TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – DEC 18
218 BC Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia – Hannibal’s Carthaginian army heavily defeat Roman forces on Italian soil
1118 Afonso the Battler, the Christian King of Aragon captures Saragossa, Spain, causing a major blow to Muslim Spain.
1271 Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan” (元 yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China
1787 New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.
1862 Union General Ulysses S. Grant announces the organization of his army in the West. Sherman, Hurlbut, McPherson, and McClernand are to be corps commanders.
1862 The first orthopedic hospital was organized in New York City. It was called the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled.
1865 Slavery is abolished in the United States. The 13th Amendment is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution, ensuring that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
1892 Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Nutcracker Suite” premieres
1903 The Panama Canal Zone was acquired ‘in perpetuity’ by the U.S. for an annual rent.
1912 The so called Piltdown Man thought to be the missing evolutionary link between ape and man is discovered in the Piltdown gravel pit in Sussex, England, by amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson.
1915 In a single night, about 20,000 Australian and New Zealand troops withdraw from Gallipoli, Turkey, undetected by the Turks defending the peninsula.
1940 Adolf Hitler issues his secret plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union–Operation Barbarossa.
1941 Defended by 610 fighting men, the American-held island of Guam falls to more than 5,000 Japanese invaders in a three-hour battle.
1944 The Supreme Court upheld the wartime internment of Japanese-Americans.
1951 North Koreans give the United Nations a list of 3,100 POWs.
1956 Japan is admitted to the United Nations.
1957 World’s 1st full scale nuclear power plant begins to generate electricity, at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania
1966 The popular Dr. Seuss’ book “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” is made into an animated television special and shown for first time on CBS.
1966 Saturn’s Moon, Epimetheus, discovered. One of Saturn’s 150 natural satellites or moons, Epimetheus shares its orbit with another moon, Janus. Saturn’s largest moon is Titan, which is the only natural satellite in the Solar System with an atmosphere.
1969 The British Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder.
1970 An atomic leak in Nevada forces hundreds of citizens to flee the test site.
1971 The Capitol Reef National Park in Utah is established
1978 Cleveland was the first American city to face bankruptcy since the Depression in the 1930’s. Half of the city’s 10,000 employees were to be laid off and cuts were to be made among the firemen and police.
1989 The European Economic Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and economic communication.
1996 The Oakland, California school board passes a resolution officially declaring “Ebonics” a language or dialect
1998 The U.S. House of Representatives began the debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning U.S. President Bill Clinton. It was only the second time in U.S. history that process had begun.
2005 Civil war begins in Chad with a rebel assault on Adre; the rebels are believed to be backed by Chad’s neighbor, Sudan.
2008 United Arab Emirates holds it first-ever elections.
2009 General Motors announced that it would shut down its Saab brand.
2010 In an opening act of Arab Spring, anti-government protests erupt in Tunisia.
2010 The Senate votes 65 to 31 in favor of repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Clinton-era military policy that forbids openly gay men and women from serving in the military.
2011 The last US troops to leave Iraq entered Kuwait in a convoy of armored vehicles almost nine years after the initial invasion. A total of 157 US soldiers remained in Iraq for training purposes at the US embassy.
2012 Three people were arrested by police in Quebec for a multi-million dollar maple syrup theft. The thieves stole syrup as well as syrup-making equipment and police believe that five other suspects were involved and had not been caught yet.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
