbar becomes Mogul Emperor of India (1556-1605) | | | 1614 | Tokugawa Ieyasu outlaws Christianity in Japan | | | 1695 | Accession of Mustafa II as Ottoman Sultan (1695-1703), abdicates | | | 1864 | Battle of Fair Gardens, TN | | | 1864 | Skirmish at Kelly's Ford, Va. | | | 1868 | The Battle of Toba-Fushimi: The "Boshin War" begins in Japan, ultimately leading to the fall of the Shogunate | | | 1915 | US Marines begin occupation of Haiti | | | 1928 | Airship 'Los Angeles' (ZR-3) moors to 'Saratoga' (CV-3) in rough seas off Rhode Is. | | | 1942 | HMS 'Indomitable' flys off 48 aircraft to reinforce the defense of Java | | | 1942 | USS 'Gudgeon' (SS-211) becomes the first US boat to sink an enemy sub, the Japanese I-173. | | | 1942 | U.S. submarines begin supply runs to Corregidor | | | 1943 | First USAAF raid on Germany, at Wilhelmshafen | | | 1943 | USS 'Whale' (SS-239) sinks 'Shoan Maru' (c. 5,600 grt) | | | 1944 | Soviets lift the German Siege of Leningrad after 880 days: perhaps 1,000,000 dead | | | 1944 | U.S. issues a report on "The Bataan Death March" | | | 1945 | 1st Cav and 32nd Inf Divs, and 122nd Cav Regt land on Luzon | | | 1945 | Russian troops liberate the Auschwitz Concentration Camp | | | 1945 | USS 'Higbee' (DD-806) commissioned, first US warship named after a Navy woman | | | 1967 | Disastrous fire aboard Apollo 1 | | | 1967 | Treaty signed banning military use of nuclear weapons in space | | | 1969 | Nine Jews publicly executed as "spies" in Damascus | | | 1973 | US and North Vietnam sign cease-fire | | | 1977 | Pres Carter pardons most Vietnam War draft evaders (c. 10,000) | | | 2002 | Ammo dump explosion at Lagos, Nigeria, c. 1,100 die | | 28 | 198 | Triumph of Septimius Severus for his victories over the Parthians | | | 1077 | The Humiliation of Canosa: Pope Gregory VII humbles Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich IV | | | 1099 | First Crusaders lay siege to Hosn-el-Akrad, Syria | | | 1393 | "Le Bal des Ardents": disastrous ballroom fire kills 4 & costs King Charles VI of France what's left of his mind | | | 1495 | Pope Alexander VI gives his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France | | | 1547 | Accession of Edward VI (age 9) as King of England (1547-1553) | | | 1830 | Auber's opera "Fra Diavolo" premiers in Paris | | | 1846 | Battle of Allwal: British defeat the Sikhs | | | 1860 | Britain formally returns the Mosquito Coast to Nicaragua | | | 1865 | CSA Pres Jefferson Davis names three peace commissioners | | | 1871 | Paris surrenders to the Prussians | | | 1915 | SS 'William P Frye', torpedoed while carrying wheat to Britain - 1st US ship lost in WW I | | | 1915 | US Coast Guard created from the Life Saving and Revenue Cutter Services | | | 1916 | German colony of Cameroon surrenders to Britain & France | | | 1918 | Strike at Berlin munitions factories | | | 1920 | "Viva la Muerte!" -- the Spanish Legion is formed | | | 1932 | Japanese capture Shanghai | | | 1941 | Japan sponsors an armistice ending the Franco-Thai War (1940-1941) | | | 1942 | Bataan: Japanese attack the new US/Philippine defenses | | | 1942 | Ens. Donald Mason radios, "Sighted sub, sank same." | | | 1942 | German troops capture Benghazi, Libya | | | 1942 | Malaya: British forces begin to withdraw towards Singapore | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: the CAM Div advances across the Nueha River. | | | 1943 | New Guinea: Japanese attack Australian Kanga Force at Wau | | | 1944 | RAF puts 683 bombers over Berlin | | | 1981 | William J Casey begins six years as director of the CIA | | | 1982 | Italian police rescue Brig Gen James L. Dozier from 42 days imprisonment by Red Brigades | | | 1986 | Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after launch, seven die. | | | 1991 | Dictator Siad Barre flees Somalia, replacing 22 years of misrule with decades of chaos | | 29 | 904 | Consecraton of Pope Sergius III (elected 897, promptly exiled; restored, 904-911) | | | 1574 | Battle of Rommerswael: Dutch "Sea Beggars" take 15 Spanish ships | | | 1587 | Spanish capture Dutch towns of Deventer & Zutphen | | | 1676 | Accession of Tsar Feodor III Alexeevich of Russia (1679-1682) | | | 1814 | Battle of Brienne: Napoleon defeats the Russo-Prussians | | | 1848 | Messina: Popular uprising against the Neapolitan Borbons | | | 1856 | Queen Victoria authorizes the award of a new decoration, to be called the "Victoria Cross" | | | 1879 | Custer Battlefield National Monument established | | | 1891 | Accession of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii (Jan 29, 1891-Jan 17, 1893), deposed in an American-sponsored coup, d. 1917 | | | 1904 | New York subway opens | | | 1915 | Irwin Rommel is awarded the Iron Cross, First Class, for action in the Argonne | | | 1916 | First German zeppelin raid on Paris | | | 1923 | Juan de la Cierva demonstrates the first autogiro, Madrid | | | 1942 | The first US troops arrive on Fiji | | | 1942 | Malaya: Under Japanese pressure, the British pull back into Singapore, as their 18th Div arrives by sea | | | 1943 | HMNZS 'Kiwi' rams & sinks Japanese sub 'I-1' off Guadalcanal | | | 1943 | New Guinea: Australian Kanga Force holds the Japanese at Wau. | | | 1943 | Battle of RennelI Is (Jan 29-30): Japanese air attacks prevent Allies from blocking their evacuaton of Guadalcanal, 'Chicago' (CA-29) is sunk | | | 1944 | Major Luftwaffe raid on London | | | 1944 | USN begins a seris of air strikes on Japanese bases in the Marshal Is | | | 1944 | USS 'Missouri' (BB-63) launched in Brooklyn | | | 1945 | Luzon: 38th Div lands near Subic Bay and moves southward toward Bataan. | | | 1991 | Battle of Khafji, Saudi Arabia: Iraqis capture the town | | | 1998 | Terrorist bombs an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala., 1 dead, several injured | | 30 | -9 | BC - Augustus dedicates the Ara Pacis | | | 1349 | Jews of Freilsburg, Germany, are massacred | | | 1467 | Battle of Velke Kostolany: Mathias Corvinus defeats Bratríci | | | 1592 | Ippolito Aldobrandini elected Pope as Clement VIII (1592-1605) | | | 1643 | Battle of Adwalton Moor: Royalists defeat the Parliamentarians | | | 1647 | The Scots agree to sell King Charles I to the English Parliament | | | 1648 | Peace of Munster: Spain recognizes the independence of the Netherlands, ending the Eighty Years' War and clearing the way for the two countries to become allies against France for the rest of the century | | | 1661 | Oliver Cromwell, dead since 1658, is exhumed and ceremonially executed in punishment for the death of Charles I | | | 1781 | Articles of Confederation go into effect, establishing a perpetual union of "The United States of America" | | | 1806 | Prussia takes possession of Hanover | | | 1835 | Richard Lawrence attempts to assassinate Pres Andrew Jackson | | | 1853 | Napoleon III weds Eugenie Maria de Montijo y de Guzman | | | 1862 | The USS 'Monito'r is launched in Greenpoint, Brooklyn | | | 1897 | Theodore Roosevelt gives cousin Franklin Mahan's "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History" for his 15th birthday | | | 1898 | Theodore Roosevelt gives cousin Franklin Mahan's "The Interest of America in Sea Power" for his 16th birthday | | | 1902 | Anglo-Japanese alliance formed | | | 1911 | The Royal Canadian Navy is established | | | 1913 | The Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire denounces the November 'Armistice of Çatalca' and resumes hostilities in the First Balkan War | | | 1915 | German submarine attack on Le Havre | | | 1933 | President Hindenburg names Adolph Hitler Chancellor of Germany | | | 1935 | Ezra Pound meets Mussolini, bores him with passages from the "Cantos" | | | 1937 | Second wave of Stalin's purges begins | | | 1939 | Hitler calls for the extermination of the Jews | | | 1941 | British troops capture Derna | | | 1942 | Bataan: Fil-Am troops begin clearing Japanese pockets along the coast. | | | 1942 | Burma: Japanese undertake a surprise attack on Moulmein | | | 1942 | Netherlands East Indies: Japanese attack Amboina | | | 1943 | British daylight raid on Berlin by 6 Mosquito bombers | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: U.S. lands reinforcements and supplies | | | 1943 | Hitler promotes Friedrich Paulus, commanding the Sixth Army, surrounded at Stalingrad, to field marshal, with a hint that he commit suicide | | | 1943 | New Guinea: Australian Kanga Force defeats Japanese at Wau | | | 1944 | Burma: Chinese forces oust Japanese from Taro Plain. | | | 1945 | Danzig: Soviet sub sinks German ship 'Wilhelm Gustloff', c 7,700 die -- worst loss of life in a single sinking in history | | | 1945 | Philipppines - Cabanatuan: 126 US & Filipino raiders liberate 500 prisoners from a Japanese P/W camp | | | 1956 | Terrorist bombing of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s home | | | 1957 | Congress accepts "Eisenhower Doctrine" | | | 1964 | Military coup by Gen Nguyen Khanh in South-Vietnam | | | 1968 | The Tet Offensive | | | 1972 | "Bloody Sunday" - British troops kill 14 unarmed Catholic demonstrators in Derry | | | 1976 | George H. W. Bush becomes director of the CIA | | | 1991 | Battle of Khafji, Saudi Arabia, second day | | | 1995 | Islamist terror attack in Algiers, 42 die, 296 wounded | | 31 | 314 | Accession of Pope Sylvester I (314-335) | | | 1187 | Battle of Mamgarvia Moor: King William I of Scotland defeats Donald ban MacWilliam | | | 1298 | Peace of Tournai: Flemings accept French rule, with limits | | | 1402 | Battle of Ruthin: Owen Glendower defeats Reginald Grey, the Lord of Ruthin | | | 1504 | Treaty of Lyons: France concedes Spanish domination of Naples (for a while) | | | 1578 | Battle of Gembloux: Don John of Austria's Spanish defeat the Dutch under Antony de Goignies | | | 1804 | Scottish militia turns out when bonfires warning of a French invasion are lit in error | | | 1804 | VAdm William "Bounty" Bligh's squadron captures Curaçao | | | 1861 | State of Louisiana takes over US Mint at New Orleans | | | 1863 | Black 1st SC Volunteers mustered into the US Army | | | 1865 | Gen Robert E Lee named General-in-Chief of all Confederate Armies | | | 1880 | Br training ship Atalanta leaves Bermuda, to disappear at sea, c. 280 die | | | 1895 | Jose Marti, Maximo Gomez, and others leave New York to invade Spanish Cuba | | | 1915 | Germans stage first poison gas attack, against the Russians | | | 1917 | Germany notifies US that U-boats will attack neutral shipping | | | 1918 | "Battle of May Is": Overnight collisions in the foggy Firth of Forth; two submarines sink, three others and a light cruiser damaged, c. 270 deaths | | | 1929 | Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front" is published | | | 1929 | Leon Trotsky expelled from Russia to Turkey | | | 1941 | Anti-German demonstration in Haarlem, Netherlands | | | 1942 | Bataan: Japanese pressure eases. | | | 1942 | Burma: British abandon Moulmein and retire across the Salween River | | | 1942 | Malaya: Last British troops withdraw to Singapore Island | | | 1943 | Guadalcanal: CAM Div advances to the Bonegi River | | | 1943 | New Guinea: Australian troops mop-up at Wau, as the Japanese 20th Div completes concentration at Wewak | | | 1943 | Chile breaks diplomatic relations with Germany and Japan | | | 1944 | U.S. troops land on Kwajelein and nearby islands in the Marshalls | | | 1945 | 11th Airborne Div lands - by sea - at the south entrance to Manila Bay. | | | 1961 | Samuel Lee Gravely, Jr., becomes the first black American to command a warship, Falgout (DE-324) | | | 1972 | Military coup ousts civilian government of Ghana | | | 1981 | Last enlisted USN aviator retires. |
|
