2005 – Trial of Saddam Hussein Begins: The Iraqi Special Tribunal started the trial of deposed President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and 7 other defendants for crimes against humanity. Hussein, who was the fifth President of Iraq was found guilty and was executed by hanging a year later on December 30, 2006.
0439 – The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.
1216 – King John of England dies at Newark-on-Trent and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry
1298 – Rindfleisch Persecutions -140 Jews of Heilbron, Germany are murdered
1330 – 17-year-old English King Edward III captures his mother’s lover and the country’s de facto ruler Roger Mortimer at Nottingham Castle (later has him hanged)
1453 – The French recapture of Bordeaux brings the Hundred Years’ War to a close, with the English retaining only Calais on French soil
1466 – The Thirteen Years’ War ends with the Second Treaty of Toru. Gdansk Pomerania and Prussia as a whole are incorporated into Poland; the Teutonic Knights are allowed to rule its eastern part as Polish vassals
1469 – Ferdinand II of Aragon marries Isabella I of Castile, a marriage that paves the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain
1596 – Spanish galleon San Felipe is shipwrecked in Urado on the Japanese island of Shikoku en route from Manila to Acapulco. Incident leads to the crucifixion of 26 Christians who become known as the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan.
1765 – In the U.S., The Stamp Act Congress met and drew up a declaration of rights and liberties.
1781 – British General Charles Lord Cornwallis surrendered to U.S. General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. It was to be the last major battle of the American Revolutionary War.
1789 – Chief Justice John Jay is sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.
1812 – Napoleon Bonaparte’s French forces began their retreat out of Russia after a month of chasing the retreating Russian army.
1814 – In Baltimore, MD, the first documented performance of “The Defence of Fort McHenry” with music took place at the Holliday Street Theatre. The work was later published under the title “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
1818 – US & Chicasaw Indians sign a treaty
1864 – Confederate raiders launch an attack on Saint Albans, Vermont from Canada.
1912 – Italy takes possession of Tripoli, Libya from the Ottoman Empire
1914 – In the U.S., government owned vehicles were first used to pick up mail in Washington, DC.
1915 – The U.S. recognized General Venustiano Carranza as the president of Mexico. The U.S. imposed embargo to all parts of Mexico except where Carranza was in control.
1921 – Portuguese Prime Minister António Granjo and other politicians are murdered in a Lisbon coup
1926 – Russian Politburo throws out Leon Trotsky and his followers
1939 – Hermann Goering begins plunder through Nazi’s occupied areas
1943 – The Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers began in Russia during World War II. Delegates from the U.S.S.R., Great Britain, the U.S., and China met to discuss war aims and cooperation between the nations.
1944 – The U.S. Navy announced that black women would be allowed into Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES).
1950 – The United Nations forces entered the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1951 – U.S. President Truman signed an act officially ending the state of war with Germany.
1953 – Dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury is published in the US
1960 – The United States imposed an embargo on exports to Cuba covering all commodities except medical supplies and certain food products.
1969 – U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew referred to anti-Vietnam War protesters “an effete corps of impudent snobs.”
1972 – Ulster Vanguard leader William Craig speaks at a meeting of right-wing Members of Parliament at Westminster: “We are prepared to come out and shoot and kill”
1973 – OPEC oil embargo on the United States begins as participating nations cease oil exports to the US and begin a series of production cuts
1977 – The Concorde made its first landing in New York City.
1982 – Automaker John DeLorean arrested on cocaine charges, found not guilty
1983 – The U.S. Senate approved a bill establishing a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.
1984 – Four U.S. employees of the CIA were killed in El Salvador when their plane crashed.
1987 – Black Monday: Stock markets around the world crash, including the Dow Jones stock index, which falls 508.32 points (22%), 4½ times the previous daily record
1989 – The U.S. Senate rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that barred the desecration of the American flag.
1993 – Benazir Bhutto was returned to the premiership of Pakistan.
1998 – In Washington, DC, Microsoft went on trial to defend against an antitrust case.
2003 – In London, magician David Blaine emerged from a clear plastic box that had been suspended by a crane over the banks of the Thames River. He survived only on water for 44 days. Blaine had entered the box on September 5.
2005 – Trial of Saddam Hussein Begins: The Iraqi Special Tribunal started the trial of deposed President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, and 7 other defendants for crimes against humanity. Hussein, who was the fifth President of Iraq was found guilty and was executed by hanging a year later on December 30, 2006.
2007 – Bomb explosion rocks Glorietta 2, a shopping mall in Makati, the Philippines killing 11, injuring more than 100 people
2012 – 8 people are killed and 78 injured by a car bomb in Beirut, Lebanon
2013 – 16 people are killed and 30 are wounded by a suicide bombing Beledweyne, Somalia
2015 – US scientists from University of California find evidence life on earth may have begun 4.1 billion years ago, 300 million earlier than previously thought
2016 – Third US Presidential debate: Donald Trump notably refuses to say if he will accept the result of election during debate with Hillary Clinton at Nevada University, Las Vegas
2017 – Outbreak of the Marburg virus declared by Uganda’s Ministry of Health
2020 – US charges six Russian military officers with massive cyber-attack meant to disrupt 2020 Tokyo Olympics, 2017 French presidential election, and Ukraine’s power grid
2021 – Moscow’s mayor orders unvaccinated people over 60 years to stay home for four months amid a worsening COVID-19 crisis
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
