[Amnorix]

January 13.

A day of no cataclysmic events, but many second tier events.

First, a few lesser items of interest:

1. On this date in 1794, US Congress chagnes the flag to 15 stars and 15 stripes. Within a few years (less than 20 if I recall), Congress restores the flag to 13 stripes for the original colonies.

2. 1898, Emile Zola publishes "J'Accuse", launching the Dreyfus Affair that roiled France fo the next 10+ years.

3. 1942 -- German submarines begin attacking merchant vessels off the US Eastern Coast. Unprepared for the declaration of war and for forming into convoys, the German U-Boats initially have tremendous success. It was really only limited by the few submarines they could keep in position so far from their bases. This leads to blackouts on the Eastern seaboard to prevent the Germans from more easily ascertaining their position, and to convoying of American merchant vessels.

4. 1953 -- Tito becomes President of Yugoslavia.

As this post has gotten long, I'll put the event of the day into the next post.


EDIT: How odd. I cross-checked the date for what I was going to choose as the event of the day, and other sites are citing a different date. Ah well. The above is as good as it gets for today, apparently.