Events
- 451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
- 611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.
- 1141 – Empress Matilda became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title ‘Lady of the English’.
- 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
- 1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
- 1767 – End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765-1767).
- 1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
- 1788 – American pioneers to the Northwest Territory establish Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
- 1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organised from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain.
- It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
- 1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
- 1831 – Emperor Pedro I of Brazil resigns. He goes to his native Portugal to become King Pedro IV.
- 1862 – American Civil War: The Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
- 1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
- 1943 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.
- 1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
- 1945 – World War II: The battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by American aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
- 1945 – World War II: Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th, and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisan forces.
- 1948 – The World Health Organisation (WHO) is established by the United Nations (UN).
- 1954 – US President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his “domino theory” speech during a news conference.
- 1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
- 1969 – The Internet’s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
- 1971 – Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces his decision to quicken the pace of Vietnamisation.
- 1972 – Vietnam War: Communist forces overran the South Vietnamese town of Loc Ninh.
- 1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is cancelled by President Jimmy Carter.
- 1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran.
- 1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
- 1990 – Iran–Contra affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction is later reversed on appeal).
- 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
- Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda), and its related observance: International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (United Nations).
- 1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
- 2003 – US troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls two days later.
- 2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
- 2011 – The Israel Defence Forces use their Iron Dome missile system to successfully intercept a BM-21 Grad launched from Gaza, marking the first short-range missile intercept ever.
People (Births)
- 1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, French general (d. 1730).
- 1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934).
- 1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1971).
- 1895 – John Flannagan, American soldier and sculptor (d. 1942).
- 1897 – Erich Löwenhardt, Polish-German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1918).
- 1903 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral (d. 1984).
- 1913 – Charles Vanik, American soldier, judge, and politician (d. 2007).
- 1929 – Bob Denard, French soldier (d. 2007).
- 1946 – Colette Besson, French runner and educator (d. 2005).
- 1952 – Jane Frederick, American hurdler and heptathlete.
- 1956 – Georg Werthner, Austrian decathlete.
- 1962 – Andrew Hampsten, American cyclist.
- 1963 – Dave Johnson, American decathlete and educator.
- 1968 – Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer and sportscaster.
- 1973 – Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Defence.
- 1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete.
- 1990 – Nickel Ashmeade, Jamaican sprinter.
People (Deaths)
- 1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyō (b. 1576).
- 1651 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and engineer (b. 1603).
- 1661 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (b. 1604).
- 1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (b. 1743).
- 1889 – Youssef Bey Karam, Lebanese soldier and politician (b. 1823).
- 1947 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863).
- 1956 – Fred Appleby, English runner (b. 1879).
- 1960 – Henri Guisan, Swiss general (b. 1874).
- 1984 – Frank Church, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1924).
- 1990 – Ronald Evans, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933).
- 1991 – Memduh Ünlütürk, Turkish general (b. 1913).
- 1997 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1935).
- 2012 – David E. Pergrin, American colonel and engineer (b. 1917).
- 2015 – Tim Babcock, American soldier and politician, 16th Governor of Montana (b. 1919).
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