1126 Accession of King Alfonso of Galicia (1111-1157) as Alfonso VII of Castile and León (1126-1157), later proclaimed Emperor of All the Spains (1135-1157)

1604 Duel between master samurai Yoshioka Seijuro and Miyamoto Musashi, who slays his opponent on the first blow

1702 Accession of Queen Anne of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1702-1707), and of Great Britain and Ireland (1707-1714)

1722 Battle of Gulnabad: Shah Mahmud of Afghanistan defeats Persian Shah Hussain, capturing him and plunging Persia into anarchy

1736 Accession of Nader Qoli Beyg as Shah of Persian (1736-1747), ending more than a decade of anarchy and founding the Afsharid dynasty, assassinate, 1747

1782 Gnadenhutten Massacre: Pennsylvania militiamen kill 96 Christian Munsee Indians

1801 Battle of Abukir: The British capture the town from the French

1844 Accession of King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (1844-1859), son of Marshal Bernadotte.

1861 Union troops capture St Augustine, Fl.

1862 Battle of Hampton Roads I: CSS 'Virginia' & gunboats sink two sailing frigates, threatening the Union blockade

1865 Battle of Kingston/Wilcox's Ridge/Wise's Forks, NC

1865 The Confederacy adopts a new flag, adding a red band along the fly of the "Stainless Banner"

1896 First Battle of Sebderat: Italians defeat the Sudanese Mahdists

1910 First licensed woman pilot: French Baroness Raymonde de La Roche

1915 The old cruiser 'Baltimore' (C-3) is recommissioned as a minelayer (CM-1), the first in the USN

1916 Battle of Dujaila: The Turks beat off a British attempt to relieve the siege of Kut

1917 Republican Revolution in Russia - "The February Revolution" [Feb 24 OS]

1942 Japanese troops occupy Rangoon.

1942 Netherlands Indies surrender to the Japanese

1943 Japanese offensive across the Yangtze, between Ichang and Yoyang.

1944 India: Japanese offensive against British forces near Imphal.

1945 1st African-American Navy Nurse commissioned: Ens. Phyllis Daley

1945 Burma: British troops fight their way into Japanese-held Mandalay.

1945 Luzon: Sixth Army offensive against the Japanese Shimbu Line.

1950 First woman medical officer assigned to a US naval vessel: B R Walters

1950 USSR announces they have developed the atomic bomb

1958 'Wisconsin' (BB-64) decommissioned; for the first time in 62 years the USN has no battleships in commission

1959 Iraq: Pro-Egyptian coup fails in Mosul

1963 Military coup in Syria initiates decades of Baathist dictatorships

1965 Vietnam: First US combat troops arrive (3,500 Marines)

1966 Nelson's Column in Dublin destroyed by an IRA bomb