On this day…

1617 Sweden & Russia sign Peace of Stolbowa
1701 France, Cologne & Bavaria sign alliance
1741 English fleet under Admiral Ogle begins assault on Cartagena
1798 Dr George Balfour becomes 1st naval surgeon in the US navy
1831: Creation of French Foreign Legion. The Foreign Legion, whose unofficial motto is “Legio patria nostra” (“The legion is our fatherland”), was founded this day in 1831 by King Louis-Philippe as an aid in controlling French colonial possessions in Africa.
1861 Confederate currency authorized-$50, $100, $500, $1,000
1862 “Monitor” (Union) & “Merrimack” (Rebel) battle in Hampton Roads
1864 Ulysses S Grant is appointed commander of Union Army
1889 Battle at Gallabat (Metema); Mahdi’s beat Abyssinian emperor John IV
1916 Germany declares war against Portugal
1918 Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
1918 Ukrainian mobs massacre Jews of Seredino Buda
1924 Italy annexes Fiume
1924 South Slavia aproves Italy’s annexation of Fiume (Rijeka)
1942 Construction of the Alaska Highway began
1943 Delft opposition group-Pahud de Mortanges overthrown
1943 Greek Jews of Salonika are transported to Nazi extermination camps
1945 334 US B-29 Superfortresses attack Tokyo with 120,000 fire bomb
1945 Japanese proclaim the “independence” of Indo-China
1946 Dutch troops land at Batavia/Semarang
1962 Egyptian President Nasser declares Gaza belongs to Palestinians
1974 Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended
1976 1st female cadets accepted to West Point Military Academy
1979 France performs nuclear test at Muruora Island
1989 Soviet Union officially submits to jurisdiction of the World Court
1994 IRA launch 1st of 3 mortar attacks on London’s Heathrow Airport