Events

• 1512 – The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the conduct of settlers with regard to native Indians in the New World.
• 1655 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.
• 1703 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.
• 1814 – War of 1812: The American schooner USS Carolina is destroyed.
  • It was the last of Commodore Daniel Patterson’s makeshift fleet that fought a series of delaying actions that contributed to Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
• 1831 – Charles Darwin embarks on his journey aboard HMS Beagle, during which he will begin to formulate his theory of evolution.
• 1845 – Journalist John L. O’Sullivan, writing in his newspaper the New York Morning News, argues that the United States had the right to claim the entire Oregon Country “by the right of our manifest destiny”.
• 1918 – The Great Poland Uprising against the Germans begins.
• 1918 – Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine occupies Yekaterinoslav and seizes 7 airplanes from the UPRAF, establishing an Insurgent Air Fleet.
• 1922 – Japanese aircraft carrier Hōshō becomes the first purpose built aircraft carrier to be commissioned in the world.
• 1939 – Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.
• 1949 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Netherlands officially recognises Indonesian independence.
  • End of the Dutch East Indies.
• 1978 – Spain becomes a democracy after 40 years of fascist dictatorship.
• 1979 – The Soviet Union invades the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
• 1985 – Palestinian guerrillas kill eighteen people inside the airports of Rome, Italy, and Vienna, Austria.
• 1989 – The Romanian Revolution concludes, as the last minor street confrontations and stray shootings abruptly end in the country’s capital, Bucharest.
• 1996 – Taliban forces retake the strategic Bagram Airfield which solidifies their buffer zone around Kabul, Afghanistan.
• 1997 – Protestant paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom..
• 2002 – Two truck bombs kill 72 and wound 200 at the pro-Moscow headquarters of the Chechen government in Grozny, Chechnya, Russia.
• 2008 – Operation Cast Lead: Israel launches 3-week operation on Gaza.
• 2009 – Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.

People (Births)

• 1715 – Philippe de Noailles, French general (d. 1794).
• 1761 – Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Finland (d. 1818).
• 1776 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (d. 1811).
• 1892 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1917).
• 1896 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (d. 1952).
• 1916 – Werner Baumbach, German pilot (d. 1953).
• 1917 – Onni Palaste, Finnish soldier and author (d. 2009).
• 1918 – John Celardo, American captain and illustrator (d. 2012).
• 1919 – Charles Sweeney, American general and pilot (d. 2004).
• 1924 – James A. McClure, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2011).
• 1934 – Larisa Latynina, Ukrainian gymnast and coach.
• 1936 – Eve Uusmees, Estonian swimmer and coach.
• 1947 – Osman Pamukoğlu, Turkish general and politician.
• 1947 – Willy Polleunis, Belgian runner.
• 1956 – Doina Melinte, Romanian runner.
• 1975 – Aigars Fadejevs, Latvian race walker and therapist.
• 1979 – Pascale Dorcelus, Canadian weightlifter.
• 1981 – Moise Joseph, American-Haitian runner.
• 1986 – Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaican sprinter.
• 1992 – Maicel Uibo, Estonian decathlete.

People (Deaths)

• 1704 – Hans Albrecht von Barfus, Prussian field marshal and politician (b. 1635).
• 1776 – Johann Rall, Hessian colonel (b. c. 1726).
• 1836 – Stephen F. Austin, American soldier and politician (b. 1793).
• 1900 – William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, English engineer and businessman, founded Armstrong Whitworth (b. 1810).
• 1943 – Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1887).
• 1953 – Şükrü Saracoğlu, Turkish soldier and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1887).
• 1955 – Alfred Carpenter, English admiral, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1881).
• 1978 – Houari Boumediene, Algerian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Algeria (b. 1932).
• 1997 – Billy Wright, Northern Irish loyalist leader (b. 1960).
• 2011 – Michael Dummett, English soldier, philosopher, and academic (b. 1925).
• 2012 – Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr., American general and engineer (b. 1934).
• 2013 – John Matheson, Canadian colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1917).
• 2018 – Frank Blaichman, Polish resistance fighter (b. 1922).