211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
1194 – 100,000 ransom (a massive sum) is paid for Richard I, King of England (Disguised as a Templar knight
Royal StandardDuke Leopold must have been delighted to have his great enemy the King of England in his clutches, and he promptly locked up Richard in Durnstein Castle, a stronghold on the Danube fifty miles to the west of Vienna. He also informed his overlord, Henry VI, the Holy Roman Emperor, of his windfall, and a letter still exists from Henry VI to Philip Augustus of France, which has the Holy Roman Emperor gloating shamelessly about the capture of this returning royal pilgrim. Seizing King Richard was considered an illegal act, as Pope Celestine III had decreed that knights who took part in the Crusade were not to be molested as they travelled to and from the Holy Land. Both Emperor Henry and Duke Leopold were subsequently excommunicated for Richard’s detention.)
1454 – In the Thirteen Years’ War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master’s death.
1787 - Shays’ Rebellion (of debt-ridden Massachusetts farmers) fails
1789 – 1st US electoral college chooses Washington & Adams as President and Vice-President
1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
1822 – Free American Blacks settle Liberia, West Africa
1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.
1855 – Soldiers shoot Jewish families in Coro, Venezuela
1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt. (The Oldest Bible)
1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.(Confederate constitutional convention meets for 1st time; Jefferson Davis elected president of Confederacy – US Civil War)
Squatter James Donnelly (1880)
1880 – The Black Donnelly Massacre. James (63), Johannah (56), John (32), Thomas (25) and Bridget (21) Donnelly are murdered in their home by members of the Vigilance Committee
1887 – Interstate Commerce Act authorizes federal regulation of railroads
1894 – Antoine J “Adolphe” Sax, instrument maker (saxophone), dies at 79
1899 – The Philippine-American War begins with fighting between American and Philippine revolutionary forces
1902 – Charles A Lindbergh, pilot (1st to fly solo across Atlantic), born in Detroit, Michigan – Born
1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer, discovered Pluto (d. 1997) was born.
1912 – Byron Nelson, Fort Worth Tx, PGA golfer (won 19 tournaments in 1945) Born
1913 – Rosa Parks, American activist (d. 2005) was born.
1914 – US Congress approves Burnett-anti-immigration law
1922 – After boycotts and international pressure, Japan agrees to return Shantung Province to China
1933 – German President Von Hindenburg limits freedom of the press
1936 – Radium becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
1938 – Hitler seizes control of German army & puts Nazis in key posts
1940 – George A Romero, actor/director (Creepshow, Martin, 2 Evil Eyes) Born
1941 – John Steel, rock drummer (Animals-House of the Rising Sun) Born
1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer and actress (The 5th Dimension) was born.
1945 – World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.
1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
1945 – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.
1947 – Dan Quayle, American politician, 44th Vice President of the United States was birthed
1948 – Alice Cooper, American singer-songwriter and actor was born.
1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
1949 – Failed assassination attempt on Shah of Persia
1950 – James Dunn, US vocalist (Stylistics-You make me feel Brand New) Born
1951 – Phil Ehart, American drummer (Kansas) was born.
1952 – Jerry Shirley, rock drummer (Humble Pie-Hot N Nasty, Eat It) Born
1959 – Lawrence Taylor, Williamsburg Virginia, NFL’s greatest linebacker (NY Giants) Born
1961 – Sputnik 7 launches into Earth orbit; probable Venus probe failure
1962 – Clint Black, Long Branch NJ, country vocalist (A Better Man) Born
1963 – Noodles, American guitarist (The Offspring) was born.
1964 – FAA begins 6 month test of reactions to sonic booms over Oklahoma City
1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1969 – Duncan Coutts, Canadian bass player and songwriter (Our Lady Peace) was born.
1971 – Baseball announces a special hall of fame wing for blacks
1972 – Senator Strom Thurmond suggests John Lennon be deported
1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
1974 – M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed. (False Flag?)
1975 – Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908) Dies
1977 – Elevated train jumps track, crashes onto Chicago st (11 die, 200 hurt)
1977 – Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” released
1983 – Karen Carpenter, rock drummer (Carpenters), dies of anorexia at 32
1985 – Naval exercises canceled when US refuses to tell NZ of nuclear weapons
1986 – Israeli fighters intercept Libyan passenger airliner
1987 – Liberace, pianist (Liberace Show, Evil Chandell-Batman), dies at 67
1987 – US President Reagan’s veto of Clean Water Act is overridden by Congress
1988 – Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega indicted on drug charges
1991 – Hall of Fame’s board of directors vote 12-0 to bar Pete Rose
1992 – A coup d’état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
1994 – 20 die in armed assault on mosque in Khartoum, Sudan
1997 – US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announces she “just discovered” that her grandparents were Jewish
1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
1998 – Bill Gates gets a pie thrown in his face in Brussels, Belgium
1998 – An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
2009 – Lux Interior, (Erick Lee Purkhiser) Frontman of the garage rock band The Cramps (b. 1946) Dies of Heart attack…. OR did he?
2013 – 20 people are killed after an apartment building was struck by a rocket in Aleppo, Syria
2013 – Europol announces it will investigate over 680 football matches alleged to involve match fixing
2014 – Same-sex marriage is legalized in Scotland