Events

• 324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
• 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolution in 1792.
• 1035 – William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy, reigns until 1087.
• 1608 – Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
• 1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
• 1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
• 1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• 1778 – American Revolutionary War: Iroquois allied to Britain kill 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
• 1844 – The last pair of great auks is killed.
• 1849 – France invades the Roman Republic and restores the Papal States.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett’s Charge.
• 1866 – Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgrätz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
• 1886 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first purpose-built automobile.
• 1886 – The New-York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
• 1898 – Spanish-American War: A Spanish squadron, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is defeated by an American squadron under William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.
• 1913 – Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 re-enact Pickett’s Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
• 1938 – World speed record for a steam locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h).
• 1938 – US President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
• 1940 – World War II: The Royal Navy attacks the French naval squadron in Algeria, to ensure that it will not fall under German control. Of the four French battleships present, one is sunk, two are damaged, and one escapes back to France.
• 1944 – World War II: The Minsk Offensive clears German troops from the city.
  • Independence Day, celebrates the liberation of Minsk from Nazi occupation by Soviet troops in 1944 (Belarus).
• 1952 – The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the United States Congress.
• 1967 – The Aden Emergency: The Battle of the Crater in which the British Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district following the Arab Police mutiny.
• 1970 – The Troubles: The “Falls Curfew” begins in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• 1979 – US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
• 1988 – US Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
• 2013 – Egyptian coup d’état: President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is overthrown by the military after four days of protests all over the country calling for Morsi’s resignation, to which he did not respond.
  • President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt Adly Mansour is declared acting president.

People (Births)

• 1685 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (d. 1768).
• 1886 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Philippines (d. 1969).
• 1905 – Johnny Gibson, American hurdler and coach (d. 2006).
• 1919 – Gerald W. Thomas, American soldier and academic (d. 2013).
• 1940 – Lance Larson, American swimmer.
• 1943 – Norman E. Thagard, US Marine officer and astronaut.
• 1947 – Mike Burton, American swimmer.
• 1965 – Christophe Ruer, French pentathlete (d. 2007).
• 1968 – Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo-Albanian soldier and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Kosovo.
• 1970 – Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist.
• 1971 – Julian Assange, Australian journalist, publisher, and activist, founded WikiLeaks.
• 1978 – Mizuki Noguchi, Japanese runner.
• 1980 – Roland Schoeman, South African swimmer.
• 1984 – Churandy Martina, Dutch sprinter.

People (Deaths)

• 896 – Dong Chang, Chinese warlord.
• 1503 – Pierre d’Aubusson, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes (b. 1423).
• 1795 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general, astronomer, and politician, 1st Colonial Governor of Louisiana (b. 1716).
• 1863 – George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826).
• 1904 – Édouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881).
• 1937 – Jacob Schick, American-Canadian captain and businessman, invented the electric razor (b. 1877).
• 1954 – Siegfried Handloser, German physician and general (b. 1895).
• 1999 – Manoj Kumar Pandey, Indian Army officer.
• 2004 – Andriyan Nikolayev, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1929).
• 2010 – Abu Daoud, Palestinian terrorist, planned the Munich massacre (b. 1937).
• 2012 – Nguyễn Hữu Có, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1925).