1812 — Napoleon's Grand Army crosses Berezina River in retreat from Russia
1825 — First Italian opera, Barber of Seville, produced in U.S. (NYC)
1864 — Colorado militia kills 150 peaceful Cheyenne Indians
1877 — Thomas Edison demonstrates the hand-cranked phonograph
1887 — U.S. receives rights to Pearl Harbor, on Oahu, Hawaii
1933 — First state liquor stores authorized (Pennsylvania)
1944 — Albania liberated from Nazi control (National Day)
1944 — John Hopkins hospital performs first open heart surgery
1947 — U.N. Gen Assembly partitions Palestine between Arabs & Jews
1951 — First underground atomic explosion, Frenchman Flat, Nevada
1952 — President-elect Eisenhower visits Korea to assess the war
1978 — U.N. observes "international day of solidarity with the Palestinian people," boycotted by U.S. & about 20 other countries
1987 — Korean Air Boeing 707 disappears off Burma, on route to Seoul. All 115 lost
1990 — U.N. Security Council sets Jan 15th military deadline against Iraq