537 Consecration of the Basilica of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople

1488 Coup by the Malvezzi family against Giovanni II Bentivoglio of Bologna leads to great slaughter among the conspirators.

1498 Pisans sack Montopoli

1503 Battle of the Garigliano: Gonzalvo de Cordoba cancels his "Christmas Truce" to undertake an offensive that crushes the French by Jan 3

1528 Pro-French barons executed in Naples by the Spanish Viceroy

1740 Prussian forces capture Olmutz, Bohemia

1753 Attempting to deliver a letter from Virginia's Gov Dinwiddie to French agents at the head of the Ohio, George Washington is attacked and injured by Indians

1763 Pennsylvania vigilantes massacre Conestoga Indians near Lancaster

1777 "Battle of the Kegs": American mines block the Delaware

1845 'New York Morning News' editor John L. O'Sullivan coins the phrase "manifest destiny".

1862 Battle of Elizabethtown, Ky

1922 The IJN commissions the 'Hôshô', the first purpose-built carrier to enter service in any navy

1923 Assassination attempt against Prince Hirohito, Regent of Japan

1935 Army B-10s bomb a lava flow in Hawaii, which halts about a week later, causing the Air Corps to claim great success

1939 Winter War -- Battle of Kelja: The Finns beat of a major Soviet attack

1941 British Commandoes raid Vaagso, Norway

1941 Japanese bomb Manila, though it has been declared an "open city"

1941 Under Japanese pressure, Fil-Am troops occupy a new defensive line

1942 Sanananda, Papua: The Japanese continue to hold Allied forces away from the village

1942 Heavy fighting around the Gifu, on Guadalcanal

1942 Lead elms U.S. 41st Inf Div land at Port Moresby, Papua-New Guinea

1943 Burma: Chinese New 38th Div heavily engaged in the Hukawng Valley

1943 Cape Gloucester: 1st Marine Div makes a three-mile advance in monsoon

1944 B-29s from Saipan make their fifth major raid on Tokyo

1979 Soviets invade Afghanistan, initiating a disastrous nine-year war that opens the country to a Taliban takeover