A very exciting day in history
1279 The Mongols crush China’s Song Dynasty. They will set up the Yuan dynasty which will exist until overthrown by the Mings in 1368.
1406 Death of Muslim historian Abū Zayd ‘Abd ar-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn Khaldūn al-Ḥaḍramī better known as jus Ibn Khaldun. His Muqaddimah was the first sociology of history.
1649 The Puritan-controlled Parliament abolishes the English House of Lords. This was restored along with the Stuart monarchy in 1660.
1687 Murder of French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. From his base in Quebec, La Salle was the first European to penetrate central North America. He was killed by his mutinous men in what is now Texas.
1853 The Taiping rebels capture the Chinese city of Nanjing and make it the capital of their Kingdom of Heavenly Peace. The Taiping rebellion was the biggest civil war in history and may have claimed 50 million lives.
1885 Metis visionary Louis Riel sets off the Northwest Rebellion. He will be executed for treason later that year.
1943 Frank “the Enforcer” Nitti, Capone gang member, commits suicide. He is buried near Al Capone and members of the North Gang whom Capone’s gang had murdered.
1945 A Japanese kamikaze pilot crashes into the American aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 crew members. The ship returned to base for repairs but never saw action again.
1982 Argentina provokes the Falklands War with Britain after invading South Georgia Island.
1987 Scandal-hit televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club.
2014 The death of Fred Phelps, leader of the notorious Westboro Baptist Church, hater of homosexuals, Christmas, and pretty much everything else.