141 Bc Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne of the Han Dynasty in China and rules for 54 years
1517 copy of Martin Luther’s 95 theses, the publication of which began the Protestant Reformation in EuropeThe Protestant Reformation
1522 Martin Luther begins preaching his “Invocavit Sermons” in the German city of Wittenberg, reminding citizens to trust God’s word rather than violence and thus helping bring to a close the revolutionary stage of the Reformation
1776 Adam Smith publishes the influential economics book “The Wealth of Nations”
1918 Russian Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party
1933 US Congress is called into special session by President Franklin D Roosevelt, beginning its “100 days”
1961 Soviet flight Sputnik 9 carries and returns from orbit a dog named Chernushka (Blackie), frogs and a guinea pig
Historical Events Today Events In 2023
Today In Film & TV
1981 Dan Rather becomes primary anchorman of CBS-TV News
Today In Music
1842 Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Nabucco” premieres in Milan
Today In Sport
1908 Italian football club Inter Milan founded as Foot-Ball Club Internazionale
MORE FACTS…
1959 Barbie makes her debut at the American Toy Fair in New York. Over a billion have been sold worldwide since.
1974 Last Japanese soldier, a guerrilla operating in the Philippines, surrenders, 29 years after World War II ended
Famous Weddings
1796 French Leader Napoléon Bonaparte (26) marries 1st wife Joséphine de Beauharnais (32), changing her name from Rose
1902 Austrian composer Gustav Mahler (41) marries Alma Schindler (22) in Vienna, Austria
1985 Actors Laura Johnson (Falcon Crest) & Harry Hamlin (LA Law) wed
Weddings & Divorces Today