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 News As History - January 8, 2009



December Military History

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Born
1 1083 Anna Comnena, Byzantine princess, historian, d. 1153
  1726 Oliver Wolcott, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, see Deaths
  1826 William Mahone, Maj Gen, C.S.A, d. 1895
  1832 Archibald Gracie Jr, Brig Gen, C.S.A., KIA, 1864
  1835 Micah Jenkins, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1864
2 1802 Melancthon Smith Wade, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868
  1821 Rufus Barringer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
  1825 Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (1831-89)
  1837 Charles Garrison Harker, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1864
  1896 Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgi K Zuhkov
  1924 Alexander Haig, Jr,
3 1368 King Charles VI "the Well-Beloved" of France (1380-1422)
  1755 Gilbert Stuart, soldier, artist ("George Washington"),d. 1828
  1806 Henry Alexander Wise, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1876
  1809 Thomas Alfred Davies, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1899
  1822 Charles Adam Heckman, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1896
  1826 George Brinton McClellan, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1885
  1829 Green Berry Raum, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1909
  1902 Mitsuo Fuchida, who would say "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
4 1812 Elias Smith Dennis, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894
  1818 William Wing "Old Blizzards" Loring, Maj Gen, C.S.A.
  1824 Crazy Horse, k. 1877
  1865 Edith Louisa Cavell, England, nurse,
  1881 Erwin von Witzleben, German FM and anti-Nazi conspirator, k. 1945
  1892 Francisco Franco y Bahamonde, El Caudillo, d 1976
  1912 Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, leader of the "Black Sheep", MoH, d. 1988
5 1443 Giuliano delle Rovere - Pope Julius II (1503-1513), warrior, patron of the arts
  1839 George Armstrong Custer, kia 1876
  1861 Armando Diaz, Italian supreme commander in WW I
  1902 Strom Thurmond, soldier, segregationist
  1927 Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of Thailand (1950- ), jazzman
6 1285 King Ferdinand V of Castille & Leon
  1421 King Henry VI of England (1422-61 and 1470-71)
  1478 Baldassar Castiglione, "the most perfect gentleman," d. 1529
  1809 Stephen Thomas, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1903
  1816 Henry Eustace McCulloch, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1895
  1831 Joshua Woodrow Sill, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1862
  1833 Col. John Singleton Mosby, "The Gray Ghost," d. 1916
  1886 Joyce Kilmer, poet, kia with the Fighting 69th, 1918
7 1542 Queen Mary Stuart of Scots (1560-1587)
  1598 Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, fortification engineer, architect
  1888 Hamilton Fish, captain, 369th Infantry, WW I, isolationist
  1890 Vito Andelino, in Corleone, Sicily
8 65 BC Horace, soldier, poet
  528 BC Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha
  1626 Queen Christina of Sweden (1632-1654), d. 1689
  1708 Francis I, Holy Roman emperor (1745-1765)
  1765 Eli Whitney, inventor
  1822 Luther Prentice Bradley, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1910
  1828 Clinton Bowen Fisk, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1890
  1828 Robert Bullock, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1905
  1865 Jan Sibelius, composer ("Finlandia")
  1926 Joach Fest, historian ("Hitler"), d. 2006
9 1594 King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden (1611-32), kia 1632
  1868 Fritz Haber, German scientist, inventor of poison gas
  1909 Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Knickerbocker Gray, naval officer, WW II
10 1794 James Wolfe Ripley, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1870
  1819 Felice Orsini, Italian patriot who attempted to assasinate Napoleon III in 1858, executed 1858
  1820 David Allen Russell, Brig Gen, U.S., kia, 1864
  1822 Thomas Casimir Devin, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1878
  1886 Victor McLaglen, guardsman, actor ("Gunga Din")
11 1475 Giovanni de'Medici - Pope Leo X (1513-1521), son of Il Magnifico
  1797 Hiram Paulding, naval officer, U.S., d. 1878
  1882 Fiorello La Guardia, airman
12 1673 Sultan Ahmed III of Turkey, 1703-30
  1712 Duke Charles Alexander of Lorraine
  1791 Maria Louisa of Austria, Mrs Napoleon No. 2; d. 1847
  1805 William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist
  1806 Stand Watie, Indian Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1871
  1818 Paul Octave Hebert, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1880
  1830 Joseph Orville Shelby, Brig Gen, d. 1897
  1913 Jesse Owens, who spoiled Hitler's Olympics
  1915 Frank Sinatra, notorius draft dodger, actor ("Von Ryan's Express")
  1924 Edward Koch, B-17 gunner, ETO (Mayor, NYC, 1977-89),
13 1521 Felice Peretti - Pope Sixtus V (1585-1590)
  1533 King Erik XIV Vasa of Sweden (1560-69)
  1553 King Henry IV of Navarre (1572-1610) and France (1589-1610)
  1816 Werner von Siemens, German artillery officer, electrician
  1914 Alan L Bullock, historian ("Hitler: A Study in Tyranny")
14 1716 Philip Livingston, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
  1830 Allen Thomas, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1907
  1832 Daniel Harris Reynolds, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1902
  1837 William Wells, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
  1895 King George VI of Great Britain (1936-52), naval officer
  1896 James H Doolittle, who bombed Tokyo, d. 1992
  1901 King Paul I of Greece
15 37 Nero (Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus), Roman Emperor (54-68)
  130 Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor, 161-169, Colleague to Marcus Aurelius
  1918 Jeff Chandler, actor ("Merrill's Marauders"), d. 1961
16 1485 Catherine of Aragon, Mrs Henry VIII No. 1
  1812 William Grose, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1900
  1819 Robert Garnett, Brig Gen, C.S.A.: 1st general kia in the Civil War, 1861
  1825 Henry Heth, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1899
  1828 John Beatty, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1914
  1830 John Frederick Hartranft, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1889
  1888 Alphonse Juin, last Marshal of France
17 1807 John Greenleaf Whittier, poet ("What Gives the Wheat-Field Blades of Steel?"), d 1892
  1819 Samuel Jones, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1887
  1820 Frederick Tracy Dent, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1892
  1821 Frederick West Lander, Brig Gen, U.S., KIA. 1862
  1824 Manning Ferguson Force, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1899
  1833 James Thaddeus Holtzclaw, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1893
18 1709 Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia
  1811 Alexander Sandor Asboth, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1868
  1816 Alfred Elzey Jones, Maj Gen, C.S.A., d. 1871
  1825 Charles Griffin, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1867
  1826 John Mercer Brooke, C.S.N., naval engineer, gun founder, d. 1906
  1835 George Dashiell Bayard, Brig Gen, U.S., KIA, 1862
  1863 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, k., Sarajevo, June 28, 1914
19 1683 Felipe V, first Borbon King of Spain (1700-46)
  1814 Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War, d. 1869
  1817 James Jay Archer, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d/w, 1864
  1819 James Clifford Veatch, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1895
  1837 John Carpenter Carter, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d/w, 1864
  1906 Leonid I Brezhnev, Soviet Dictator (1964-82)
20 1807 Richard Lucian Page, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1901
  1808 Thomas Tinsley Craven, naval officer, U.S., d. 1887
  1825 Romeyn Beck Ayres, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1888
  1833 Samuel A Mudd, friend to John Wilkes Booth, possible conspirator
21 1537 King John III of Sweden (1569-92)
  1832 John Henry Ketcham, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1906
  1879 Joseph Vissarionovich Dzugashvili, later known as Stalin, mass murderer, d. 1953
  1918 Kurt Waldheim, Nazi, UN Sec-Gen (1972-81), Austrian president [See Events]
22 245 Diocles - Diocletian - Roman Emperor (284-305), d. 313
  1696 James Oglethorpe, general, founder of Georgia
  1803 Joseph King Fenno Mansfield, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1862
  1826 James Scott Negley, Maj Gen. U.S., d. 1901
  1831 Robert Ogden Tyler, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1874
  1832 Edward Hatch, Brig. Gen, U.S., d. 1889
  1847 Togo Heihachiro, Admiral of the Fleet, Victor of Tsu-Shima, d. 1934
  1856 Frank Kellogg, SecState who helped August Briand "outlaw" war
  1876 Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Futurist, who thought war was a good idea, d. 1942
23 1750 Frederik Augustus I of Saxony (1806-27)
  1777 Tsar Alexander I of Russia (1801-25), friend and foe to Napoleon
  1808 Thomas Turner, naval officer, U.S., d. 1883
  1818 David Addison Weisiger, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1899
  1827 Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, Austrian admiral: Helgoland, 1864; Lissa 1866.
  1923 James B. Stockdale, Vice Adm, Medal of Honor, d. 2005
  1933 Emperor Akihito of Japan (1989- )
24 3 BC Servius Sulpicius Galba, Roman Emperor (June 68-Jan 15, 69), near Terracina
  1167 John Lackland, King of England (1199-1216), Signer of the Declaration of Independence of Magna Carta
  1745 Benjamin Rush, physician-general, Continental Army
  1761 Sultan Selim III of Turkey (1789-1808)
  1809 Christopher "Kit" Carson, scout, Brig Gen, U.S.
25 1 Jesus - Traditional
  1821 Clara Barton, war nurse, founder of the American Red Cross, d. 1912
  1823 Preston Smith, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1863
  1832 Thomas Alfred Smyth, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1865
  1899 Humphrey Bogart, erstwhile steersman, USS Leviathan, 1918-1919
  1918 Pres Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt (1970-81), Nobelist (1978), murdered, 1981
26 1194 Frederick II, German Emperor (1212-1250), the "Wonder of the World," in the town square of Jesi, Sicily
  1770 Pierre de Cambronne, French general, who said "Merde!" at Waterloo
  1809 William Nelson Pendleton, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883
  1815 Israel Bush Richardson, Maj Gen, U.S., d/w, 1862
  1820 Gustavus Adolphus Smith, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1885
  1824 Augustus Louis Chetlain, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1914
  1837 Admiral of the Navy George Dewey, Hero of Manila Bay, d. 1917
  1893 Mao Tse-tung, history's champion mass murder
27 1717 Giovanni Anelico Braschi - Pope Pius VI (1775-1799)
  1761 Michael Barclay de Tolly, Russian general
  1814 James Henry Carleton, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1873
  1816 Eliakim Parker Scammon, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1894
  1829 James Clay Rice, Brig Gen, U.S. d/w, 1864
  1831 Lucius Fairchild, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1896
  1897 Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan S. Konev
  1901 Marlene Dietrich, determined anti-Nazi
28 1801 James Barnes, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1869
  1822 William Booth Taliaferro, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1898
  1827 Robert Latimer McCook, Brig Gen, U.S., KIA in 1862
  1833 Charles Miller Shelley, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1907
  1859 John W Fortescue, British military historian
  1898 Jean Faircloth, Mrs. Douglas MacArthur
  1908 Lew Ayres, actor ("All Quiet on Western Front")
29 1808 Andrew Johnson, Brig Gen, U.S., president, 1865-69.
  1809 Albert Pike, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1891
  1859 Venustiano Carranza, President of Mexico (1915-20)
  1879 Billy Mitchell, extreme aviation advocate
30 39 Titus Flavius Vespasianus - Roman Emperor Titus (79-81)
  1818 James Cantey, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1874
  1819 John White Geary, Brig Gen, U.S, d. 1873
  1828 Mark Perrin Lowrey, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1885
  1865 Rudyard Kipling, poet and author ("Barrack Room Ballads", "Kim")
  1884 Tojo Hideki, Japanese general and prime minister, executed 1948
31 1378 Alfons de Borja - Pope Calixtus III (1455-1458)
  1550 Henri de Guise, French Catholic extremist, k. 1588
  1720 Charles Edward Stuart, "The Young Pretender" to the English throne
  1738 Charles Lord Cornwallis, British general, who lost America at Yorktown
  1815 George Gordon Meade, Maj Gen, U.S., d. 1872
  1825 Francis Trowbridge Sherman, Brig Gen, U.S., in 1905
  1830 Ismail Pasha, Kedive of Egypt (1863-79)
  1880 General of the Army George C Marshall, Peace Nobelist
  1908 Simon Wiesenthal, Nazi Hunter, d. 2005

Died
1 1135 King Henry I Beauclerc of England (1100-1035), of a “surfiet of lampreys” at c. 67
  1374 King Magnus Eriksson of Norway & Sweden
  1521 Pope Leo X - Giovanni de'Medici (1513-1521), son of Il Magnifico
  1592 Vincenzo Marescotti, Patrician of Bologna, kia, Gavorre
  1802 Oliver Wolcott, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, on his 76th birthday
  1830 Pope Pius VIII - Francesco Xaverio Castiglione (1829-1830)
  1842 Midshipman Philip Spencer, Boatswain Samuel Cromwell, & Seaman Elisha Small, hanged in the Somers Mutiny
  1934 Sergei Kirov, Politburo member, assassinated, probably by Stalin's orders
  1973 David Ben-Gurion, first prime minister of Israel (1948-1953), at 87
  2004 Prince Bernard of the Netherlands, hero of the Resistance, b. 1911
2 1152 Pope Anastasius IV (1151-1152)
  1319 Ugo del Balzo, Captain General of Piedmont, kia, the siege of Alessandria
  1547 Hernan Cortes, conquistador, attorney, at c. 62
  1859 John Brown, hanged
  1899 Filipino Brig. Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, kia at 26, Tirad Pass
  1923 Capt. Arthur MacArthur III, U.S.N. (elder brother of Douglas), appendicitis
  1944 Filippo T. Marinetti, Futurist, who loved war, in bed at 67
  1967 Francis Spellman, Vicar General of the Armed Forces, Cardinal Archbishop of New York, at 78
3 1137 Lothar III, Holy Roman Emperor (1133-37)
  1431 Giovanni I Count of Carpegna, killed in a popular uprising.
  1839 King Frederik VI of Denmark (1808-39) & Norway (1803-14)
  1892 William Bonaparte, grandson of Lucien, grand-nephew of Napoleon
4 313 Roman Emperor Diocletian (284-305), while raising cabbages in retirement
  1334 Pope John XXII - Jacques d'Euse (1316-1334)
  1642 Cardinal Richelieu
5 1345 Matteo Orsini, Lord of Mugnano, murdered at Orvieto
  1355 Duke Jan III of Brabant and Limburg
  1560 King Francis II of France (1559-60), at 16
  1891 Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (1831-89)
6 1185 King Afonso I "the Conqueror" of Portugal (1143-85), at 76
  1352 Pope Clement VI - Pierre Roger (1342-1352)
  1793 Mdm. Jeanne du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, courtesy Mdm Guillotine
  1889 Jefferson F Davis, sometime SecWar, Confederate President (1861-1865)
  1892 Werner von Siemens, German artillery officer, electrician
7 43 BC Cicero, slain at 63, near his villa at Formiae, by agents of Marc Antony
  283 Pope St. Eutychianus (275-283)
  424 BC Accession of Shah Darius II of Persia (423-404 BC) [Alt]
  1254 Pope Innocent IV - Sinibaldo de' Fieschi (1243-1254)
  1528 Count Federigo Caetani of Fondi, beheaded at Naples with other rebels
  1817 William Bligh, of "Bounty" fame, in London
  1896 Antonio Maceo, "The Bronze Titan," kia, Loma del Gato, Cuba
  1896 Francisco Gomez, son of Maximo Gomez, kia, Loma del Gato, Cuba
  1962 Kirsten Flagstad, Norwegian soprano, Nazi collaborator
  1979 Prince Chahryar Shafik, Shah of Iran's nephew, murdered in Paris
  1985 Robert Graves, soldier, poet, novelist ("Goodbye to All That"), at 90
8 1587 Mary Queen of Scots (1560-1587) beheaded by her cousin Elizabeth
  1978 Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel (1969-1974), in Jerusalem at 80
9 1437 Sigismund, German Emperor and king of Hungary and Bohemia, at 70
  1565 Pope Pius IV - Giovanni Angelo Medici (1559-1565).
  1706 King Pedro II of Portugal (1683-1706), at 58
10 100 BC C. Saufeius, Quaestor, murdered in the Senate
  100 BC G. Servilius Glaucia, Praetor, murdered in the Senate
  100 BC L. Appuleius Saturninus, Tribune, murdered in the Senate
  969 Nicephorus II Phocas, Byzantine co-Emperor (963-969), murdered
  1041 Michael IV Paphlagonicus, Byzantine Emperor
  1896 Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, endower of prizes
  1914 Dan Sickles, sometime soldier, full time hustler
  2005 Clark G. Reynolds. historian (“The Fast Carriers”), at 65
11 385 Pope St. Damasus I (366-384)
  1282 Michael VIII Paleologus, Byzantine Emperor (1259-1282)
  1416 Giovanni Cenci, Governor of Rome, assassinated.
  1718 King Charles XII of Sweden (1697-1718), shot during a siege
  1756 Theodore Neuhoff, sometime King of Corsica (1736-1738), in London,
  1941 Yank RCAF Pilot John Magee, Jr, author ("High Flight"), flight accident at 19
12 404 BC Shah Darius II Nothos of Persia
  1112 Tancred, Crusader Lord of Galilee, Edessa, and Antioch
  1263 King Haakon IV of Norway (1217-1263)
  1582 Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, third Duke of Alba, at 74
  1914 Watkins Lewis, black American, lynched in Shrevport, La.
13 838 King Pepin I of Aquitania
  1124 Pope Callistus II (1119-1124)
  1126 Duke Heinrich IX "the Black" of Bavaria (1120-1126)
  1204 Maimonides, philosopher and scholar, at 69
  1250 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II "Stupor Mundi" (1212-1250), at 55
  1557 Niccolo Tartaglia, mathematician, ballistician
  1672 Jan II Kazimierz, king of Poland (1648-1668), at 63
  1783 Dr. Johnson
  1945 "Beast of Belsen" Josef Kramer, hanged
  1945 "Bitch of Belsen", Irma Grese, hanged at 22
  1945 Eight other Belsen war criminals, hanged
  1969 Adm Raymond A Spruance, victor at Midway, at 83
14 1136 King Harald IV of Norway, murdered
  1417 John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, hanged; the model for Falstaff
  1754 Sultan Mehemet I of Turkey
  1788 King Carlo IV of Naples (1735-1759)/Carlos III of Spain (1759-1788)
  1799 George Washington, at 66
  1861 Albert, the Prince Consort, at 42
  1943 Capt. Henry T. Waskow, Co. B., 143rd Infantry, kia on Hill 703, near San Pietro, prompting Ernie Pyle to write the most moving dispatch of World War II.
  1947 Stanley Baldwin, English premier, appeaser
15 214 BC Hieronymus, Tyrant of Syracuse (215-214 BC), at about 16
  337 BC Timoleon, Corinthian general, liberator of Syracuse, b. 411 BC
  1025 Byzantine Emperor Basil II the "Bulgar-Slayer" (976-1025)
  1072 Alp Arslan, Sultan of the Seljuk Turks (1059-1072), at c. 42
  1230 Ottokar I, King of Bohemia (1197-1230)
  1794 Jean Baptiste Carrier, French revolutionary terrorist, guillotined
  1796 Maj. Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne, b. 1745
  1817 Maria Walewska Leszczinska, lover of Napoleon I
  1890 Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa Sioux, killed
  1944 Major Glenn Miller, big band leader, lost over the English Channel on a flight that sparks numerous inane conspiracy theories
16 714 Duke Pipin II of the Franks
  882 Pope John VIII (872-882)
  1476 Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan (1466-1476), assassinated by students of Cola Montano, a disgruntled Latin teacher
  1529 Marzio Orsini, Roman Nobleman, kia with the French at the siege of Florence
  1916 Grigori Rasputin, assassinated, after several tries
  1922 Gabriel Narutowicz, 1st president of Poland, assassinated
17 1187 Pope Gregory VIII - Alberto di Morra (21 Oct-17 Dec 1187)
  1195 Count Baldwin VIII of Flanders
  1830 Simon Bolivar, "The Liberator"
  1847 Maria Louisa of Austria, second wife to Napoleon, in Parma
  1909 King Leopold II of Belgium
  1942 Lt jg Thomas La Farge, USCG, artist, lost at sea
  1975 Noble Sissle, bandmaster, 369th Inf, WW I, at 86
18 1290 King Magnus I of Sweden (1277-90)
  1935 Juan Gomez, dictator of Venezuela (1908-35)
  1980 Alexei Kosygin, Soviet premier, heart attack at 76
19 1170 Thomas a Beckett, murdered in the Cathedral
  1370 Pope Urban V - Guillaume de Grimoard (1362-1370)
  1959 Walter Williams, falsely claiming to be the last Civil War veteran
20 217 Pope St. Zephyrinus (198-217)
  910 King Alfonso III of the Asturias
  1355 King Stefan IX Dusan of Serbia (1346-55)
  1679 Maurice of Nassau, noted Dutch general, at 75
  1936 Baron De Borchgrave, Belgian ambassador, murdered in Madrid
  1937 Erich Ludendorff, German general (WW I) and Hitler's friend, at 72
  1939 Capt. Hans Langsdorff of the Graf Spee, suicide
  1973 Luis Carrero Blanco, Premier of Spain, blown up almost to heaven
21 1308 Count Henry I "the Child" of Hesse (1256-1308)
  1907 Klara Hitler, mother of Adolf, of cancer at 47
  1937 Frank Kellogg, SecState who tried to "outlaw" war
  1945 Gen. George S. Patton, of injuries sustained in a car accident
  1948 Seisjiro Itagaki, Japanese War Minister, hanged for war crimes
22 69 Emperor Vitellius (Jan 2/Apr 16-Dec 22, 69), murdered in the streets of Rome
  1440 Bluebeard, serial killer, executed
  1603 Sultan Mehmed III of Turkey
  1815 Jose Maria Morelos, Mexican revolutionary, priest, executed by Spaniards
  1913 Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia (1896-1913), at 69
  1979 Darryl F Zanuck, producer ("The Longest Day")
23 558 King Childebert I of the Franks, at Paris
  679 King Dagobert II of Austrasia (676-679), murdered
  1435 Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio, Lord of Bologna (1420-1435), Lecturer in Civil Law, assassinated.
  1569 St Philip of Moscow, martyred by Ivan the Terrible
  1588 Henri de Lorraine, Duke of Guise, French Catholic League leader, 37, assassinated at Blois
  1619 Duke Johan Sigismund of Prussia, at 47
  1675 César, duc de Choiseul, Marshal of France, creator of Louis XIV's army, at 73
  1939 Anthony Fokker, aviation pioneer
  1948 Former Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo (1941-44) and six other war criminals, executed
  1953 Lavrenti P Beria, Stalin's executioner, executed, along with six aides
  1972 Andrej N Tupolev, Russian aircraft builder
  1975 Richard S Welch, CIA station chief in Athens, shot dead
  1982 Jack Webb, actor ("The DI")
24 361 Archbishop George of Cappadocia, murdered at Alexandria
  1435 Anton Galeazzo Bentivoglio, aspirant Lord of Bologna, murdered by the Papal Vicar of the city
  1491 Pirro del Balzo, Duke of Venosa, his brother Angilberto del Balzo, Count of Tricase, and the latter’s son, Giovan Paolo del Balzo, Count of Ugento, strangled at Naples for rebellion against King Ferrante I
  1502 Ramiro de Lorqua/d’Orca, sometime commander of Cesare Borgia’s troops in the Romagna, executed by his master at Cesena
  1524 Vasco da Gama, Portuguese navigator, in Cochin, India
  1531 Malatesta Baglioni the Younger, Lord of Perugia by murder, betrayer of Florence, of natural causes.
  1800 Pensol, a 14 years old girl, killed in the “Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise” to assassinate Napoleon
  1922 Giovanni Martini, Custer's trumpeter, in Brooklyn
  1942 Jean Darlan, French Vichyite admiral, murdered
  1985 Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, 81, last descendant of his great-grandfather Abraham Lincoln
25 795 Pope Adrian I (772-795)
  820 Byzantine Emperor Leo V “the Armenian” (813-20), murdered at Constantinople
  1683 Kara Mustafa, Turkish grand vizer (1676-83), executed
  1761 Tsarina Elizabeth of Russia
  1926 Emperor Yoshihito of Japan (1912-26)
  1989 Former Pres Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania (1969-1989) and his wife Elena, executed
  1992 Garrison H Davidson, Commandant of West Point
26 1476 Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, stabbed by Giovanni Andrča Lampugnani, Carlo Visconti, & Girolamo Olgiati
  1476 Giovanni Andrča Lampugnani, Carlo Visconti, & Girolamo Olgiati, slain by Sforza's bodyguards
  1704 Count Palatine Roberto Malvizzi, kia at 45, Commanding the Imperial Regiment of Lorraine, Battle of Verrua
  1740 Count Maurice Louis II of Nassau
  1972 Harry S Truman, National Guardsman, veteran, at 88
  1974 Jack Benny, World War I veteran, at 80
  2006 Gerald R. Ford, sometime naval officer, President (1974-1976), at 93
27 268 Pope St. Dionysius (260-268)
  418 Pope St. Zosimus (417-418)
  1065 King Ferdinand I the Great of Castille
  1836 Stephen F Austin, Father of Texas
  1936 Hans von Seeckt, German military reformer
  1952 Henri G Winkelman, Dutch Supreme Commander in 1940, at 76
28 1503 Piero de'Medici, condottiero, drowned in the Garigliano at 30
  1859 Thomas Babbington, Lord Macaulay, historian & poet ("Horatius at the Bridge"), b. 1800
  1947 King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy (1900-46), at 78
  1948 Mahmud Nokrashy Pasha, premier of Egypt, assassinated
  2002 Regine Orfinger Karlin, Belgian Jewish anti-Nazi resistance fighter, at 92
29 1703 Ottoman Sultan Mustafa II
  1825 Jacques-Louis David, artist ("The Oath of the Horatii"), at 78
  1890 Chief Big Foot and several score other Sioux, at Wounded Knee
  1933 Ion Georghe Duca, premier of Romania, murdered
30 1460 Richard, Duke of York, killed at Wakefield
  1591 Pope Innocent IX - Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti (29 Oct-30 Dec 1591) , at 72
  1777 Duke Maximilian III of Bavaria (1745-77), at 50
  1896 Jose Rizal, Filipino nationalist, in Spanish custody
  2006 Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti, erstwhile Dictator of Iraq (1979-2003), hanged at 69
31 192 Roman Emperor Commodus (180-192), 31, strangled in his bath by a wrestler, at the request of his mistress
  335 Pope St. Sylvester I (314-335)
  1775 Maj. Gen. Richard Montgomery, killed trying to storm Quebec

Event
1 1145 Pope Eugene III calls for a Second Crusade
  1299 Battle of Falconaria: King Frederick II of Sicily defeats Philip I of Taranto, to oust Neapolitan invaders
  1640 Portugal regains independence after 60 years of Spanish rule
  1642 Battle of Piercebridge: the Earl of Newcastle’s Cavaliers beat the Roundheads
  1742 Tsarina Elisabeth orders expulsion of all Jews from Russia
  1821 Santo Domingo proclaims independence from Spain
  1822 Battle of Monrovia: Americo-Liberians defeat local tribes
  1822 Dom Pedro I crowned Emperor of Brazil
  1842 The Somers Mutiny
  1896 Armored cruiser Brooklyn commissioned
  1917 British capture Ramalah, Palestine
  1918 Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes [Yugoslavia] proclaimed at Belgrade
  1933 Rudolf Hess & Ernst Rohm become ministers in Hitler's government
  1937 Japan recognizes Franco's Nationalists as the government of Spain
  1939 SS-Fuhrer Himmler begins deportation of Polish Jews to concentration camps
  1941 Japanese Navy changes ship call signs for the second time in a month
  1941 Subs Argonaut & Trout take station off Midway, Triton & Tambor off Wake
  1941 The Civil Air Patrol is formed
  1942 Gasoline rationing begins in the US
  1942 Papua: Australians capture Gona Village.
  1942 Papua: Lt Gen Eichelberger is put in command of the Buna-Gona operation
  1943 5th Marine Div begins organizing at Camp Pendleton, California
  1943 FDR, Churchill, & Stalin agree to Operation Overload
  1989 Unsuccessful coup against Philippine Pres. Corazon Aquino
2 1152 Nicholas Breakspear elected Pope as Adrian IV (1152-1159), the only English pope
  1773 Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge enlists in the 15th Royal Dragoons
  1777 British Gen Howe plots attack on Washington's army for Dec 4
  1804 Napoleon crowns himself Emperor of the French
  1805 Napoleon defeats Russians & Austrians at Austerlitz
  1823 President Monroe announces his Doctrince.
  1848 Franz Josef becomes Emperor of Austria & King of Hungary, d. 1916
  1852 Second French Empire established, under (Louis) Napoleon III
  1856 Battle of uDondakusuka: Cetswayo defeats his brother Mbuyazi to secure the Zulu throne
  1899 Battle of Tirad Pass: Peyton March defeats Filipino rearguard
  1914 Austrians capture Belgrade, Serbia, after several tries
  1915 Fourth Battle of the Isonzo ends (began Nov 10)
  1941 British declare a state of emergency in Malaya
  1941 Hawaii: Recon aircraft ordered to search To 400 miles, from the NW to the S only
  1941 HMS Prince of Wales & Repulse ("Force Z") arrive at Singapore
  1941 Japanese First Air Fleet at 43 N, 158 30' E, c. 2,500 miles from Pearl Harbor
  1941 Roosevelt asks Japan to clarify its intentions regarding French Indochina
  1942 "The Italian navigator has arrived in the New World" - Enrico Fermi initiates the first “Atomic Pile.”
  1942 Italian blockade runner Orseolo arrives at Kobe from Bordeaux
  1942 Papua: Eichelberger relieves cdrs of 32nd Div and several subordinate units
  1942 Papua: Japanese at Buna beat off another American attack, as reinforcements arrive
  1944 Chiang Kai-shek rejects proposals to arm Communists against Japan
  1954 The Senate votes overwhelmingly to censure Sen Joseph McCarthy
  1971 UAE formed by Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujeira, Sharjah, & Umm-ak-Qiwain
3 1315 Albertino Mussato, soldier, poet, historian, is crowned "Poet Laureate" at Padua
  1685 Charles II bars Jews from settling in Stockholm
  1775 First official American flag raising, USS Alfred
  1800 Hohenlinden: Moreau's French crush the Austrians in an ambush
  1861 Skirmish at Salem, Mo
  1863 James Longstreet abandons the siege of Knoxville, TN
  1915 British 6th Indian Division falls back on Kut-el-Amara, Iraq
  1941 Japanese First Air Fleet refuels at 45 N, 170 E, en route to Pearl Harbor
  1942 Guadalcanal: Japanese destroyers land reinforcements
  1942 Munda: U.S. aerial recon finds Japanese building an air strip
  1943 Sextant Conference: US and British delegates meet at Cairo
  1944 China: Japanese Eleventh Army runs out of supplies, offensive slows down
  1956 England & France pull troops out of Egypt
4 0 Feast of St. Barbara, Patron of Artillery
  1110 Crusaders take Sidon
  1354 Byzantine Emperor John VI Catacuzenos abdicates to become a monk
  1489 Spanish liberate Baza from the Moors
  1563 Closing sesison of the Council of Trent (1545-1563)
  1783 Washington bids his officers farewell, Fraunces' Tavern
  1829 Lord William Bentinck bans sutee in India
  1861 Skirmish at Anandale, Mo
  1861 Skirmish at Dunksburg, Mo
  1862 Snowball fight, First Corps, Army of Northern Virginia
  1864 Battle of Waynesborough, GA
  1864 Romanian Jews are forbidden to practice law
  1899 Presidential son Webb Hayes earns a Medal of Honor in the Philippines
  1908 Haiti's President-General Alexis Nord flees military coup
  1918 Pres Wilson sails for Versailles Peace Conference in France
  1941 Carrier Enterprise flys-off reinforcements for Wake Island
  1941 Navy Department orders Guam to destroy all codes and secret documents
  1942 Guadalcanal: Carlson's Raiders end 30-day raid behind Japanese lines
  1942 US air raids on the Italian mainland
  1943 Japanese aerial torpedo hits carrier Lexington in the Marshalls
  1943 Sub Sailfish sinks Japanese CVE Chuyo, damages Ryuho
  1943 U.S. carriers hit Kwajelein & Wotje, inflict heavy losses
  1948 SS Kiangya hits mine in Whangpoo River China, sinks, 2,750 die
  1977 Central African Empire proclaimed under Jean-Bedel Bokassa (1977-1979)
  1983 US airstrikes on Syrian anti-aircraft positions in Lebanon
5 741 Consecration of Pope Zacharias (741-752), later canonized
  1349 Black Death Riots in Nuremberg: Jews are massacred
  1496 King Manuel I orders Jews expelled from Portugal
  1560 Charles IX ascends the throne of France
  1590 Niccolo Spondrati elected Pope as Gregory XIV (1590-1591)
  1812 Napoleon abandons his army during the retreat from Moscow
  1861 Richard Gatling applies for a patent on a clever device
  1862 Battle of Coffeeville, MS
  1870 Joint resolution of Congress condemns the KKK
  1934 Wal Wal: Border clash between Italian & Ethiopian troops
  1941 CV Lexington steams from Pearl Harbor to deliver aircraft to Midway
  1941 Japanese First Air Fleet at 40 North 178 East, c. 1600 miles from Pearl Harbor
  1941 Japanese invasion forces sail from Camrahn Bay and Saigon
  1942 Allies maneuver to increase pressure on the Japanese at Buna-Gona
  1943 Japanese air raid on port facilities at Calcutta
  1943 USAAF introduces drop-tanks, allowing P-47s & P-51s to escort bombers from Britain into German
  1944 German troops confiscate all the silver coins in Utrecht
  1944 Italo-Allied forces liberate Ravenna
  1950 UN forces abandon Pyongyang under heavy Chinese pressure
6 0 Feast of St. Nicholas, Patron of Sailors
  1000 Triumphal return home of the Venetian fleet from the First Crusade
  1642 Battle of Tadcaster: Inconclusive clash between Lord Fairfax's Roundheads and the Earl of Newcastle's Cavaliers
  1830 US Naval Observatory established under Lt Louis Malesherbes
  1864 Battle of Deveaux's Neck, SC
  1865 XIII Amendment is ratified, abolishing slavery
  1912 First underwater submarine torpedo attack: Greek Deflin misses Turkish cruiser Medjidije at 500m
  1914 The Germans capture Lodz
  1917 Munition ship Mont Blanc explodes in Halifax, c. 1,700 die
  1941 Asked if the Japanese might attack Pearl Harbor, Husband Kimmel replies, "No young man, I don't think they'd be such damned fools."
  1941 FDR appeals to Emperor Hirohito to help preserve peace
  1941 Japanese First Air Fleet arrives at 31 N, 158 E, c. 550 mi N of Pearl Harbor
  1941 Soviet counter offensive begins in front of Moscow
  1941 US Navy orders outlying bases to destroy codes and secret documents
  1942 Munda: U.S. bombers hit Japanese airbase site
  1942 Papua: U.S. artillery employs "time on target" for the first time, at Buna
  1942 RAF bombs Philips factory in the Netherlands, 150 die
  1943 Burma: Allies cancel major amphibious operation
7 185 Supernova observed by Chinese & Roman scholars
  424 BC Battle of Delium: Thebans defeat the Athenians [Alt]
  424 BC Spartans capture Amphipolis [Alt]
  1254 Rinaldo Conti is elected Pope as Alexander IV (1254-61)
  1499 Imola surrenders to Cesare Borgia
  1798 Neapolitan Army abandons Rome: "Veni, Vidi, Fuggi"
  1862 Battle of Hartsville, TN
  1862 Battle of Prairie Grove, AR
  1916 David Lloyd George becomes Britain's Prime Minster
  1917 US declares war on Austria
  1917 US Sixth Battle Squadron joins the Grand Fleet
  1941 "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
  1941 Germans end first siege of Tobruk
  1941 Japanese destroyers shell Midway
  1941 The Erlass Brothers, Dutch resistance fighters, sent to concentration camps
  1942 Guadalcanal: "Tokyo Express" beaten off by a/c and PT-boats
  1943 Sextant Conference ends in Cairo
  1944 77th Inf Div lands at Ormoc, Leyte, in the Japanese rear
  1944 General Radescu forms Romanian government
  1944 U.S. a/c sink 13 Japanese transports resupplying Leyte
  1949 Chang Kai-shek flees from Mainland China to Taiwan
  1953 Israeli PM Ben-Gurion retires
  1970 Abortive Neo-Fascist coup in Italy
  1981 Spain becomes a member of NATO
  1986 Pres Jean-Claude Duvalier - "Baby Doc" - flees Haiti
8 1776 Washington's army retreats across the Delaware from NJ to Penna
  1863 Church fire in Santiago de Chile, 2,000 die
  1863 Lincoln announces plan for Reconstruction of the South
  1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands: British battlecruisers annihilate Spee's German cruiser squadron
  1933 The Fleet Marine Force is established
  1936 Anastasio Somoza elected president of Nicaragua
  1938 Lauvrenti Beria follows Nikolai Yezkhov as head of Russian secret police
  1941 Japanese air raids on Clark & Iba airfields, Luzon
  1941 Japanese aircraft from the Marshall Is. bomb Wake
  1941 Japanese troops attack Hong Kong
  1941 Japanese troops invade Siam
  1941 Japanese troops land in Malaya
  1941 Japanese troops land on Guam
  1941 Japanese troops occupy Shanghai, where USS Wake (PR-3) surrenders
  1941 "Force Z" (HMSs Prince of Wales & Repulse) sails from Singapore
  1941 Aussie inf coy lands on western Timor, in the Netherlands East Indies
  1941 Britain declares war on Japan
  1941 FDR asks for a declaration of war on Japan
  1941 The U.S. declares war on Japan
  1942 Papua: Japanese troops withdrawing from Gona sustain heavy losses
  1942 Papua: U.S. a/c defeat Japanese attempt to land troops at Buna
  1943 Japanese air raids on British airfields in Assam
  1943 New Guinea: Australian troops capture Wareo
  1943 U.S. fast battleship task force bombards Japanese positions on Nauru
  1944 Iwo Jima: U.S. bombers and CV aircraft begin a 72 day pre-invasion bombardment
  1952 French troops shoot on demonstrators at Casablanca, 50 die
  1966 US & USSR sign treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons in outer space
  1982 Suriname army leader Bouterse murders 15 opponents
9 536 Belisarius takes Rome from the Ostrogoths
  1625 Treaty of the Hague: England & the Netherlands agree to subsidize Denmark in the Thirty Years' War
  1738 Jews are expelled from Breslau, Silesia
  1824 Chileans defeat Spanish at Ayacucho, Peru
  1835 Texians capture San Antonio de Bexar from the Mexicans
  1854 Alfred Lord Tennyson's "The Charge of the Light Brigade" is published
  1861 Battle of Bird Creek, Indian Territory
  1899 Stormberg, First Battle of “Black Week”: the Boers defeat the British, and capture an entire battalion
  1910 French troops occupy Agadir, Morroco
  1917 Commoonwealth & Allied troops under General Allenby capture Jerusalem
  1931 Japanese army attacks Chinese province of Jehol
  1933 Romania bans Fascistic Iron Guard
  1938 Prototype radar installed on USS New York (BB-34)
  1939 Russian air raid on Helsinki
  1940 British offensive in North Africa, against the Italian Tenth Army
  1940 Greeks begin counteroffensive against Italians in Albania
  1941 China declares war on Japan, after four years of "incidents"
  1941 Japanese troops from Kwajelein occupy Tarawa in the Gilberts
  1941 Luzon: Japanese bomb Nichols Field
  1941 Malaya: Japanese capture Khota Baru airfield
  1941 Siam agrees to a cease fire with Japan
  1942 Australians capture Gona in hand-to-hand fighting
  1943 Bougainville: SeaBees complete Torokina airstrip
  1943 Chiang Kai-shek requests increased US financial and air assistance
  1948 UN General Assembly unanimously approves Convention on Genocide
  1961 SS Col Adolf Eichman convicted of war crimes in Israel
  1967 Nicolea Ceausescu becomes dictator of Romania
  1987 Palestine uprising begin in Israeli-occupied West Bank
  1992 Operation Restore Hope begins: US Marines land in Somalia
10 0 Roman Tribunes of the People enter office for one year
  100 BC Massacre of the Populares in the Senate
  1494 Condottiero Prospero Colonna again switches allegience, from the French back to the Pope
  1652 Battle of Dungeness: Tromp's Dutch fleet defeat Blake's English one
  1809 Napoleon divorces Josephine
  1864 Sherman reaches Savannah, begins 12 day siege
  1877 Turks surrender Plevna to Russo-Romanian Army after a protracted siege
  1898 Spanish-American War ends, US gains Philippines, Puerto Rico, & Guam
  1901 First Nobel Peace Prizes, to Jean Henri Dunant and Frederic Passy
  1906 Theodore Roosevelt is the first American awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
  1907 Rudyard Kipling receives the Nobel Prize for Literature
  1920 Woodrow Wilson receives the Nobel Peace Prize
  1926 Hitler's "Second Book" published
  1941 Guam surrenders to a Japanese landing force after a two day battle
  1941 Japanese a/c sink HMSs Prince of Wales and Repulse, South China Sea
  1941 Japanese naval aircraft bomb Cavite Navy Yard, Manila Bay
  1941 Japanese troops begin landings in northern Luzon
  1941 USS Enterprise aircraft sink sub I-70, first Japanese warship sunk in WWII
  1942 Br offensive in Arakan, moving between the sea and the mountains
  1942 Hitler names Mussert "Fuhrer of the Netherlands"
  1942 Japanese aircraft airdrop supplies into Buna
  1942 Papua: Australian troops land at Oro Bay, near Buna
  1942 U.S. aircraft bomb Munda
  1948 UN General Assembly adopts Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  1978 Menachem Begin & Anwar Sadat awarded Nobel Peace Prize
  1990 Hindu-Muslim rioting in Hyderabad-Aligargh, 140 die
11 308 Licinius becomes Roman co-Emperor (308-324), executed 325
  1282 Battle of Orewyn Bridge: King Edward I defeats Pr. Llewellyn of Gwynedd
  1572 Spanish besiege Haarlem, Netherlands (falls July 12, 1573)
  1710 Villa Viciosa: Franco-Spanish forces defeat pro-Habsburg forces
  1792 France's King Louis XVI is put on trial for treason
  1816 Citizens of Geneva defeat Savoyard invaders
  1861 Skirmish at Bertrand, Mo
  1898 Marchand's French column abandons Fashoda, Sudan (held since July)
  1899 Boers defeat British at Magersfontaine
  1899 Magersfontein, Second Battle of “Black Week”: the Boers defeat a British attempt to capture Kimberly, inflicting heavy casualties
  1903 British invade Tibet
  1917 German-occupied Lithuania proclaims independence from Russia
  1937 Italy withdraws from League of Nations
  1941 Germany and Italy declare war on the United States
  1941 Marines beat off Japanese landing on Wake, inflicting heavy losses
  1941 The America First Committee disbands
  1941 US submarines commence war patrols against Japanese shipping
  1942 Burma: 14th Indian Div advances slowly in the Arakan
  1942 Japanese reinforce Guadalcanal, losing one destroyer to PT-boat attacks
  1942 U.S. aircraft bomb Munda
  1943 British & US air forces in SE Asia form Far Eastern Air Command
  1944 U.S. forces capture Ormoc, Japanese main supply dump on Leyte
  1945 William F. Halsey promoted to Fleet Admiral
  1946 UNICEF formed
  1954 USS Forrestal christened in Newport News, Va
  1960 Black Sunday: Anti-French Riot in Algiers, 114 die
  1961 JFK provides US military helicopters & crews to South Vietnam
  1972 Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt lift off on the last manned trip to the Moon
  1974 Puerto Rican nationalists detonate a bomb in New York, one injured.
  1988 Fireworks cache explodes in Mexico City, 62 die
12 627 Battle of Nineveh: Hercalius’ East Romans defeat the Sassanid Persians
  1098 Crusaders capture & plunder Mara, Syria
  1474 Isabella crowns herself queen of Castille
  1479 Emperor Frederick III expels the Jews from Alsace
  1862 Battle of Dumfries, Va
  1862 Confederate "torpedo" sinks USS Cairo in the Yazoo River
  1915 Russian troops capture Hamadan, Persia
  1917 French troop train derails in the Alps, killing 543
  1925 Reza Pahlavi becomes shah of Persia in a coup
  1937 Japanese "accidentally" bomb the USS Panay (PR-5)
  1940 British troops capture Sidi el-Barrani
  1941 British decide to abandon northern Malaya
  1941 Germans begin house-by-house search for Jews in Paris
  1941 Japanese abandon their first attempt to capture Wake
  1941 Japanese complete the occupation of southern Thailand
  1941 Japanese invade Burma
  1941 Japanese troops land at Legaspi, southeastern Luzon
  1941 Luzon: Japanese advance from Vigan & Aparri
  1942 Guadalcanal: 2nd Marine Div begins taking over from the 1st, as Japanese infiltrators destroy a P-39 and fuel truck
  1942 PT-45 sinks Japanese DD Teruzuki off Kolombangara
  1944 Leyte: US forces consolidate their positions
  1944 US creates the rank of Fleet Admiral
  1945 Dutch court sentences Nazi leader Mussert to death
  1953 Chuck Yeager reaches Mach 2.43 in a Bell X-1A
  1958 Charles de Gaulle becomes President of France
  1985 DC-8 crashes near Gander, 248 US soldiers & 8 crew members die
13 0 Feast of St Lucy, Patron of Authors
  405 BC Battle of Aegopotami: Spartans crush the Athenian fleet, ending the Peloponnesian War.
  1294 Abdication of Pope Celestine V (5 Jul-13 Dec 1294), d. May, 1296, canonized
  1545 Opening session of the Council of Trent (1545-1563)
  1577 Sir Francis Drake sets sail from England to go around world
  1774 John Sullivan's militiamen take Ft William & Mary, NH, from the British
  1861 Combat at Buffalo Mountain/Camp Allegheny/Allegheny Summit, WVa
  1862 Battle of Fredericksburg, VA
  1864 Battle of Ft McAllister, GA
  1916 Avalanches kill 10,000 Austrian & Italian troops in 24 hrs in the Tyrol
  1916 French chief of staff Joffre replaced by Nivelle
  1918 US occupation troops cross the Rhine to enter Germany
  1931 Winston Churchill is struck by a car on Fifth Avenue between 76th and 77th Streets
  1939 Battle at La Plata: three British cruisers defeat the German Graf Spee
  1941 British and Canadian troops abandon the mainland portions of Hong Kong
  1942 British advance cautiously in Arakan region of Burma
  1942 Japanese survivors at Buna (c. 100 men) escape across the Giruwa River
  1942 U.S. aircraft bomb Munda
  1943 Burma: the Chinese New 38th Div reaches Bhamo
  1944 Nashville (CL-43) struck by a kamikaze off the Philippines, 138 die
  1966 First US bombing of Hanoi
  1967 Unsuccessful coup against Greek King Constantine II
  1981 Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski seizes power in Poland
  2001 Terrorists attack the Indian Parliament, kill 7 and injure 18 before being slain
  2003 US troops find Iraqi Dictator Saddam Hussein in a hole in the ground
14 872 Election of Pope John VIII (872-82)
  1763 Pennsylvania vigilantes massacre Conestoga Indians near Lancaster
  1807 Capt Charles Johnston of HMS Cornwallis discovers Johnston Is
  1814 Battle of Lake Borgne, La: British overwhelm U.S. gunboats
  1825 Nicholas I becomes Tsar, Decemberist uprising breaks out and fails
  1863 Battle of Bean's Station, Tn: Confederates repulse Union troops
  1913 Greece formally takes possession of Crete
  1924 Chiang Kai Shek occupies Hankow
  1937 Japanese troops begin "Rape of Nanking"
  1939 Soviet Union "defends" itself by attacking Finland
  1941 B-17s in the Philippines are ordered to Australia
  1941 Japanese begin repairing north Luzon airfields for their own use
  1941 Japanese forces in Malaya occupy Gurun & Kroh
  1942 Australian reinforcements land at Oro Bay, near Buna
  1942 Japanese destroyers land 800 troops at the Mambare River, near Buna
  1943 Chinese New 38th Div involved in heavy fighting around Bhamo
  1943 Soviets launch a winter offensive against the Germans
  1943 Sub Grayback sinks Japanese DD Numakaze c. 50 miles east of Okinawa
  1944 Third Fleet begins airstrikes on Japanese positions on Luzon
  1945 Ticker tape parade on Broadway for Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey
15 687 Consecration of Pope Sergius I (687-701)
  1124 Cardinal Lamberto Scannabecchi is elected Pope as Urban II (1124-1130)
  1347 Cola di Rienzo flees the collapse of his Roman Republic (May 20-Dec 14, 1347)
  1791 The "Bill of Rights" goes into effect
  1840 Napoleon is entombed in Les Invalides with elaborate ceremonies
  1871 International "Alabama" Commission meets on US Civil War claims against Britain
  1899 Colesno, Third Battle of “Black Week”: the Boers defeat a British attempt to relieve Ladysmith, inflicting heavy casualties and capturing several batteries.
  1907 Two Italian-Americans lynched in Jackson Parish, La.
  1914 Battle of Lodz ends, Russians retreat
  1919 Poet Gabriele d'Annunzio captures Fiume
  1941 Congress votes $10.1 billion ($400 billion today) for the war effort
  1941 USS Swordfish becomes 1st US sub to sink a Japanese ship
  1942 U.S. aircraft bomb Munda
  1943 Burma: the Chinese New 38th Div is driven back in the Bhamo area
  1943 U.S. 112th Cavalry Rgt (dsmtd) lands at Arawe, New Britain
  1944 Kamikaze sink two LSTs off Mindoro
  1944 US troops land on Mindoro, Philippines
  1944 William D. Leahy is promoted to Fleet Admiral
  1989 The Panamanian National Assembly declares war on the US
  2003 Bhutanese Army begins offensive against Indian rebel invaders (win by Jan 3)
16 882 Election of Pope Marinus I (882-884)
  955 Election of Pope John XII (955-964)
  1431 Infant King Henry VI of England crowned king of France
  1460 Battle of Worksop: The Lancastrians defeat Richard of York
  1476 Gian Galeazzo Sforza succeeds to the Duchy of Milan (1476-1479)
  1653 Oliver Cromwell makes himself Lord Protector of England, Scotland, & Ireland
  1689 Parliament adopts the [English] "Bill of Rights"
  1809 Napoleon divorces Josephine
  1821 American Colonization Society buys what will become Liberia
  1835 Great fire of New York, over 600 buildings burn, $20 million in damages
  1838 Battle of Blood River: Boer settlers defeat a Zulu impi
  1866 New Ironsides, most powerful US warship afloat, burns at League Island
  1897 Holland demonstrates the first sub with an internal combustion engine
  1907 Great White Fleet leaves Hampton Roads on its world cruise
  1941 Borneo: Japanese troops land at Miri, Sarawak
  1941 Japanese Carriers Hiryu and Soryu ordered to attack Wake
  1941 Malaya: Japanese forces land at Penang
  1942 Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" is released
  1942 Papua: Eichelberger takes over 32nd Div, after 2 commanders are WIA
  1943 Japanese sub I-29 departs Penang for blockaded run to France
  1944 Chinese forces in northern Burma capture Bhamo
  1944 George C. Marshall is promoted to General of the Army
  1944 German offensive inititates the Battle of Bulge (to Jan 19)
  1944 German V-2 strikes Antwerp theatre, 638 killed
17 0 Roman Feast of the Saturnalia begins
  384 Accession of Pope Siricius (384-99), later canonized
  1538 Pope Paul III excommunicates England's King Henry VIII
  1777 France recognizes independence of the United States
  1846 Commo Matthew C. Perry's squadron captures Laguna de Terminos, Mexico
  1852 Hawaiian Army organizes a cavalry detachment
  1861 Combat at Rowlett's Station/Mumfordsville, WVa
  1862 Gen US Grant issues G.O. #11, expelling Jews from Tennessee
  1903 The Wright Brothers do their thing
  1914 Battle of Limanova (Poland): Austro-Hungarians beat the Russians
  1923 Greek King George II overthrown by army
  1925 Court-martial rules against Col William "Billy" Mitchell
  1927 US sub S-4 sinks after collision, all 34 aboard die
  1939 German pocket battleship Graf Spee is scuttled off Montevideo
  1940 British troops capture Sollum
  1941 Adm Husband Kimmel, CINCUS and CINCPAC, relieved
  1941 Japanese troops land in British North Borneo
  1942 Americal Div attacks towards Mt. Austen on Guadalcanal
  1942 Elms U.S. 25th Div land on Guadalcanal
  1942 U.S. aircraft bomb Munda
  1942 USCGC Natsek lost in heavy seas, Belle Isle Str, 24 die
  1943 New Britain: Allies battle mop up Japanese on the Arawe Peninsula
  1944 Ernest G. King is promoted to Fleet Admiral
  1944 US ends wartime detention of Japanese-Americans
  1957 US successfully test-fires Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile
  1961 Indo-Portuguese War begins: Portugal loses its colonies by 18th
  1969<