On This Day

This Day in History

1. 2010A magnitude-7.1 earthquake struck New Zealand's Canterbury Region, resulting in two fatalities and causing up to NZ$40 billion in damages.
2. 2007German authorities arrested three suspected al-Qaeda terrorists who were plotting attacks against Ramstein Air Base and Frankfurt Airport.
3. 1995Three African-American U.S. servicemen stationed at Camp Hansen kidnapped, beat, tortured, and raped a 12-year-old local girl in Okinawa.
4. 1977The Golden Dragon massacre in San Francisco's Chinatown left five people dead and prompted local police to end Chinese gang violence.
5. 1957Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the state's National Guard to block nine African-American students from entering Little Rock Central High School.
6. 1955A white U.S. soldier raped and murdered a five-year-old local girl in Kadena, Okinawa.
7. 1934Evelyn Waugh's novel A Handful of Dust was published in full for the first time.
8. 1920Peasants in and around Križ launched a rebellion against the economic and conscription policies of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
9. 1912The Albanian revolt reached its conclusion after the Ottoman government acceded to most of the demands made by the rebels.
10. 1886Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona following more than 25 years of fighting U.S. and Mexican armed forces.
11. 1843The Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro hosted the state wedding of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies.
12. 1839British vessels opened fire on Chinese war junks enforcing a food embargo against the British community on the Kowloon Peninsula, starting the First Opium War.
13. 1813Future US President Andrew Jackson sustained severe injuries after being shot during a tavern brawl involving future US Senator Thomas Hart Benton.
14. 1800Facing starvation and losing 100 soldiers daily, the French garrison in Malta surrendered to British forces, ending a two-year siege during the French Revolutionary Wars.
15. 1666The Great Fire of London inflicted its most destructive damage upon the city.
16. 476Germanic leader Odoacer captured Ravenna and deposed Emperor Romulus Augustus, bringing about the fall of the Western Roman Empire.