476 BC Battle of the Cremera: The Veintines virtually annihilate the Roman clan Fabius0 Feast of Saint Polyeuctus of Melitene, Roman soldier and martyr, Patron of Treaties

1503 Tournament of Barletta: 13 Italian knights defeat 13 French knights

1544 William "the Silent" of Nassau, 11, becomes Prince of Orange (1544-1584), later leader of the Dutch Revol

t1672 The Massacre of Glencoe: The Protestant Williamite Campbells slaughter the Catholic Jacobite MacDonalds, perhaps 100 die

1689 Mary II (1689-1694) and her husband William III (1689-1702) ascend the throne of England

1706 Battle of Fraustadt: Swedes defeat a Russo-Saxon army

1779 Battle of Kettle Creek: American militia defeats Tory militia

1809 French take Zaragoza after a long and bloody siege

1853 Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph is seriously wounded by knife wielding Hungarian nationalist, János Libényi

1854 Fourth Great Fire of New Orleans: 25 die as steamboats burn dockside

1861 1st Medal of Honor action: Asst Surg Bernard Erwin, Apache Pass, Az (awarded 1894)

1861 Neapolitan Royalists surrender Gaeta (besieged since Nov 12) to Italy, confirming the unification of Italy

1864 Meridian Campaign: Skirmishes at Chunky Creek & Wyatt

1924 Japanese Adm. Kenji Ide and his aide, Capt. Isoroku Yamamoto, visit the U.S. Naval War College

1937 Nocturnal raid by Italian cruisers and destroyers on Barcelona and Valencia in support of the Spanish Nationalists

1941 Francisco Franco and Benito Mussolini confer at Bordighera, on the Riviera

1942 American-British-Dutch-Australian cruiser-destroyer force sorties from Batavia.

1942 Bataan: Fil-Am troops eliminate Japanese at Canas Point

1942 Hitler finally cancels "Operation Seelöwe", the invasion of Britain

1942 Japanese light forces sink the British gunboat 'Scorpion' in Banka Strait

1942 US and Canada agree to construct the ALCAN Highway

1943 Japanese 41st Div arrives at Wewak, New Guinea from China

1944 Marines take possession of Arno Atoll in the Marshall islands

1945 USAAF & the RAF begin two nights of heavy bombardment of Dresden, 50,000-100,000 die

1945 The Red Army captures Budapest after a 49-day battle

1950 A B-36 bomber on a routine training exercise develops engine trouble and jettisons a 30-kiloton Mark 4 (Fat Man) nuclear bomb into the Pacific

1951 Battle of Chipyong-ni: the Chinese attempt to break the UN front in Korea, US & French troops beat then off by the 15th; the high watermark of Chinese penetration into South Korea

1960 France explodes its first atomic bomb, in Algeria

1989 Salvadoran troops attack Encuentros Hospital, rape, kill patients

1990 Natal, South Africa: Inkatha-UDF rioting, c. 300 die