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Events

• 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 as 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 – The Royal Navy seizes Guadeloupe.
• 1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald completes the 2 day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and 2 ships.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
• 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 (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs 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 Venezuelan President 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.
• 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social network is founded by Mark Zuckerberg.
• 2006 – A stampede occurs in the ULTRA Stadium near Manila killing 71.
• 2008 – The London Low Emission Zone (LEZ) scheme begins to operate in the UK.
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