Events

• 955 – Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion of the West.
• 991 – Battle of Maldon: The English, led by Byrhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon, Essex.
• 1030 – The Battle of Azaz ends with a humiliating retreat of the Byzantine emperor, Romanos III Argyros, against the Mirdasid rulers of Aleppo.
  • The retreat degenerates into a rout, in which Romanos himself barely escapes capture.
• 1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum.
• 1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
• 1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during the War of the League of Cambrai, sees the simultaneous destruction of the Breton ship La Cordelière and the English ship The Regent.
• 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe.
  • The Basque second-in-command Juan Sebastián Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan’s death in the Philippines.
• 1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory over the French in the Italian War of 1551–59.
• 1585 – The Treaty of Nonsuch signed by Elizabeth I of England and the Dutch Rebels.
• 1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden voyage.
• 1641 – The Treaty of London between England and Scotland, ending the Bishops’ Wars, is signed.
• 1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England is laid.
• 1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
• 1741 – King Marthanda Varma of Travancore defeats the Dutch East India Company at the Battle of Colachel, effectively bringing about the end of the Dutch colonial rule in India.
• 1755 – Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
• 1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace: Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
• 1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain.
  • This rebellion will be crushed on 02 August 1810.
  • Declaration of Independence of Quito, proclaimed independence from Spain on 10 August 1809.
  • Independence finally occurred on 24 May 1822 at the Battle of Pichincha.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson’s Creek: A mixed force of Confederate, Missouri State Guard, and Arkansas State troops defeat outnumbered attacking Union forces in the southwestern part of the state.
• 1864 – After Uruguay’s governing Blanco Party refuses Brazil’s demands, José Antônio Saraiva announces that the Brazilian military will begin reprisals, beginning the Uruguayan War.
• 1897 – German chemist Felix Hoffmann discovers an improved way of synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin).
• 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of the Yellow Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship fleets takes place.
• 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: Peace negotiations begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• 1913 – Second Balkan War: Delegates from Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
• 1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI’s representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
• 1936 – Spanish Civil War: The Regional Defence Council of Aragon is dissolved by the Spanish Republic.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Guam comes to an effective end.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Narva ends with a combined German–Estonian force successfully defending Narva, Estonia, from invading Soviet troops.
• 1949 – An amendment to the National Security Act of 1947 enhances the authority of the United States Secretary of Defence over the Army, Navy and Air Force, and replaces the National Military Establishment with the Department of Defence.
• 1953 – First Indochina War: The French Union withdraws its forces from Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central Vietnam.
• 1961 – Vietnam War: The US Army begins Operation Ranch Hand, spraying an estimated 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of defoliants and herbicides over rural areas of South Vietnam in an attempt to deprive the Viet Cong of food and vegetation cover.
• 1988 – Japanese American internment: US President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
• 2001 – The 2001 Angola train attack occurred, causing 252 deaths.
• Argentine Air Force Day (Argentina).
• National Veterans Day (Indonesia).

People (Births)

• 1782 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican insurgent leader and President of Mexico (d. 1831).
• 1810 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian soldier and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1861).
• 1814 – John C. Pemberton, United States soldier and Confederate general (d. 1881).
• 1825 – István Türr, Hungarian soldier, architect, and engineer, co-designed the Corinth Canal (d. 1908).
• 1856 – William Willett, English inventor, founded British Summer Time (d. 1915).
• 1889 – Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, Polish writer and member of the WWII Polish Resistance (d. 1968).
• 1907 – Su Yu, Chinese general and politician (d. 1984).
• 1918 – Eugene P. Wilkinson, American admiral (d. 2013).
• 1925 – George Cooper, English general (d. 2020).
• 1935 – Ian Stewart, Baron Stewartby, English politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces (d. 2018).

People (Deaths)

• 1653 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1598).
• 1918 – Erich Löwenhardt, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1897).
• 1985 – Nate Barragar, American football player and sergeant (b. 1906).
• 2007 – Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1925).
• 2012 – Ioan Dicezare, Romanian general and pilot (b. 1916).
• 2012 – William W. Momyer, American general and pilot (b. 1916).
• 2013 – David C. Jones, American general (b. 1921).