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: 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

1848: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish “The Communist Manifesto” in London

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)

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