This Day In History
971 - War elephant corps of the Southern Han defeated at Shao by crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops; Southern Han state forced to submit to the Song Dynasty. 1st regular war elephant corps in Chinese army
1368 - In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
1556 - Shaanxi Earthquake - deadliest ever recorded kills 830,000 in Shensi Province, China
1570 - Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland, assassinated; civil war breaks out
1579 - Union of Utrecht signed, forming protestant Dutch Republic
1631 - France & Sweden sign anti-German Treaty of Barwald 1656 - French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his Lettres provinciales
1668 - England, Netherlands & Sweden sign Triple Alliance against French
1795 - War of the First Coalition: French cavalry captures 14 Dutch ships and 850 guns near the port of Den Helder - rare instance of cavalry capturing a fleet
1859- Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii begins an eruption that lasts 300 days
1899 - Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic
1908 - US & Great Britain demand end of abuses in Congo 1932 - El Salvador army kills 4,000 protesting farmers 1942 - Battle of Rabaul: Japanese attack Australian air base in Rabaul, New Britain
1942 - Tank battle at Adzjedabia, Africa Korp vs British 8th army 1943 - British 8th army marches into Tripoli
1945 - World War II: Karl Dönitz launches Operation Hannibal. 1962 - Libya, Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia plan to form United Arab Maghreb.
1970 - US launches 2nd generation weather satellite, ITOS 1 1972 - Entire population of Istanbul under 24 hour house arrest 1973 - Jordan Air crash at Kano, Nigeria kills 176 Muslim pilgrims 1973 - US President Richard Nixon announces an accord has been reached to end Vietnam War
1973 - Shah of Iran announces that the 1954 operating agreement between a consortium of oil companies and Iran will not be renewed when it expires in 1979