[Amnorix]

December 29

1170. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, is murdered inside Canterbury Cathedral on the orders of King Henry II. Becket will be anointed a saint and matyr in the eyes of the Catholic, then Anglican, Church.

1778. The British capture Savannah Georgia without firing a shot.

1812. After a three hour battle, the USS Constitution captures the British HMS Java off the coast of Brazil. The Java had been rendered a complete hulk in the battle, utterly dismasted, and all the Constitution could do was sink her.

1845. Texas is admitted as the 28th US state, in furtherance of "manifest destiny."

1890. The Wounded Knee Massacre occurs when members of the US Seventh Cavalry Regiment kill over 150, and wound an additional 50, men, women and children of the Lakota Sioux. The key to the battle were four rapid fire "Hotchkiss Guns", or revolving cannons, shooting 37 mm bullets at a rate of 43 bullets per minute.

1911. Sun Yat-Sen becomes the provincial President of the Republic of China. In future years this instrumental leader will be cited by both the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists under Mao Zedong.

1934. The increasingly militaristic Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930, which limited the navies of the world.