1590 | | The Sultan of Morocco launches a successful attack to capture Timbuktu. |
1644 | | The Ming Chongzhen emperor commits suicide by hanging himself. |
1707 | | At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeat the Anglo-Portugese forces. |
1719 | | Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe is published in London. |
1792 | | The guillotine is first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier. |
1859 | | Work begins on the Suez Canal in Egypt. |
1862 | | Admiral Farragut occupies New Orleans, Louisiana. |
1864 | | After facing defeat in the Red River Campaign, Union General Nathaniel Bank returns to Alexandria, Louisiana. |
1867 | | Tokyo is opened for foreign trade. |
1882 | | French commander Henri Riviere seizes the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina. |
1898 | | The United States declares war on Spain. |
1915 | | Australian and New Zealand troops land at Gallipoli in Turkey. |
1925 | | General Paul von Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany. |
1926 | | In Iran, Reza Kahn is crowned Shah and chooses the name "Pehlevi." |
1926 | | Puccini's opera Turandot premiers at La Scala in Milan with Arturo Toscanini conducting. |
1938 | | A seeing eye dog is used for the first time. |
1945 | | U.S. and Soviet forces meet at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River. |
1951 | | After a three day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment is annihilated on "Gloucester Hill," in Korea. |
1953 | | The magazine Nature publishes an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson, describing the "double helix" of DNA. |
1956 | | Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes to number one on the charts. |
1959 | | The St. Lawrence Seaway--linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes--opens to shipping. |
1960 | | The first submerged circumnavigation of the Earth is completed by a Triton submarine. |
1962 | | A U.S. Ranger spacecraft crash lands on the Moon. |
1971 | | The country of Bangladesh is established. |
1980 | | President Jimmy Carter tells the American people about the hostage rescue disaster in Iran. |
1982 | | In accordance with the Camp David agreements, Israel completes a withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula. |
1990 | | Violeta Barrios de Chamorro begins a six year term as Nicaragua's president. |
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