On this Day in Military History

[Woodmonkey]

1 January

Died
404 St Telemachus, slain by irate fans for trying to stop a gladiatorial fight
633 King Edwin of Northumbria, kia at Meicen
898 Odo, Count of Paris, King of the Franks (888-898)
962 Count Boudouin [Baldwin] III of Flanders
1370 Sir John Chandos, Constable of Aquitaine, Senechal of Poitou
1387 King Charles II "The Bad" of Navarre (1349-1387), at c. 55
1515 King Louis XII "the Justified" of France (1498-1515), at 52
1557 Jacques Cartier, French explorer
1559 King Christian III of Denmark and Norway (1534–59)
1560 Guillaume du Bellay, Le Sieur de Langey, French soldier
1588 Qi Jiguang, Ming general, restorer of the Great Wall
1766 Francis Edward Jacobus III, the "Old Pretender"
1787 Arthur Middleton, Signer, at 44
1950 Leslie Coffelt, Secret Service agent, killed defending Pres Truman
1961 Dashiell Hammett, veteran, novelist ("The Maltese Falcon")
1969 Ian Fleming, secret agent, author ("James Bond")
1972 Maurice Chevalier, entertaining French collaborator
1992 Grace Hopper, Admiral of the Cyber Sea, at 85


Event
1 0 New Consuls assumed office, from 153 BC.
46 -BC- Caesar captures Leptis, in Africa
69 Aulus Vitellius is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the Rhine legions (confirmed in April, killed Dec 22nd)
104 –BC- Marius’ Triumph for the Jugurthine War
193 Publius Helvius Pertinax, proclaimed Roman Emperor (Jan 1-Mar 28, 193)
238 Gordian I and his son Gordian II proclaimed co-Roman Emperors at Carthage (1-20 Jan 238)
404 Last recorded gladiatorial fights at Rome
414 King Athaulf of the Franks marries Galla Placida, sister of Roman Emperor Flavius Honorius
633 Battle of Meicen: King Edwin of Northumbria defeats King Cadwallon of Cwynedd
1136 Battle of Swansea: Welsh defeat Anglo-Norman colonists
1158 Battle of Galloway: Roland defeats Gilpatrick
1189 Saladin abandons the siege of Tyre
1515 Francis I de Valois becomes King France
1515 Jews are expelled from Laibach, Austria
1527 Duke Ferdinand of Austria is elected King of Croatia, merging the Croatian throne into the Hapsburg monarchy until 1918
1535 Persians capture Tabriz
1586 Sir Francis Drake attacks Santo Domingo
1602 Battle of Kinsale: Hugh O'Neil is defeated by the English
1651 Scotts crown Charles [II] King at Scone
1660 General Monk marches from Coldstream to install Charles II as king in Londno
1660 Samuel Pepys begins keeping a diary
1801 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland formed
1806 Napoleon abolishes the French Revolutionary calendar, introduced in 1793
1846 Yucatan declares independence from Mexico
1860 Battle of Castillejos: Spanish defeat the Moroccans.
1861 Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect
1862 Battle of Ft McRee, FL
1862 Battle of Port Royal, SC
1863 Battle of Galveston, Texas: Confederates recapture the city
1863 Battle of Helena, AK
1865 Sherman's Carolina campaign begins (to Apr 26)
1877 Queen Victoria proclaimed "Empress of India"
1880 Dr. John Watson meets Sherlock Holmes
1892 Annie Moore is the first immigrant to arrive at Ellis Island
1906 Count Alfred von Schlieffen retires, leaving a disastrous plan
1911 Maj Jimmie Erickson takes the first aerial photograph, San Diego
1912 Sun Yat-sen forms the Chinese Republic
1920 "Great Raid" of the Red Scare - c. 1,000 "radicals" arrested in 33 US cities
1920 League of Nations convenes for the first time
1923 USSR formed
1935 Mustafa Kemal Pasha adopts the name "Attaturk - Father of the Turks"
1937 Anastasio Somoza becomes president of Nicaragua
1937 US Army Air Corps physiological research laboratory completed, Ohio
1942 Japanese temporarily halted in Malaya.
1942 Philippine Army covers final withdrawal of South Luzon Force into Bataan
1943 Guadalcanal: Americal Div resumes its assault on Mt. Austen.
1944 Oran, Algeria: Army defeats Navy 10-7 in the "Arab Bowl"
1944 Western New Britain: Allies overcome last Japanese resistance
1946 Emperor Hirohito of Japan announces he is not a god
1950 First woman doctor commissioned in the USN, Mary T. Sproul
1950 Indo-China: major Viet Minh offensive against the French
1950 Puerto Rican nationalists attempt to kill Pres. Truman
1951 Massive Chinese/North Korean assault on UN-lines
1959 Triumphal entry of Fidel Castro into Havana as Fulgencio Batista flees
1962 US Navy SEAL teams established.
1993 Czechoslovakia divides into the Czech Republic and Slovakia

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2 January
Died
17 Publius Ovidius Naso, naughty poet, in exile at 61
18 Titus Livius, Roman historian, in his beloved Padua
1322 King Phillip V "The Tall" of France (1317–22), c. 28
1536 John of Leyden, Anabaptist “Prophet” and rebel, executed
1591 Alfonso Piccolomini, Duke of Montemarciano, Condotierro, bandit chief, hanged at Florence at 41.
1698 Pietro Comparini, murdered by Count Guido Franceschini, his son-in-law
1698 Violante Comparini, murdered by Count Guido Franceschini, her son-in-law
1861 King Frederik Willem IV of Prussia (1849-1861), at 65
1863 Roger W. Hanson, Brig. Gen., C.S.A., kia at 35
1904 Lt. Gen. James Longstreet, C.S.A., b. 1821
1921 Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg,, who had once scorned "a mere scrap of paper", at 64
1923 Sam Carter, black American, lynched by the KKK in Rosewood, Fla.
1945 Adm. Sir Betram Home Ramsay, at 61
1955 President Jose Antonio Remon of Panama (1952-55), assassinated
1995 Pres Siad Barre of Somalia (1969-91), at 84
2000 Patrick O'Brien, author ("Master and Commander")


Events
2 366 The Allamanni invade the Roman Empire across the frozen Rhine
1492 Granada surrenders to Ferdinand & Isabella, completing the 781 year liberation of Spain from the Moors
1502 Cesare Borgia slays six bulls in the arena, decapitating one.
1570 Tsar Ivan the Terrible begins the conquest of Great Novgorod
1602 Spanish forces in Ireland surrender to the English at Kinsale
1631 England & Spain ally against the Dutch Republic
1698 Count Guido Franceschini mortally wounds his wife Pompilia Comparini, 17, and murders her parents
1776 First American flag displayed
1861 South Carolinian forces seize inactive Ft Johnson in Charlestown Harbor
1861 Washington: Charles Stone organizes an anti-secessionist militia
1870 Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins
1905 Russians surrender Port Arthur to the Japanese
1923 KKKers attack Rosewood, Fla, killing 8 black Americans
1942 28 Allied nations pledge to make no separate peace with the Axis
1942 German troops in Bardia surrender
1942 Japanese occupy Manila and Cavite
1942 Malaya: Japanese occupy Kampar.
1943 Papua: U.S. I Corps captures Buna Mission
1944 New Guinea: Allies land on Saidor, isolating 12,000 Japanese troops.
1945 USN convoys depart Leyte to invade Luzon, while beating off Kamikaze.
1954 The film "The Caine Mutiny" premieres, New York
1964 Assassin fails to kill President Nkrumah of Ghana

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3 January

Died
236 Pope St. Anterus (21 Nov 235-3 Jan 236)
1322 King Philip V "the Tall" of France (1316-1322), b. 1293
1543 Juan Cabrillo, Conquistador
1571 Elector Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg, at 65
1670 George Monk, Duke of Albemarle, sometime “General at Sea,” restorer of the English monarchy, at 61
1923 Jaroslav Hasek, Czech satirist ("Good Soldier Schveik"), at 39
1931 Joseph "Papa" Joffre, Marshal of France, at 78
1933 Wilhelm Cuno, German Chancellor (1922-23), at 56


Events
3 0 Memorial of St Daniel of Padua, Patron of Women with Husbands at War
964 Anti-Papal rioting in Rome
1099 Count Bertrand of Toulouse sets out on Crusade
1387 Battle of Castagnaro: Giovanni Acuto leads the Carrarans to victory over the Scaligers
1504 French surrender Gaeta to Gonzalo de Cordoba (invested since Dec 30)
1777 Battle of Princeton: Washington defeats the British
1799 Gaeta surrenders to the French without a fight
1861 Forts Pulaski & Jackson, Savannah, seized by Georgia
1862 Valley Campaign: Stonewall Jackson moves north from Winchester
1914 Pancho Villa & Mutual Film Corp conclude deal to film his battles
1920 A baseball team in Boston foolishly trades Babe Ruth to the Yankees
1926 Mussolini assumes the War, Navy, & Air ministries
1926 Gen Theodorus Pángulos becomes dictator of Greece
1942 ABDA: Allied forces in SE Asia & East Indies put under Archibald Wavell
1942 Borac-Guagua line holds on Luzon.
1942 Malaya: British once again withdraw under pressure.
1943 Guadalcanal: Americal Div partially surrounds Japanese Gifu position.
1943 Papua: U.S. and Australian forces mop up in the Buna area.
1944 Marine ace "Pappy" Boyington (28 kills) captured by the Japanese
1945 Third Fleet stages raids on Okinawa, Formosa, and the Pescadores
1962 Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro
1990 Panama's Gen Manuel Noriega surrenders to US authorities
1992 32 Cubans defect to the US by helicopter
2004 Bhutanese Army expels last Indian rebel invaders (begun Dec 15)

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4 January

Died
838 Babak Khorramdin, executed at Samarra; 34 year Persian nationalist rebellion against Islam ends
1248 King Sancho II of Portugal (1233-1247), deposed, b. 1207
1424 Muzio Attendolo Sforza, Condottiero, drowned at 53
1695 François de Montmorency-Bouteville, le duc de Luxembourg, Marshal of France, b. 1628
1701 Ernst Tarhemberg, Austrian, field marshal, at 62
1707 Count Louis Willem I of Baden-Baden
1729 Lt. Gen. Joseph de Montesquiou, le Comte d'Artagnan, at 77
1794 Count Nikolaus von Luckner, Marshal of France, guillotined, 8 days shy of his 72nd birthday
1913 Alfred von Schlieffen, over-planning German general, at 79


Events

4 46 –BC- Battle of Ruspina, Africa: Labienus defeats Caesar, who retreats.
48 –BC- Caesar sails from Brindisi for Greece
871 Battle of Reading: King Ethelred of Wessex defeated by the Danes
1493 Columbus sets sail from the New World to return from his first voyage.
1749 John Jervis (Earl St. Vincent) joins the Royal Navy
1762 England declares war on Spain and Naples
1780 Snowstorm hits Washington's army at Morristown, NJ
1832 Slave insurrection at Trinidad
1853 USN buys Mare Is, San Francisco Bay, for a shipyard
1861 Ft Morgan, Mobile, seized by Alabama
1862 Battle of Ft Hindman/Arkansas Post (to Jan 17)
1862 Valley Campaign: Stonewall Jackson occupies Bath
1910 Michigan (BB-27) commissioned, first U.S. dreadnought
1914 Enver Pasha becomes Turkish war minister
1915 Trans-Caucasia: Russia defeats Turkish offensive
1942 Japanese troops continue to advance in Malaya.
1942 Philippine Army abandons the Borac-Guagua line
1942 U.S. a/c attack Japanese ship in Davao harbor
1943 Japanese GHQ orders the evacuation of Guadalcanal.
1943 Proximity fuzed AA ammo used for the first time; USS Helena off Munda
1944 New Guinea: Australian forces struggle to reach Kelanoa
1945 Germans execute resistance strikers in Amsterdam
1945 Luzon: 3rd Fleet hit by kamikaze, CVE Ommaney Bay sinks
1951 Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul
1989 US F-14s shoot down two Libyan jet fighters over Mediterranean

[Woodmonkey]

5 January

Deaths

62 –BC- Lucius Sergius Catilina, kia at Pistoria, reputedly along with c. 10,000 adherents
842 Caliph Al-Mu'tasim of Baghdad (833-842), at c. 52
1066 King Edward the Confessor of England (1043-66)
1336 Francesco Manfredi, Lord of Valdinoce, condottiero, Captain General of the Papal Army, murdered by Lamberto Malatesta, at c. 45
1387 King Pedro IV of Aragon, conqueror of Sicily, at 67
1400 Matteo Colonna, Roman Noble, hanged at Romae
1425 John of Bavaria, Lord of Holland, Zealand, and Dordrecht, poisoned
1470 Charles “the Bold” of Burgandy, at 43, his brains having encountered a Swiss halberd
1537 Alessandro de Medici, Duke of Florence, assassinated
1589 Catherine de Medici, Queen of France (1547-1559), at 69
1592 Duke Willem II of Kleef, at 75
1827 Duke Frederick of York, at 63
1858 Johann Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal, at 91
1941 Amy Johnson, aviatrix, plane crash, b 1903


Events

62 –BC- Battle of Pistoria: Defeat of Cataline’s Conspiracy
1371 Pierre Roger de Beaufort crowned Pope Gregory XI (1371-1378), last Avignonese pope
1477 Battle of Nancy: Swiss defeat Charles the Bold of Burgundy.
1500 Ludovico “il Moro” Sforza captures Milan
1608 Capt. John Smith is captured by the Indians
1675 Battle of Durkheim: The French defeat the Imperialists
1754 Louis XV is stabbed by a madman
1781 Richmond burned by British forces under Benedict Arnold
1822 The Mexican Empire annexes Central America
1855 Crew of USS Plymouth skirmish with Chinese troops near Canton
1861 Alabama troops seize Forts Morgan & Gaines on Mobile Bay
1861 Attempt to reinforce Ft. Sumter by ship from New York begins
1875 Cdr Edward Lull, USN, begins survey of canal route across Panama
1895 Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, is ceremonially disgraced
1916 Austria-Hungary offensive against Montenegro
1919 National Socialist [Nazi] Party formed in Germany
1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin, state of siege proclaimed
1929 Abortive coup in Yugoslavia
1940 Finns begin a counteroffensive at Suomossalmi, will inflict a devastating defeat on the Soviets
1942 Bataan: U.S./Philippine troops begin consolidating the defenses
1942 Burma: British reinforcements (elms 17th Indian Div) arrive.
1942 Japanese 48th Div begins moving from Philippines to Java
1942 Malaya: Japanese troops continue to advance.
1943 Burma: Japanese hold the British before Akyab,
1943 Guadalcanal: Army engineers build bridge across the Matanikau River
1944 New Guinea: US-Aussie offensives struggle towards Kelanoa.
1945 Northern Burma: Chinese advance, crossing the Shweli River.
1958 B-47/F-86 collision at 36,000 feet off the Georgia coast, loses an H-Bomb, which is still missing
1961 US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
1968 Lt Clarence W. Cote becomes the first male officer in the Navy Nurse Corps
1969 USSR launches Venera 5 – will make 1st successful planetary landing on Venus

[Woodmonkey]

6 January

Died

1693 Sultan Mehmed IV of Turkey, at 51
1694 Francesco Morosini, Venetian admiral, on campaign at 75
1698 Pompilia Comparini, at 17, mortally wounded Jan 2nd by her husband, Count Guido Franceschini, 15 days after bearing his heir
1799 Prince Frederik of Orange
1919 Theodore Roosevelt, Medal of Honor, Nobel Peace Prize, at 60
1946 William “Lord Haw Haw” Joyce, hanged for treason
1989 Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1926-89), at 87
2006 CWO Hugh Thompson, who saved lives at My Lai, at 62.


Events

878 Battle of Chippenham: Danes rout King Alfred's army
1156 Battle of the Isle of Islay: Lord Somerled of the Isles defeats the Danes
1352 King Jean II of France founds the Order of the Star
1400 Attempted assasination of Henry IV of France and his family
1422 Battle of Nebovidy/Nemecky Brod: Hussite Jan Ziska defeats Sigsimund of Bohemia
1424 Battle of Skalice: Jan Ziska defeats the Ultraquist Hussities
1449 Constantine XI Paleologos becomes Byzantine Emperor (1449-1453), kia at the Romanus Gate, 1453
1497 Jews are expelled from Graz, Styria, Austria
1540 King Henry VIII of England marries, fourthly, Anne of Cleves
1776 Alexander Hamilton’s “New York Provincial Company of Artillery” formed; now 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, senior unit in the Regular Army;
1781 Battle of Jersey, in the Channel Islands
1842 Afghanistan: Anglo-Indian forces begin a disastrous retreat from Kabul; 4,500 troops & 12,000 camp followers will be lost
1861 Florida troops seize the Federal arsenal at Apalachicola
1927 US Marines sent to Nicaragua
1929 Alexander I establishes a royal dictatorship in Yugoslavia
1940 Germans massacre Poles in Poznan
1941 FDR's "Four Freedoms" address; of speech & worship, from want & fear.
1942 Malaya: British hold the Japanese north of Kuala Lumpur
1942 Philippine Army units hold the Dinalupihan-Orani line
1943 Papua: US and Australian troops mass for a final assault on Sanananda.
1944 Nimitz issues plan for the capture of the Marshall Islands.
1950 Britain recognizes Communist China

[Woodmonkey]

7 January

Died

1285 King Charles I d'Anjou of Naples and Sicily , at 58
1325 King Diniz "the Justified" of Portugal (1279-1325), b. 1261
1451 Count Amadeus VIII of Savory (Anti-pope Felix V), at 67
1502 Pope Gregory XIII - Ugo Buoncampagno (1582-1585), at 83
1529 Count Peter Vischer "the Old" of Sebaldus
1598 Tsar Theodore I of Muscovy (1584-1598), the last Rurik, at 40
1655 Pope Innocent X - Giambattista Pamfili - (1644-55), at 80
1695 Queen Mary II Stuart of England, at 32 (Mrs. William III)
1892 Khedive Tewfik Pasha of Egypt, at 39


Events

49 -BC- The Senate orders Caesar to disband his army or be declared a public enemy
1566 Michele Ghisleri elected Pope St. Pius V (1566-1572)
1579 England & the Netherlands conclude an alliance
1598 Boris Godunov usurps the Russian throne on the death of Theodore I
1601 Robert, Earl of Essex leads revolt in London against Queen Elizabeth
1709 Siege of Verpik: Russians use boiling porridge to help defeat the Swedes
1785 First balloon crossing of the Channel, Blanchard & Jeffries
1789 First American presidential election
1862 Battle of Manassas Junction, VA
1862 Valley Campaign: Stonewall Jackson marches on Romney
1935 Fascist Italy and Popular Front France agree to help Austria against Nazi Germany
1941 Isoruku Yamamoto proposes a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor
1942 Bataan: 15,000 US & 65,000 Philippine troops go on half-rations, as the Japanese close up to their lines
1942 Malaya: Japanese turn the British defenses north of Kuala Lumpur
1943 Burma: Stalemate in the Arakan as the British take heavy losses
1943 Guadalcanal: US strength reaches 50,000, Japanese less than 25,000.
1944 Japan’s Imperial HQ orders capture of the Imphal, NE India.
1945 Burma: British troops occupy Akyab, in the Arakan
1953 Pres Truman announces development of the hydrogen bomb
1962 Indonesian Pres Sukarno escapes assassination attempt
1979 Vietnamese forces capture Phnom Penh from the Khmer Rouge
1989 Akihito installed as Emperor of Japan