49 BC Caesar captures Corfinum and 30 Senatorial cohorts

1076 Emperor Henry IV defies Pope Gregory VII, which will lead him to humiliation at Canossa in 1077

1082 Robert the Weasel captures Durazzo from the Byzantines by treachery

1173 Canonization of Thomas Becket by Pope Alexander III

1407 Battle of Moribondo: The Milanese Guelfs defeat the Milanese Ghibellines

1431 The English try Joan of Arc for witchcraft, at Rouen

1543 Battle of Waim Dega: Ethiopian-Portuguese defeat of the Sultan of Adal

1574 Siege of Middleburg: The Spanish surrender to the Dutch

1598 Boris Godunov crowned Tsar of Russia (1598-1605)

1613 Mikhail I Fyodorovich Romanov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected tsar (1613-1645)

1695 Venetians abandon Chios to the Turks

1797 British capture Trinidad from the Spanish

1848 Publication of "The Communist Manifesto" by Marx & Engels, inspiring extraordinary slaughter

1862 Battle of Valverde, NM Terr: Confederate victory

1903 Washington: Cornerstone laid for the Army War College (now NDU)

1914 White Wolf rebels attack Shanghai, China

1916 Battle of Verdun begins; will produce nearly a million casualties in 302 days

1917 The British transport 'Mendi' sinks off the Isle of Wight, 627 die

1918 Australians capture Jericho from the Turks

1942 Burma: the17th Indian Div holds the Japanese on Sittang River, as the Br 7th Armoured Bde reaches Rangoon

1942 Timor: Dutch & Australian troops begin guerrilla resistance to the Japanese

1943 Burma: Royal Indian Navy lands raiders southwest of Akyab

1943 Russell Is.: Elms 43rd Infantry Div land unopposed

1944 Japanese resistance on Engebi and Eniwetok ends.

1944 Prime Minister Tojo takes over direct control of the Japanese Army as Chief of Staff.

1945 British Army liberates Goch, Netherlands

1945 Fierce Japanese resistance encountered on Iwo Jima

1973 Israeli fighters down Libyan Airlines Boeing 727 over the Sinai, 108 die, 5 survive