mbarrick | Today in History (i.e. America is not the Centre of the World)

How could they be? They can't even spell "centre" correctly...

Straight from Wikipedia:

1185 – Isaac II Angelus kills Stephanus Hagiochristophorites and then appeals to the people, resulting in the revolt that deposes Andronicus I Comnenus and places Isaac on the throne of the Byzantine Empire.
1226 – The Roman Catholic practice of public adoration of the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass spreads from monasteries to parishes.
1297 – Battle of Stirling Bridge: Scots jointly-led by William Wallace and Andrew Moray defeat the English.
1390 – Lithuanian Civil War (1389–1392): the Teutonic Knights begin a five-week siege of Vilnius.
1526 – The Ottoman army occupies Buda after the crushing Hungarian defeat in the Battle of Mohács.
1541 – Santiago, Chile, is destroyed by indigenous warriors, led by Michimalonko.
1565 – Ottoman forces retreat from Malta, End of the Great Siege of Malta.
1609 – Expulsion order announced against the Moriscos of Valencia; beginning of the expulsion of all Spain's Moriscos.
1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Manhattan Island and the indigenous people living there.
1649 – Siege of Drogheda ends: Oliver Cromwell's English Parliamentarian troops take the town and execute its garrison.
1683 – Battle of Vienna.
1697 – Battle of Zenta.
1708 – Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the Great Northern War. The army is defeated nine months later in the Battle of Poltava, and the Swedish empire ceases to be a major power.
1709 – Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands and Austria fight against France.
1714 – Siege of Barcelona: Barcelona, capital city of Catalonia, surrenders to Spanish and French Bourbon armies in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1758 – Battle of Saint Cast: France repels British invasion during the Seven Years' War.
1775 – Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec leaves Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1776 – British-American peace conference on Staten Island fails to stop nascent American Revolutionary War.
1777 – American Revolution: Battle of Brandywine – The British celebrate a major victory in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
1786 – The Beginning of the Annapolis Convention.
1789 – Alexander Hamilton is appointed the first United States Secretary of the Treasury.
1792 – The Hope Diamond is stolen along with other French crown jewels when six men break into the house used to store them.
1802 – France annexes the Kingdom of Piedmont.
1803 – Battle of Delhi, during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, between British troops under General Lake, and Marathas of Scindia's army under General Louis Bourquin.
1813 – War of 1812: British troops arrive in Mount Vernon and prepare to march to and invade Washington D.C..
1814 – War of 1812: The climax of the Battle of Plattsburgh, a major United States victory in the war.
1829 – Surrender of the expedition led by Isidro Barradas at Tampico, sent by the Spanish crown in order to retake Mexico, This was the final consummation of Mexican independence.
1847 – Stephen Foster's well-known song, Oh! Susanna, is first performed at a saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1852 – The State of Buenos Aires secedes from the Argentine Federal government, rejoining on 17 September 17, 1861. Several places are named Once de Septiembre after this event.
1857 – The Mountain Meadows Massacre: Mormon settlers and Paiutes massacre 120 pioneers at Mountain Meadows, Utah.
1897 – After months of pursuit, generals of Menelik II of Ethiopia capture Gaki Sherocho, the last king of Kaffa, bringing an end to that ancient kingdom.
1903 – The first race at The Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin is held. It is the oldest major speedway in the world.
1914 – Australia invades New Britain, defeating a German contingent at the Battle of Bita Paka.
1916 – The Quebec Bridge's central span collapses, killing 11 men. The bridge initially collapsed in toto on August 29, 1907.
1919 – U.S. Marines invade Honduras.
1921 – Nahalal, the first moshav in Palestine, is settled as part of a Zionist plan to colonize Palestine and creating a Jewish state, later to be Israel.
1922 – The Treaty of Kars is ratified in Yerevan, Armenia.
1922 – One of the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia's predecessor papers The Sun News-Pictorial is founded.
1931 – Salvatore Maranzano is murdered by Charles Luciano's hitmen.
1932 – Franciszek Żwirko and Stanisław Wigura, Polish Challenge 1932 winners, are killed when their RWD 6 airplane crashes during a storm.
1939 – World War II: Canada declares war on Germany, the country's first independent declaration of war
1940 – George Stibitz performs the first remote operation of a computer.
1941 – Ground is broken for the construction of The Pentagon.
1941 – Charles Lindbergh's Des Moines Speech accusing the British, Jews and the Roosevelt administration of pressing for war with Germany.
1943 – World War II: German troops occupy Corsica and Kosovo-Metohija.
1943 – World War II: Start of the liquidation of the Ghettos in Minsk and Lida by the Nazis.
1944 – World War II: The first Allied troops of the U.S. Army cross the western border of Germany.
1944 – World War II: RAF bombing raid on Darmstadt and the following firestorm kill 11,500.
1945 – World War II: Australian 9th Division forces liberate the Japanese-run Batu Lintang camp, a POW and civilian internment camp on the island of Borneo.
1954 – Hurricane Edna hits New England as a Category 3 hurricane, causing significant damage and 29 deaths.
1961 – Foundation of the World Wildlife Fund.
1961 – Hurricane Carla strikes the Texas coast as a Category 4 hurricane, the second strongest storm ever to hit the state.
1965 – Indo-Pakistani War: The Indian Army captures the town of Burki, just southeast of Lahore.
1968 – Air France Flight 1611 crashes off Nice, France, killing 89 passengers and 6 crew.
1970 – The Dawson's Field hijackers release 88 of their hostages. The remaining hostages, mostly Jews and Israeli citizens, are held until September 25.
1971 – The Egyptian Constitution becomes official.
1972 – The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit system has its opening day of passenger service.
1973 – A coup in Chile headed by General Augusto Pinochet topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Pinochet exercises dictatorial power until ousted in a referendum in 1988, staying in power until 1990.
1974 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 crashes in Charlotte, North Carolina, killing 69 passengers and two crew.
1976 – A group of Croatian nationalists planted a bomb in a coin locker at Grand Central Terminal. After stating political demands, they revealed the location and provided instructions for disarming the bomb. The disarming operation was not executed properly, killing one NYPD bomb squad specialist.
1978 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel meet at Camp David and agree on the Camp David Accords a framework for peace between Israel and Egypt and a comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
1980 – Voters approve a new Constitution of Chile, later amended after the departure of president Picochet.
1982 – The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
1985 – Pete Rose breaks Ty Cobb's baseball record for most career hits with his 4,192nd hit
1988 – The St Jean Bosco massacre takes place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
1989 – Hungary announces that the East German refugees who had been housed in temporary camps were free to leave for West Germany.
1992 – Hurricane Iniki, one of the most damaging hurricanes in United States history, devastates the Hawaiian islands of Kauai and Oahu.
1997 – NASA's Mars Global Surveyor reaches Mars.
1997 – After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament within the United Kingdom.
1997 – 14 Estonian soldiers die in the Kurkse tragedy, drowning in the Baltic Sea
1998 – Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.
2000 – Melbourne hosts World Economic Forum where S11 protests also took place.
2001 – Two hijacked aircraft crash into the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, while a third smashes into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, in a series of coordinated suicide attacks. A fourth hijacked airliner crashes in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Altogether, nearly 3,000 people are killed.
2003 – Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh dies at Karolinska University Hospital, age 47, following the knife attack against her the preceding day.
2004 – All passengers are killed when a helicopter crashes in the Aegean Sea. Passengers include Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria and 16 others, including journalists and bishops of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
2007 – Russia tests the largest conventional weapon ever, the Father of all bombs.