Events

• 868 – A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book.
• 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army.
• 1792 – Robert Gray commands the first expedition to sail into the Columbia River.
• 1813 – William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.
• 1846 – President James K. Polk asked for a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican-American War.
• 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
• 1889 – An attack upon a US Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honour.
• 1943 – World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
• 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes.
• 1960 – Adolf Eichmann is captured by the Mossad in Argentina.
• 1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg’s charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
• 1987 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
• 1998 – India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
• 2000 – Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
• 2010 – David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country’s first coalition government since the Second World War.

People (Births)

• 1571 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (d. 1637).
• 1797 – José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician (d. 1867).
• 1888 – Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (d. 1945).
• 1890 – Willie Applegarth, English-American sprinter (d. 1958).
• 1890 – Helge Løvland, Norwegian decathlete (d. 1984).
• 1905 – Lise de Baissac, Mauritian-born SOE agent, war hero (d. 2004).
• 1969 – Simon Vroemen, Dutch runner.
• 1970 – Jason Queally, English cyclist.
• 1972 – Tomáš Dvořák, Czech decathlete and coach.
• 1973 – Tsuyoshi Ogata, Japanese runner.
• 1994 – Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner.

People (Deaths)

• 1778 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708).
• 1988 – Kim Philby, British-Soviet double agent (b. 1912).
• 2005 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1908).
• 2009 – Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (b. 1915).