Events

• 1562 – The Battle of Dreux takes place during the French Wars of Religion.
• 1606 – The ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery depart England carrying settlers who founded, at Jamestown, Virginia, the first of the thirteen colonies that became the United States.
• 1675 – The Great Swamp Fight, a pivotal battle in King Philip’s War, gives the English settlers a bitterly won victory.
• 1776 – Thomas Paine publishes one of a series of pamphlets in The Pennsylvania Journal entitled “The American Crisis”.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington’s Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
• 1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Two British frigates under Commodore Horatio Nelson and two Spanish frigates under Commodore Don Jacobo Stuart engage in battle off the coast of Murcia.
• 1920 – King Constantine I is restored as King of the Hellenes after the death of his son Alexander of Greece and a plebiscite.
• 1927 – Three Indian revolutionaries, Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh and Ashfaqulla Khan, are executed by the British Raj for participation in the Kakori conspiracy.
• 1929 – The Indian National Congress promulgates the Purna Swaraj (the Declaration of the Independence of India).
• 1932 – BBC World Service begins broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service.
• 1941 – World War II: Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Oberkommando des Heeres.
• 1941 – World War II: Limpet mines placed by Italian divers heavily damage HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth in Alexandria harbour.
• 1945 – John Amery, British Fascist, is executed at the age of 33 by the British Government for treason.
• 1946 – Start of the First Indochina War.
• 1961 – India annexes Daman and Diu, part of Portuguese India.
• 1984 – The Sino-British Joint Declaration, stating that China would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong and the United Kingdom would restore Hong Kong to China with effect from 01 July 1997 is signed in Beijing, China by Deng Xiaoping and Margaret Thatcher.
• 1995 – The United States Government restores federal recognition to the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Native American tribe.
• 2000 – The Leninist Guerrilla Units wing of the Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist attack a Nationalist Movement Party office in Istanbul, Turkey, killing one person and injuring three.

People (Births)

• 1817 – James J. Archer, American lawyer and general (d. 1864).
• 1906 – Leonid Brezhnev, Ukrainian-Russian marshal, engineer, and politician, 4th Head of State of the Soviet Union (d. 1982).
• 1915 – Claudia Testoni, Italian hurdler, sprinter, and long jumper (d. 1998).
• 1933 – Kevan Gosper, Australian runner and politician.
• 1943 – James L. Jones, American general and politician, 22nd United States National Security Advisor.
• 1949 – Claudia Kolb, American swimmer.
• 1969 – Michael Bates, American sprinter and football player.
• 1971 – Karen Pickering, English swimmer.
• 1973 – Erick Wainaina, Kenyan runner.
• 1973 – Zulfiya Zabirova, Russian cyclist.
• 1977 – LaTasha Jenkins, American sprinter.
• 1983 – Laura Pomeroy, Canadian swimmer.
• 1985 – Sally Kipyego, Kenyan runner.
• 1986 – Zuzana Hejnová, Czech hurdler.
• 1993 – Isiah Koech, Kenyan runner.

People (Deaths)

• 1819 – Thomas Fremantle, English admiral and politician (b. 1765).
• 1899 – Henry Ware Lawton, American general (b. 1843).
• 1986 – Werner Dankwort, Russian-German colonel and diplomat (b. 1895).
• 1999 – Desmond Llewelyn, Welsh soldier and actor (b. 1914).
• 2012 – Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Israeli general and politician, 22nd Transportation Minister of Israel (b. 1944).
• 2014 – Igor Rodionov, Russian general and politician, 3rd Russian Minister of Defence (b. 1936).