Today in History

331BC		Alexander the Great decisively shatters King Darius III’s Persian army at Gaugamela (Arbela), in a tactical masterstroke that leaves him master of the Persian Empire.
1791		In Paris, the National Legislative Assembly holds its first meeting.
1827		The Russian army under Ivan Paskevich storms Yerevan, ending a millennium of Muslim domination of Armenia. For his victory in the Russo-Persian War, Paskevich will be made Count of Yerevan in 1828.
1847		Maria Mitchell, an American astronomer, discovers a comet and is elected the same day to the American Academy of Arts—the first woman to be so honored. The King of Denmark will award her a gold medal for her discovery.
1864		The Condor, a British blockade-runner, is grounded near Fort Fisher, North Carolina.
1878		General Lew Wallace is sworn in as governor of New Mexico Territory. He goes on to deal with the Lincoln County War, Billy the Kid and write Ben-Hur. His Civil War heroics earned him the moniker Savior of Cincinnati.
1908		The Ford Model T, the first car for millions of Americans, hits the market. Over 15 million Model Ts are eventually sold, all of them black.
1918		Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia,” capture Damascus.
1939		After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile Nazi forces enter Poland’s capital city.
1942		The German Army grinds to a complete halt within the city of Stalingrad.
1943		British troops in Italy enter Naples and occupy Foggia airfield.
1944		The U.S. First Army begins the siege of Aachen, Germany.
1946		Eleven Nazi war criminals are sentenced to be hanged at Nuremberg trials—Hermann Goring, Alfred Jodl, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Julius Streicher, and Alfred Rosenberg.
1947		The first flight of an F-86 Sabre jet fighter, which would win fame in the Korean War takes place.
1949		Mao Zedong establishes the People’s Republic of China.
1957		“In God We Trust” appears on US paper currency as an act to distinguish the US from the officially atheist USSR; the motto had appeared on coins at various times since 1864.
1961		The Federal Republic of Cameroon is formed by the merger of East and West Cameroon.
1974		Five Nixon aides–Kenneth Parkinson, Robert Mardian, Nixon’s Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell–go on trial for conspiring to hinder the Watergate investigation.
1979		The US returns sovereignty of the Panama Canal to Panama.
1991		The Siege of Dubrovnik begins in the Croatian War of Independence.