509 BC Installation of the first consuls: L. Iunius Brutus & L. Tarquinius Collatinus

624 Battle of Badr: Mohammed defeats the Quraish to capture Mecca

933 Battle of Merseburg/Riade: King Henry V "the Fowler" of the Germans defeats the Hungarians

1311 Battle of Halmyros/Cefiso: The Catalan Company captures the Duchy of Athens

1330 Azzone Visconti stages a coup in Milan, which his descendants will rule until 1535

1360 French raiders capture Winchelsea, England

1391 Anti-Jewish riots begin in Seville and spread, reportedly leading to c. 50,000 deaths in a year

1493 Columbus returns to Spain from his first voyage

1744 France declares war on England

1781 Battle of Guilford Court House: The Brits barely defeat the Yankees and decide to retire from the Carolinas into Virginia, where they will have an unfortunate encounter with George Washington at Yorktown

1916 Fifth Battle of the Isonzo ends (from Mar 5)

1916 Pershing begins 10-month pursuit of Pancho Villa in Mexico

1930 USS 'Nautilus' (SS 168) is launched at Mare Is., California

1939 Hitler occupies the remnants of Czechoslovakia.

1942 Hawaii: NY's 27th Inf Div arrives, first division to land overseas in WW II.

1942 Japanese begin intensive bombardment of forts guarding Manila Bay.

1943 U.S. Navy forces in the Central Pacific are designated the Fifth Fleet.

1943 Third Battle of Kharkov: Germans under Manstein retake the city from the Soviets

1944 The ancient Abbey of Monte Cassino is destroyed by Allied bombing and shelling

1944 Admiralty Is.: U.S. Army invades Manus

1945 Burma: British secure Mandalay.

1957 Britain becomes the third nation to detonate a nuclear bomb

1969 Chinese-Russian border clash, hundreds die

1978 Israel raids Lebanon to rid an area of Palestine guerrillas