Today...

On This Grand and Important Date in History:

Among many others, the following were born: John Jay, Alfred Warner, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, Frank Sinatra, Bob Barker, Ed Koch, Ai Orikasa.

The Battle of Ninevah occurred in 627 AD between the Byzantines and Persians.

Emperor Sigsimund of Hungary forms The Order of the Dragon exactly 600 years ago. (Later a certain Vlad Tepes becomes a member)

In 1812, the French run away from Russia after Napoleon's resounding defeat to the harsh Siberian winter. They've been retreating ever since.

Marconi gets his transatlantic signal in 1901.

In 1936, My Personal Hero, the Generalissimo--his own bad self--Chiang Kai-shek, is captured in the Xian Incident by his treacherous former-friend Zhang Xueliang and turned over to Mao's forces. He is later freed. This is perhaps the pivotal moment in Chiang's life.

Hitler announces the extermination of the Jews in 1941.

Rhodesia, after being talked into surrender to the Communist revolutionaries, becomes Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe: hellhole since 1979.

In 1984, I was born, and the world both rejoiced and trembled.