Events

• 215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
• 599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik’nal and sacking the city.
• 711 – Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
• 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
• 1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
• 1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
• 1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George’s Day.
• 1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
• 1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
• 1660 – Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
• 1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
• 1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
• 1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
• 1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
• 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
• 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler’s designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Hitler that the telegram is treasonous.
• 1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
• 1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
• 1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
• 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
• 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
• Navy Day (China).

People (Births)

• 1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653).
• 1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670).
• 1791 – James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868).
• 1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (d. 1936).
• 1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967).
• 1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942).
• 1897 – Folke Jansson, American general (d. 1965).
• 1898 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978).
• 1903 – Guy Simonds, English-Canadian general (d. 1974).
• 1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963).
• 1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American lieutenant and politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010).
• 1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (d. 1993).
• 1946 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2014).
• 1954 – Stephen Dalton, English air marshal.

People (Deaths)

• 303 – Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr (b. 275).
• 915 – Yang Shihou, Chinese general.
• 1170 – Minamoto no Tametomo, Japanese samurai (b. 1139).
• 1407 – Olivier de Clisson, French soldier (b. 1326).
• 1781 – James Abercrombie, Scottish general and politician (b. 1706).
• 1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (b. 1780).
• 1839 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French admiral and explorer (b. 1768).
• 1996 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (b. 1913).
• 2007 – Peter Randall, English sergeant (b. 1930).