Today in History - 27 January

98
Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva
661
The Rashidun Caliphate ends with death of Ali
1142
Execution, believed wrongful, of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei
1186
Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, marries Constance
of Sicily
1343
Pope Clement VI issues the Bull "Unigenitus"
1593
Vatican opens seven year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno
1606
Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with
their executions on January 31
1695
Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Instambul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa
rules until his abdication in 1703
1785
The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States
1825
The U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory, clearing the way for forced relocation on
the Eastern Indians on the 'Trail of Tears"
1870

The first women's fraternity, Kappa Alpha Theta, is formed at DePauw University
1888
The National Geographic Society is founded in Washington, D.C.
1909
The Young Left is founded in Norway
1918
The first hostilities occur in the Finnish Civil War
1939
First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning
1944
World War II: The 900-day Siege of Leningrad is lifted
1945
World WarII: The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in
Poland
1951
Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on
Frenchman Flat
1967
More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space
1973
Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde is killed in
action becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty
1974
The Brisbane River floods causing the largest flood to affect Brisbane City in the 20th
Century
1983

Pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel between the
Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido breaks through
1996
Colonel Ibrahim Bare Mainassara deposes the first democratically elected president of
Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup
Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day
2006
Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services