141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years
1496 – Jews are expelled from Carintha, Austria
1522 – Martin Luther begins preaching his “Invocavit Sermons” in the German city of Wittenberg, reminding citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence and thus helping bring to a close the revolutionary stage of the Reformation
1566 – David Rizzio, the private secretary to Mary I of Scotland, is murdered in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland
1617 – The Treaty of Stolbovo ended the occupation of Northern Russia by Swedish troops.
1765 – After a public campaign by the writer Voltaire, judges in Paris posthumously exonerate Jean Calas of murdering his son. Calas had been tortured and executed in 1762 on the charge, though his son had actually committed suicide.
1799 – The U.S. Congress contracted with Simeon North, of Berlin, CT, for 500 horse pistols at the price of $6.50 each
1820 – The U.S. Congress passed the Land Act that paved the way for westward expansion of North America.
1841 – US Supreme Court rules the kidnapped slaves from the Spanish schooner the Amistad are free
1860 – The first Japanese ambassador to the U.S. was appointed.
1862 – During the U.S. Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (built from the remnants of the USS Merrimack fought to a draw in a five-hour battle at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
1864 – General Ulysses Grant was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces.
1905 – In Congo, Belgian Vice Gov. Costermans committed suicide following an investigation of colonial policy.
1914 – US Senator Albert Fall (Teapot Dome) demands “Cubanisation of Mexico”
1916 – Mexican raiders led by Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. 17 people were killed by the 1,500 horsemen.
1932 – Eamon De Valera was elected president of the Irish Free State and pledged to abolish all loyalty to the British Crown.
1933 – The U.S. Congress began its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation.
1935 – Adolf Hitler publicly announces the creation of a new air force, the Luftwaffe
1936 – The German press warned that all Jews who vote in the upcoming elections would be arrested.
1943 – Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps
1959 – Mattel introduced Barbie at the annual Toy Fair in New York.
1964 – 1st Ford Mustang produced
1971 – Three off-duty Scottish soldiers are killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army; 4000 shipyard workers take to the streets to demand internment in response
1975 – Work began on the Alaskan oil pipeline
1977 – About a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington, DC. They killed one person and took more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/40-years-later-remembering-the-hanafi-siege-that-paralyzed-dc/38977/
1986 – U.S. Navy divers found the crew compartment of the space shuttle Challenger along with the remains of the astronauts.
1987 – Chrysler Corporation offered to buy American Motors Corporation.
1989 – In the U.S., President George H.W. Bush urged for a mandatory death penalty in drug-related killings.
2006 – Liquid water is discovered on Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn
2007 – The US Justice Department releases an internal audit that found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had acted illegally in its use of the USA Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about US citizens
2011 – Space Shuttle Discovery completes its final mission
2012 – Senior members of hacking group Lulz Sec are arrested, including one member of the FBI, in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland
2021 – China and Russia agree to build a research station on or around the Moon and collaborate on lunar missions, in move that could start another space race
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
