0049: Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon and invades Italy.
0515: The building of the great Jewish temple in Jerusalem is completed.
1656: In the colony of Virginia, suffrage is extended to all free men regardless of their religion.
1814: Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated by an allied army at the Battle of Laon, France.
1848: The treaty of Guadeloupe-Hidalgo is signed, which ends the United States' war with Mexico.
1876: Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call to Thomas Watson saying "Watson, come here. I need you."
1910: Slavery is abolished in China.
1924: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds a New York state law forbidding late-night work for women.
1933: Nevada becomes the first U.S. state to regulate drugs.
1947: The Big Four meet in Moscow to discuss the future of Germany.
1948: Author Zelda Fitzgerald (wife of F. Scott) dies in a fire at Highland Hospital.
1953: North Korean gunners at Wonsan fire on the USS Missouri, the ship responds by firing 998 rounds at the enemy position.
1954: President Dwight Eisenhower calls Senator Joseph McCarthy a peril to the Republican Party.
1966: The North Vietnamese capture a Green Beret camp at Ashau Valley.
1969: James Earl Ray pleads guilty to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King and is sentenced to 99 years in jail.
1975: The North Vietnamese Army attacks the South Vietnamese town of Buon Ma Thout, the offensive will end with total victory in Vietnam.
1980: Iran's leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, lends his support to the militants holding the American hostages in Tehran.
1987: The Vatican condemns surrogate parenting as well as test-tube and artificial insemination.
HistoryNet.com