Today in History, January 25: 41 CE – After a night of - TopicsExpress

Today in History, January 25: 41 CE – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate. 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to overthrow of the dynasty. 1533 – Henry VIII of England secretly marries his second wife Anne Boleyn. 1787 – Shays Rebellion: The rebellions largest confrontation, outside the Springfield Armory, results in the killing of four rebels and the wounding of twenty. 1858 – The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn is played at the marriage of Queen Victorias daughter, Victoria, and Friedrich of Prussia, and becomes a popular wedding recessional. 1915 – Alexander Graham Bell inaugurates U.S. transcontinental telephone service, speaking from New York to Thomas Watson in San Francisco. 1918 – Ukraine declares independence from Bolshevik Russia. 1919 – The League of Nations is founded. 1942 – World War II: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom. 1945 – World War II: The Battle of the Bulge ends. 1949 – At the Hollywood Athletic Club the first Emmy Awards are presented. 1955 – The Soviet Union ends the state of war with Germany. 1961 – In Washington, D.C. John F. Kennedy delivers the first live presidential television news conference. 1971 – Charles Manson and three female Family members are found guilty of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders. 1981 – Jiang Qing, the widow of Mao Zedong, is sentenced to death. 1993 – Five people are shot outside the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Two are killed and three wounded. 1995 – The Norwegian rocket incident: Russia almost launches a nuclear attack after it mistakes Black Brant XII, a Norwegian research rocket, for a US Trident missile. 1996 – Billy Bailey becomes the last person to be hanged in the USA. 1998 – During a historic visit to Cuba, Pope John Paul II demands political reforms and the release of political prisoners while condemning US attempts to isolate the country. 2003 – Iraq War: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations. 2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins in Egypt, with a series of street demonstrations, marches, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes in Cairo, Alexandria, and throughout other cities in Egypt.