THIS DAY IN #HISTORY 2012

This day in #history 2012
DECEMBER 20TH

1522 – Suleiman the Magnificent accepts the
surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes , who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle on Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta

1699 – Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed- Sept 1 to Jan 1

I803 – Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to US for $ 27M

1922 – 14 republics form Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (USSR )

1922 – Polish parliament selects Stanislaw
Wojcieckowski as president

1924 – Adolf Hitler freed from jail early

1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales

1974 – Ethiopia becomes socialist one -party state

2007 – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest ever monarch of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS

1980 – Ashley Cole, English footballer

1990 – JoJo , American singer

FAMOUS DEATHS

1968 – John Steinbeck , author (Grapes of Wrath ,
Nobel 1940, 62) , dies at 66

1954 – James Hilton , English author (Lost Horizon ), dies at 54

2001 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, first President of
Senegal (b . 1906)

THIS DAY IN #HISTORY 1912

This day in #history 1912
DECEMBER 19TH

1686 -.Robinson Crusoe leaves his island after 28 years ( as per Daniel Defoe)

1732 – Benjamin Franklin under the name Richard
Saunders begins publication of ” Poor Richard ‘ s Almanack ”

1776 – Thomas Paine published his 1st “American Crisis” essay , in which he wrote,”These are the times that try men ‘s souls”

1842 – US recognizes independence of Hawaii

1843 – Charles Dickens publishes “A Christmas
Carol,” in England

1884 – Italy recognizes King Leopold II ‘s Congo Free State

1928 – 1 st autogiro (predecessor of helicopter ) flight in US

1932 – British Broadcasting Corp begins transmitting overseas

1941 – Hitler takes complete command of German Army

1943 – Military coup in Bolivia

1945 – Austrian Republic re – establishes

1962 – Nyasaland secedes from Rhodesia &
Nyasaland

1963 – Zanzibar becomes independent from UK

1972 – Apollo 17 ( last of Apollo Moon landing
series) returns to Earth

1973 – Grenada adopts constitution

1978 – Indira Gandhi ambushed in India

1980 – Anguilla becomes a British dependency
separate from St Kitts

2007 – The Lakotah people, a Native American tribe,
proclaim independence and withdraw all their
treaties with the United States. They then proceed to
establish the Republic of Lakotah, with an ongoing
process of international recognition as a separate
country

2012 – Park Geun- hye wins the South Korean
presidential election to become the nation’ s first
female president

FAMOUS BIRTHDAYS

1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal, Los Angeles , California, actor (Donnie Darko , Jarhead)

1987 – Karim Benzema, French footballer

FAMOUS DEATHS

1915 – Alvis Alzheimer , German neurologist (Alzheimer Disease ), dies at 51

1953 – Robert A . Millikan, American physicist (Nobel 1923) , dies at 85

2009 – Hossein – Ali Montazeri , Iranian dissident cleric
Grand Ayatollah (b . 1922)

.FAMOUS WEDDING

1998 – Actress Vivica A. Fox ( 34) weds singer
Christopher Harvest at the Park Plaza in Los
Angeles , California