Events

• 571 BC – Servius Tullius, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans.
• 1177 – Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Châtillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard.
• 1491 – The siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, ends with the Treaty of Granada.
• 1510 – Portuguese conquest of Goa: Portuguese naval forces under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque, and local mercenaries working for privateer Timoji, seize Goa from the Bijapur Sultanate, resulting in 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule.
• 1678 – Trunajaya rebellion: After a long and logistically challenging march, the allied Mataram and Dutch troops successfully assaulted the rebel stronghold of Kediri.
• 1758 – French and Indian War: British forces capture Fort Duquesne from French control.
  • Later, Fort Pitt will be built nearby and grow into modern Pittsburgh.
• 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The last British troops leave New York City three months after the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
• 1795 – Partitions of Poland: Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, is forced to abdicate and is exiled to Russia.
• 1826 – The Greek frigate Hellas arrives in Nafplion to become the first flagship of the Hellenic Navy.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Missionary Ridge: At Missionary Ridge in Tennessee, Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant break the Siege of Chattanooga by routing Confederate troops under General Braxton Bragg.
• 1864 – American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
• 1876 – American Indian Wars: In retaliation for the American defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, United States Army troops sack the sleeping village of Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife at the headwaters of the Powder River.
• 1915 – Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
• 1917 – World War I: German forces defeat Portuguese army of about 1,200 at Negomano on the border of modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania.
• 1918 – Vojvodina, formerly Austro-Hungarian crown land, proclaims its secession from Austria-Hungary to join the Kingdom of Serbia.
• 1936 – In Berlin, Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact, agreeing to consult on measures “to safeguard their common interests” in the case of an unprovoked attack by the Soviet Union against either nation.
  • The pact is renewed on the same day five years later with additional signatories.
• 1941 – HMS Barham is sunk by a German torpedo during World War II.
• 1943 – World War II: Statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina is re-established at the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• 1947 – Red Scare: The “Hollywood Ten” are blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios.
• 1947 – New Zealand ratifies the Statute of Westminster and thus becomes independent of legislative control by the United Kingdom.
• 1952 – Korean War: After 42 days of fighting, the Battle of Triangle Hill ends with Chinese victory, American and South Korean units abandon their attempt to capture the “Iron Triangle”.
• 1958 – French Sudan gains autonomy as a self-governing member of the French Community.
• 1963 – President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1973 – Georgios Papadopoulos, head of the military Regime of the Colonels in Greece, is ousted in a hardliners’ coup led by Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannidis.
• 1975 – Suriname gains independence from the Netherlands.
• 1977 – Former Senator Benigno Aquino, Jr., is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No.2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad. He is later assassinated in 1983.
• 1986 – Iran–Contra affair: US Attorney General Edwin Meese announces that profits from covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• 1992 – The Federal Assembly of Czechoslovakia votes to split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with effect from 01 January 1993.

People (Births)

• 1577 – Piet Pieterszoon Hein, Dutch admiral (d. 1629).
• 1758 – John Armstrong, Jr., American general and politician, 7th United States Secretary of War (d. 1843).
• 1862 – Gustaf Söderström, Swedish tug of war competitor, shot putter, and discus thrower (d. 1958).
• 1872 – Robert Maysack, American gymnast and triathlete (d. 1960).
• 1890 – Isaac Rosenberg, English soldier and poet (d. 1918).
• 1895 – Ludvík Svoboda, Czech general and politician, 8th President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1979).
• 1900 – Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (d. 1947).
• 1901 – Arthur Liebehenschel, German SS officer (d. 1948).
• 1904 – Lillian Copeland, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1964).
• 1915 – Augusto Pinochet, Chilean general and politician, 30th President of Chile (d. 2006).
• 1917 – Alparslan Türkeş, Cypriot-Turkish colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 1997).
• 1941 – Christos Papanikolaou, Greek pole vaulter.
• 1976 – Olena Vitrychenko, Ukrainian gymnast and coach.
• 1985 – Remona Fransen, Dutch pentathlete.

People (Deaths)

• 1326 – Prince Koreyasu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1264).
• 1560 – Andrea Doria, Italian admiral (b. 1466).
• 1565 – Hu Zongxian, Chinese general (b. 1512).
• 1950 – Mao Anying, Chinese general (b. 1922).
• 1963 – Alexander Marinesko, Russian lieutenant (b. 1913).
• 1989 – Alva R. Fitch, American general (b. 1907.
• 2006 – Kenneth M. Taylor, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1919).
• 2015 – Jeremy Black, English admiral (b. 1932).
• 2016 – Fidel Castro, Communist leader of Cuba, and revolutionary (b. 1926).