1951: During the Korean War, Chinese and North Korean forces took Seoul -- the second time the South Korean capital fell under Communist rule in roughly half a year. By the end of the month, though, the "euphoria of Communists started to decline and quite soon it disappeared and was replaced with worries, fear, confusion and at times panic," according to one author. Read "Korean War: A Fresh Perspective" on HistoryNet.com.
United Nations troops watch flames consume a pontoon bridge across the ice-choked Han River in South Korea on Jan. 4, 1951 during the Korean War. The crossing was dynamited following abandonment of the South Korean capital, Seoul. The Communist North Koreans came across the stream in close pursuit of the retreating Allied forces
Also today in history, in the U.S. and elsewhere:
46 BC: Gaius Julius Caesar defeated Titus Labienus in the Battle of Rustica.
AD 871: Saxon King Aethelred is defeated and Ealdorman Aethelwulf is killed by Danes led by Bagsecq and Halfdan Ragnarsson in England's Battle of Reading, after which the Danes continue their advance into Wessex.
1878: Russian forces liberated Sofia from Ottoman rule; in the following year, the city will become the capital of a newly independent Bulgaria.
