1846: The US House of Representatives voted to stop 'sharing' the Oregon Territory with the Great Britain

1895: The Dreyfus Affair continued with the conviction of French officer Alfred Dreyfus. He was stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island

1900: Lieutenant Milbanke, 10th Hussars, won the Victoria Cross on a reconnaissance patrol near Colesberg during the Boer War. His unit turned to escape when it came under heavy fire, but one of his men was unable to keep up since his horse was exhausted. Milbanke rode back to help and managed to get him onto his own horse, despite suffering a severe leg wound in the process, and got him to safety. Milbanke was awarded the Victoria Cross.

In Ireland John Edward Redmond called for a revolt against British rule

1918: The Free Committee for a German Workers Peace, which would in time become the Nazi party, was founded

1941: For the loss of 450 men killed and wounded, 6th Australian Division with British tank and artillery support captured Bardia in Libya, taking 40,000 Italian prisoners including four generals.
It was Australia's first major land battle of the Second World War.

Amy Johnson, the famous female pilot who flew solo to Australia in 1931, was killed when the RAF aircraft she was delivering as an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot ran out of fuel in very bad weather and crashed into the Thames Estuary. She was seen to bail out by the crew of HMS Haslemere, a patrol trawler, which went to her aid. Lieutenant Commander Fletcher, Haslemere's captain, dived into the icy water to rescue her, but was unable to keep her afloat. Although his crew managed to get him back on board, he himself died in hospital from the exposure he had suffered.

1942: The Soviet Army landed reinforcements on the Crimean coast near Eupatoria and Sudak, in an effort to break the siege of the Sevastopol naval base. However gains were very small in the face of firm German resistance

1943: HMNZS Achilles joined a US Navy Task Force in the bombardment of Japanese positions on Munda and Kolombangara islands during the Guadalcanal operations, and suffered some damage during a Japanese air attack.

1945: In the South China Sea, Japanese air attacks continue against the Lingayen Gulf-bound forces in the teeth of heavy antiaircraft fire and combat air patrol.

Of the minesweeping group, an infantry landing craft was damaged by a kamikaze, a small seaplane tender and a fleet tug were also damaged by near-misses.

Kamikazes attacking the bombardment and escort carrier groups succeeded in damaging heavy cruiser USS Louisville and destroyer USS Helm the escort aircraft carriers USS Manila Bay and USS Savo Island and the destroyer USS Stafford. Also damaged were the Australian heavy cruiser HMAS Australia and destroyer HMAS Arunta.

Japanese escort destroyers approached the minesweeping group but turned away at approach of USS Bennion, HMAS Gascoyne and the sloop HMAS Warrego; subsequently, planes from TG 77.4 (escort carrier group) sink the Momi and damage both the Hinoki and Sugi.

1951: UN Forces evacuated Inchon in Korea. British and Australian warships played a significant part in covering the operation, which successfully rescued some 69,000 personnel, 1,400 vehicles and 62,000 tons of equipment and supplies.

1968: Alexander Dubček came to power in Czechoslovakia, starting a train of events that became known as the Prague Spring

1976: Cambodia was renamed Democratic Kampuchea by the Communist Khmer Rouge

In Northern Ireland, 10 Protestant men were shot dead by IRA terrorists as they were returning home from work in a mini-bus. The attack happened on the Whitecross to Bessbrook Road in South Armagh as the men, all textile workers, returned home from a factory six miles away.

1985: Israel ended a major Ethiopian rescue mission, airlifting thousands of Jewish Ethiopian refugees out of Sudan. Operation Moses, which had been taking place in secret since 21 November 1984, was suspended when news of the covert airlift became public.

The Arab world was angered (again) by Khartoum's decision to co-operate with Israel and allow charter planes to fly from Sudan - which does not recognise the Israel.

1991: During Operation Eastern Exit, the US ambassador, the Soviet ambassador and 193 additional foreign nationals were evacuated from the US Embassy in Mogadishu to USS Guam and Trenton. The rescue operation was initiated from a range of 460 miles, and involved the first in-flight night refuelling of helicopters by USMC KC-130s.

1996: Hamas terrorist leader Yahya Ayyash was killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone

2005: Rear Admirals Francis Etche Agbiti and Samuel Kolawole of the Nigerian Navy were convicted and dismissed from service by the Courts Martial following the disappearance of the illegal oil bunkering ship, MT African Pride.