1522 – Suleiman the Magnificent accepts surrender of the surviving Knights of Rhodes, who are allowed to evacuate. They eventually settle in Malta and become known as the Knights of Malta. 1812 – “Grimm’s Fairy Tales” or “Children’s and Household Tales” by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm is first published. 1917 – Cheka formed – Soviet state security force and forerunner to the KGB, under Felix Dzerzhinsky after decree by Lenin. 1960 – The National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, is officially formed in South Vietnam. 1971 – Pakistani President Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan transferred power to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. 1974 – Ethiopia was declared a socialist state under the leadership of Mengistu Haile Mariam. 1989 – The United States launched Operation Just Cause, a military invasion of Panama, the initial attack focusing primarily on the Panama City headquarters of leader Manuel Noriega. 1999 – Twelve years after an agreement was reached between China and Portugal, several centuries of Portuguese rule ended in Macau when it became a special administrative region under Chinese sovereignty.
Births & Deaths: 1841 – French educator Ferdinand-Édouard Buisson, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1927 (jointly with the German pacifist Ludwig Quidde), was born. 1968 – John Steinbeck, an American writer best known for his novels about the social consequences of the Great Depression in America, died at age 66.2008 – American director Robert Mulligan, whose credits most notably include the classic film To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), died at age 83.
Music: 1823 – Play “Rosamunde, Princess of Cyprus” by Helmina von Chézy with incidental music by Franz Schubert premieres in Vienna.
TV & Film: 1946 – Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” film premiere in New York, directed by Frank Capra, starring James Stewart, Donna Reed and Lionel Barrymore.
