218 BC Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia — Hannibal’s Carthaginian army heavily defeat Roman forces on Italian soil.

1271 — Kublai Khan renames his empire “Yuan”, marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China.

1603 — First fleet of the Dutch East India Compnay under Admiral Steven van der Haghen departs for the East-Indies.

1892 — Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Nutcracker Suite” premieres.

1915 — US President Wilson, widowed the year before, marries Edith Bolling Galt.

1923 — Jazz musician Louis Armstrong divorces Daisy Parker after five years of marriage.

1926 — Actor George Murphy weds ballroom dancing partner Juliette Henkel.

1932 — Civil rights activist Rosa Parks weds Raymond Parks in Montgomery, Alabama.

1957 — World’s first nuclear power plant begins to generate electricity, at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania US.

1962 — Pop singer Little Eva weds James Harris.

1966 — Actor Strother Martin weds Helen Meisels.

Famous birthdays

today: Charles Goodyear (1800-1860), Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), Joseph Stalin (1878-1953), Ty Cob (1886-1961), Steven Spielberg (69 years old) and Christina Aguilera (35 years old).