1919 – The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages, was ratified. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.
27 BC – The title Augustus is bestowed upon Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian by the Roman Senate
550 – Gothic War (535-552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison
1120 – The Council of Nablus is held, establishing the earliest surviving written laws of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem
1412 – The Medici family is appointed official banker of the Papacy
1547 – Ivan the Terrible was crowned Czar of Russia.
1556 – Holy Roman Emperor Charles V abdicates his role as King of Spain and appoints his son Philip II of Spain
1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England
1581 – English parliament passes laws against Catholicism
1605 – The first edition of “El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha” (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid
1749 – Hoax article advertising fictitious theatrical performer “The Bottle Conjuror” drew huge crowds to the Haymarket Theatre, London, whose inevitable non-appearance caused a riot. It’s alleged the Duke of Montagu perpetrated the fiasco to win a bet
1765 – Charles Messier catalogs M41 (galactic cluster in Canis Major)
1776 – Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks
1777 – Vermont declares independence from New York
1793 – French King Louis XVI sentenced to death by the National Convention during the French Revolution
1809 – The British defeated the French at the Battle of Corunna, in the Peninsular War.
1847 – John C. Frémont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory
1865 – Munitions magazine explodes at Fort Fisher, North Carolina, killing or injuring 200 soldiers, carelessness of drunken soldiers blamed.
1870 – Virginia becomes 8th state readmitted to US after Civil War
1883 – The United States Civil Service Commission was established as the Pendleton Act went into effect.
1900 – The U.S. Senate consented to the Anglo-German treaty of 1899, by which the U.K. renounced rights to the Samoan islands.
1917 – “Zimmermann Telegram” is sent from Germany to Mexico, stating in the event of the US entering World War I on the allied side, Mexico would be given Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Intercepted by British intelligence and partially deciphered by the next day. It’s release in March shifts US public opinion in favor of war against Germany.
1919 – The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages, was ratified. It was later repealed by the 21st Amendment.
1925 – Leon Trotsky was dismissed as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the USSR.
1941 – War Department forms first Army Air Corps squadron for black cadets
1944 – General Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion force in London.
1951 – World’s largest gas pipeline opens (Brownsville Texas, to 134th St, New York City)
1953 – Egyptian Premier General Naguib disbands all political parties
1956 – Egyptian President Nasser pledges to reconquer Palestine
1962 – Suit accuses NYC Board of Education uses “racial quotas”
1970 – Colonel Muammar el-Quaddafi became virtual president of Libya.
1979 – The Shah of Iran and his family fled Iran for Egypt.
1979 – Bakhtiar government established by the Shah in Iran, will preside until unrest in the country subsides
1982 – Britain and the Vatican resumed full diplomatic relations after a break of over 400 years.
1985 – “Playboy” magazine announced its 30-year tradition of stapling centerfold models in the bellybutton and elsewhere would come to an immediate end.
1990 – 2 Bank of Credit & Commerce members plea guilty to money laundering
1992 – Officials of the government of El Salvador and rebel leaders signed a pact in Mexico City ending 12 years of civil war. At least 75,000 people were killed during the fighting.
1998 – The first woman to enroll at Virginia Military Institute withdrew from the school.
1998 – It was announced that Texas would receive $15.3 billion in a tobacco industry settlement. The payouts were planned to take place over 25 years.
1998 – Three federal judges secretly granted Kenneth Starr authority to probe whether U.S. President Clinton or Vernon Jordan urged Monica Lewinsky to lie about her relationship with Clinton.
2001 – Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.
2002 – U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that John Walker Lindh would be brought to the United States to face trial. He was charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, VA, with conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens, providing support to terrorist organizations, and engaging in prohibited transactions with the Taliban of Afghanistan.
2002 – The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted sanctions against Osama bin Laden, his terror network and the remnants of the Taliban. The sanctions required that all nations impose arms embargoes and freeze their finances.
2003 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off for mission STS-107 which would be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.
2005 – Adriana Iliescu gives birth at the age of 66, The Romanian university lecturer broke the record for the world’s oldest birth mother.
2013 – 24 people die after three car bombs exploded in Idlib Governorate, Syria
2019 – Explosion by a suicide bomber aimed at US-led coalition forces at a market in Manjib, Syria, kills about 18 including four Americans
2019 – UN says at least 890 killed in ethnic violence in the western Democratic Republic of Congo in December, with 465 building destroyed, delaying the presidential election
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
