218-B.C. Battle of the Trebia: Hannibal's Carthaginian army heavily defeats Roman forces on Italian soil during the Second Punic War
1271-Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuán), marking the start of the Yuan Dynasty of China
1603-First fleet of the Dutch East India Company under Admiral Steven van der Haghen departs for the East-Indies
1642-Abel Tasman's expedition is the first European voyage to reach New Zealand sailing into Wharewharangi Bay at the top of the South Island, making the first confirmed contact with Maori
1917-The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, authorizing prohibition of alcohol, is approved by the U.S. congress and sent to the states for ratification
1957-World's first full scale nuclear power plant, for peacetime use only, begins to generate electricity at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania
1972 -U.S. launches Operation Linebacker II, its heaviest bombing of North Vietnam, as negotiations to end the Vietnam War collapse
1979-Stuntman Stanley Barrett unofficially breaks the land speed record and the sound barrier in his three-wheeled vehicle the Budweiser Rocket (739.666 mph or Mach 1.01). The speed was never officially recorded and the attempt remains controversial.
2019-U.S. House of Representatives votes to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power (230-197) and obstruction of Congress (229-198)