TODAY HISTORY LESSON: JANUARY 13
532 Nika riots begin in Constantinople, revolt against Emperor Justinian I, prompted by chariot racing
1099 Crusaders set fire to Mara Syria
1128 Pope Honorius II granted a papal sanction to the military order known as the Knights Templar. He declared it to be an army of God.
1610 Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, 4th satellite of Jupiter
1785 John Walter publishes 1st issue of “The Times” of London
1794 Congress changes US flag to 15 stars & 15 stripes
1846 President James Polk dispatches General Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops to the Texas Border as war with Mexico looms.
1898 French writer Emile Zola published his “J’Accuse” letter, accusing the French of a cover-up in the Alfred Dreyfus treason case.
1900 To combat Czech nationalism, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary decrees German the official language of the Imperial Army.
1923 Hitler denounces the Weimar Republic as 5,000 storm troopers demonstrate in Germany.
1930 “Mickey Mouse” comic strip 1st appears
1931 The bridge connecting New York and New Jersey is named the George Washington Memorial Bridge.
1937 The United States bars Americans from serving in the Civil War in Spain.
1942 Henry Ford patented the plastic automobile referred to as the “Soybean Car.” The car was 30% lighter than the average car.
1947 British troops replace striking truck drivers.
1951 9 Jewish Kremlin physicians “exposed” as British/US agents; known as the Doctors’ Plot
1955 Chase National and the Bank of Manhattan agree to merge resulting in the second largest U.S. bank.
1968 Johnny Cash performs live at Folsom State Prison
1970 Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu flees Biafra into exile, leaving his deputy Philip Effiong to surrender to the Nigerian army, unofficially ending the Nigerian Civil War
1979 YMCA files libel suit against Village People’s YMCA song
1980 The United States offers Pakistan a two-year aid plan to counter the Soviet threat in Afghanistan.
1988 Supreme Court rules (5-3) public school officials have broad powers to censor school newspapers, plays & other expressive activities
1992 Japan apologized for forcing tens of thousands of Korean women to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
2000 Microsoft chairman Bill Gates steps aside as chief executive and promotes company president Steve Ballmer to the position
2001 An earthquake devastates El Salvador
2002 Japan and Singapore signed a free trade pact that would remove tariffs on almost all goods traded between the two countries.
2004 Joseph Darby, a U.S. soldier at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, reported U.S. abuses of Iraqi prisoners to the Army’s Criminal Investigations Division..
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
