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TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY
63BC Cicero delivered his Fourth Oration against Catiline, before the Senate, which approves the execution without trial of the jailed conspirators in the Tullianum Prison.
0    Roman Festival of the Faunalia, honoring Faunus, seeking protection for the flocks and celebrating the end of the agricultural year
0    Feast of Saint Emeric, Prince of Hungary
0    the Day of Military Honor in Russia, commemorating the Battle of Moscow
741    Consecration of Pope Zacharias (741-752), later canonized
1349    Black Death Riots in Nuremberg: Jews are massacred
1496    King Manuel I orders Jews expelled from Portugal
1560    Charles IX, aged 10, ascends the throne of France (1560-1574)
1590    Niccolo Spondrati elected Pope as Gregory XIV (1590-1591)
1757    Seven Years' War - Battle of Leuthen: Frederick the Great's Prussians defeat the Austrians under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine
1807    British seaman Robert Jeffrey was marooned on Sombrero Island -- Learn More
1812    Napoleon deserted his army at Smorgonie, still over 150 miles inside Russia
1838    The French capture Vera Cruz, Mexico -- Learn More
1861    Richard Gatling applies for a patent on a clever device
1862    Battle of Coffeeville, MS
1870    Joint resolution of Congress condemns the KKK
1916    Explosion in the shell filling facility at Barnbow, England, leaves 35 women dead
1928    President-Elect Herbert Hoover received a tumultuous welcome in Peru -- Learn More
1933    Repeal Day: The 21st Amendment is ratified, repealing the 18th and barring national prohibition
1934    Wal Wal: Border clash between Italian & Ethiopian troops
1941    'Lexington' (CV-2) steams from Pearl Harbor to deliver aircraft to Midway
1941    Japanese First Air Fleet arrived at 40 North 178 East, c. 1650 miles from Pearl Harbor
1941    Japanese invasion forces sail from Camrahn Bay and Saigon
1941    US military commanders in the Pacific are informed that Japanese embassies & consulates have been ordered to destroy their codes & code machines
1941    Moscow Counteroffensive: Under pressure from Zhukov's Soviet troops, the Germans call off their drive on Moscow
1942    Allies maneuver to increase pressure on the Japanese at Buna-Gona
1943    Japanese air raid on port facilities at Calcutta
1943    USAAF introduces drop-tanks, allowing P-47s & P-51s to escort bombers from Britain into German
1944    German troops confiscate all the silver coins in Utrecht
1944    Italo-Allied forces liberate Ravenna
1950    UN forces abandon Pyongyang under heavy Chinese pressure

BORN
1500BC Mithra, Protector of Truth, and the Guardian of Cattle, the Harvest, and of the Waters.
852    Zhu Wen, later Zhu Quanzhong and Zhu Huang, the Emperor Taizu of Later Liang (907-912)
1377    Zhu Yunwen, later the Jianwen Emperor of Ming China (1398-13 July 1402)
1443    Giuliano delle Rovere - Pope Julius II (1503-1513), warrior, patron of the arts
1782    Martin Van Buren, militiaman, first person born an American citizen to become President (1837-1841), d. 1862 -- Learn More
1839    George Armstrong Custer, Maj. Gen., USV, kia 1876
1859    John Jellicoe, admiral, who didn't lose the Big One in 1916, d. 1935 -- Learn More
1861    Armando Diaz, Italian supreme commander in WW I, d. 1928
1867    Józef Pilsudski, Polish patriot, d. 1935
1875    Arthur William Currie, Canadian soldier, GOC Canadian Corps, WW I, d. 1933
1902    Strom Thurmond, oldest man to jump into Normandy, politician, segregationist, d. 2003
1907    Lin Biao, Red Chinese general, d. 1971
1911    Wladyslaw Szpilman, Polish patriot and musician ("The Pianist"), d. 2000
1925    Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Dictator/President of Nicaragua (1967-1972, 1874-1979), assassinated, 1980 -- Learn More
1927    Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Rama IX of Thailand (1946-2016), jazzman

DIED
63BC Praetor P. Cornelius Lentulus Sura, Senator G. Cornelius Cethegus, M. Caeparius, L. Statilius, M. Caeparius, P. Gabinius Capito, strangled in the Tullianum for their part in Catiline's conspiracy
1082    Count Ramon Berenguer II of Barcelona (1076-1082), c. 28-29, assassinated
1345    Matteo Orsini, Lord of Mugnano, murdered at Orvieto
1355    Duke Jan III "the Triumphant" of Brabant, Lothier, and Limburg (1312-1355), c. 55
1560    King Francis II of France (1559-60), at 16
1784    Phillis Wheatley, sometime slave, African-American Patriot poet, at 32 -- Learn More
1791    Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 35, boy genius musician and composer
1870    Alexandre Dumas, père, 68, novelist ("The Count of Monte Cristo")
1891    Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (1831-89), 65
1955    Glenn Luther Martin, 69, American aviation pioneer
1969    Claudius Dornier, aircraft designer, b. 1884
1977    Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky, at 82
2007    William J. Lederer, 97, CAPT, USN (Ret), co-author of "The Ugly American"
2008    Richard Topus, US Army master pigeonman, 1942-1945, at 84