Source: HistoryNet.com
1558: The Church of England is re-established.
1558: Queen Elizabeth ascends to the throne of England.
1796: Napoleon Bonaparte defeats an Italian army near the Alpone River, Italy.
1869: The Suez Canal is formally opened.
1903: Vladimir Lenin's efforts to impose his own radical views on the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party splits the party into two factions, the Bolsheviks, who support Lenin, and the Mensheviks.
1913: The first ship sails through the Panama Canal, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
1918: Influenza deaths reported in the United States have far exceeded World War I casualties.
1951: Britain reports development of the world's first nuclear-powered heating system.
1967: The American Surveyor 6 makes a six-second flight on the moon, the first liftoff on the lunar surface.
1970: Soviet unmanned Luna 17 touches down on the moon.
1989: Student demonstration in Prague put down by riot police, leading to an uprising (the Velvet Revolution) that will topple the communist government on Dec. 29.
1993: U.S. House of Representatives passes resolution to establish the North American Free Trade Agreement.
2000: Controversial President of Peru Alberto Fujimori removed from office.