• Tuesday, 24 December 2024

Today in history

Today in history

14 January 2024 (MIA)

1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.

1343 – Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last bishop of Prague and, subsequently, the first Archbishop of Prague.

1539 – Spain annexes Cuba.

1639 – The “Fundamental Orders”, the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut.

1761 – The Third Battle of Panipat is fought in India between the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Marathas.

1784 – American Revolutionary War: Ratification Day, United States – Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain.

1814 – Treaty of Kiel: Frederick VI of Denmark cedes Norway to Sweden in return for Pomerania.

1822 – Greek War of Independence: Acrocorinth is captured by Theodoros Kolokotronis and Demetrios Ypsilantis.

1858 – Napoleon III of France escapes an assassination attempt.

1907 – An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000.

1911 – Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition makes landfall on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.

1938 – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.

1943 – World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, the successful operation to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal Campaign.

1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.

1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to travel by airplane while in office when he travels from Miami to Morocco to meet with Winston Churchill.

1950 – The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight.

1952 – NBC’s long-running morning news program Today debuts, with host Dave Garroway.

1953 – Josip Broz Tito is inaugurated as the first President of Yugoslavia.

1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.

1957 – Kripalu Maharaj was named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.

1960 – The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country’s central bank and banknote issuing authority, is established.

1967 – Counterculture of the 1960s: The Human Be-In, takes place in San Francisco, California’s Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love.

1969 – An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 27 people.

1972 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.

1973 – Elvis Presley’s concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.

1993 – In Poland’s worst peacetime maritime disaster, ferry MS Jan Heweliusz sinks off the coast of Rügen, drowning 55 passengers and crew; nine crew-members are saved.

1994 – The Macedonian Football Association acquired associative membership into the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

1999 – Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman becomes the first mayor in Canada to call in the Army to help with emergency medical evacuations and snow removal after more than one meter of snow paralyzes the city.

2000 – A United Nations tribunal sentences five Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of over 100 Muslims in a Bosnian village.

2000 – Macedonian composer, professor and publicist Tomislav Zografski passed away. He was born in Veles on 29 March 1934.

2004 – The national flag of the Republic of Georgia, the so-called “five cross flag”, is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.

2005 – The Huygens probe lands on Saturn’s moon Titan.

2017 – Conductor Sasa Nikolovski-Gjumar passed away in Skopje. He graduated at the Skopje-based Faculty of Music Arts and acquired his M.A. degree in Sofia. During his career, Gjumar conducted concerts across Europe. Born in Bitola in 1966.

2010 – Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda.

2011 – Former president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees his country to Saudi Arabia after a series of street demonstrations against his regime and corrupt policies, asking for freedom, rights and democracy, considered as the anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution and the birth of the Arab Spring.

2013 – Hockey India League, a professional field hockey league in India launched.

2015 – Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson completed the first-ever free climb of the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

2016 – Jakarta Attacks: Bomb explodes in Jalan MH Thamrin across Sarinah building in Jakarta, Indonesia, followed by a gun battle between suspected terrorist and local police. Two victims and five perpetrators were killed.