69 The Roman Emperor Aulus Vitellius (proclaimed Jan 1/confirmed Apr 16), abdicates at the Flavian legions enter Rome, ending the "Year of the Four Emperors"

1046 Abdication of Pope Gregory VI (1045-1046), d. 1048

1192 Returning from the Crusaders, Richard Lion-Heart of England is captured by Leopold V of Austria, and held for ransom, setting the stage for "Ivanhoe"

1334 Jacques Fournier is elected Pope as Benedict XII (1334-1342)

1497 Annulment of the marriage of Giovanni Sforza (28) and Lucrezia Borgia (17) on the grounds of impotence, which Giovanni later proves is untrue

1522 Suleiman the Magnificent captures Rhodes, after permitting the last surviving Knights of St. John their freedom

1822 Congress authorizes a naval expedition to suppress piracy in the Caribbean

1837 Battle of Lake Okeechobee: U.S. troops defeat Florida Seminoles

1841 Capt Charles Wilkes' "The United States Exploring Expedition" surveys Wake I.

1861 Combat at Drainsville, Va

1862 Battle of Holly Spring, Ms: Earl Van Dorn disrupts U.S. Grant's supply lines

1862 Battle of Kelly's Ford, Va

1862 Grant begins his first effort to take Vicksburg

1915 Russian troops capture Qom, Persia

1922 Brooklyn's Engine Company 205 makes the last run by a horse-drawn fire engine in New York City

1924 Adolf Hitler is freed from prison, having served only part of his sentence for the "Beer Hall Putsch"

1933 Chaco War: Bolivia & Paraguay conclude a 20-day truce

1941 American Volunteer Group ("Flying Tigers") goes into action over Kunming

1941 Ernest J. King is named Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet

1941 The British colonial gov't of Malaya agrees to train Malayan Communist Party members for guerrilla operations in case of a Japanese invasion.

1942 8,000 ton Japanese transport lost to a mine off Tokyo

1942 First Japanese bombing of Calcutta

1942 Papua: Allied forces make gains in the Sanananda area

1943 USS 'Puffer (SS-268) sinks the Japanese destroyer 'Fuyo' about 60 miles west of Manila

1944 Battle of Bastogne: Germans surround the American defenders, initiating a siege

1944 Dwight D. Eisenhower is promoted to five-star rank as a General of the Army

1944 Japanese on Leyte told no more reinforcements or supplies will be sent

1958 First successful test of the US Titan ICBM

1983 PLO chairman Yasser Arafat & 4,000 loyalists evacuate Lebanon

1989 Operation Just Cause begins: US troops invade Panama