Today in History - January 23

393
Roman Emeror Theodosius I proclaims his nine year old son Honorius co-emperor
971
In China, the war elephant corps of the Southern Han are soundly defeated at Shao by
crossbow fire from Song Dynasty troops. The Southern Han state is forced to submit to
the Song Dynasty, ending the first regular war elephant corps employed in a Chinese
army that had gained the Southern Han victories throughout the 10th century
1368
In a coronation ceremony, Zhu Yuanzhang ascends to the throne of China as the
Hongwu Emperor, initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three
centuries
1510
Henry VIII of England, the 18years old, appears incognito in the lists at Richmond, and
is applauded for his jousting before he reveals his identity
1533
Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England, discovers herself pregnant
1546
Having published nothing for eleven years, Francois Rabelais publishes the "Tiers
Livre", his sequel to Gargantua and Pantagruel
1556
The deadliest earthquake in history, the Shaanxi earthquake, hits Shaanxi province,
China. The death toll may have been as high as 830,000
1570
The assassination of regent James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil
war
1571
The Royal Exchange opens in London

1579
The Union of Utrecht forms a Protestant republic in the Netherlands
1656
Blaise Pascal publishes the first of his "Lettres provinciales"
1719
The Principality of Liechtenstein is created within the Holy Roman Empire
1789
Georgetown College, the first Roman Catholic college in the United States, is founded in
Georgetown, Maryland
1793
Second Partition of Poland: Russia and Prussia partition Poland for the second time
1849
Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her M.D. by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York,
becoming the United States' first female doctor
1855
The first bridge over the Mississippi River opens in what is now Minneapolis, Minnesota,
a crossing made today by the Father Louis Hennepin Bridge
1870
In Montana, U.S. cavalrymen kill 173 Native Americans, mostly women and children, in
the Marias Massacre
1879
Anglo-Zulu War: the Battle of Rorke's Drift ends
1897
Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting
murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the
alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction

1899
Emilio Aguinaldo is sworn in as President of the First Philippine Republic
1904
Alesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Alesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000
people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the
town in Jugendstil style
1907
Charles Curtis of Kansas becomes the first Native American U.S. Senator
1912
The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague
1920
The Netherlands refuses to surrender ex-Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany to the Allies
1937
In Moscow, 17 leading Communists go on trial accused of participating in a plot led by
Leon Trotsky to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime and assassinate its leaders
1941
Charles Lindbergh testifies before the U.S. Congress and recommends that the United
States negotiate a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler
1943
World War II: Troops of Montgomery's 8th Army capture Tripoli in Libya from the
German-Italian Panzer Army
1945
World War II: Karl Donitz Iaunches Operation Hannibal
1950
The Knesset passes a resolution that states Jerusalem is the capital of Israel
1958
Overthrow in Venezuela of Marcos Perez Jimenez

1960
The bathyscaphe USS "Trieste" breaks a depth record by descending to 10,911 m in
the Pacific Ocean
1964
The 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting the use of poll taxes
in national elections, is ratified
1967
Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Ivory Coast are established
1968
AGER-2, claiming the ship had violated their territorial waters while spying
1973
President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam
1985
O.J. Simpson becomes the first Heisman Trophy winner elected to the Football Hall of
Fame
1997
Madeline Albright becomes the first women to serve as United States Secretary of State
2001
The Chinese Communist Party stages a self-immolation in Tiananmen Square to frame
Falun Gong and escalate the persecution
2002
'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh returns to the United States in FBI custody
2003
Final communication between Earth and Pioneer 10
2009
Dendermonde nursery attack occurred in Dendermonde Belgium