Today in History

Today in History

786 Pepin the Short of Gaul dies. His dominions are divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman.

1525 In the first of the Franco-Habsburg Wars, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V captures the French king Francis I at the Battle of Pavia, Italy.

1538 Ferdinand of Hapsburg and John Zapolyai, the two kings of Hungary, conclude the peace of Grosswardein.

1803 Chief Justice John Marshall, by refusing to rule on the case of Marbury vs. Madison, asserts the authority of the judicial branch.

1813 Off Guiana, the American sloop Hornet sinks the British sloop Peacock.

1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain.

1836 Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault on the Alamo with its 182 Texan defenders.

1895 The Cuban War of Independence begins.

1908 Japan officially agrees to restrict emigration to the U.S.

1912 Italy bombs Beirut in the first act of war against the Ottoman Empire.

1912 The Jewish organization Hadassah is founded in New York City.

1914 Civil War soldier Joshua Chamberlain dies.

1916 A film version of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea opens in New York.

1921 Herbert Hoover becomes Secretary of Commerce.

1928 The New Gallery of New York exhibits works of Archibald Motley, its first show to feature a black artist.

1944 Merrill’s Marauders, a specially trained group of American soldiers, begin their ground campaign against Japan into Burma.

1945 U.S. forces liberate prisoners of war in the Los Baños Prison in the Philippines.

1947 Franz von Papen is sentenced to eight years in a labor camp for war crimes.

1959 Khrushchev rejects the Western plan for the Big Four meeting on Germany.

1968 North Vietnamese troops capture the imperial palace in Hue, South Vietnam.

1972 Hanoi negotiators walk out of the peace talks in Paris to protest U.S. air raids on North Vietnam.

1991 General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition army, sends in ground forces during the Gulf War.

Born

1500 Charles V, king of Spain and the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope.

1786 Wilhelm Carl Grimm, compiler, with his brother of fairy tales.

1836 Winslow Homer, American painter.

1841 John Phillip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine.

1874 Honus Wagner, baseball shortstop known as “The Flying Dutchman.”

1885 Chester Nimitz, U.S. admiral who commanded naval forces in the Pacific during WWII.

1887 Mary Ellen Chase, New England writer.

1909 August Derleth, writer (Still is the Summer Night, The Shield of the Valiant).

History