Today in History: January 2

Today in History is a series dedicated to discussing some of the major events in world history that occurred on a given date throughout history.

366 AD: The Alemanni begin their invasion of the Roman Empire. The Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes based in modern day Swabia, Baden, Alsace, the German-speaking areas of Switzerland and Vorarlberg in Austria. The Germanic tribes took advantage of the cold winter in order to march their numbers across the frozen Rhine River. The Alemanni sought to conquer the Gallic provinces of the Roman Empire, but were eventually defeated by Emperor Valentinian I in the Battle of Solicinium in 368.

533 AD: Mercurius, son of Projectus is insalled as Pope John II and begins his reign as Pope of the Catholic Church.

1492 AD: Abu Abdallah Muhammad XII surrenders the fortress of Alhambra to Ferdinand and Isabella. This is a painting of the moment known as “The Capitulation of Granada” by Francisco Pradilla Ortiz.

1570 AD: Ivan IV Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia, began his infamous march on Novgorod. Ivan believed that the noble families of Novgorod where planning to defect to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and ordered his army to march on the city. The resulting attack is estimated to have killed 60,000 citizens of Novgorod over the course of five weeks. This is a facial reconstruction of Ivan IV produced by Mikhail Gerasimov

1791 AD: The Big Bottom Massacre took place in modern-day Ohio, United States. This marked the start of the Northwest Indian Wars in which the Native Americans sought to expel settlers from their territory.

1839 AD: Louis Daguerre is credited with have taken the first photograph of the moon using his invention the Daguerreotype Process. Unfortunately no known copies of this first image of the moon currently exist.

1861 AD: South Carolina seizes Ft. Johnson in the lead-up to the United States Civil War. Colonel Charles Stone in put in charge of organizing the DC militia in response to South Carolina’s actions.

1906 AD: Willis Carrier received the first patent in the world for an air conditioner, changing the world as we know it and allowing for much more comfort during hot summer months.

1944 AD: First use of helicopters during warfare.

1955 AD: Panamania president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated

1972 AD: Mariner 9 begins mapping Mars for all of humanity.