33 BC Cleopatra declares Roman citizens in Egypt exempt from taxation

303 Roman Emperor Diocletian orders the demolition of the Christian church in Nicomedia, initiating eight years of persecution

532 Roman Emperor Justinian I orders the construction of the Basilica of Hagia Sophia at Constantinople

1429 First meeting between Joan of Arc and the Dauphin (Charles VII), at Chinon1574 Fifth War of Religion begins in France

1660 Charles XI becomes king of Sweden (1660-1697)

1778 Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge

1795 USN Supply Corps founded as the Office of Purveyor of Supplies

1797 Battle of Fishguard: Lord John Cawdor's 700 British troops, Welch militiamen, and sailors defeat 1,500 French & Irish under Brig Gen William Tate1804 France: an abortive coup against Napoleon

1836 Santa Anna lays siege to the Alamo, which is stormed, March 6

1846 Russians defeat Polish insurgents near Cracow

1847 Battle of Buena Vista/Angustura: Superior artillery enables Zachary Taylor's US forces to defeat a stronger Mexican army under Santa Anna

1870 Édouard Manet wounds art critic Louis Edmond Duranty in a rapier duel, whereupon their seconds, Émile Zola and Paul Alexis, intervene to declare that honor had been satisfied

1898 French Army imprisons Émile Zola for writing "J'accuse" in defense of Dreyfus

1899 Unsuccessful coup against the French Republic, timed to coincide with the funeral of the late President Felix Faure

1903 US leases Guantanamo Bay from Cuba for $4,000 a year; the checks have not been cashed since 1959

1917 Caporale Benito Mussolini, 11th Bersaglieri, seriously wounded in a mortar accident

1919 Mussolini forms the Fascist Party

1919 USS 'Osmond Ingram' (DD-255) launched, first US Navy ship named for an enlisted man

1934 Accession of King Leopold III of Belgium (1934-1951), later deposed as a collaborator

1938 Twelve Chinese Air Force Soviet-built bombers raid Japanese airfields and factories in Formosa

1940 Russian troops capture Lasi Island from Finns

1942 B-17s from Australia raid Rabaul.

1942 'Enterprise' (CV-6) raids Marcus Island

1942 Japanese sub 'I-17' shells oil depot at Goleta, California, to no effect

1943 Guadalcanal: Japanese stragglers refuse to surrender

1944 TF 58 begins raids on the Marianas (Saipan, Tinian, Guam)

1944 The Arakan, Burma: British defeat Japanese in a pitched battle at Sinzweya

1945 Iwo Jima: the 28th Marines raise the flag on Mount Suribachi

1945 Operation Grenade: Gen Simpson's Ninth Army attacks the Ruhr

1945 Liberation of the captives in the Japanese internment camp at Los Baños, the Philippines

1971 William Calley confesses to My Lai massacre, implicates Ernest Medina

1979 Frank Peterson Jr. becomes first black Marine Corps general

1981 "The Night of the Transistors" - unsuccessful military coup in Spain

1991 Military coup in Thailand, Premier Choonhaven arrested