[Amnorix]

December 20

1192. After signing a treaty with Saladin ending the Third Crusade, Richard the Lion Heart is imprisoned by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, who will hand him over to the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI. He will famously (for the time) refuse to show deference to the Emperor, claiming to be born of a rank that recognizes no superior but God. The Emperor will demand, and receive, a ransom equal to 2-3 times the annual income of the British crown, forcing Eleanor of Aquitane to impose a tax of 1/4th of the wealth of the British population and clergy, and empty many churches of their gold and silver.

1860. South Carolina secedes from the United States, the first state to do so. Four years later she is looking down the barrel of Sherman's army, about to capture Savannah Georgia and then rampage northward through the Carolinas that had started it all.

1924. Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison. In retrospect, this wasn't the best move from anyone's point of view.

1989. The US invades Panama to overthrow the corrupt regime of Manuel Noreiga.

2007. Queen Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in British history, surpassing Queen Victoria.