1173: Pope Alexander III canonizes Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury
1613: Michael Romanov, son of the Patriarch of Moscow, is elected the first Russian Tsar of the House of Romanov
1804: The world’s first steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick, runs for the first time along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales
1916: Battle of Verdun begins with a German offensive, leads to an estimated 1 million casualties, and becomes the longest battle of the entire war (9 months)
1922: Britain declares Egypt a sovereign state
1972: Richard Nixon becomes the first US President to visit China, normalizing relations between the countries in a meeting with Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing
Source: Onthisday.com
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