Events

• 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
• 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking the revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
• 1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
• 1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o’ Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.
• 1712 – Huilliches in Chiloé rebel against Spanish encomenderos.
• 1763 – French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
• 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
• 1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
• 1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in the final battle of the war.
• 1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
• 1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
• 1906 – HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened.
• 1920 – About 75% of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites.
• 1930 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launches the failed Yên Bái mutiny in hope to overthrow French protectorate over Vietnam.
• 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
• 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
• 1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
• 1940 – Cartoon characters Tom and Jerry make their debut with Puss Gets the Boot.
• 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army capture Banjarmasin, capital of Borneo in Dutch East Indies.
• 1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
• 1947 – The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.
• 1954 – US President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
• 1962 – Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
• 1964 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
• 1972 – Ras Al Khaimah joins the United Arab Emirates, now making up seven emirates.
• 1984 – Kenyan soldiers kill an estimated 5000 ethnic Somali Kenyans in the Wagalla massacre.
• 2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
• 2016 – South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4.

People (Births)

• 1744 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (d. 1819).
• 1846 – Lord Charles Beresford, Irish admiral and politician (d. 1919).
• 1879 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (d. 1932).
• 1889 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982).
• 1894 – Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986).
• 1919 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2014).
• 1926 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (d. 2013).
• 1940 – Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper.
• 1950 – Mark Spitz, American swimmer.
• 1952 – Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore.
• 1967 – Jacky Durand, French cyclist and sportscaster.
• 1982 – Justin Gatlin, American sprinter.
• 1997 – Lilly King, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1854 – José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general. President three times (1844-1854) (b. 1792).
• 1913 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek long jumper (b. 1888).
• 1917 – John William Waterhouse, English soldier and painter (b. 1849).
• 1918 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833).
• 1979 – Edvard Kardelj, Slovene general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1910).
• 1992 – Alex Haley, American soldier, journalist, and author (b. 1921).
• 2010 – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1933).