Today in History

1220   After promising to go to the aid of the Fifth crusade within nine months, Frederick II is crowned emperor by pope Honorius III.  
1542   New laws are passed in Spain giving Indians in America protection against enslavement.
1757   The Austrian army defeats the Prussians at Breslau in the Seven Years War.  
1847   In New York, the Astor Place Opera House, the city's first operatic theater, is opened.  
1902   A fire causes considerable damage to the unfinished Williamsburg bridge in New York.  
1915   The Anglo-Indian army, led by British General Sir Charles Townshend, attacks a larger Turkish force under General Nur-ud-Din at Ctesiphon, Iraq, but is repulsed.  
1919   A Labor conference committee in the United States urges an eight-hour workday and a 48-hour week.  
1928   British King George is confined to bed with a congested lung; the queen is to take over duties.  
1935   Pan Am inaugurates the first transpacific airmail service from San Francisco to Manila.  
1936   1,200 soldiers are killed in a battle between the Japanese and Mongolians in China.  
1942   Soviet troops complete the encirclement of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad.  
1948   Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam requests admittance to the UN.  
1963   Lee Harvey Oswald assassinates President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president.  
1964   Almost 40,000 people pay tribute to John F. Kennedy at Arlington Cemetery on the first anniversary of his death.  
1973   Great Britain announces a plan for moderate Protestants and Catholics to share power in Northern Ireland.  
1980   Eighteen Communist Party secretaries in 49 provinces are ousted from Poland.  
1982   President Ronald Reagan calls for defense-pact deployment of the MX missile.  
1986   Justice Department finds memo in Lt. Col. Oliver North's office on the transfer of $12 million to Contras of Nicaragua from Iranian arms sale.  
1988   First prototype of B-2 Spirit strategic stealth bomber unveiled for public viewing.  
1989   Lebanese President Rene Moawad killed when a bomb explodes near his motorcade in West Beirut. 1990   Britain's Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher confirms the end of her premiership by withdrawing from the leadership election of the tory cabal.  
1995   The first feature-length film created entirely with computer generated imagery – Toy Story – premiers. 2004   The Orange Revolution, protesting a primary election believed to have been rigged, begins in the Ukraine. On Dec 26 Ukraine's Supreme Court orders a revote..  
2005   Angela Merkel becomes the first woman ever to be Chancellor of Germany; the former research scientist had previously been the first secretary-general of the christian Democratic Union.  
2008   Hamas and Israel begin a cease-fire following eight days of violence and 150 deaths.