• 211 - Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies, leaving the Roman Empire in the hands of his two quarrelsome sons, Caracalla and Geta.
• 960 - The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
• 1454 - In the Thirteen Years' War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
• 1703 - In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-Seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
• 1789 - George Washington is unanimously elected to be the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
• 1792 - George Washington is unanimously elected to a second term as President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
• 1794 - The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French Republic.
• 1801 - John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
• 1810 - Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
• 1825 - The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
• 1859 - The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
• 1861 - American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, Delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form The Confederate States of America.
• 1899 - The Philippine-American War begins.
• 1932 - World War II: Japan occupies Harbin, China.
• 1936 - Radium E becomes the first radioactive element to be made synthetically.
• 1941 - World War II: The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
• 1943 - World War II: Battle of Stalingrad ends.
• 1945 - World War II: The Yalta Conference begins.
• 1948 - Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
• 1957 - The first nuclear-powered submarine, the, logs its 60,000th nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
• 1966 - All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 jet plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
• 1969 - Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
• 1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
• 1975 - Haicheng earthquake, M 7.3, occurred in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
• 1976 - In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
• 1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini names Abolhassan Banisadr as president of Iran.
• 1992 - A Coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez Frías, against VenezuelanPresident Carlos Andrés Pérez.
• 1996 - Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-32.2°C)
• 1997 - En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
• 1997 - After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections.
• 1998 - An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale in northeast Afghanistan kills more than 5,000.
• 1999 - Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot dead by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race-relations in the city.
• 1999 - The New Carissa runs aground near Coos Bay, Oregon.
• 2000 - German extortionist Klaus-Peter Sabotta is jailed for life for attempted murder and extortion in connection with the sabotage of German railway lines.
• 2003 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is officially renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and adopts a new constitution.
• 2006 - A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71.
• 2008 - One of the biggest marches took place in the Colombia when almost 9 million people walked in the streets of almost every town and city in the country to protest against the violent actions of FARC and against kidnapping. "No More FARC" (No Más FARC) was the name of the march.

Births