Today in History

786   Pepin the Short of Gaul dies. His dominions are divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman.  
1525   In the first of the Franco-Habsburg Wars, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V captures the French king Francis I at the Battle of Pavia, Italy.  
1538   Ferdinand of Hapsburg and John Zapolyai, the two kings of Hungary, conclude the peace of Grosswardein.  
1803   Chief Justice John Marshall, by refusing to rule on the case of Marbury vs. Madison, asserts the authority of the judicial branch.  
1813   Off Guiana, the American sloop Hornet sinks the British sloop Peacock.  
1821   Mexico gains independence from Spain.  
1836   Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault on the Alamo with its 182 Texan defenders.  
1895   The Cuban War of Independence begins.  
1908   Japan officially agrees to restrict emigration to the U.S.  
1912   Italy bombs Beirut in the first act of war against the Ottoman Empire.  
1912   The Jewish organization Hadassah is founded in New York City.  
1914   Civil War soldier Joshua Chamberlain dies.  
1916   A film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea opens in New York.  
1921   Herbert Hoover becomes Secretary of Commerce.  
1928   The New Gallery of New York exhibits works of Archibald Motley, its first show to feature a black artist.  
1944   Merrill's Marauders, a specially trained group of American soldiers, begin their ground campaign against Japan into Burma.  
1945   U.S. forces liberate prisoners of war in the Los Baños Prison in the Philippines.  
1947   Franz von Papen is sentenced to eight years in a labor camp for war crimes.  
1959   Khrushchev rejects the Western plan for the Big Four meeting on Germany.  
1968   North Vietnamese troops capture the imperial palace in Hue, South Vietnam.
1972   Hanoi negotiators walks out of the peace talks in Paris to protest U.S. air raids on North Vietnam.  
1991  General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition army, sends in ground forces during the Gulf War.