On this day...

Courtesy The Strategy Page, TODAY IN MILITARY HISTORY

BORN 323 BC Alexander IV of Macedon (323-309 BC), son of Alexander the Great 742 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, Holy Roman Emperor, d. 814 -- Learn More 1348 Byzantine Emperor Andronikos IV Palaiologos (1376-1379), deposed, d. 28 June 1385 1514 Duke Guidobaldo II della Rovere of Urbino (1538-28 September 1574), Condottiero, patron of Titian 1725 Giacomo Casanova, adventurer, lover, librarian, who somehow found time to soldier, d.1798 Learn More 1826 Philip Dale Roddey, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1897 1833 Thomas Howard Ruger, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1907 1838 Léon Gambetta, French politician, Member of the Government of National Defense (1870-1871) who escaped from Paris in a balloon; later Prime Minister (1881-1882), d. 1882 1840 Émile Zola, French author and journalist, defender of Dreyfus, d. 1902 1914 Alec Guinness, naval officer, actor ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Bridge on the River Kwai"), d. 2000 Learn More 1920 Jack Webb, sometime B-26 crewman, actor ("The DI"), d. 1982 1925 George MacDonald Fraser, soldier, author ("Flashman", "Quartered Safe Out Here"), d 2008 They inexplicably left out 19xx ThatGuy, retired solider, obscure blogger