Events

• 684 – Battle of Marj Rahit: Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria.
• 1304 – The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias.
• 1487 – The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces.
• 1721 – The city of Shamakhi in Safavid Shirvan is sacked.
• 1826 – Major Gordon Laing becomes the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu.
• 1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.
• 1848 – Camila O’Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern: Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
• 1868 – French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.
• 1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
• 1940 – World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.
• 1945 – Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country’s declaration of independence the previous day.
• 1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
• 1966 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.
• 1971 – Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
• 1976 – The Korean axe murder incident in Panmunjom results in the deaths of two US Army officers.
• 2008 – War of Afghanistan: Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.
• Armed Forces Day (Macedonia).
• Long Tan Day, also called Vietnam Veterans’ Day (Australia).

People (Births)

• 1305 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese Shōgun (d. 1358).
• 1754 – François, marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, French general and engineer (d. 1833).
• 1774 – Meriwether Lewis, American soldier, explorer, and politician (d. 1809).
• 1822 – Isaac P. Rodman, American general and politician (d. 1862).
• 1841 – William Halford, English-American lieutenant, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1919).
• 1870 – Lavr Kornilov, Russian general and explorer (d. 1918).
• 1879 – Alexander Rodzyanko, Russian general (d. 1970).
• 1912 – Otto Ernst Remer, German general (d. 1997).
• 1913 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (d. 1983).
• 1914 – Lucy Ozarin, United States Navy lieutenant commander and psychiatrist (d. 2017).
• 1917 – Caspar Weinberger, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Defence (d. 2006).
• 1921 – Lydia Litvyak, Russian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943).
• 1945 – Lewis Burwell Puller, Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and author (d. 1994).
• 1985 – Inge Dekker, Dutch swimmer.
• 1992 – Elizabeth Beisel, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 353 – Decentius, Roman usurper.
• 472 – Ricimer, Roman general and politician (b. 405).
• 673 – Kim Yu-shin, general of Silla (b. 595).
• 1430 – Thomas de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros, English soldier and politician (b. 1406).
• 1550 – Antonio Ferramolino, Italian architect and military engineer.
• 1707 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Derbyshire (b. 1640).
• 1712 – Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (b. 1660).
• 1823 – André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute (b. 1769).
• 1842 – Louis de Freycinet, French explorer and navigator (b. 1779).
• 1943 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Azerbaijani general (b. 1865).
• 1944 – Ernst Thälmann, German soldier and politician (b. 1886).
• 1950 – Julien Lahaut, Belgian soldier and politician (b. 1884).
• 2004 – Hiram Fong, American soldier and politician (b. 1906).
• 2007 – Michael Deaver, American soldier and politician, White House Deputy Chief of Staff (b. 1938).
• 2009 – Kim Dae-jung, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 15th President of South Korea, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925).
• 2014 – Gordon Faber, American soldier and politician, 39th Mayor of Hillsboro, Oregon (b. 1930).