69 – Vespasian, formerly a general under Nero, enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor.
217 – Callixtus I is elected as the sixteenth pope, although Hippolytus of Rome is soon thereafter elected as a rival pope.
1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.
1334 – Pope Benedict XII is elected.
1606 – The Virginia Company loads three ships with settlers and sets sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.
.1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
1916 – World War I: The battle of Verdun results in a French victory after more than 9 months of intense fightings.
1917 – Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded.
1924 – Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison
1942 – World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India.
1946 – The popular Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life is first released in New York City.
1951 – The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs.
1957 – The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight.
1967 – A Pennsylvania Railroad Budd Metroliner exceeds 155 mph on their New York Division, also present day Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.
1973 – The Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, is assassinated by a car bomb attack in Madrid.
1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.
1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
1999 – Macau is handed over to China by Portugal.
2007 – Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days.