Today in History

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.