Today:
222 – Roman Emperor Elagabalus is assassinated, along with his mother, Julia Soaemias, by the Praetorian Guard. He is replaced by his 13-year-old cousin, Alexander Severus.
1702 – The first English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London.
1818 – Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is published anonymously in London.
1861 – The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the East Coast of the United States, eventually bringing snowfalls of up to 58 inches and causing over 400 deaths.
1918 – The first confirmed cases of the Spanish flu pandemic are reported at Fort Riley, Kansas.
1941 – The Lend-Lease Act is signed into law by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, allowing the United States to provide military aid to Allied nations during World War II.
1990 – Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union, becoming the first republic to break away.
2004 – Coordinated train bombings in Madrid, Spain, kill 193 people and injure around 2,000.
2011 – A massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake strikes off the coast of Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami and causing the Fukushima nuclear disaster.