Events

• 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
• 1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England.
• 1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice.
• 1607 – Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
• 1608 – The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states.
• 1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
• 1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.
• 1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St. Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s historic journey up the Missouri River.
• 1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor.
• 1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place.
• 1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward.
• 1918 – Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the Two-minute silence.
• 1931 – Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.
• 1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
• 1940 – World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city centre.
• 1943 – World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
• 1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighbouring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
• 1955 – Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defence treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
• 1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.

People (Births)

• 1630 – Katakura Kagenaga, Japanese samurai (d. 1681).
• 1699 – Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian general (d. 1786).
• 1761 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1816).
• 1869 – Arthur Rostron, English captain (d. 1940).
• 1880 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971).
• 1887 – Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943).
• 1905 – Herbert Morrison, American soldier and journalist (d. 1989).
• 1907 – Ayub Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 2nd President of Pakistan (d. 1974).
• 1909 – Godfrey Rampling, English sprinter and colonel (d. 2009).
• 1914 – William Thomas Tutte, British codebreaker and mathematician (d. 2002).
• 1919 – John Hope, American soldier and meteorologist (d. 2002).
• 1930 – William James, Australian general and physician (d. 2015).
• 1940 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982).
• 1941 – Ada den Haan, Dutch swimmer.
• 1944 – George Lucas, American director, producer, and screenwriter, founded Lucasfilm.
• 1949 – Johan Schans, Dutch swimmer.
• 1949 – Klaus-Peter Thaler, German cyclist.
• 1952 – Michael Fallon, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Defence.
• 1952 – Donald R. McMonagle, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut.
• 1958 – Wilma Rusman, Dutch runner.
• 1964 – James M. Kelly, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut.
• 1967 – Natasha Kaiser-Brown, American sprinter and coach.
• 1975 – Nicki Sørensen, Danish cyclist.
• 1980 – Eugene Martineau, Dutch decathlete.
• 1989 – Alina Talay, Belorussian hurdler.
• 1994 – Pernille Blume, Danish swimmer.
• 1994 – Bronte Campbell, Australian swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 934 – Zhu Hongzhao, Chinese general and governor.
• 1219 – William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, English soldier and politician (b. 1147).
• 1878 – Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai and politician (b. 1830).
• 1906 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, journalist, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1829).
• 1936 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (b. 1861).
• 1945 – Wolfgang Lüth, Latvian-German captain (b. 1913).
• 1954 – Heinz Guderian, Prussian-German general (b. 1888).
• 1968 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882).
• 1969 – Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (b. 1888).
• 1984 – Walter Rauff, German SS officer (b. 1906).
• 1992 – Nie Rongzhen, Chinese general and politician, Mayor of Beijing (b. 1899).
• 2010 – Goh Keng Swee, Singaporean soldier and politician, 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (b. 1918).