Today in History

In an opening act of Arab Spring, anti-government protests erupt in Tunisia.

United Arab Emirates holds it first-ever elections.

Civil war begins in Chad with a rebel assault on Adre; the rebels are believed to be backed by Chad’s neighbor, Sudan.

California Gov. Gray Davis announces the state faces a record budget deficit; the looming $35 billion shortfall is almost double the amount reported a month earlier during the state’s gubernatorial campaign.

The European Economic Community and the Soviet Union sign an agreement on trade and economic communication.

Katie Holmes, actress (Dawson’s Creek TV series, Batman Begins).

President Richard M. Nixon declares that the bombing of North Vietnam will continue until an accord can be reached (Operation Linebacker II).

An atomic leak in Nevada forces hundreds of citizens to flee the test site.

U.S. Marines attack VC units in the Que Son Valley during Operation Harvest Moon.

Brad Pitt, actor (12 Monkeys, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

A rightist government is installed under Prince Boun Oum in Laos as the United States resumes arms shipments.

Japan is admitted to the United Nations.

North Koreans give the United Nations a list of 3,100 POWs.

Steven Spielberg, film director (E.T., Jurassic Park, and Schindler’s List).

Japanese forces are repelled from northern Burma by British troops.

Adolf Hitler meets with Benito Mussolini and Pierre Laval.

Japan invades Hong Kong.

Adolf Hitler issues his secret plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union–Operation Barbarossa.

Soviet leaders Lev Kamenev and Grigori Zinoviev break with Joseph Stalin.

The Battle of Verdun ends with the French and Germans each having suffered more than 330,000 killed and wounded in 10 months. It was the longest engagement of World War I.

In a single night, about 20,000 Australian and New Zealand troops withdraw from Gallipoli, Turkey, undetected by the Turks defending the peninsula.

Willy Brandt, German political leader. Mayor of Berlin and Chancellor of West Germany.

Ty (Tyrus Raymond) Cobb, American baseball player, first man to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Paul Klee, Swiss abstract painter.

Slavery is abolished in the United States. The 13th Amendment is formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution, ensuring that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

Union General Ulysses S. Grant announces the organization of his army in the West. Sherman, Hurlbut, McPherson, and McClernand are to be corps commanders.

Napoleon Bonaparte arrives in Paris after his disastrous campaign in Russia.

Afonso the Battler, the Christian King of Aragon captures Saragossa, Spain, causing a major blow to Muslim Spain.