Events

• 1099 – Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch.
• 1283 – Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta.
• 1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.
• 1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.
• 1709 – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, thus effectively ending Sweden’s status as a major power in Europe.
• 1716 – The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway.
• 1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.
• 1760 – British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.
• 1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America.
• 1776 – Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
• 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain.
• 1822 – Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
• 1853 – The Perry Expedition arrives in Edo Bay with a treaty requesting trade.
• 1864 – Ikedaya Incident: The Choshu Han shishi’s planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya.
• 1874 – The Mounties begin their March West.
• 1912 – Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.
• 1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.
• 1948 – The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a programme called Women in the Air Force (WAF).
• 1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
• 2014 – Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.
• Air Force and Air Defense Forces Day (Ukraine).

People (Births)

• 1819 – Francis Leopold McClintock, Irish admiral and explorer (d. 1907).
• 1838 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Airship Company (d. 1917).
• 1909 – Alan Brown, English soldier (d. 1971).
• 1910 – Carlos Betances Ramírez, Puerto Rican general (d. 2001).
• 1915 – Neil D. Van Sickle, American Air Force major general (d. 2019).
• 1915 – Lowell English, United States Marine Corps general (d. 2005).
• 1918 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2009).
• 1918 – Oluf Reed-Olsen, Norwegian resistance member and pilot (d. 2002).
• 1918 – Edward B. Giller, U.S Major General (d. 2017).
• 1919 – Walter Scheel, German soldier and politician, 4th President of West Germany (d. 2016).
• 1977 – Paolo Tiralongo, Italian cyclist.
• 1981 – Wolfram Müller, German runner.
• 1988 – Jesse Sergent, New Zealand cyclist.

People (Deaths)

• 1538 – Diego de Almagro, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1475).
• 1942 – Louis Franchet d’Espèrey, Algerian-French general (b. 1856).
• 1943 – Jean Moulin, French soldier (b. 1899).
• 1968 – Désiré Mérchez, French swimmer and water polo player (b. 1882).
• 1981 – Joe McDonnell (hunger striker), Irish Republican Army member (b. 1951).
• 1999 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930).
• 2014 – John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (b. 1925).