Today:
37 – The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius’ will and proclaims Caligula as emperor.
1229 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, enters Jerusalem and claims the title of King of Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade.
1314 – Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake in Paris by order of King Philip IV of France.
1766 – The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act, which had been a major source of tension between Britain and its American colonies.
1850 – American Express is founded in Buffalo, New York, as a financial services and express mail company.
1874 – Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights and duty-free sugar exports.
1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is sentenced to six years in prison for sedition in British India.
1940 – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini hold a meeting at the Brenner Pass, strengthening the Axis alliance.
1965 – The first spacewalk by a Soviet cosmonaut, Alexei Leonov, is conducted during the Voskhod 2 mission.
1990 – East Germany holds its first and only free parliamentary elections, leading to the country’s reunification with West Germany.