Today in History

241 BC - First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates Islands - The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
418 - Jews are excluded from public office in the Roman Empire
1535 - Bishop Tomés de Berlanga discovers Galapagos Islands
1578 - Queen Elizabeth I gives Johan Casimir £20,000 to aid Dutch rebellion
1629 - King Charles I dissolved Parliament; he recalled it 11 years later
1661 - French King Louis XIV ends office of premier
1697 - Tsar Peter the Great begins a tour of Western Europe
1734 - Spanish army under Don Carlos (III) draws into Naples
1735 - An agreement between Nadir Shah and Paul I of Russia is signed near Ganja and Russian troops are withdrawn from Baku.
1762 - French Huguenot Jean Calas, who was wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform
1783 - USS Alliance under Captain Barry fights and wins last naval battle of US Revolutionary War off Cape Canaveral
1789 - Franklin College founded
1791 - John Stone, Concord, Mass, patents a pile driver
1801 - First census in Great Britain
1830 - The KNIL also known as the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
1831 - The French Foreign Legion is established by King Louis-Philippe to support his war in Algeria.
1847 - 1st money minted in Hawaii
1849 - Abraham Lincoln applies for a patent  for a device to lift a boat over shoals and obstructions
1861 - El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Segou, destroying the Bambara Empire of Mali.
1862 - Great Britain & France recognize independence of Zanzibar
1862 - US issues 1st paper money ($5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 & $1000)
1864 - Red River campaign LA
1865 - Battle of Monroe's Crossroads, NC
1874 - Purdue University (Indiana) admits its 1st student
1876 - 1st telephone call made (Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas Watson)
1880 - General Wolseley opens new legislative council in Pretoria
1888 - 1st performance of Caesar Franck's "Psyche"
1888 - HW Boxing champ John L Sullivan draws Charlie Mitchell in 30 rounds
1891 - Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1893 - Ivory Coast becomes a French colony
1893 - New Mexico State University cancels its 1st graduation ceremony; its only graduand Sam Steele was robbed & killed the night before
1896 - Bronx acquires O'Brien Square
1896 - Charilaos Vasilakos of Greece wins 1st modern marathon in 3:18 [OS]
1896 - After Bob Fitzsimmons KOs much larger Jim Corbett to win world HW championship he says, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall"
1900 - Battle at Driefontein, South-Africa (Boers vs British army)
1900 - Regents for the King of Uganda and leading chiefs sign a treaty with Great Britain agreeing to the organization of the government, taxation, courts, military, and other functions of their country, which is under British protection.
1902 - Earthquake destroys Turkish city of Tochangri
1902 - A United States court of appeals rules that Thomas Edison did not invent the movie camera.
1903 - Harry Gammeter, Cleveland, patents multigraph duplicating machine
1903 - Stanley Cup: Ottawa Silver 7 sweep Montreal AAA in 2 games
1905 - Japanese Army captures Mukden (Shenyang)
1906 - 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine"
1906 - Coal dust explosion kills 1,060 at Courrieres France
1906 - Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opens, constructed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London. The contraction Bakerloo became the official name in July 1906.
1909 - Jack Johnson fights Victor McLaglen to no decision in 6 for box title
1910 - China ends slavery
1910 - Pittsburgh Courier begins publishing
1913 - Stanley Cup: Quebec Bulldogs sweep Sydney (NS) Millionaires in 2 games
1913 - William Knox becomes 1st in American Bowling Congress to bowl 300
1914 - Suffragettes in London damage Rokeby's painting Venus of Velasquez
1915 - British Army in Belgium captures Neuve Chapelle
1917 - Batangas was formally founded as one of the Philippines's earliest encomiendas.
1920 - NHL's Quebec Bulldog Jim Malone scores 6 goals vs Ottawa Senators
1920 - The Home Rule Act is passed by the British Parliament, dividing Ireland into two parts; it is rejected by southern counties, where the Ango-Irish war continues for a year
1922 - KLZ-AM in Denver CO begins radio transmissions
1922 - State of siege proclaimed during mine strike Johannesburg South Africa
1925 - Walter Mittelholzer is 1st to flies over Demawend mountain, Iran
1926 - Run on Belgian banks
1927 - Albania mobilize by threat of Serbian, Croatian & Slovenes
1927 - Bavaria lifts ban on Hitler's speeches
1928 - Christine Collins' son, Walter Collins, disappears in Los Angeles
1931 - British Labour party removes fascist sir Oswald Mosley
1933 - Major earthquake in Long Beach, Calif
1933 - Nevada becomes 1st US state to regulate narcotics
1934 - Longest undefeated streak in Toronto Maple Leaf history (18 games)
1934 - US Ladies Figure Skating championship won by Suzanne Davis
1934 - US Mens Figure Skating championship won by Roger Turner
1938 - 10th Academy Awards - "The Life of Emile Zola", Spencer Tracy & Luise Rainer win
1939 - 17 villages damaged by hailstones in Hyderabad India
1940 - 1st US opera telecast, W2XBS, NYC, I Pagliacci
1941 - Lee MacPhail, Dodger GM predicts all players will wear batting helmets
1944 - U-575 sinks HMS Asphodel
1945 - Fieldmarshal Albert Kesselring succeeds Gerd von Rundstedt as commander of German Army Command in the West
1945 - Germany blows-up Wessel Bridge on Rhine
1945 - Japan declares Vietnam Independence
1945 - Patton's 3rd Army makes contact with Hodge's 1st Army

1945 - Tokyo in fire after night time B-29 bombings, more than 100,000 people die, mostly civilians.
1945 - US troops lands on Mindanao
1946 - Train derailment kills 185 near Aracaju Brazil
1948 - 1st civilian to exceed speed of sound-Herb H Hoover, Edwards AFB Ca
1949 - Detroit Tiger pitcher Art Houtteman is critically injured in an auto accident but recovers to win 15 games in 1949
1951 - "Where's Charley?" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 56 perfs
1951 - FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declines post of baseball commissioner
1952 - Military coup led by General Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
1956 - General strike in Cyprus protesting exile of archbishop Makarios
1956 - Peter Twiss sets new world air record 1,132 mph (1,823 kph)
1957 - Thousands of soccer fans riot in Italy
1959 - Dorothy Comiskey Rigney, sells 54% of White Sox to Bill Veeck
1959 - Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" premieres in NYC
1959 - Uprising against Chinese occupation force in Lhasa Tibet
1960 - USSR agrees to stop nuclear testing
1962 - Due to its no black policy, Phillies leave Jack Tar Harrison Hotel & move to Rocky Point Motel, 20 miles outside Clearwater, Florida
1963 - Pete Rose debuts with hits in his 2 1st at bats in spring training
1963 - Wilt Chamberlain of NBA SF Warriors scores 70 points vs Syracuse
1964 - US reconnaissance plane shot down over East Germany
1965 - Dutch Princess Margriet & Pieter van Vollenhoven get engaged1966 - 5 time Horse of the Year, Kelso, retires
1966 - North Vietnamese capture US Green Beret Camp at Ashau Valley
1969 - James Earl Ray pleads guilty to murder of Martin Luther King Jr
1970 - Barbra Streisand records "The Singer" & "I Can Do It"
1970 - South Africa complete 4-0 series drubbing of Australia
1970 - Members of the Stormont (Parliament of Northern Ireland) given police protection
1971 - US Senate approves amendment lowering voting age to 18
1971 - Three members of the Royal Highland Fusiliers (a regiment of the British Army) are killed by members of the Irish Republican Army
1972 - 1st black US political convention opens (Gary Indiana)
1972 - Gen Lon Nol becomes pres & prince Sirik Matak premier of Cambodia
1972 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1973 - BPAA US Open by Mike McGrath
1973 - Morocco adopts constitution
1974 - "Sextet" closes at Bijou Theater NYC after 9 performances
1974 - Carol Mann wins LPGA S&H Green Stamp Golf Classic
1974 - Christian Democrats win Belgium parliamentary election
1974 - Lawrence Rowe completes 302 v Eng Bridgetown, 36 fours 1 six
1975 - "The Rocky Horror Show" opens at Belasco Theater NYC for 45 performances
1975 - Dog spectacles patented in England
1975 - Sanyo Shinkansen open between Osaka and Fukuoka.
1977 - Rings of Uranus discovered during occulation of SAO
1978 - Soyuz 28 returns to Earth
1978 - "The Incredible Hulk", starring Bill Bixby as David Banner, premieres on CBS
1980 - Willard Scott becomes the weather forcaster on the Today Show
1982 - Reagan proclaims economic sanctions against Libya
1982 - Salim Malik scores 100 in 2nd inning of Test Cricket debut (v SL)
1982 - Sygyzy: all 9 planets aligned on same side of Sun
1982 - Travis Jackson & Happy Chandler elected to Hall of Fame
1982 - The United States places an embargo on Libyan petroleum imports because of their support of terrorist groups.
1982 - 8th People's Choice Awards: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field & Jane Fonda win (Motion Picture) and Alan Alda & Barbara Mandrell win (TV)
1983 - Walter Alston, Dodgers manager, elected to Hall of Fame
1984 - Heavyweight Tim Witherspoon KOs Greg Page
1985 - Bonnie Lauer wins Uniden LPGA Golf Invitational
1985 - Dallas Maverick coach Dick Motta is 4th NBA coach to win 700 games
1985 - French socialists lose election (National Front 9%)
1985 - Ice Pairs Championship at Tokyo won by Elena Valova & O Vasiliev (URS)
1985 - India beat Pakistan to win "World Championship of Cricket"
1985 - Mens Figure Skating Championship in Tokyo won by Alexandr Fadeev (URS)
1986 - Ernie Lombardi, NL MVP in 1938, & Bobby Doerr, elected to Hall of Fame
1987 - Vatican formal opposition to test-tube fertilization & embryo transfer
1988 - Avalanche at Swiss Ski resort Klosters nearly kills Prince Charles
1988 - NY Islanders celebrate Mike Bossy night
1990 - 4th American Comedy Award: When Harry Met Sally
1990 - Ice Dance Championship at Halifax won by Klimova & Ponomarenko (URS)
1990 - Ice Pairs Championship at Halifax won by Gordeeva & Grinkov (URS)
1990 - Ladies Figure Skating Champions in Halifax won by Jill Trenary (USA)
1990 - Lt Gen Avril resigns as president of Haiti
1990 - Mens Figure Skating Championship in Halifax won by Kurt Browning (CAN)
1990 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1991 - Eddie Sutton is 1st NCAA coach to lead 4 schools into playoffs
1991 - Laura Davies wins LPGA Inamori Golf Classic
1991 - Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg clinches his 4th slalom World Cup
1991 - Merlene Ottey runs world record 200 m indoor (22.24 sec)
1991 - Rico Lieder/Jens Carlowitz/Karsten Just/Thomas Schonlebe walk 4x400m indoor world record (3:03.05)
1992 - 6th Soul Train Music Awards: Natalie Cole, Color Me Badd win
1992 - Sandra Seuser/Katrin Schreiter/Annet Hesselbarth/Grit Breuer walk female indoor world record 4x400m (3:27.22)
1994 - 1 million Greeks attend Melina Mercouri's funeral
1995 - Car bomb explodes in Karachi at shiite mosque, 17+ killed
1995 - Chiel Meijering's "St Louis Blues" premieres in Arnhem
1995 - Dow-Jones hits record 4035.64
1996 - 22nd People's Choice Awards: Tom Hanks & Demi Moore win (Dramatic Motion Picture) and Tim Allen & Candice Bergen win (TV)
1996 - NYC Mayor Guiliani visits Israel
2000 - The NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.
2000 - 16th Soap Opera Digest Awards - General Hospital wins
2006 - The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
2006 - Mass unrest by the PCC started in São Paulo (the biggest city in Brazil) which would eventually kill more than 152 people.
2007 - 21st Soul Train Music Awards: Jermaine Dupri, Jennifer Hudson win
2012 - At least 130 rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza
2013 - Aung San Suu Kyi is re-elected leader of the Burmese National League for Democracy
2014 - German Chancellor Merkel warns Russia's Putin that making Crimea part of Russia is illegal and in violation of Ukraine's constitution