Today in History

439		The Vandals, led by King Gaiseric, take Carthage in North Africa.
1216		King John of England dies at Newark and is succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry.
1448		The Ottoman Sultan Murat II defeats Hungarian General Janos Hunyadi at Kosovo, Serbia.
1466		The peace of Torun ends the war between the Teutonic knights and their own disaffected subjects in Prussia.
1739		England declares war on Spain over borderlines in Florida. The war is known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear because the Spanish coast guards cut off the ear of British seaman Robert Jenkins.
1781		Major General Lord Charles Cornwallis surrenders to George Washington and Count de Rochambeau at Yorktown, Va. Cornwallis surrenders 7,157 troops, including sick and wounded, and 840 sailors, along with 244 artillery pieces. Losses in this battle had been light on both sides. The Revolutionary War is effectively ended.
1812		Napoleon Bonaparte begins his retreat from Moscow.
1848		John “The Pathfinder” Fremont moves out from near Westport, Missouri, on his fourth Western expedition–a failed attempt to open a trail across the Rocky Mountains along the 38th parallel.
1864		At the Battle of Cedar Creek, Va., a narrow victory helps the Union secure the Shenandoah Valley.
1873		Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers universities draft the first code of football rules.
1914		The German cruiser Emden captures her thirteenth Allied merchant ship in 24 days.
1917		The first doughnut is fried by Salvation Army volunteer women for American troops in France during World War I.
1942		The Japanese submarine I-36 launches a floatplane for a reconnaissance flight over Pearl Harbor. The pilot and crew report on the ships in the harbor, after which the aircraft is lost at sea.
1949		The People’s Republic of China is formally proclaimed.
1950		The North Korean capital of Pyongyang is captured by U.N. troops.
1954		Egypt and Britain conclude a pact on the Suez Canal, ending 72 years of British military occupation. Britain agrees to withdraw its 80,000-man force within 20 months, and Egypt agrees to maintain freedom of canal navigation.
1960		Canada and the United States agree to undertake a joint Columbia River project to provide hydroelectric power and flood control.
1973		Nixon rejects an Appeals Court demand to turn over the Watergate tapes.
1987		In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U. S. navy disables three of Iran’s offshore oil platforms.
1988		British government bans TV and radio interviews with members of Irish political group Sinn Fein and 11 paramilitary groups.
1989		The 1975 conviction of the Guildford Four is overturned by British courts; the 4 men had been convicted in the 1974 Guildford pub bombings.
2003		Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II for her work among “the poorest of the poor” in India.
2005		Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s trial for crimes against humanity begins in Baghdad.