Today in History: January 24

0041

Shortly after declaring himself a god, Caligula is assassinated by two Praetorian tribunes.

1458

Matthias Corvinus, the son of John Hunyadi, is elected king of Hungary.

1639

Representatives from three Connecticut towns band together to write the Fundamental Orders, the first constitution in the New World.

1722

Czar Peter the Great caps his reforms in Russia with the "Table of Rank" which decrees a commoner can climb on merit to the highest positions.

1848

Gold is discovered by James Wilson Marshall at his partner Johann August Sutter's sawmill on the South Fork of the American River, near Coloma, California.

1903

U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and British Ambassador Herbert create a joint commission to establish the Alaskan border.

1911

U.S. Cavalry is sent to preserve the neutrality of the Rio Grande during the Mexican Civil War.

1915

The German cruiser Blücher is sunk by a British squadron in the Battle of Dogger Bank.

1927

British expeditionary force of 12,000 is sent to China to protect concessions at Shanghai.

1931

The League of Nations rebukes Poland for the mistreatment of a German minority in Upper Silesia.

1945

A German attempt to relieve the besieged city of Budapest is finally halted by the Soviets.

1946

The UN establishes the International Atomic Energy Commission.

1951

Indian leader Nehru demands that the UN name Peking as an aggressor in Korea.

1965

Winston Churchill dies from a cerebral thrombosis at the age of 90.

1980

In a rebuff to the Soviets, the U.S. announces intentions to sell arms to China.

1982

A draft of Air Force history reports that the U.S. secretly sprayed herbicides on Laos during the Vietnam War.