Events

• 1173 – The widow Stamira sacrifices herself in order to raise the siege of Ancona by the forces of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
• 1449 – Tumu Crisis: The Mongols capture the Emperor of China.
• 1529 – The Spanish fort of Sancti Spiritu, the first one built in modern Argentina, is destroyed by natives.
• 1644 – Battle of Tippermuir: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeats the Earl of Wemyss’s Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause.
• 1774 – Massachusetts Bay colonists rise up in the bloodless Powder Alarm.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly: Confederate Army troops defeat a group of retreating Union Army troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Confederate Army General John Bell Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta, ending a four-month siege by General William Tecumseh Sherman.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.
• 1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande.
• 1880 – The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan is routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
• 1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.
• 1911 – The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship.
• 1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd.
• 1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.
• 1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.
• 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.
• 1939 – General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
• 1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted.
  • The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date.
• 1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Armed Forces (an event that can happen only during war or mobilisation).
• 1939 – Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people.
• 1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defence pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
• 1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
• 1961 – The first conference of the Non-Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
• 1967 – Six-Day War: The Khartoum Resolution is issued at the Arab Summit, and eight countries adopt the “three ‘no’s against Israel”.
• 1969 – A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power.
• 1969 – Trần Thiện Khiêm becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu.
• 1970 – Palestinian guerrillas attack the motorcade of King Hussein of Jordan in a failed assassination attempt.
• 1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h).
• 1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes President of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.
• 1981 – A coup d’état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.
• 1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.
• 1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
• 1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
• Anniversary of the Start of the Armed Struggle (Eritrea).
• Veteran’s Day (Poland).

People (Births)

• 1453 – Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general (d. 1515).
• 1477 – Bartolomeo Fanfulla, Italian mercenary (d. 1525).
• 1799 – Ferenc Gyulay, Hungarian-Austrian commander and politician (d. 1868).
• 1864 – Akashi Motojiro, Japanese general (d. 1919).
• 1875 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American soldier and author (d. 1950).
• 1878 – J.F.C. Fuller, English general and historian (d. 1966).
• 1886 – Shigeyasu Suzuki, Japanese general (d. 1957).
• 1892 – Leverett Saltonstall, American lieutenant and politician, 55th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1979).
• 1908 – Lou Kenton, Jewish-English soldier and potter (d. 2012).
• 1945 – Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemeni general and politician, 2nd President of Yemen.
• 1946 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean soldier and politician, 9th President of South Korea (d. 2009).
• 1961 – Christopher Ferguson, American captain, pilot, and astronaut.

People (Deaths)

• 1256 – Kujō Yoritsune, Japanese shōgun (b. 1218).
• 1327 – Foulques de Villaret, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.
• 1838 – William Clark, American soldier, explorer, and politician, 4th Governor of Missouri Territory (b. 1770).
• 1868 – Ferenc Gyulay, Hungarian-Austrian commander and politician (b. 1799).
• 1947 – Frederick Russell Burnham, American soldier and adventurer (b. 1861).
• 1967 – Siegfried Sassoon, English soldier and writer (b. 1886).
• 1971 – Alan Brown, English soldier (b. 1909).
• 2013 – Gordon Steege, Australian soldier (b. 1917).
• 2013 – Ken Wallis, English commander and pilot (b. 1916).
• 2014 – Ahmed Abdi Godane, Somali militant leader (b. 1977).
• 2015 – Gurgen Dalibaltayan, Armenian general (b. 1926).
• 2015 – Ben Kuroki, American sergeant and pilot (b. 1917).