History on this day

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• 378 General Siyaj K'ak', a Mayan warlord, conquers Tikal and increases the domain of Teotihuacan
• 1129 Formal approval of the Order of Templars at the Council of Troyes.
• 1301 Andrew III of Hungary (1290-1301) dies at 50, ending the Arpad dynasty in Hungary.
• 1343 Arnost of Pardubice becomes the first Archbishop of Prague (and the last bishop of Prague)
• 1601 Church authorities in Rome burn Hebrew books
• 1639 1st Connecticut constitution (Fundamental Orders) adopted in Hartford, published by Rodger Ludlow
• 1641 United East Indian Company conquers city of Malacca, 7,000 killed
• 1659 Battle at Elvas: Portuguese beat Spanish
• 1690 Clarinet invented, in Nurnberg, Germany
• 1699 Massachusetts holds day of fasting for wrongly persecuting "witches"
• 1717 German mob leader "Sjako" sentenced to death in Amsterdam
• 1724 Spanish King Philip V abdicates throne
• 1739 Britain and Spain sign 2nd Convention of Pardo
• 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie's army leaves Glasgow [OS=Jan 3]
• 1761 Third Battle of Panipat between the Marathas and Afghans is fought in India
• 1784 US Revolutionary War ends with the US Congress of the Confederation ratifying the Treaty of Paris
• 1799 King of Naples flees before advancing French armies
• 1813 Gideon Hawley becomes 1st state school superintendent in US (NY)
• 1814 King of Denmark cedes Norway to King of Sweden by treaty of Kiel
• 1822 Greek War of Independence: Acrocorinth is captured by Theodoros Kolokotronis and Demetrius Ypsilanti.
• 1858 French Emperor Napoleon III escapes attempt on his life by Felice Orsini, an Italian patriot who was later executed
• 1861 Fort Pikens, Florida, falls into state hands (US Civil War)
• 1863 Battle between gunboats at Bayou Teche Louisiana
• 1864 Battle of Cosby Creek, TN
• 1868 NC constitutional convention meets in Raleigh
• 1868 SC constitutional convention meets with a black majority
• 1873 "Celluloid" registered as a trademark
• 1873 Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback elected to US Senate
• 1874 I. D. Shadd elected Speaker of lower house of Mississippi legislature
• 1878 US Supreme court rules race separation on trains unconstitutional
• 1897 6,960 m (22,834 ft) Cerro Aconcagua (Argentina) 1st climbed
• 1898 Joe Darling hits the 1st six in Tests (out of the ground)
• 1916 Dutch Zuiderzee dyke cracks
• 1918 Finland & USSR adopt New Style (Gregorian) calendar
• 1919 John McGraw, Charles A Stoneham, & Judge MCQuade buy NY Giants
• 1924 Allies direct Fiume (Rijeka) in Italy
• 1925 Alban Berg's atonale opera "Wozzeck" premieres in Berlin
• 1927 Toronto Maple Leafs 1st hat trick (Hap Day) vs NY Rangers
• 1929 Afghan King Amanullah forced to resign
• 1932 1st totalisator (to record racetrack bets) in US installed, Hialeah
• 1932 Horse racing legend Eddie Arcaro won his 1st race
• 1935 Iraq-Mediterranean oil pipeline goes into use
• 1935 28th Women's Australian Championships: Dorothy Round Little beats Nancy Lyle (1-6, 6-1, 6-3)
• 1935 28th Men's Australian Championships: Jack Crawford beats Fred Perry (2-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4)
• 1936 L M (Mario) Giannini elected president of Bank of America
• 1938 National Society for Legalization of Euthanasia forms (NY)
• 1938 Norway claims Queen Maud Land
• 1939 All commercial ferry service to East Bay ends
• 1939 Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica
• 1940 Commissioner Kenesaw Landis gives free agency to 91 Detroit Tigers
• 1940 NFL Pro Bowl: Green Bay beats NFL All-Stars 16-7
• 1942 Japanese troops land at oil center Balikpapan in Borneo
• 1943 Alex Smart (Mont) is 1st NHLer to score hat trick in his 1st game
• 1943 Heinrich Himmler views Warsaw
• 1943 World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke
• 1943 World War II: Casablanca Conference begins between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 1944 Soviet army begins offensive at Oranienbaum/Wolchow
• 1945 In Greece, Communists and the British agree to a cease-fire in the struggle to control Athens (and with it Greece)
• 1946 2 jetties collapse in Ganges-160 Hindu pilgrims are crushed
• 1946 1946 NFL Draft: Frank Dancewicz from University of Notre Dame first pick by Boston Yanks
• 1949 Black/Indian race rebellion in Durban, South Africa; 142 die
• 1950 "As the Girls Go" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 420 performances
• 1950 US recalls all consular officials from China
• 1951 NFL Pro Bowl: 1st since 1942, Americans beat Nationals 28-27
• 1952 "Today Show" premieres with Dave Garroway & Jack Lescoulie on NBC-TV
• 1952 Rationing of coffee in Netherlands ends
• 1952 Snowstorm in Sierra Nevada kills 26
• 1953 Vaughan William's "Sinfonia Antartica" premieres in Manchester
• 1953 WALA TV channel 10 in Mobile, AL (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1953 Yugoslavia elects its 1st president (Marshal Tito)
• 1954 Sandy Wilson's musical "Boyfriend" premieres in London
• 1954 The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.
• 1955 Heitor Villa-Lobos' 8th Symphony premieres in Philadelphia
• 1956 Jordan government refuses to join Pact of Baghdad
• 1956 Little Richard releases "Tutti Frutti"
• 1957 Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher)
• 1960 Tuindorp-Oostzaan in Northern Amsterdam, flooded
• 1968 Super Bowl II: Green Bay Packers beat Oakland Raiders, 33-14 in Miami Super Bowl MVP: Bart Starr, Green Bay, QB
• 1969 25 members of US aircraft carrier Enterprise die during maneuvers
• 1969 Soyuz 4 launched; rendezvous with Soyuz 5 two days later
• 1969 Matt Busby retires from Manchester United
• 1969 19th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 123-112 at Baltimore
• 1970 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers patrol the Falls Road area of Belfast for the first time since 1969
• 1971 John Snow takes 7-40 for England to beat Australia by 299 runs
• 1972 "Sanford & Son" starring Redd Foxx premieres on NBC TV
• 1972 WMAH TV channel 19 in Biloxi, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1972 WMAU TV channel 17 in Bude, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1972 WMAW TV channel 14 in Meridian, MS (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1972 Margrethe II of Denmark becomes the first Queen of Denmark since 1412
• 1973 Grateful Dead bass player, Phil Lesh, busted on drugs in Calif
• 1973 Super Bowl VII: Miami Dolphins beat Wash Red Skins, 14-7 in LA, MVP: Jake Scott, Miami, S
• 1973 Dancer Roy Castle is measured at 1,440 taps/min on BBC TV
• 1973 2 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are killed in Derry by a booby-trap bomb attached to their car by the Irish Republican Army
• 1974 World Football League founded
• 1975 Anita Wold (Norway) sets women's ski jump distance record-98 m
• 1975 USSR breaks trade agreement with US
• 1975 17-year-old Lesley Whittle is kidnapped in Shropshire, England
• 1975 25th NBA All-Star Game: East beats West 108-102 at Phoenix
• 1976 "The Bionic Woman" with Lindsay Wagner debuts on ABC (later NBC)
• 1985 British pound sinks to record low $US1.11
• 1986 Constitution of Guatemala takes effect
• 1986 Vinicio Cerezo becomes only 2nd freely elected president of Guatemala since CIA-sponsored coup in 1954
• 1987 Catfish Hunter & Billy Williams are elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
• 1989 "Romance/Romance" closes at Helen Hayes Theater NYC after 297 performances
• 1989 1,000 muslims burn Salman Rushdies' "Satanic Verses" in Bradford, England
• 1989 29 year old French woman gives birth to sextuplets in Paris
• 1989 Former Belgian premier Paul Vanden Boeynants kidnapped
• 1990 "Simpsons" premiered on Fox-TV
• 1990 11th ACE Cable Awards: CNN wins the Golden CableACE for the coverage of the events in Beijing, China
• 1990 Perez de Cuellar says he has lost all hope for peace in Gulf
• 1990 AFC Championship Game: Denver Broncos beat Cleveland Browns 37-21
• 1990 NFC Championship Game: San Francisco 49ers beat Los Angeles Rams 30-3
• 1991 "Barbara DeAngelis Show" premieres on CBS-TV
• 1991 Jorge Serrano Elias sworn in as president of Guatemala
• 1991 Tyne Daly arrested for drunk driving in Van Nuys, Calif
• 1991 Valentin Pavlov become new premier of USSR
• 1993 "Anna Christie" opens at Criterion Theater NYC for 54 performances
• 1993 Polish ferry boat capsizes in storm, 50 die
• 1994 Inna Lassovskaya triple-jumps ladies world record (14.61m)
• 1994 Russian manned space craft TM-17, lands
• 1994 The Duchess of Kent converts to Catholicism, the first member of the Royal Family to do so in more than 300 years
• 1995 10,000s South Africans attend state funeral of Joe Slovo
• 1995 16th ACE Cable Awards: John Malone wins the Golden CableACE for outstanding achievements in advancing the development of cable programming
• 1996 "Holiday" closes at Circle in Sq Theater NYC after 49 performances
• 1996 "Swinging On a Star" closes at Music Box Theater NYC after 97 performances
• 1996 Liselotte Neumann wins Chrysler-Plymouth Tournament of Golf Champions
• 1996 AFC Championship Game: Pittsburgh Steelers beat Indianapolis Colts 20-16
• 1996 NFC Championship Game: Dallas Cowboys beat Green Bay Packers 38-27
• 1998 100th episode of "Ellen" airs
• 2001 AFC Championship Game: Baltimore Ravens beats Oakland Raiders 16-3
• 2001 NFC Championship Game: New York Giants beat Minnesota Vikings 41-0
• 2002 UK declared free of foot-and-mouth cattle disease
• 2004 The national flag of Georgia, the so-called "five cross flag", was restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.
• 2005 Landing of the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan.
• 2010 Yemen declares war on al-Qaeda
• 2011 Stampede near Sabarimala in Kerala, India kills 104 devotees and injures 100 more
• 2011 Tunisian president Ben Ali, flees to Saudi Arabia after popular protests known as the Jasmine Revolution
• 2011 16th Critics' Choice Movie Awards: The Social Network wins Best Film
• 2012 Suicide bomber kills 53 and injures 130 in Basra, Iraq
• 2012 Ma Ying-jeou wins re-election as President of the Republic of China with 51% of the vote
• 2014 American journalist David Satter is expelled from Russia
• 2015 63 people are killed & 70,000 are left homeless after floods devastate Mozambique and Malawi
• 2016 Sixth republican presidential candidates debate hosted by Fox, held in North Charleston, South Carolina