Today in History ...

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363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city. 1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under the command of Tamim ibn Yusuf defeat a Castile and León alliance under the command of Prince Sancho Alfónsez. 1167 – Battle of Monte Porzio – A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel 1176 – Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I. 1328 – Philip VI is crowned King of France. 1414 – Council of Constance. 1453 – Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire. 1660 – English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland. 1677 – Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Natives. 1727 – Peter II becomes Czar of Russia. 1733 – The right of Canadians to keep Indian slaves is upheld at Quebec City. 1780 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained. 1790 – Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States' colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state. 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are massacred by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland. 1807 – Mustafa IV became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam. 1848 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state. 1852 – Jenny Lind leaves New York after her two-year American tour. 1861 – The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is founded, in Hong Kong. 1864 – Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time. 1867 – The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 ("the Compromise") is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 1868 – Mihailo Obrenović III, Prince of Serbia is assassinated. 1886 – The pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal. 1900 – N'Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil. 1903 – In the May Coup, Alexander I, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization. 1913 – Igor Stravinsky's ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot. 1914 – The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with the loss of 1,012 lives. 1918 – Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad. 1919 – Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin. 1919 – The Republic of Prekmurje is founded. 1931 – Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini. 1932 – World War I veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945. 1935 – First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aeroplane. 1939 – The Albanian fascist leader Tefik Mborja is appointed as member of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations. 1940 – The first flight of the Vought F4U Corsair. 1942 – Bing Crosby, the Ken Darby Singers and John Scott Trotter and his Orchestra record Irving Berlin's "White Christmas", the best-selling single in history. 1945 – First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber. 1948 – Creation of the United Nations peacekeeping force the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization. 1950 – The St. Roch, the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. 1953 – Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay's (adopted) 39th birthday. 1954 – First of the annual Bilderberg conferences. 1964 – The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization. 1969 – General strike in Córdoba, Argentina, leading to the Cordobazo civil unrest. 1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California. 1982 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral. 1982 – Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green. 1985 – Heysel Stadium disaster: Thirty-nine association football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses. 1985 – Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months. 1988 – The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. 1989 – Signing of an agreement between Egypt and the United States, allowing the manufacture of parts of the F-16 jet fighter plane in Egypt. 1990 – The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. 1993 – The Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant is held in war torn Sarajevo drawing global attention to the plight of its citizens. 1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule. 1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station. 1999 – Charlotte Perrelli representing Sweden wins Eurovision Song Contest 1999 in Jerusalem with the song Take Me to Your Heaven. 2001 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments. 2004 – The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. 2008 – A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people. 2012 – A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.