Events

• 238 – Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors.
• 871 – Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.
• 1508 – Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire.
• 1621 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
• 1622 – Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony’s population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War.
• 1713 – The Tuscarora War comes to an end with the fall of Fort Neoheroka, effectively opening up the interior of North Carolina to European colonization.
• 1739 – Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
• 1765 – The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.
• 1829 – In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.
• 1849 – The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.
• 1913 – Mystic Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam, was arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.
• 1920 – Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attacked the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh).
• 1939 – Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.
• 1942 – World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy’s Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.
• 1943 – World War II: The entire village of Khatyn (in what is the present-day Republic of Belarus) is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118.
• 1945 – World War II: The city of Hildesheim, Germany heavily damaged in a British air raid, though it had little military significance and Germany was on the verge of final defeat.
• 1945 – The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1960 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
• 1975 – A fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant in Decatur, Alabama causes a dangerous reduction in cooling water levels.
• 2004 – Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force Hellfire missiles.

People (Births)

• 1367 – Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (probable; d. 1399).
• 1684 – William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician, Secretary at War (d. 1764).
• 1814 – Thomas Crawford, American sculptor, designed the Statue of Freedom (d. 1857).
• 1817 – Braxton Bragg, American general (d. 1876).
• 1868 – Robert Andrews Millikan, American colonel and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953).
• 1896 – He Long, Chinese general and politician, 1st Vice Premier of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1969).
• 1907 – James M. Gavin, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (d. 1990).
• 1910 – Nicholas Monsarrat, RNVR, English sailor and author (d. 1979).
• 1922 – John J. Gilligan, American lieutenant and politician, 62nd Governor of Ohio (d. 2013).
• 1937 – Armin Hary, German sprinter.
• 1966 – Artis Pabriks, Latvian academic and politician, 11th Minister for Defence of Latvia.
• 1966 – António Pinto, Portuguese runner.
• 1967 – Mario Cipollini, Italian cyclist.
• 1970 – Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist.
• 1970 – Hwang Young-cho, South Korean runner.
• 1981 – Arne Gabius, German runner.
• 1982 – Enrico Gasparotto, Italian cyclist.
• 1985 – Jakob Fuglsang, Danish cyclist.
• 1985 – Kelli Waite, Australian swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1421 – Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, English soldier and politician, Lord High Steward of England (b. 1388).
• 1820 – Stephen Decatur, American commander (b. 1779).
• 1942 – William Donne, English captain and cricketer (b. 1875).
• 1966 – John Harlin, American mountaineer and pilot (b. 1935).
• 1971 – Johannes Villemson, Estonian-American runner (b. 1893).
• 1981 – James Elliott, American runner and coach (b. 1915).
• 1987 – Odysseas Angelis, Greek general and politician (b. 1912).
• 1996 – Robert F. Overmyer, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1936).
• 2001 – Sabiha Gökçen, Turkish soldier and pilot (b. 1913).
• 2004 – Ahmed Yassin, Co-founded Hamas (b. 1937).
• 2006 – Pierre Clostermann, French soldier, pilot, and politician (b. 1921).
• 2014 – Thor Listau, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1938).
• 2014 – Tasos Mitsopoulos, Cypriot politician, Cypriot Minister of Defence (b. 1965).