more events on January 24
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1982
A draft of Air Force history reports that the U.S. secretly sprayed herbicides on Laos during the Vietnam War.
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1980
In a rebuff to the Soviets, the U.S. announces intentions to sell arms to China.
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1965
Winston Churchill dies from a cerebral thrombosis at the age of 90.
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1951
Indian leader Nehru demands that the UN name Peking as an aggressor in Korea.
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1946
The UN establishes the International Atomic Energy Commission.
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1945
A German attempt to relieve the besieged city of Budapest is finally halted by the Soviets.
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1931
The League of Nations rebukes Poland for the mistreatment of a German minority in Upper Silesia.
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1927
British expeditionary force of 12,000 is sent to China to protect concessions at Shanghai.
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1915
The German cruiser Blücher is sunk by a British squadron in the Battle of Dogger Bank.
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1911
U.S. Cavalry is sent to preserve the neutrality of the Rio Grande during the Mexican Civil War.
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1903
U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and British Ambassador Herbert create a joint commission to establish the Alaskan border.
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1862
Edith Wharton, U.S. novelist who wrote Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence.
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1848
Gold is discovered by James Wilson Marshall at his partner Johann August Sutter’s sawmill on the South Fork of the American River, near Coloma, California.
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1732
Pierre de Beaumarchais, French dramatist (The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro).
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1722
Czar Peter the Great caps his reforms in Russia with the “Table of Rank” which decrees a commoner can climb on merit to the highest positions.
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1712
Frederick II (the Great), King of Prussia, noted for his social reforms and leading Prussia in military victories.
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1639
Representatives from three Connecticut towns band together to write the Fundamental Orders, the first constitution in the New World.
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1458
Matthias Corvinus, the son of John Hunyadi, is elected king of Hungary.
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41
Shortly after declaring himself a god, Caligula is assassinated by two Praetorian tribunes.