Today in History

1258		Hulagu, a Mongol leader, seizes Baghdad, bringing an end to the Abbasid caliphate.
1620		Supporters of Marie de Medici, the queen mother, who has been exiled to Blois, are defeated by the king’s troops at Ponts de Ce, France.
1763		The Treaty of Paris ends the French-Indian War. France gives up all her territories in the New World except New Orleans and a few scattered islands.
1799		Napoleon Bonaparte leaves Cairo, Egypt, for Syria, at the head of 13,000 men.
1814		Napoleon personally directs lightning strikes against enemy columns advancing toward Paris, beginning with a victory over the Russians at Champaubert.
1840		Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert.
1846		Led by religious leader Brigham Young, the first Mormons begin a long westward exodus from Nauvoo, Il., to Utah.
1863		P.T. Barnum’s star midgets, Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren, are married.
1904		Russia and Japan declare war on each other.
1915		President Wilson blasts the British for using the U.S. flag on merchant ships to deceive the Germans.
1939		Japanese occupy island of Hainan in French Indochina.
1941		London severs diplomatic relations with Romania.
1941		Iceland is attacked by German planes.
1942		The war halts civilian car production at Ford.
1945		B-29s hit the Tokyo area.
1955		Bell Aircraft displays a fixed-wing vertical takeoff plane.
1960		Adolph Coors, the beer brewer, is kidnapped in Golden, Colo.
1966		Protester David Miller is convicted of burning his draft card.
1979		The Metropolitan Museum announces the first major theft in its 110-year history, $150,000 Greek marble head.
1986		The largest Mafia trial in history, with 474 defendants, opens in Palermo, Italy.