TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JAN 10
49 BC Julius Caesar defies the Roman Senate and crosses the Rubicon, uttering “alea iacta est” (the die is cast), signaling the start of civil war which would lead to his appointment as Roman dictator for life
1645 The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, is beheaded on Tower Hill, accused of acting as an enemy of the British Parliament
1724 King Philip V shocks all of Europe when he abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, Louis.
1776 Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, which greatly influenced the authors of the Declaration of Independence, was published.
1811 An uprising of over 400 slaves is put down in New Orleans. Sixty-six blacks are killed and their heads are strung up along the roads of the city.
1839 Tea from India 1st arrives in the United Kingdom
1861 Florida secedes from the Union.
1899 Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo renounces the Treaty of Paris, which annexed the Philippines to the United States.
1901 Oil discovered at Spindletop, Beaumont, marking the start of the Texas oil boom (gusher age)
1920 The League of Nations came into existence.
1928 Soviet Union orders exile of Leon Trotsky
1967 PBS (the National Educational TV) begins as a 70 station network
1984 The U.S. and the Vatican reestablished diplomatic relations after a 117-year break.
1990 Time Inc. and Warner Communications Inc. completed a $14 billion merger. The new company, Time Warner, was the world’s largest entertainment company.
1994 Ukraine says it will give up world’s 3rd largest nuclear arsenal
1996 Israel frees hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
2000 It was announced that Time-Warner had agreed to buy America On-line (AOL). It was the largest-ever corporate merger priced at $162 billion. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the deal on December 14, 2000.
2001 The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will not be designated as a national monument, the White House announces; a move environmentalist groups had been pressing for to prevent oil drilling
2002 In France, the “Official Journal” reported that all women could get the morning-after contraception pill for free in pharmacies.
2003 North Korea announced that it was withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
2013 81 people are killed and 120 are wounded by a twin bombing in Quetta, Pakistan
2019 13 year-old Jayme Closs escapes her kidnapper after 3 months in captivity in Wisconsin
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
